Black Kite, Red Kite, Buzzard
We’re driving along the road in the south of Italy on the border between Puglia and Basilicata when we see a bird …
Italian Sparrows or Spanish Sparrows
Who would have thought that identifying Sparrows could be so difficult? But biology, as with life, is a messy business. Here’s a …
Holly Blue Butterfly, without the Holly
There’s a tiny blue butterfly in the garden in Puglia in Italy. I see it move high in the bush and then …
A lizard doing what lizards do best.
What do lizards do best? Why, lounge, of course!
The curious case of the bottles in the walls
As I cycle around Puglia in southern Italy I keep seeing them. At first I thought that they were just a drunken …
Beetles and bicycles
I’ve spent an age getting ready to go cycling. I’ve got changed, put my padded cycling trousers on, packed my rucksack with …
Pigeons have the best views for free
There’s a Pigeon on the balcony of this house in Polignano a Mare. People would pay a fortune for the view this …
Large White Butterflies and their view of heaven
There are Large White Butterflies in the garden here in Italy. There are males: And there are the spotted females: And there …
A picnic bench that won’t blow away
Someone in Orkney could make a fortune making picnic benches and seats like this one in the grounds of this house in …
Heaven in a stony field
There are olives, almonds, cherries and artichokes in this stony field in the south of Italy. Heaven.
Red, White and Green
The red soil, white limestone walls and green grass make a fabulous flag here in Italy.
Italian Wall Lizard sunbathing in April
This Italian Wall Lizard is sunbathing in April. And who can blame it? Not me.
The tale of the fig and the fig wasp
Every fig has, at its centre, a secret; and that secret had six legs. For figs to grow you need fig wasps …
Ginger Pussy
When the news gets too much for you and all you hear is politicians bickering and people with no heart and no soul complaining, there are always cats.
Now you see it… a Treecreeper with short toes.
It’s unmistakable to me now; the shape of a Treecreeper against a tree. That pose, the stiff tail to balance it, the …
Ten thousand species of millipede
There are something like 10,000 species of millipede. It’s difficult to say exactly how many because the number keeps going up as …
Limestone walls
The sky is overcast but the weather is warm. The limestone walls are humming and buzzing with life. Italian Ruin Lizards are …
Cherry blossom and the heel of a boot
It’s cherry blossom season and, as I cycle around the heel of Italy, the trees are full of glorious blossom. Their long …
Almond trees
Cycling through Almond trees. Feeling like a nut. Realising they’re not ripe yet.
Bloody-Nosed Beetle
There’s a Bloody-Nosed Beetle, Timarcha tenebricosa, marching across the field in front of me. They are flightless beetles which struck me as …
Quince
There’s a stunning tree in the back garden of this grand house in Puglia in the south of Italy. The Lady of …
I’ve just seen a face
The steady gaze of this half-wild cat faces me. It’s behind a tree in the garden of the stable block of the …
I Trulli love – stone roofs
There are stone roofs in many parts of the UK. From the honey-coloured stone of the Cotswolds to the grey of the …
Vernon’s Half-Mourner
I’m in the far south of Italy, in the heel of the boot that makes the Country so much more recognisable than …