Exploring North East Nature in 2022 – A Few Highlights

A summary of a fantastic year spent watching, recording, and enjoying North East nature. often in great company.

Where to watch wildlife in the North East: Silverlink Biodiversity Park

In a new series of articles, we’ll be taking a look at the best places to watch wildlife in  North East England. By no means comprehensive but hopefully informative, these posts are intended to provide inspiration on where to visit in the North East to observe and enjoy nature, as well as detailing some ofContinue reading “Where to watch wildlife in the North East: Silverlink Biodiversity Park”

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 onlyContinue reading “The Pound Wood ‘Fritillary Site’ – a place for butterflies and a great deal more, by Ross Gardner”

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 SpringContinue reading “A Walk on the North Downs Way, by Frances Jones”

Investigating the Prudhoe Spetchells

For a ages, I have read the blogs of others who have visited the Prudhoe Spetchells yet, shamefully, have never visited myself. Until now.

Into the Wild Woods at Allen Banks

Spurred on by the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions, this weekend saw us venture inland to the wild reaches of Allen Banks

On the hunt for urban bees

For me, one of the few positive aspects of our current lockdown has been the opportunity to look closer at the wildlife that persists close to home. Doing so has been eye-opening, to say the least, and while of course, I would rather have been venturing into the wider countryside, the diversity of life hereContinue reading “On the hunt for urban bees”

More tales from the urban jungle

In line with the government guidance, this week, time in nature has been squeezed and condensed. A  few short forays to my local park and innumerable laps of our eerily quiet street the best I could muster while sticking to the law. Outside, the seasons advance regardless of the turmoil unfolding in human society andContinue reading “More tales from the urban jungle”

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 numberContinue reading “Signs of Spring, by Frances Jones”

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 thanContinue reading “Nature has no cue: Our ‘lost’ winters are throwing nature into a state of confusion”

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 outgoingContinue reading “Another issue of New Nature!”

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 yourContinue reading “The latest edition of New Nature!”