Tree studies
By tree studies I don’t mean academic studies of arboriculture or forestry; I mean really looking at a tree; studying it. On …
Little Egret
Small white heron: check. Black beak: check. Yellow feet: check. It must be a Little Egret. What a charming bird.
Large Red Damselfly
There’s a Large Red Damselfly in the Park. It’s large, it’s red and it’s a Damselfly. Some people really do lack an imagination when it comes to names.
Tiny Tadpoles
Some of these tadpoles are tiny. They have a fabulous appetite though, so it won’t be long before they’re as big as… …
Purple Pyramids
There are beautiful purple pyramids of orchid flowers on the slopes at Berry Head in South Devon. They are Anacamptis pyramidalis the …
Four-Spotted Chasers
There’s something deeply alien about Dragonflies. These Four-Spotted Chasers have huge compound eyes just like a space helmet. And the translucent exoskeleton …
Curious behaviour
There’s a beautiful pair of Mandarin Ducks on the pond. It’s worrying me though that there seems to be something wrong with …
The Lark Ascending
It’s a beautiful evening. There’s half of the moon visible. The sky is deepest blue. Clouds are white. Then I hear a …
Bee Orchids with no bees to love them
My son says there are Bee Orchids at Berry Head and that his colleague has seen them and given him exact directions …
The tale of the Grebe and the Slider
There’s a Great Crested Grebe on a nest in the middle of the Lake. I’m looking at it closely when I realise …
A yellow-spotted green Tiger
The Green Tiger Beetle (Cicindela campestris) has yellow spots on an amazing textured metallic emerald green back. Green Tiger Beetles prey upon …
An evening in the fields
As part of the Wildlife Trusts’ #30DaysWild I’m heading out to have some nature experiences every day this month. Today I’m heading …
Magpies are to blame
There’s a pair of Magpies in the tree by the lake in the park. They are noisy and busy, attracting attention from …
From Cygnet to Swan
When did you last spend an hour so completely absorbed in something in the natural world that you forgot what time it …
Warbling in the Sedge
I love it when information boards tell me what to look for: And then I find it:
Heron in the Bracken
There’s a Grey Heron in the bracken at RSPB Ham Wall Nature Reserve. It’s at this point that I’m glad I’m not …
Beauty and Pain, Pain and Beauty
Nettles. I remember getting stung badly by Nettles as a child. What stopped the stinging wasn’t rubbing my poor legs with Dock …
Chasing Broad-Bodied Chasers
There really is no point in chasing Broad-Bodied Chasers. That’s not because they are one of the commonest Dragonflies across Europe and …
Beautiful Demoiselle
There’s a female Beautiful Demoiselle perched next to the pond. I can tell it’s a female because it’s got white spots on …
The tale of Hazel Gloves and a fungus which grows on a fungus
There’s an unusual fungus on a thin tree branch in the woods surrounding Orley Common. I know that I’ve never seen it …
It’s Chile on the dunes
A visit to Dawlish Warren, not for a kiss-me-quick hat or a round of adventure golf, but for the wildlife of the …
Little King
Wren. It’s such a simple, short and easy name. Wren. The Wren’s scientific name is Troglodytes troglodytes. That’s not as short or …
Common Spotted Orchid
The Common Spotted Orchid is an orchid which is common and spotted. They are just coming into flower all over this heathland …
A family of Long-Tailed Bushtits
I’m so familiar with the call of Long-Tailed Tits, or Long-Tailed Bushtits as I prefer to call them, that I hardly look …
A Turtle Dove purring like a cat
The information board at RSPB Otmoor says there’s a Turtle Dove in the trees at the Reserve. Frustratingly I can’t see it …
Cowslips in the fields
Cowslips used to be universally known by British people. They were part of our culture, being made into garlands in May Day …
King Alfred’s Cakes
There’s an interesting fungus on this piece of dead wood. I’ve always known it as Cramp Balls, or Daldinia concentrica, but my friend …
Rooks in flight
The River Exe has a railway line running the full length from Exmouth to Exeter on one side and from Dawlish Warren …
Orange Tip without the orange tips
There’s an Orange Tip Butterfly without the orange tips to its wings in this field in Somerset. It must be a female, …
Hanging out the washing to dry
If your species is going to have to swim to eat and survive, you would have thought that you would have evolved …