Category: Everything else
-
The Pound Wood ‘Fritillary Site’ – a place for butterflies and a great deal more, by Ross Gardner
The Essex Wildlife Trust’s Pound Wood, like so many ancient woods, is a special place and for different reasons. It is special for being somewhere for the people of this busy and built-up part of Essex to establish, or indeed re-establish those close and valuable connections with the natural world, something so important, not only…
-
A Walk on the North Downs Way, by Frances Jones
A couple of weeks ago, I walked part of the North Downs Way with a friend. Not a particularly unusual event, normally, but many of us have had rapidly to adjust our expectations of normal over the past months. I had wandered through the fields around my home almost every day since lockdown, charting Spring…
-
Signs of Spring, by Frances Jones
My walk through the woods has become significantly more important for me since the announcement came that the country was going into lockdown. The song of the blackbird, the sight of a butterfly; these and many more moments have become more precious as the freedom to move whenever and wherever is reduced. After a number…
-
Tales from the urban jungle
It certainly feels like Spring has sprung in my little corner of Newcastle: garish daffodils of all shapes and sizes adorn the roadsides, House Sparrows emerge from beneath the slates of terraced homes and cool yet brighter mornings are marked by the fluted notes of Song Thrush and the caterwauling of returning Lesser Black-backed Gulls.…
-
Enjoying a waif from the East
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of catching up with the long-staying male Black-throated Thrush at Whipsnade Zoo, in Bedfordshire (a long way from home for this Geordie). Enjoying a scarce bird is always a pleasure but, I confess, the experience of observing just such a lost waif in the company of free-ranging South American…
-
Nature has no cue: Our ‘lost’ winters are throwing nature into a state of confusion
As butterflies and newts are spotted in December, earlier than nature intended, scientists warn that species are losing their seasonal cues as winters warm and seasons morph. The latest data from Nature’s Calendar, the UK’s largest study of the seasons, shows that active butterflies and newts and nesting blackbirds have already been spotted, months earlier than…
-
Bringing Nature into the Music Lesson, by Frances Jones
On New Year’s Eve, in a cosy cafe over pots of tea, a friend put a question to the group: ‘So what are you going to do to save the planet this year?’ I don’t fly, and have for a long time tried to tread lightly and shop sustainably, although I can always do better.…
-
Winter Walks in the Vineyard, by Frances Jones
The bright sunshine urged me out of doors this Sunday morning, and I pulled on boots and a raincoat in readiness for a walk. Long-standing readers of this blog may recall I previously wrote about experiencing nature in the city. Living in the midst of a built-up area, surrounded by blocks of flats and busy…
-
Farmers are not the problem: I am, and you might be too
The recent State of Nature report paints a bleak picture of modern Britain. One in which wildlife populations tumble and wild spaces are hemmed in, degraded and destroyed. Unfortunately, most of us will recognise this as the norm and at a relatively youthful 26-years old, it worries me that this is all I have ever…
-
Another issue of New Nature!
We’re delighted to bring you yet another edition of New Nature, the youth nature magazine. Covering September and October, the publication is jampacked with content associated with wildlife and wild spaces. You can download the latest edition for free. For now, I will leave you with an introduction to the latest issue courtesy of outgoing…
-
Dipping a Toe into the Natural History of Crete
A week ago, I begrudgingly returned home from a spur of the moment family holiday in Crete – a part of Europe I had yet to visit which, in retrospect, turned out to be rather beautiful. The week was marked by blissful temperatures, great food, a lively local culture and numerous excursions on foot to…
-
The latest edition of New Nature!
It’s the moment you have all been waiting for – well, some of you at least. The latest edition of New Nature magazine, covering July and August, is out now and can be viewed at your leisure here: http://bit.ly/2XxKp1d We are well into the summer months now and I hope you are all enjoying your…