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 …
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 …
It’s late and the light is dull. There’s nobody around at Stover Country Park apart from me and this female Great Spotted …
Today was a wonderful day for walking on Dartmoor. On the very far east of Dartmoor is the valley of the River …
Have you ever noticed that birds have no teeth? These handsome Pintails at Exeter’s Bowling Green Marsh have none: Having no teeth …
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?
A large part of my childhood was spent walking many miles to a small steeply wooded valley, known in the north as …
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 …
Snow has been falling all afternoon and delicate powdery flakes have been cushioning the world into a different, eerie, soft and soundless …
In Pierowall on Westray in Orkney, the seals haul themselves up onto the rocks in the Bay. They lie scattered like the …
I’m enjoying leafing through a copy of Lilliput magazine from February 1955. ‘Lilliput is a man’s magazine’, it declares on the cover. …
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 …
I recently saw Little Egrets in Italy: Little Egrets Today I’m in Exeter and there’s one hunting on the Exe: Egretta garzetta …
I recently saw a flock of over 100 Curlews on the fields at the side of the River Exe. They seem to …
It’s a week since I visited the Exe estuary and saw Black-Tailed Godwits in large flocks. They are very distinctive in flight, …
We once killed all the Avocets in Britain. We destroyed their habitat by draining their salt marshes and we killed them for …
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 …
There are large flocks of Black Tailed Godwits on the Exe estuary at the moment. It’s winter and they’re probably here from …
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.
I’ve seen Stonechats before, most recently on Trendlebere Down in South Devon. They are very handsome birds, and their insistent habit of …
There’s a pair of Pintail ducks at Bowling Green Marsh near Exeter. I’ve seen one before in the West Midlands when a …
Good weather is in short supply in February. A bright day is a rarity, so after a view of clear blue sky …
In Devon everything in the countryside takes on the colour of the soil; and that colour is often red. The Devonian red …
Curlews. The very last authentic sound of the British wilderness.
It’s over forty years since I first saw Oystercatchers and noted it down in my nature notebooks: I was probably on a …
It’s Day 16 of turning the pages of this 1950s Ladybird book of British Birds to see what’s changed since it was …
It’s Day 15 of turning the pages of this 1950s Ladybird book to see what’s changed since it was published. Today; The …
There’s something very deep within our animal brains that comes from our inner ancient ape that compels us to interfere, to tidy, to arrange and to act upon nature.
Photographing Swans is as difficult as photographing snow. They often appear bleached and featureless. Or bedraggled and dirty. Getting the exposure just …
It’s Day 14 of turning the pages in this 1950s Ladybird book of British Birds. “…it does like to be fairly near …
Dunnocks are often unfairly overlooked. They are stunningly beautiful in close-up. You just need to get close: Here in Italy the beautiful …