The First Ladybird Book of British Birds – #5 The Long-tailed Tit
Turning to the next page in this 1950s Ladybird book shows the Long-tailed Tit: I prefer to call them Long-Tailed Bushtits because …
Bridled Guillemot
Looking back at my photographs from Westray in 2017 I’m struck by this beautiful Bridled Guillemot. It’s a Guillemot, Uria aalge, but …
The First Ladybird Book of British Birds – #4 The Blue Tit
Leafing through this 1950s Ladybird book is fascinating. Today I’ve come to the Blue Tit: Here’s my childhood sketch of Blue Tits. …
The First Ladybird Book of British Birds #3 – The Robin
I’m leafing through this 1950s Ladybird book when I come across the page for the Robin: Everyone knows the Robin Redbreast At …
2017 highlights of a wilder Devon life
2017 was when I embarked upon my quest with gusto. Which quest? To find all the animals, plants and fungi I wrote …
The First Ladybird Book of British Birds – #2 The Wren
I’m currently reading the Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests from the 1950s. Times have changed: It says: The Wren …
2017 highlights of a wilder Italian life
In 2017 I made many trips to Italy. In February it was Orbetello, staying at the most incredible AirBnB, where we were …
Identifying Goose Barnacles on a floating wheel
Walking the coast of Westray I can see a yellow plastic wheel floating in the sea among the seaweed and flotsam and …
The First Ladybird Book of British Birds #1 – The Yellowhammer
During January I’ll be exploring this 1950s Ladybird book of British Birds and their nests to see what’s changed in the last …
2017 highlights of a wilder Orkney life
2017 was a wonderful year for wildlife experiences in Orkney. In July the seabird city at Noup Head was a whirling, wheeling …
Cud
The sheep on Westray are hardy beasts. Here’s one with a white face doing what a sheep does best; chew:
Driftwood
There are precious few trees on Westray. Wood for buildings was a scarce material and driftwood was always salvaged by Islanders and …
Hoverflies on the Biting Stonecrop
Biting Stonecrop is a wonderful plant. It grows on the stone walls at Einar, creeping along the stone with small succulent leaves …
Foam and spray
The coast of Westray on any day is invigorating:
Too much for dinner
The seals on Westray always look in such good condition when I see them: I’m hoping that’s because the seas are clean …
Life
Life is precious. One of the most emotional experiences for me in 2017 was a visit to Beachy Head. I was there …
Oyster-of-the-Woods
Winter is still a productive season for wild food if you know where to look. Out on Dartmoor, along the River Teign …
Velvet shank
Would you expect the Japanese workers who grow Enokitake mushrooms to have lower rates of cancer deaths than the general population? That’s …
There’s a steak growing on a tree
There’s what looks like a raw steak growing out of a tree in the woods on Dartmoor: It’s Beefsteak Fungus, Fistulina hepatica. …
Pink Ballerinas cavorting in the grass
If there are pink ballerinas on your lawn they could be one of only two things: 1. Actual ballerinas, dressed in pink; …
Crimson Waxcaps
Waxcaps live in unimproved grassland. That means they are often only found in graveyards as the rest of the grassland environment has …
The sort of Plums and Custard you can’t eat
Looking back in my photo archive of curious and wonderful fungi I find photographs of Tricholomopsis rutilans, Plums and Custard: According to …
A mushroom to crow about
Walking along the River I spot an interesting mushroom. It’s a Magpie Ink Cap.
Violet Webcap
There are only a few fungi which are bright purple and this is one of them, the Violet Webcap, Cortinarius violaceus: It’s …
Lichens on Hunters’ Path
We’re walking on Dartmoor along the Hunter’s Path towards the National Trust property Castle Drogo: Castle Drogo is another self-indulgent act of …
Waxcaps in the meadows
There are Waxcaps in the meadows in Devon: Meadow Waxcaps. I’m looking through some old photographs of fungi and see these Meadow …
Mushroom clouds
There are Clouded Agarics, Clitocybe nebularis, all over this wooded slope at the National Trust’s Killerton House. They are chunky mushrooms, with …
Real life Griffons
Britain used to have vultures. Yes, real-life vultures, I’m not talking about high pressure mobile phone sellers; I’m talking about the birds. …
A Charcoal Burner in the woods
There’s a purple mushroom on the forest floor. No, not purple, lilac. No, not lilac, it’s blue; and it’s pink in the …
What’s in a name?
Here’s the most wonderful fungus growing on a decaying slime mould growing on a piece of tree bark smaller than my finger …