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Beauty amid the breakers
The jaded sun shone, the air felt warm, spring-like even, and a Robin uttered its charactaristic, spritely song from the rusted pinnacle of a nearby fence.…
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Martin Hughes-Games is wrong about Planet Earth
For clarities sake, let us get this out of the way first: I, personally, am a fan of both the Planet Earth series and presenter Martin…
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New Nature: the launch.
Today witnessed the launch of New Nature Magazine, the new e-magazine written, edited and produced entirely by young people. And what a launch it was. When I…
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New Nature: thank you all!
A few months ago, toying with the idea of starting up an online magazine written and produced entirely by young people, I had hoped a…
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2016: Birding in Review
I have always been a birder, of sorts. Though one who, traditionally, prefers to watch birds on my local patch: formerly at Stobswood, now, Blyth. Content,…
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Top 10 Facts: The Tawny Owl
I heard a Tawny Owl last night. A nocturnal foray to my local store interrupted by an eerie, frightfully abrupt, yet oddly soothing shriek from…
Current Fascinations
By my own admission, I am prone to falling down rabbit holes from time to time. Typically, this involves deep-diving into a particular subject and learning as much as possible before, inevitably, another topic comes along to take its place. Regardless, below you’ll find my current areas of interest…
Botanical Bits
Botany is my main interest, and whether it’s ferns, snowdrops, grasses, ancient woodland plants, or even humble pavement weeds, I try to spend as much time as possible seeking out our wild plants.
North East Botany
Here you’ll find musings on plant identification, trip reports, sightings from walks and courses and just about anything else relating to botany in North East England.
Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside
The Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside is the first comprehensive account of the wild plants growing across the Newcastle and North Tyneside conurbation, one of the largest in the UK.
Based on six years of fieldwork, the book documents more than 1,120 native and naturalised plants -around a third of Britain’s entire flora.
Meet James
Born and raised in North East England, James is a botanist, general naturalist and biological recorder with a passion for sharing the joys of North East nature with others.
He currently works as Senior Naturalist for the Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) and volunteers as a vice-county recorder for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), both of which allow him to spend ample time outdoors leading trips, courses, surveys and guided walks.
