Cormorants in the city centre
In the centre of Bristol, just next to Prince Street Bridge, is a small group of Common Cormorants. They have been fishing …
Wild and Urban
Bristol is a city with a truly urban environment. There are stone pavements, tarmac roads and tall steel-framed buildings. Through its heart …
Garden Spider – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
The Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus, is a species I first wrote about in my nature notebooks in 1976. Here’s one at the …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #18 – The Heron
I’ve turned to the double-page spread in The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests on The Heron: It says: …
Vanessa through the ages
This summer I saw a Red Admiral butterfly in high winds feeding on Westray in Orkney: The scientific name of the Red …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #17 – The Mallard
What’s changed for the Mallard since this 1950s Ladybird book?
An Adonis
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 Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #16 – The Little Grebe
The Little Grebe is a water bird and is often called the Dabchick. It likes still water or slow flowing rivers, and …
The last call of the wilderness
Curlews are a familiar site on Westray. Their distinctive ‘Whaup whaup’ can seem very eerie when it echoes around the Island. The …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #15 – The Puffin
The Puffin is a little bird with a funny face, and a big beak striped like pyjamas.
Going over the top; walking the coast of Westray
Westray is full of Neolithic, Iron Age and Bronze Age middens; rubbish dumps full of wonderful finds. If you live on a …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #14 – The Kestrel
Leafing through The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests I come to the page on The Kestrel: It says: …
A trip to London Zoo
There’s so much wildlife in The Regent’s Park that paying to go into London Zoo seemed almost wasteful. There were the Herons …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #13 – The Turnstone
Here’s the double-page spread on The Turnstone from The Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests: The book is entitled ‘British …
Bristol and the Colston bun
I’ve spent a few days in Bristol city centre recently, going to music and theatre events and wandering around with my camera. …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #12 – The Great Spotted Woodpecker
This handsome bird lives on the edges of woods, in orchards and large gardens. That’s what The Second Ladybird Book of British …
Small Clawed Otter
There’s one main reason why London Zoo and many other zoos and animal collections keep Small Clawed Otters. It’s not the ongoing …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #11 – The Treecreeper
“The Tree-Creeper is a little bird with a long, curved beak and quite a long tail.” So says The Second Ladybird book of British Birds and their nests.
Monkey nuts
Walking through The Regent’s Park I notice a woman with her hands deep in a bag. She brings out a handful of …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #10 – The Pheasant
Pheasants then and now.
Autumn Heron Portraits
I’m in central London walking along The Regent’s Canal in The Regent’s Park. I’m shocked to see there are Herons only a …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #9 – The Nuthatch
Nuthatches in the 1950s and Nuthatches now.
If you go down to the woods today
One night in the Cairngorms means there’s a chance to see Red Squirrels, Pine Martens, Red Deer and yet it’s the fungi …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #8 – The Lapwing
Here’s a Lapwing in a Ladybird book from 1955. Is what it says still true?
Performing Penguins
In London Zoo they keep penguins. There are regular talks where Humboldt Penguins are fed for entertainment. It’s a spectacle and the …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #7 – The Chiffchaff
The Chiff Chaff – 60 years ago and now.
Extinction beckons
Have you heard of the Sumatran Tiger? The subspecies of Tiger than only lives on the Indonesian island of Sumatra? Yes? There …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #6 – The Great Tit
In 1955 this is what my Ladybird book had to say about the Great Tit: Is it still true?: The Great Tit …
Autumn at Killerton
Killerton is an unusual National Trust property. Unlike many of the others its story doesn’t appear to involve slavery, death and exploitation …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #5 – The Jackdaw
If Jackdaws could talk, what would they say to us?