The woman with sausages
Listen to artists. It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand them yet. Listen to them; then do what they suggest. They have …
Kitchen drawer wildlife
Woodlice. There are 3,500 species in the world and between 35 and 40 in the UK. They’re animals which many children know. …
Puffin icon
It was a very Puffin Christmas here. I received a Puffin Icon from the Puffin Whisperer. She used a solid wooden block …
The tortoise and the hare
We’re watching a kayaker paddle across Pierowall Bay with his fishing rod safely stowed when a motorboat comes past. Which one would …
There’s more wildlife on industrial estates than in the countryside
Last April I took a cycle ride with my son. We went up some of the toughest hills in the area, and …
A Fulmar at the skeleton house
A Fulmar from summer, sitting pretty on the top of a wall in the skeleton house. Its beached carcass and exposed ribs …
Slip
It’s hard to see that cliffs are dangerous from the top of them. Seeing the Island from the sea gives a completely …
2020 highlights of a wilder Italian life
I spent most of 2020 on my own. The two trips I had booked to Italy were cancelled and I clearly wasn’t …
2020 highlights of a wilder Devon life – part 2
In July I went walking with my son on Dartmoor and he took a rare portrait of me Walking the Hunters’ Path: …
2020 highlights of a wilder Devon life
2020 is a year which will be difficult to forget for those of us lucky enough to still be alive. For me, …
Triple lintel
Orkney is full of the evidence of master builders. Once stone is placed upon stone, then something is created which can last …
Scottish Primroses
In August we went looking for the Scottish Primrose, Primula scotica. It’s one of the few plants which grows in Scotland and …
2020 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
In 2020 I managed two trips to Orkney. I did it by self-isolating for two weeks before travelling and then taking all …
Life, clinging on
There was a solitary flower of what looked like Sea Mayweed on the rocks on the exposed coast of Westray this summer. …
Wild Strawberries
One of the gifts of summer was finding wild strawberry plants growing in the lane at the back of my house. They …
Eyebright
In this time of darkness it’s pleasant to think back to the summer when, on glorious days, we would walk the coast …
The Hall of Einar Sunday Recommendation #28
Battlefield Dance Floor by Show of Hands
The riches of Dartmoor dung
There’s something about dung which should worry you. In my childhood the local fields of animals had rich dung pats, full of …
Porca vacca!
“Porca vacca!” is an Italian exclamation meaning “Holy cow!” Its literal translation is “Piggy cow!” Under the pine trees are the small, …
A world within a world
What type of organism has 20,000 species, covers between 6 to 8% of the Earth’s land surface and has some of the …
Blackening Waxcaps
There’s a Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica, on the moist, shady roadside verges of the industrial estate. It’s a beautiful colour. I’ve seen …
Maybe a tawny Torn Fibrecap
This fungus has a very distinctive fibrous cap. It’s probably a Fibrecap, an Inocybe. They’re often poisonous. I suspect it’s Inocybe rimosa. …
Saffron Milk Caps
It’s a fungus which exudes carrot-coloured milk. It bruises a strange colour of green. It’s orange becoming white towards the centre of …
A Parasol in the field
This is a Parasol, Macrolepiota procera. I’ve seen Parasols before with a clear faerie ring over 60m wide in a high mountain …
Chanterelles and Winter Chanterelles
There are Chanterelles in abundance in the woods. These are Cantharellus cibarius, and a beautiful eggy yellow. They’ll be perfect with scrambled …
Flystool
There’s a fabulous ink cap on chipped wood on the edge of the field. It’s Coprinopsis lagopus var. lagopus, the Hare’s Foot …
Grey Knights under the pines
There is a beautiful group of Grey Knight fungi under the pines. Their scientific name is Tricholoma terreum. They are growing on …
Scattered Sickeners
There are bright red fungi all over the floor of this beech wood. They are Russulas, commonly known as Brittlegills, and they …
The Hall of Einar Sunday Recommendation #27
For Henry by Astrid Williamson
Turkey Tails
This Birch tree is gradually decomposing. It’s covered in Turkey Tail fungus, Trametes versicolor. It’s one I remember from my childhood, although …