The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #16 – The Little Grebe
The Little Grebe is a water bird and is often called the Dabchick. It likes still water or slow flowing rivers, and …
The last call of the wilderness
Curlews are a familiar site on Westray. Their distinctive ‘Whaup whaup’ can seem very eerie when it echoes around the Island. The …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #15 – The Puffin
The Puffin is a little bird with a funny face, and a big beak striped like pyjamas.
Going over the top; walking the coast of Westray
Westray is full of Neolithic, Iron Age and Bronze Age middens; rubbish dumps full of wonderful finds. If you live on a …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #14 – The Kestrel
Leafing through The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests I come to the page on The Kestrel: It says: …
A trip to London Zoo
There’s so much wildlife in The Regent’s Park that paying to go into London Zoo seemed almost wasteful. There were the Herons …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #13 – The Turnstone
Here’s the double-page spread on The Turnstone from The Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests: The book is entitled ‘British …
Bristol and the Colston bun
I’ve spent a few days in Bristol city centre recently, going to music and theatre events and wandering around with my camera. …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #12 – The Great Spotted Woodpecker
This handsome bird lives on the edges of woods, in orchards and large gardens. That’s what The Second Ladybird Book of British …
Small Clawed Otter
There’s one main reason why London Zoo and many other zoos and animal collections keep Small Clawed Otters. It’s not the ongoing …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #11 – The Treecreeper
“The Tree-Creeper is a little bird with a long, curved beak and quite a long tail.” So says The Second Ladybird book of British Birds and their nests.
Monkey nuts
Walking through The Regent’s Park I notice a woman with her hands deep in a bag. She brings out a handful of …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #10 – The Pheasant
Pheasants then and now.
Autumn Heron Portraits
I’m in central London walking along The Regent’s Canal in The Regent’s Park. I’m shocked to see there are Herons only a …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #9 – The Nuthatch
Nuthatches in the 1950s and Nuthatches now.
If you go down to the woods today
One night in the Cairngorms means there’s a chance to see Red Squirrels, Pine Martens, Red Deer and yet it’s the fungi …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #8 – The Lapwing
Here’s a Lapwing in a Ladybird book from 1955. Is what it says still true?
Performing Penguins
In London Zoo they keep penguins. There are regular talks where Humboldt Penguins are fed for entertainment. It’s a spectacle and the …
The Second Ladybird book of British Birds #7 – The Chiffchaff
The Chiff Chaff – 60 years ago and now.
Extinction beckons
Have you heard of the Sumatran Tiger? The subspecies of Tiger than only lives on the Indonesian island of Sumatra? Yes? There …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #6 – The Great Tit
In 1955 this is what my Ladybird book had to say about the Great Tit: Is it still true?: The Great Tit …
Autumn at Killerton
Killerton is an unusual National Trust property. Unlike many of the others its story doesn’t appear to involve slavery, death and exploitation …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #5 – The Jackdaw
If Jackdaws could talk, what would they say to us?
Dragonfly on a post
I see a dragonfly on a post at RSPB Old Moor: And then I see another dragonfly on a post at RSPB …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #4 – The Greenfinch
Here’s the page on The Greenfinch from The Ladybird book of British Birds and their Nests from 1955 from my continuing Ladybird …
A flock of Long-Tailed Bushtits just passing through.
There’s a flock of Long-Tailed Bushtits just passing through. They are just like fuzzy lollipops. I like the detail of the bright …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #3 – The Chaffinch
How are Chaffinches doing 60 years after this Ladybird book?
Bush Cricket
I loved having a magnifying glass as a child. I had one with a blue handle, with a false Parker pen clip …
The Second Ladybird Book of British Birds #2 – The Swallow
Since this Ladybird book was published we’ve been to the moon, we’ve entered the computer age, there’s been huge urbanisation, the human population has more than doubled and we’ve caused mass destruction of habitat and extinction of species. What’s happened to Swallows in that time?
Sunshine Parasols in a huge faerie ring
There are many huge Parasol Mushrooms in this upland grassland. They are growing in a faerie ring over 60 metres wide and …