Black-Headed Gulls at the Quay
Staying local for your exercise is difficult if brownfield sites are built upon, public spaces are full and green spaces are privately …
Staying local for your exercise is difficult if brownfield sites are built upon, public spaces are full and green spaces are privately …
Hello and welcome to my Sunday Recommendation. Thanks for joining me. Every week I read great wildlife and nature books, stumble upon …
It was my birthday this week and unusually I’ve been able to see my birthday present being made in front of me. …
This summer in Orkney we met up with two friends and fellow enthusiasts for a moth-trapping evening. I loved setting up their …
In the first lockdown it was revealing just how much nature was all around me. I didn’t need to spend ages preparing …
When people complain about overconsumption there’s an inalienable truth at play. It’s the same truth that governs people’s attitudes to income. The …
If you can possibly manage it, get a magnifying glass. It turns the world into a magical one full of joy. Just …
Listen to artists. It doesn’t matter that you don’t understand them yet. Listen to them; then do what they suggest. They have …
Woodlice. There are 3,500 species in the world and between 35 and 40 in the UK. They’re animals which many children know. …
It was a very Puffin Christmas here. I received a Puffin Icon from the Puffin Whisperer. She used a solid wooden block …
We’re watching a kayaker paddle across Pierowall Bay with his fishing rod safely stowed when a motorboat comes past. Which one would …
Last April I took a cycle ride with my son. We went up some of the toughest hills in the area, and …
A Fulmar from summer, sitting pretty on the top of a wall in the skeleton house. Its beached carcass and exposed ribs …
It’s hard to see that cliffs are dangerous from the top of them. Seeing the Island from the sea gives a completely …
I spent most of 2020 on my own. The two trips I had booked to Italy were cancelled and I clearly wasn’t …
In July I went walking with my son on Dartmoor and he took a rare portrait of me Walking the Hunters’ Path: …
2020 is a year which will be difficult to forget for those of us lucky enough to still be alive. For me, …
Orkney is full of the evidence of master builders. Once stone is placed upon stone, then something is created which can last …
In August we went looking for the Scottish Primrose, Primula scotica. It’s one of the few plants which grows in Scotland and …
In 2020 I managed two trips to Orkney. I did it by self-isolating for two weeks before travelling and then taking all …
There was a solitary flower of what looked like Sea Mayweed on the rocks on the exposed coast of Westray this summer. …
One of the gifts of summer was finding wild strawberry plants growing in the lane at the back of my house. They …
In this time of darkness it’s pleasant to think back to the summer when, on glorious days, we would walk the coast …
Battlefield Dance Floor by Show of Hands
There’s something about dung which should worry you. In my childhood the local fields of animals had rich dung pats, full of …
“Porca vacca!” is an Italian exclamation meaning “Holy cow!” Its literal translation is “Piggy cow!” Under the pine trees are the small, …
What type of organism has 20,000 species, covers between 6 to 8% of the Earth’s land surface and has some of the …
There’s a Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica, on the moist, shady roadside verges of the industrial estate. It’s a beautiful colour. I’ve seen …
This fungus has a very distinctive fibrous cap. It’s probably a Fibrecap, an Inocybe. They’re often poisonous. I suspect it’s Inocybe rimosa. …
It’s a fungus which exudes carrot-coloured milk. It bruises a strange colour of green. It’s orange becoming white towards the centre of …