Black Redstart
I love Black Redstarts; they behave so much like Robins. Both are members of the same family, being Old World Flycatchers. Here’s …
I love Black Redstarts; they behave so much like Robins. Both are members of the same family, being Old World Flycatchers. Here’s …
I’ve always felt a close connection to the poetry of Edwin Muir. His themes include loss and betrayal, life and death, and …
It’s only a small climb to the top of the field at Einar, but the view is so rewarding at this time …
Wrens are such beautiful birds. They are so quick, so elusive and so secretive it’s a delight to see one appear from …
Limpets are a personal favourite of mine; especially with garlic. No, seriously I love the rock-licking kneecaps a great deal. Here they …
We’re in the forest in Tuscany when a Fallow Deer approaches us from a herd we can see in a woodland glade. …
There’s a Raven over my roof. Here it is with the top of my capped-off chimney below it. Its wingtips are lit …
Moorhens are such skulking birds it’s not often I get the chance to admire them. Here they have such amazing vivid colours …
The EU has been in the news a little too much recently. So much so that you might have missed the EU …
This beautiful Coot saw me and decided to fly for it. It had just achieved take-off and was about to retract its …
I’ve seen a sun dog before but never this clearly. There are two of them either side of the sun. Here’s one …
I’d never seen a Red Breasted Merganser before and yet I knew instantly what this was. The name came bubbling back to …
Black Headed Gulls know how to dress: those understated grey wings; not-white undercarriage; the eye shadow detail; and the accessories to die …
Walking along the Bay of Tafts I’m sad to see the body of a Gannet. Its fragile ribs and delicate feathers are …
When I was a child a group of retired gentlemen naturalists took me under their wing. I went on weekly countryside walks …
Forty years ago I drew a Greenfinch. It may have been from a photograph or it may have been from a stuffed …
The mini-boulders on Westray’s beaches are a never-ending source of stripes and spots of beautiful muted colours.
Heron in the mist
There’s a routered Robin portrait at the park which I’m admiring for its child-like simplicity. An then there’s the real thing. Utterly …
This Redshank appears to walk with high-heels on as it potters busily on the tideline.
Gulls are confusing. They all look superficially the same with their big bills, grey backs and beady eyes, but there are some …
It’s forty years since the very first time I saw a Bullfinch. I’ve seen them since and always appreciated them as a …
Forty years ago I spotted a Great Black Backed Gull and noted it down in my nature notebooks: Today I’m in Dartmouth …
All it takes is one broken window and the birds get in. When the birds get in they need a perch. And when the birds perch they leave fertiliser.
There’s a flock of geese heading my way. As they come closer they get darker and darker. Brent Geese come in light-breasted …