Lesser by name, great by nature
Lesser Black Backed Gulls are magnificent creatures. They are noticeably darker on the back and wings than the more familiar Herring Gull …
Dinosaurs fly among us
If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the dinosaurs, here they are, all around us. These Mallard Ducklings have hatched from eggs …
Love amongst the bushes
A male Blue Tit has just fed its mate. A clutch of healthy eggs is on its way.
A Pipit up a tree
I can see a Pipit up a tree. Could it be… A Tree Pipit?
Nuts!
This Grey Squirrel is one of the lucky ones. Only 25% of Grey Squirrels survive their first year. Only 45% of the …
“A little bit of bread and no cheese”
There’s a yellow bird singing loudly from a tree on Trendlebere Down. It sounds utterly beautiful and I’m entranced. It must be …
Chatting like two stones being banged together
There’s a repetitive high-pitched knocking as if someone’s banging two stones together. It must be the aptly named Stonechat. There’s a pair …
How many make a mob?
Crows react very badly to the presence of Buzzards. Here one took exception to a Buzzard in its field, mobbing it and …
Essential advice for bird photography
I was given some advice on bird photography which I’ve taken to heart. “Always try to get both the beak and the …
Italian Sparrows or Spanish Sparrows
Who would have thought that identifying Sparrows could be so difficult? But biology, as with life, is a messy business. Here’s a …
Holly Blue Butterfly, without the Holly
There’s a tiny blue butterfly in the garden in Puglia in Italy. I see it move high in the bush and then …
Linnet on the lookout
There’s a Linnet on the lookout. Luckily I’m in a hide.
Bog Beacon
I’m in a woodland centre with a group of enthusiastic mycologists, with stereo microscopes, obscure expensive books on fungi and a packed …
A lizard doing what lizards do best.
What do lizards do best? Why, lounge, of course!
The curious case of the bottles in the walls
As I cycle around Puglia in southern Italy I keep seeing them. At first I thought that they were just a drunken …
Beetles and bicycles
I’ve spent an age getting ready to go cycling. I’ve got changed, put my padded cycling trousers on, packed my rucksack with …
Jackdawning realisation
As well as all the Lesser Kestrels, there are Jackdaws everywhere in Matera in southern Italy. They’re on the rooftops, on window …
Pigeons have the best views for free
There’s a Pigeon on the balcony of this house in Polignano a Mare. People would pay a fortune for the view this …
Large White Butterflies and their view of heaven
There are Large White Butterflies in the garden here in Italy. There are males: And there are the spotted females: And there …
Heaven in a stony field
There are olives, almonds, cherries and artichokes in this stony field in the south of Italy. Heaven.
Red, White and Green
The red soil, white limestone walls and green grass make a fabulous flag here in Italy.
Only an hour to spare…
There’s very good scientific evidence about the health benefits of nature. Scientists showed that people recovering from operations in hospitals needed less …
Spotted! A brief walk in the woods
The weather is fine so I’m off to the woods to see what I can find. I’d really like to see a …
What’s in a name?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. I love natural history; I love the thrill of finding different species. …
Italian Wall Lizard sunbathing in April
This Italian Wall Lizard is sunbathing in April. And who can blame it? Not me.
The tale of the fig and the fig wasp
Every fig has, at its centre, a secret; and that secret had six legs. For figs to grow you need fig wasps …
Easter Duckings
I love ducks. This time of year there are parades of ducklings and their worried parents. Aggressive males peck at the tiny …
Reed Bunting – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
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 …
Ginger Pussy
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.
Now you see it… a Treecreeper with short toes.
It’s unmistakable to me now; the shape of a Treecreeper against a tree. That pose, the stiff tail to balance it, the …