The Lesser Kestrels of Matera #3
We’ve already said our goodbyes to the ancient city of Matera when a need for Italian coffee and a sit down overcomes …
Wasps would chew wood
I haven’t ever needed to bite on a piece of wood, after all, I’ve never given birth. Biting on a piece of …
The Lesser Kestrels of Matera #2
Matera is a city in southern Italy; an ancient city in the heel of Italy’s boot. It has been continuously inhabited since …
Almond trees
Cycling through Almond trees. Feeling like a nut. Realising they’re not ripe yet.
Could it be a Canary?
I can see a tiny yellow bird at the very top of a house resting on the TV aerial in Matera in …
The Lesser Kestrels of Matera #1
It was late at night, at a depressing motorway service station somewhere off the M25, and in an anonymous branch of WH …
Italian Wall Lizard
There’s a Lizard on a wall in Italy. It’s an Italian Wall Lizard.
Agile feet
Experiences in our childhood often retain the depth of emotion that was attached to them at the time, despite the distance in …
Linnet in blossom
Wonderful weather. Beautiful blossom. A neat little Linnet at the top of the tree. Flocks of Linnets used to be a common …
Bloody-Nosed Beetle
There’s a Bloody-Nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa, marching across the field in front of me. They are flightless beetles which struck me as …
Pied Wagtail – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
It’s forty years since I first spotted a Pied Wagtail and drew it in my childhood nature notebooks. Here’s the entry from …
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 …
Rock ledges
The sedimentary rock on Westray breaks into hundreds of ledges where the layers of time wear them away.
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. …