Beeches on the turn
Trees have hormones just like people. As the length of days shorten, so leaves produce less of a hormone called auxin. That …
Porcelain fungus
I stop the car in a small valley on Dartmoor. There’s an enormous fallen Beech tree and it’s covered with fungi. Glistening …
Sunset at Bovey Heathfield
I’ve finally managed to have a trip out to Bovey Heath. It’s a tiny remnant of the heathland which would have covered …
Dunsford Wood
Dunsford Wood is almost empty. It’s raining and only a few intrepid dog walkers are emptying their dogs along the River Teign. …
Horse Chestnuts
There’s something of the Medieval torture instrument about conkers. There’s that casing which looks as if it should be attached to a …
Bird portraits at Stover Country Park
It’s cold and I fancy a walk. There are Black Headed Gulls at Stover Country Park. I love the way their toes …
Waxcaps
Waxcap fungi thrive on damp, ‘unimproved’ grassland, or rather grassland which hasn’t be ruined by artificial fertiliser or herbicides. A trip to …
Challacombe Farm
Challacombe Farm is on Dartmoor. It’s part of the 135,000 acres owned by the Duchy of Cornwall to the benefit of Charles …
Dusky Puffballs at Emsworthy Mire
There’s time for a quick trip to Emsworthy Mire on Dartmoor and I’m delighted with the Dusky Puffballs there. Their scientific name …
Pestle Puffballs, Hedgehogs and Chanterelles
There are Pestle Puffballs in the churchyard outside my house in Devon. At least that’s what I think they are. I’d better …
Challacombe Farm
Being delicious to humans has been one of the most successful evolutionary strategies of recent times. Farm animals now outweigh wild ones, …
Why do so many fungi grow in churchyards?
Churchyards are often great places for finding fungi. Why? I suspect it’s got to do with their relative protection from pesticides, herbicides …
The Yellow Stagshorn’s superpower
If coal is natural, why isn’t it still being produced now? How come we can burn coal and more isn’t being made …
False Death Caps and Ugly Milkcaps
There are many False Death Caps, Amanita citrinum, in the woods at the moment. Their strange white bodies litter the ground, eerie …
Castanea
I’m walking through the woods when I see Chestnut leaves. There’s also a fresh empty burr. Where did the chestnuts go? Here …
Brown Birch Boletes on Yarner Heath
While I’m searching for Parasitic Boletes I stumble across a Brown Birch Bolete. They’re lovely mushrooms. They have scaly stalks, small tubes …
A fungus on a fungus on a fungus
I’m off to the woods to find a fungus that grows on a fungus. I’m heading to Yarner Heath on the eastern …
Carrion Carry On
There’s a Carrion Crow on the handrail of the small bridge across the canal. It’s a dark, iridescent blue against the dense …
Devil’s Snuffbox
There are Puffballs in the woods. It’s that time of year. These look like the Common Puffball, Lycoperdon perlatum. They are covered …
Beech, Alder and Chestnut
There are nuts and seeds and cones aplenty in the woods at this time of year. There are Beech nuts on the …
Have you seen a male Grey Seal?
The Grey Seals around Orkney are a classic combination of curious and wary. They are alternately fascinated by me and worried by …
Wheatear
I’m flushing Wheaters with every walk and drive on Westray. There isn’t a path or a road which doesn’t have a wary …
Sanderling #4
The Sanderlings of summer on Westray were a joy to get close to. Lying on the beach, keeping still, and watching them …
Sunset over the waves
It’s sunset on Westray and I’ve abandoned the car on the grass and marched off to the sea. It’s magnificent in this …
Gannet on the water
I’m used to seeing Gannets flying at head height. Since their colonisation of Noup Head cliffs, their numbers have soared like a …
You see a Pigeon
The weather in Orkney may be grey but it’s never dull. I’m waiting at Kirkwall harbour for the Westray ferry when I …
Attacked by Arctic Terns
I’m off for a walk on the Westray coast. Today I’m heading from Mae Sands to the Knowe o’ Skea. It’s not …
Einar
My house is called Einar, just like the Viking Earl of Orkney mentioned in the Orkneyinga Saga. That’s because of a spelling …
Black Guillemot
I’m on a day trip to the Mainland. That’s the mainland of Orkney. In the harbour at Scapa there’s a bird paddling …
Redshank ballet and Ruddy Turnstones
There’s a Redshank on the rocks. I don’t think it wants to fly away. That would mean getting its leg out and …