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October 2018

Holly - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Holly in Autumn

The Holly is bursting with berries in South Devon this year. It’s glorious against the colour of the autumn leaves at Yarner …

Piptoporous betulinus - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The Cornish Pasty fungus

The Birch Polypore. Razor Strop Fungus. Birch Bracket. Like many fungi, this one has a range of strange and exotic folk names …

Small Tortoishell - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Tortoiseshell

There’s a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly which has settled in front of me: I’m thrilled because I hardly ever see them. I took …

Common Seal - 1970s Nature Notebooks - (c) David Bailey (not the)

Common Seal in the 1970s

Leafing through my childhood scrapbooks I come across a drawing of a Common Seal. It has all the characteristics of a Common …

Mediterranean Spotted Chafer - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Mediterranean Spotted Chafer

It’s taken me a while to identify this beetle I saw in Italy this summer. It really shouldn’t have taken me this …

Shelduck - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Shelduck

Whenever I see Shelducks walking and eating in the mud I wish I could join them.  Well, the walking bit anyway. Maybe …

Banded Demoiselle - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Banded Demoiselle

Here’s a Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) from this summer: They get better the closer you look: If you have any children in …

Pigeon - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Purple Pigeon

A quick trip out to one of the bridges on Brunel’s Great Western Railway in South Devon means a great view of …

Meadow Pipit - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

The Bird by Edwin Muir

Here’s another of my favourite poems by Orcadian poet Edwin Muir. The Bird Adventurous bird walking upon the air,Like a schoolboy running …

Rainbow - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Swallow over the rainbow

I’ve seen some spectacular rainbows on Westray. Some have been fleeting. Some have been intense. Some have been full arcs which split …

Rabbit Hutch - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Location of injury

Walking in the garden at the back of Einar I can see a mess of rotten wood painted green, tangled with chicken …

Wild Hops - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Life begins at the Hops

There’s a plant which normally grows in a place which is at the end of our walk. I’ve been looking forward to …

Gadwall at RSPB Ham Wall - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Gadwall at Ham Wall

There’s a group of five Gadwall making a racket as they fly in ridiculously close formation at RSPB Ham Wall. Close up …

Long-Tailed Bushtits RSPB Ham Wall - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

A short tale about a long tail

The Long Tailed Tit’s name is misleading. Just because its name is ‘tit’ people  always assume that it’s related to the Blue …

Burdock - Ham Wall - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Nature’s Velcro

The tiny hooks on the ends of Burdock burrs are waiting patiently for me to brush past them. Why use the wind …

Hawthorn at Ham Wall - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

Haws

Hawthorn – one of the gifts of autumn.