Under the blackthorn scrub along a local bridleway are the white-purple flowers of sweet violet Viola odorata. Unlike the lesser celandine also found flowering in early Spring, the violet flowers have an irregular or zygomorphic shape ie they are bilaterally symmetrical and have sepals with back pointing appendages and a Read more
The cheerful yellow flowers and fleshy bright green heart shaped leaves of the perennial lesser celandine lifts the spirit in the herbaceous borders and small woodland. They form an attractive early Spring palette with the blue and yellow eyed flowers of the wood forget-me- not Myosotis sylvatica and jaunty red Read more
You wouldn’t think puddles would offer much interest. But, there is a lot going on. As well as a mesh of vehicle tracks, there is an old car seat and wooden board, mountain bike tyre patterns, footprints of horse, dog and people and wildlife. (more…)
Whilst searching boxes of books, I came across my Dad’s Wills and Senior Service cigarette albums. One dates to a school year and internet searches suggest they date to 1938 and 1939. They are a fascinating record of different rates and type of changes to land/ town scapes and working Read more
The dry, gravel paths and gritty soils provide a good hunting ground for small, often over-looked plants. A serious botanist gets deeply into the minutae of flower structure and terminology. This is proving an essential, albeit frustrating part of improving skills and sussing out how different botanical books illustrate or Read more
Well, ambling along streams for 30 years or so to learn more about Eurasian otter Lutra lutra, has proven fruitful for the soul and body. It has also hopefully contributed survey data for an animal that is now back in every county of England from the north and west where Read more
It is uplifting to know my ear is finally tuning in to bird songs and calls. Although one course tutor declared that such learning was fairly easy, this has not been my experience! So, I’m chuffed to reap rewards from repetitive listening to audio tuition. I’m becoming more sensitive to Read more
It is a cold March dusk by a small water meadow stream, where I am watching the twists, turns and rapid flaps of a hunting barn owl and sounds of other birds going to nightfall. All that for two hours. The recent days have been good with deep spring warmth Read more