Fly Agarics then and now
What’s the use of illustrations in the age of photography? Surely they are old hat?
What’s the use of illustrations in the age of photography? Surely they are old hat?
The Holly is bursting with berries in South Devon this year. It’s glorious against the colour of the autumn leaves at Yarner …
The Birch Polypore. Razor Strop Fungus. Birch Bracket. Like many fungi, this one has a range of strange and exotic folk names …
Why does the green and environmental movement constantly sabotage itself with its choice of language?
I’m not surprised the Sedge Warbler doesn’t fly much. I would want a rest from flying if I’d just flown non-stop from Africa to Somerset.
A pair of Coal Tits had the largest number of bird fleas ever reported from a single nest: that’s 5,754 fleas.
We’ve killed over one in three Meadow Pipits in the UK in the last 45 years.
Redshanks declined by 38% from 1995 to 2015.
The birds of my childhood books have been almost eliminated from the British countryside in my lifetime.
There’s a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly which has settled in front of me: I’m thrilled because I hardly ever see them. I took …
Leafing through my childhood scrapbooks I come across a drawing of a Common Seal. It has all the characteristics of a Common …
It’s taken me a while to identify this beetle I saw in Italy this summer. It really shouldn’t have taken me this …
Whenever I see Shelducks walking and eating in the mud I wish I could join them. Well, the walking bit anyway. Maybe …
Here’s a Banded Demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) from this summer: They get better the closer you look: If you have any children in …
A quick trip out to one of the bridges on Brunel’s Great Western Railway in South Devon means a great view of …
Here’s another of my favourite poems by Orcadian poet Edwin Muir. The Bird Adventurous bird walking upon the air,Like a schoolboy running …
Our UK Swallows are known as Barn Swallows in the USA. It’s a good name because they love nesting in barns. Here’s …
I’ve seen some spectacular rainbows on Westray. Some have been fleeting. Some have been intense. Some have been full arcs which split …
Walking in the garden at the back of Einar I can see a mess of rotten wood painted green, tangled with chicken …
Can you remember the last time you spent a day without drinking water? Without cleaning your teeth? Without washing your dishes? Without …
There’s a plant which normally grows in a place which is at the end of our walk. I’ve been looking forward to …
There’s a group of five Gadwall making a racket as they fly in ridiculously close formation at RSPB Ham Wall. Close up …
The Long Tailed Tit’s name is misleading. Just because its name is ‘tit’ people always assume that it’s related to the Blue …
The tiny hooks on the ends of Burdock burrs are waiting patiently for me to brush past them. Why use the wind …
Hawthorn – one of the gifts of autumn.