Category: Nature Notes

November is traditionally when I put our garden “to bed” for the winter, and this year is no different. The garden has been my sanctuary over the past eight months, where I often wander,...

A month ago I wrote of the animals that can be picked up on a remote camera set up overnight, especially mammals like badgers, foxes, mice and voles which are mainly nocturnal. However, by...

Although arthritis and Lockdown keep me tethered, I’m lucky in my family. The younger, still very active members keep me supplied with stories, observations and, often, photos to go with them. Stepson Rob and...

There is nothing better on a fine autumn day than to be out walking. Arriving home mid-afternoon before darkness descends, I immediately light the fire, put on the kettle and reach for the biscuit...

One of the delights of living at the top of a hill is watching the trees in the valley below come into leaf each spring. This wave of green sweeps up the hillside until...

It’s my sad time of year: such a sense of endings. Many summer visitors have already left – swallows, swifts, martins, migrating warblers and, of course, cuckoos. The adult birds, free of all parenting...

I was sitting in the sunshine contemplating the garden and butterfly-spotting when something wafted past my nose: a dandelion seed on its own private parachute. It brought back memories of childhood when we called...

In mid-July my wife and I transferred our lockdown from Otley to the village of Boulmer on the Northumbria coast. From there it was possible to walk along either the coastal footpath or the...

It was one of my top four wildlife experiences, and in my own back garden about five metres from my door. During Lockdown I have been entertained by hedgehogs. There’s a population of six...

The planter was to my left as I sat contemplating the summer garden. I’m afraid Lockdown has not resulted in a flurry of garden-tidying, so the pot had been left to its own devices...