Telling stories: a Chiff Chaff in the reeds
All photographers are storytellers. They use their images to tell us stories about themselves and their relationship with the world. Each photographer …
Bittern by the Bird Bug
I’ve got a rare weekend day off and I’m in Otmoor taking in a few hours of sunshine, walking and nature. There’s …
A wild Goosander chase
As I walk down the canal I see a duck with a vicious saw-toothed beak and a brown head. It must be …
Quince
There’s a stunning tree in the back garden of this grand house in Puglia in the south of Italy. The Lady of …
I’ve just seen a face
The steady gaze of this half-wild cat faces me. It’s behind a tree in the garden of the stable block of the …
Male Mandarin
Mandarins are so spectacular it’s hard to believe they’re real, but, as with everything in the natural world, it’s more spectacular than …
I Trulli love – stone roofs
There are stone roofs in many parts of the UK. From the honey-coloured stone of the Cotswolds to the grey of the …
Meadow Pipit – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago today my friend Michael got in touch with me to tell me he had a dead bird for me. ‘It’s a Meadow Pipit’ he said excitedly.
Eyelids like seat belts
Woodpeckers and headaches. Wouldn’t you get a headache if you banged your head against a tree 12,000 times a day? Luckily for …
Mute Swan
Here’s a drawing of a Mute Swan I did forty years ago. And here’s a photograph of a Mute Swan I took …
Leap-frogging Blackcaps
There’s a Blackcap in the tree. I can hear its alarm call and then I see it; it’s a female. It looks …
Vernon’s Half-Mourner
I’m in the far south of Italy, in the heel of the boot that makes the Country so much more recognisable than …
Duck Face
If you have a tendency to see animals as humans with distorted features you’re going to have a freakily nightmarish time when …
Robbing Robin
This Robin is screaming a song of dominance and intimidation, proclaiming its territory and its swaggering intention to repel any strangers daring …
Columba palumbus
There’s a bloated Common Wood Pigeon Columba palumbus nearby. I can hear it cooing.
Goldfinch – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Exactly forty years ago today I was only just a teenager when I saw my first Goldfinch. I spent every available minute …
The high cost of being bright
Chaffinches are bright birds, or at least the males are. Their colour comes at a high cost; the cost of using so …
Peacock Butterfly
I find it impossible to tell what species most butterflies are until they stop somewhere and stay still for a few seconds. …
A new body on old legs
Blue Tits are such bright and youthful-looking birds they are a constant delight to see. Even the adults look as appealing as …
“My boyfriend is hotter than me”
Female Mandarin Ducks are stunningly beautiful birds. Yet, because their plumage is so subtle, their crest so sleek and their male counterparts …
“Oh look – there’s a Siskin.”
“Oh look – there’s a Siskin”, I say to myself as a small green finch with yellow stripes appears. I’m suddenly not …
Brimstone without the Treacle
It’s still only March and yet there are butterflies in this woodland glade. I can see they are an unnerving sulphur yellow …
Buzzards – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Seeing a Buzzard was a thrilling experience when I was 12 years old. So much so that I noted it down in …
Moorhen
A trip to Bowling Green Marsh is thankfully not wasted, despite the grey and overcast weather, as there’s a Moorhen on the …
Great White Egret
The Italians call Great White Egrets L’airone bianco maggiore. This sign tells us what we should be looking for: a large heron …
Jay – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
Forty years ago, before I was a teenager, I started keeping detailed nature notebooks. They were full of scientific facts. I kept …
Chiff Chaff
Chiff Chaffs are difficult to see. They are small, they are camouflaged, and they move so quickly that just when you see …
Martin the fisherman
I’m in Italy on the trail of some interesting birds. The signs are good, literally, as there’s a big three-dimensional sign with …
Summer plumage in winter
The Black Headed Gull is a wonderful, delicate bird with fabulous plumage. In the breeding season its head turns a shade of …
Great Crested Grebe – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
They have been mouldering in my loft for the last forty years but I’ve just got out my old pencil sketches of …