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 …
Plastic ocean
The coast of Westray is beautiful. Beautiful, but blighted. It’s the recipient of plastic rubbish from across the ocean. There are more …
Shaggy Scalycaps, gout and squirrels
Looking through my old mushroom photographs there’s a very distinctive one; it’s Pholiota squarrosa, the Shaggy Scalycap which I found in Bovey …
The Medusa of the Oak
The Oak Medusa Gall, Andricus caputmedusae.
Orange Peel Fungus
I’ve been going through some of my archive of photographs and delighting in some of the finds I made many years ago. …
The Boar War
A few years ago I went on a cycling holiday in France with my elder son. In the woods I spotted what …
Branch lines
Today I’m in the grounds of a large rambling mental health hospital in south London; and before you ask, it’s because I’m …
Stinkhorns
Stinkhorns are fascinating fungi. You can normally smell them before you see them. It’s the putrid smell of rotting flesh or something …
The Secret Diary of Hadrian’s Mole Age 1,879
There’s a huge castle in the city of Rome. It used to be the highest building in the city. It was built …
The hood and the executioner
Hooded Crows are one of my favourite birds. Noisy, sociable and inquisitive, they have colonised large areas of central and northern Europe, …
Killerton and the Meadow Waxcaps
Killerton House is a National Trust property near Exeter in Devon. I’ve visited quite a few times and seen some wonderful fungi …
Birds in the park
I’ve got a few hours spare this afternoon and the weather is bright. The forecasts are for dull weather for days, so …
Chapeau Rouge
There’s a mushroom with a bright red cap in the woods. It’s such an unearthly red and the stem and the gills …
Autumn Ringlet
Identifying butterflies is stressful; especially when you’re not in your own country. Everything looks like something else you’re familiar with. I was …
Spangles
It’s forty years since I first saw and photographed spangle galls on an oak tree. I noted it down in my Nature …
Mistle Thrushes
I’d never really considered why Mistle Thrushes are called Mistle Thrushes. It is, of course, because they eat Mistletoe berries. I discovered …
Redwing – forty years ago in my nature notebooks
When I was a child I kept a series of detailed nature notebooks. I also had a Daler art pad of cartridge …
Yellowleg Bonnet
We find a delicate mushroom on our fungus foray. That’s a relief, because this mushroom season has been very poor, with the …
The Tree: An afternoon on Dartmoor and a wild idea
Dartmoor is a wonderful upland area of Devon. It is based on granite rocks which frequently outcrop on high tors. I’m having …
An Oak tree in the making
Here’s an Oak tree in the making. It is just at the start of unleashing the incredible chemical power stored within it: …
Trouble With Lichen
There’s lichen everywhere on Westray. It shows how clean the air is here, how salt-tolerant lichen is and also how difficult it …
The lair of the Mountain Hare
We’re walking along the road in Abruzzo when we see two Kestrels hunting on the brow of the hill. I decide to …
Italian Sparrows
The Italian Sparrows in Rome are dwarfed by the feral Pigeons: The males are incredibly handsome birds, with glorious colours on their …
Small Copper Butterfly
There’s a deep orange butterfly flying quickly across the fields in a park in Rome. It’s a Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas: Nothing …