I last visited this Iron Age hillfort at the end of March (see here), and have just returned to see the bluebells at their peak of perfection, on a very chilly but bright morning. In past years I was saddened to see those on the lawns much crushed…
Category: natural history
I thought twice about the title of this page, having found Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name quite dire! But what the hell, that’s where I was on a cold, windy but very sunny spring day. We started off at the beach car park and walked along…
Several wild windy days have started shaking apples from our two trees, which is good news for wasps, ants and small rodents, but less so for us. I’ve just started picking now – the Egremont Russets are starting to come away from the twigs fairly easily. This means…
A brief day of Indian Summer was just the right time for a walk near Brixham with a friend. We started at the car park at Berry Head by admiring the shimmer of sunlight on the distant sea, and then walked along to Sharkham Point and down onto…
The sky’s been very much in my thoughts recently – life on the ground has been quite trying so looking heavenwards has been a welcome distraction. This particular set of images has two very contrasting elements. The urban sky above the Barbican in central London on the 20th…
… when the living is not exactly easy for all sorts of reasons, but is certainly simpler – and sometimes, quite wonderful. Unable to sleep, I got up just after sunrise and found lots to enchant me just a few minutes’ walk from home. Despite the hour, it…
‘Tracks’ is not only the name of the theme I use on my web site (find it here), but also the subject of my latest post. A late December walk at Dawlish Warren Nature Reserve turned up this rather wonderfully-decorated pine log incised with intricate wood borings. Fascinating…
I’m always surprised at how suddenly Autumn (Fall) arrives. This early morning, there was an indefinable coolness in the air – I don’t think the temperature was any lower but the quality of the warmth was different. The lawn and weeds were bedecked with guttation dew, and when…
We are promised a heat wave and thunderstorms, but today started absolutely perfectly. I woke early and was out walking by 6:30 in the cool morning mist. It was one of those times when I realise just how many millions of spiders I share the world with –…