Ancient names: Parus capite nigro: vertice albo, dorso cinereo, pectore albo
Coal Tit is such a nice, short, simple name. It’s also in English, and despite Britain’s best efforts in the past, not …
Coal Tit is such a nice, short, simple name. It’s also in English, and despite Britain’s best efforts in the past, not …
Out in the woods I’m surrounded by the familiar shape of Holly bushes, Ilex aquifolium. It’s also a familiar feeling as the …
It’s raining and the weather is dull. It’s not great light for photography, but it is great light for observation. These Long-Tailed …
Forty years ago I kept detailed nature notebooks. I wrote down everything I saw and identified with enthusiasm, including the smallest of …
Coal Tits are record breakers. Not for their size, their distribution or their number of eggs. It’s because a pair of Coal …
There’s a fungus I’ve never see before at my feet in the woods of Orley Common in South Devon. It’s tiny, almost …
This female Chaffinch is in bright sunshine against a sky like a painting: This male has wonderful bright colours. He’s in full …
In Dunsford Wood there are glades and clearings full of wild daffodils. As I meander around them, stepping on Ramsons and sniffing …
It’s a noise like no other. I know it isn’t a pigeon or a dove. It’s a loud insistent “Oop oop.” I …
There’s a male Mandarin Duck, Aix galericulata, steaming towards me over the lake: It’s hard to imagine the evolutionary pressures which have …
Robins don’t have red breasts; they are orange, surely? Maybe they are called red because it’s alliterative with Robin. Maybe they’re called …
There’s a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the tree in front of me. It knows I’m here because it’s keeping to the other …
Blue Tits weren’t always called Blue Tits. They were once called Titmice or Titmouse. The mice or mouse in their name doesn’t …
Sunshine; warmth; the feel of spring in the air. It’s a while since I’ve felt that; and that’s also true for wildlife. …
I’ve owned a house which had dry rot. It’s not something I’d wish on anyone. Having the fungus, Serpula lacrymans, creeping through …
On the table in the Groatie Buckies cafe on Westray, run by Stewart and Marian Groat, is a jar of Groatie Buckies. …
Goosanders are such wonderful birds. They have amazing sawtooth bills to grip slippery fish underwater. I can see the solitary individual still …
There’s a Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, on the tree in front of me: That’s very exciting. I creep a little closer to the …
There’s a seriously weird fungus growing on this fallen tree trunk. It looks the shape of bubbles, as if it’s been forced …
We’re walking along the gushing river in Dunster in Somerset. It was snowing last week. This week the English Primroses are in …
There are Cherry Galls, Cynips quercusfolii, on the fallen Oak leaves here in Bridford Wood. They are the tree’s defensive reaction to …
Easter Sunday was spent with my Hungarian friends going on a fungus hunt. As you do. Or should that be, as I …
I never get bored of Mute Swans, Cygnus olor: There’s something about their size, their poise and their steady pace that enthrals …
If ever a beetle gave the impression of being a wind-up clockwork toy, it’s the Bloody-Nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa. Today they are …
There’s a pigeon above me. I think it’s a Wood Pigeon but it looks far too small and scrawny. It’s silhouetted in …
This Squirrel has a message to all dog owners at my local country park. It’s a polite request to keep dogs on …
In Bridford Wood there’s a tree. On the tree is an unusual lichen; it’s called Graphis scripta, the Secret Writing Lichen. It’s …
It’s late and the light is dull. There’s nobody around at Stover Country Park apart from me and this female Great Spotted …
Today was a wonderful day for walking on Dartmoor. On the very far east of Dartmoor is the valley of the River …
Have you ever noticed that birds have no teeth? These handsome Pintails at Exeter’s Bowling Green Marsh have none: Having no teeth …