Chapeau Rouge
There’s a mushroom with a bright red cap in the woods. It’s such an unearthly red and the stem and the gills …
There’s a mushroom with a bright red cap in the woods. It’s such an unearthly red and the stem and the gills …
Identifying butterflies is stressful; especially when you’re not in your own country. Everything looks like something else you’re familiar with. I was …
It’s forty years since I first saw and photographed spangle galls on an oak tree. I noted it down in my Nature …
I’d never really considered why Mistle Thrushes are called Mistle Thrushes. It is, of course, because they eat Mistletoe berries. I discovered …
When I was a child I kept a series of detailed nature notebooks. I also had a Daler art pad of cartridge …
We find a delicate mushroom on our fungus foray. That’s a relief, because this mushroom season has been very poor, with the …
Dartmoor is a wonderful upland area of Devon. It is based on granite rocks which frequently outcrop on high tors. I’m having …
Here’s an Oak tree in the making. It is just at the start of unleashing the incredible chemical power stored within it: …
There’s lichen everywhere on Westray. It shows how clean the air is here, how salt-tolerant lichen is and also how difficult it …
We’re walking along the road in Abruzzo when we see two Kestrels hunting on the brow of the hill. I decide to …
The Italian Sparrows in Rome are dwarfed by the feral Pigeons: The males are incredibly handsome birds, with glorious colours on their …
There’s a deep orange butterfly flying quickly across the fields in a park in Rome. It’s a Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas: Nothing …
Walking along the River Tiber in Rome, or the Tevere in Roma, as the Romans call it, is a shock. It’s in …
Have you ever noticed that crabs have their head inside their body? That can feel a little weird if you think about …
It was Tuesday 21 November when we saw a balloon seller with these Helium balloons in Rome: I didn’t buy one. It …
We’re wandering around a park in suburban Rome and there are squawks filling the air. I’ve seen the Ring Necked Parakeets here …
There’s a Raven’s nest in this ruinous building on Westray:
Ravens are special because, just like humans, they display linguistic displacement; they can communicate using language about objects far away in space or time.
That’s what I’m doing now, with you.
Here’s my photograph of a Peacock Butterfly, Aglais io, from 2017: Here’s a photograph from my holiday scrapbooks from forty years ago …
It’s late in the year but a little sunshine has brought out the butterflies. There’s a wonderful Speckled Wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria, …
This gull is about to swallow this flatfish whole: I’m not sure I can watch.
It’s a beautiful day for Pigeon portraits: But not when you really, really need to scratch:
In the centre of Bristol, just next to Prince Street Bridge, is a small group of Common Cormorants. They have been fishing …
Bristol is a city with a truly urban environment. There are stone pavements, tarmac roads and tall steel-framed buildings. Through its heart …
The Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus, is a species I first wrote about in my nature notebooks in 1976. Here’s one at the …
I’ve turned to the double-page spread in The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests on The Heron: It says: …
This summer I saw a Red Admiral butterfly in high winds feeding on Westray in Orkney: The scientific name of the Red …
What’s changed for the Mallard since this 1950s Ladybird book?
There’s an Adonis Blue Polyommatus bellargus on the rocks: Then there’s one on the plants: What an incredible colour they are. It’s …
The Little Grebe is a water bird and is often called the Dabchick. It likes still water or slow flowing rivers, and …
Curlews are a familiar site on Westray. Their distinctive ‘Whaup whaup’ can seem very eerie when it echoes around the Island. The …