
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 …
I’m currently reading the Ladybird Book of British Birds and their nests from the 1950s. Times have changed: It says: The Wren …
Looking through my old mushroom photographs there’s a very distinctive one; it’s Pholiota squarrosa, the Shaggy Scalycap which I found in Bovey …
It’s forty years since I first saw and photographed spangle galls on an oak tree. I noted it down in my Nature …
When I was a child I kept a series of detailed nature notebooks. I also had a Daler art pad of cartridge …
The Garden Spider, Araneus diadematus, is a species I first wrote about in my nature notebooks in 1976. Here’s one at the …
Here’s a Lapwing in a Ladybird book from 1955. Is what it says still true?
In 1955 this is what my Ladybird book had to say about the Great Tit: Is it still true?: The Great Tit …
If Jackdaws could talk, what would they say to us?
Here’s the page on The Greenfinch from The Ladybird book of British Birds and their Nests from 1955 from my continuing Ladybird …
How are Chaffinches doing 60 years after this Ladybird book?
Forty years ago, before I was even a teenager, I started keeping detailed nature notebooks. A lined notepad and a blue biro, …
Grey seals are very distinctive. This one was hauled out at Broughton in Pierowall. They have that famous Roman nose: I first …
The scientific name for the Lapwing is Vanellus vanellus. It means fan. Well, it means Fan fan if you’re being strictly accurate. …
I’d love to be able to identify the different species of Pipit on Westray. The problem is that I can’t get near …
It’s been an emotional journey over the last few days with the birds here at Einar. We always have Swallows and Blackbirds …
I’m out tonight in the company of Hazel and Vanessa. We’re in the fields of South Devon together. Hazel is laid back …
I’m en-route across the country when I decide to stop at RSPB Otmoor. It’s such a bright day that the sky is …
Seeing a Buzzard was a thrilling experience when I was 12 years old. So much so that I noted it down in …
A trip to Bowling Green Marsh is thankfully not wasted, despite the grey and overcast weather, as there’s a Moorhen on the …
Forty years ago, before I was a teenager, I started keeping detailed nature notebooks. They were full of scientific facts. I kept …
They have been mouldering in my loft for the last forty years but I’ve just got out my old pencil sketches of …
Forty years ago I made a pencil sketch of a Coot on its nest. I was inspired by seeing an adult with …
There’s the familiar shape of a Kestrel in the treetops. I could recognise one in my sleep just from the posture. Looking …
Wrens are such beautiful birds. They are so quick, so elusive and so secretive it’s a delight to see one appear from …
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 …
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 …
Forty years ago I was interested in molehills. They are tantalising glimpses of a hidden mystery. What animal might live underground and …
It’s forty years since I drew this Mute Swan after seeing them, probably at the local park. Now here I am at …