There are no words
If you ask this swan what species it is, it won’t tell you. It’s Mute.
Black-Headed Gulls at the Quay
Staying local for your exercise is difficult if brownfield sites are built upon, public spaces are full and green spaces are privately …
Sexton
This summer in Orkney we met up with two friends and fellow enthusiasts for a moth-trapping evening. I loved setting up their …
Staying local
In the first lockdown it was revealing just how much nature was all around me. I didn’t need to spend ages preparing …
A world of joy
If you can possibly manage it, get a magnifying glass. It turns the world into a magical one full of joy. Just …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 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 …
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 …
Coal black
When did you last see a piece of coal? How many people under the age of 30 have ever seen a piece? …