Knowledge is over-rated
There’s a Treecreeper, Certhia familiaris, on the tree in front of me: That’s very exciting. I creep a little closer to the …
King Alfred’s burnt his cakes
There’s a seriously weird fungus growing on this fallen tree trunk. It looks the shape of bubbles, as if it’s been forced …
Spring and the Prime Rose
We’re walking along the gushing river in Dunster in Somerset. It was snowing last week. This week the English Primroses are in …
Cherries growing on Oak trees
There are Cherry Galls, Cynips quercusfolii, on the fallen Oak leaves here in Bridford Wood. They are the tree’s defensive reaction to …
Searching for an unusual Easter egg
Easter Sunday was spent with my Hungarian friends going on a fungus hunt. As you do. Or should that be, as I …
Mute
I never get bored of Mute Swans, Cygnus olor: There’s something about their size, their poise and their steady pace that enthrals …
A Bloody-Nosed Beetle on the march
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 …
Stock Dove
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 …
Fresh bedding
This Squirrel has a message to all dog owners at my local country park. It’s a polite request to keep dogs on …
The secret writing on a lichen
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 …
A reason to clear up under your bird feeder
It’s late and the light is dull. There’s nobody around at Stover Country Park apart from me and this female Great Spotted …
The wild Daffodils of Dunsford Wood
Today was a wonderful day for walking on Dartmoor. On the very far east of Dartmoor is the valley of the River …
Poisoned and shot and their nests destroyed – the Pintail Duck
Have you ever noticed that birds have no teeth? These handsome Pintails at Exeter’s Bowling Green Marsh have none: Having no teeth …
Spawn of the Frog
Will future generations have the same thrill of recognition as I do when I see a mass of frog spawn in the pond at Holden Clough?
Russian Corks
It’s getting more and more unusual to find Russian corks on the beaches and sea caves on Westray. Here are some sheltering …
Scarlet Elf Cups in Holden Clough
A large part of my childhood was spent walking many miles to a small steeply wooded valley, known in the north as …
Snow upon snow
Snow is a problem for people when you don’t prepare for it. It’s also a problem for wildlife. I’m wearing boots, waterproof …
Blue Tit in the snow
Snow has been falling all afternoon and delicate powdery flakes have been cushioning the world into a different, eerie, soft and soundless …
Seal haul
In Pierowall on Westray in Orkney, the seals haul themselves up onto the rocks in the Bay. They lie scattered like the …
The Snare of the Fowler
I’m enjoying leafing through a copy of Lilliput magazine from February 1955. ‘Lilliput is a man’s magazine’, it declares on the cover. …
Face like a shovel
There’s a deluxe duck in a flooded field in Exeter: It’s a Northern Shoveler: It has a face like a shovel. It’s …
Egrets, I’ve had a few
I recently saw Little Egrets in Italy: Little Egrets Today I’m in Exeter and there’s one hunting on the Exe: Egretta garzetta …
Curlew wading
I recently saw a flock of over 100 Curlews on the fields at the side of the River Exe. They seem to …
Revisiting Black-Tailed Godwits on the Exe
It’s a week since I visited the Exe estuary and saw Black-Tailed Godwits in large flocks. They are very distinctive in flight, …
Avocets on the Exe
We once killed all the Avocets in Britain. We destroyed their habitat by draining their salt marshes and we killed them for …
Edwin and the shipwreck cabin
Westray is a small island and has some really interesting characters; Edwin Rendall is one of them. My theory is that everyone …
Sunstar seedheads
Whenever it’s winter, it’s hard to imagine summer and whenever it’s summer, it’s hard to imagine winter. Whenever it’s spring, it’s hard …
Udal Law
The law on who owns what land isn’t as simple as you might think. Living in a country with a name like …
Black-Tailed Godwits on the Exe
There are large flocks of Black Tailed Godwits on the Exe estuary at the moment. It’s winter and they’re probably here from …
Putchers and their Privileged Engines
What’s happened to the Salmon of my childhood? Pollution, habitat destruction and overgrazing of livestock. Here’s a story of Putchers and their Privileged Engines catching Salmon on the Wye.