Linnet on the lookout
There’s a Linnet on the lookout. Luckily I’m in a hide.
There’s a Linnet on the lookout. Luckily I’m in a hide.
I’m in a woodland centre with a group of enthusiastic mycologists, with stereo microscopes, obscure expensive books on fungi and a packed …
What do lizards do best? Why, lounge, of course!
As I cycle around Puglia in southern Italy I keep seeing them. At first I thought that they were just a drunken …
I’ve spent an age getting ready to go cycling. I’ve got changed, put my padded cycling trousers on, packed my rucksack with …
As well as all the Lesser Kestrels, there are Jackdaws everywhere in Matera in southern Italy. They’re on the rooftops, on window …
There’s a Pigeon on the balcony of this house in Polignano a Mare. People would pay a fortune for the view this …
When I first played the CD of Graand Owld Byre Volume One by The Michale Harcus Family I was in the car …
There are Large White Butterflies in the garden here in Italy. There are males: And there are the spotted females: And there …
Someone in Orkney could make a fortune making picnic benches and seats like this one in the grounds of this house in …
There are olives, almonds, cherries and artichokes in this stony field in the south of Italy. Heaven.
The red soil, white limestone walls and green grass make a fabulous flag here in Italy.
There’s very good scientific evidence about the health benefits of nature. Scientists showed that people recovering from operations in hospitals needed less …
The weather is fine so I’m off to the woods to see what I can find. I’d really like to see a …
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I love natural history; I love the thrill of finding different species. …
This Italian Wall Lizard is sunbathing in April. And who can blame it? Not me.
Every fig has, at its centre, a secret; and that secret had six legs. For figs to grow you need fig wasps …
I love ducks. This time of year there are parades of ducklings and their worried parents. Aggressive males peck at the tiny …
I’m en-route across the country when I decide to stop at RSPB Otmoor. It’s such a bright day that the sky is …
When the news gets too much for you and all you hear is politicians bickering and people with no heart and no soul complaining, there are always cats.
It’s unmistakable to me now; the shape of a Treecreeper against a tree. That pose, the stiff tail to balance it, the …
There are something like 10,000 species of millipede. It’s difficult to say exactly how many because the number keeps going up as …
We are wandering around Matera, a city in the south of Italy watching the Swallows. The city is vast and seemingly empty, …
The sky is overcast but the weather is warm. The limestone walls are humming and buzzing with life. Italian Ruin Lizards are …
It’s difficult to lead two different lives. Being good at two very different things always leads to compromise and there’s always someone …
It’s cherry blossom season and, as I cycle around the heel of Italy, the trees are full of glorious blossom. Their long …
I’m looking through one of my old butterfly books. ‘A Butterfly Book for the Pocket’ by Edmund Sanders. It was published in …
We’ve already said our goodbyes to the ancient city of Matera when a need for Italian coffee and a sit down overcomes …
I haven’t ever needed to bite on a piece of wood, after all, I’ve never given birth. Biting on a piece of …
Matera is a city in southern Italy; an ancient city in the heel of Italy’s boot. It has been continuously inhabited since …