The poet Thomas Hood has beaten me to my blog this month. His poem, “No!”, ends with the stanza; “No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds, November!” That was pretty much it for November. I found two new plants, though neither was a flower, and added anotherContinue reading “To see a thousand things – November”
Category Archives: Nature writing
The Lost World
“Last Chance to See”, the Hartlepool countryside events programme said, shamelessly plagiarising Douglas Adams. It did the trick though, as some two dozen people turned up for the advertised five-mile walk, hoping for a glimpse, perhaps their first, or maybe their last, of a Red Squirrel. Hartlepool still surprises me with its contrasts and conflicts,Continue reading “The Lost World”
To see a thousand things – October
October started with great excitement. A Facebook friend posted a photo of a shrew that her cat had caught in the garage. The photo, just of its head, resembled a flattened Womble, which is exactly how I think White-toothed shrews look. I would have gone with that identification were it not for the fact thatContinue reading “To see a thousand things – October”
To see a thousand things – September
September sucked! I was thinking of leaving the entry for September at that, a sort of blogging equivalent of the Haiku, only for people who haven’t the patience to read a whole Haiku. I had envisaged August as being the month when nothing much happened, a brief pause before the next season started. I hadn’tContinue reading “To see a thousand things – September”
Batman Forever!
I’d never been in a Spiritualist Church before and to be honest I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a big circular table, shrouds and bizarre occult paraphernalia. Instead there were “apple pie and motherhood” posters on the walls, doilies on the tables and the sort of weak tea that you only get inContinue reading “Batman Forever!”
What is the point of wasps?
“What is the point of wasps?” I bet that that is top of most people’s wildlife FAQs, especially every autumn when wasps, bold as brass, suddenly seem to be everywhere. Taken literally, it’s a very easy question to answer. In the process of evolution there isn’t any point to wasps, or anything else for thatContinue reading “What is the point of wasps?”
To see a thousand things – August
I hadn’t expected much of August. The month when no news ever happens is also a lean month for wildlife. Most of the flowers are over, the fungi haven’t really started and the birds have swapped singing for skulking. It is still a decent month for moths and with a good guide book and aContinue reading “To see a thousand things – August”
Along came a spider
Autumn may be characterised by its sights and smells as the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, but it’s actually a characteristic sound that I hear each year that tells me that summer is fading and autumn is almost upon us. It’s not the twitter of the swallows as they gather on the telegraph lines;Continue reading “Along came a spider”
To see a thousand things – June
Where did June go? Before I knew it, it was the 23rd and I had only recorded an additional five species. Not that I hadn’t seen any wildlife this month, in fact I had seen quite a lot, including some species that I had never seen in the wild before, such as Muntjac and Spoonbill,Continue reading “To see a thousand things – June”
Tales of a timid traveller – (Part 2) Awakening)
It was Aristotle who said, “Hope is a waking dream”. I’d always dreamed of seeing wildlife in Africa but I wasn’t entirely sure that I wasn’t still dreaming as we’d flown into the Selous reserve, over masses of hippos that looked like water vole latrines on the riverbanks far below us, then stopped in anContinue reading “Tales of a timid traveller – (Part 2) Awakening)”
Raven on the Wing 