I don’t know what’s going on at the moment but on the last few occasions I’ve been out and about, there’s been little to see of interest on the wildlife front. There are still plenty of birds in the garden but once I step outside, everything seems to be in…
If you’ve ever seen the Red Arrows, you’ll remember the exhilaration you felt from the team’s spectacular aerial display – man and machine in perfect harmony. There’s a bird that can give you that same thrill. In May, swifts will be flying here from Africa. In summer, they can often…
I just helped a friend to produce a rather late edition of his company calendar for 2022. We’d been working on it for a good hour when we spotted the start date – January 2021! We’d been meticulous in making sure the photos were right, the company logo was in…
Thanks again to all those who listened to me speaking about nature during November and December, those who bought images or ‘Ray’s British Wildlife Calendars’, I have sent £929 of your money to www.Zarach.org, enough to buy 6 bed bundles for Christmas and a little left over. Our Mission We…
If you have just read this title yourself, you’re probably already asking, ‘Who is she?’ If someone is reading it to you, you will think, quite rightly, that I’m writing about names that are incorrectly or unsuitably applied. Wikipedia tells us that ‘misnomers often arise because something was named long…
It’s that time of year when our summer visitors have gone and most of the winter ones have still not checked in, so it seems fairly quiet on the wildlife front. But 15th October is sunny and warm and we have loads of bees and a small tortoiseshell on the…
My friend, Steve, just celebrated his 66.666th (recurring) birthday. He has decided he will live until he’s 100 so from now on he is keeping a daily diary entitled, ‘The Final Third’. I’m way past that birthday but, from next March, if I was so inclined, I could begin to…
A couple of weeks ago, a baby bullfinch flew into our window and I found it lying on the ground. We nursed it overnight and, although she was quite chirpy next day and able to fly, she couldn’t stand. Apparently, severely concussed birds can often suffer immobility in their legs…
If you’re retired like me, you’ll know that this later phase of life has its ups and its downs. Usually you’ll be a little bit older and therefore a bit slower and, maybe, you’ll have picked up an ailment or two along the way. And, ask anyone, retirement isn’t all…
‘No mow May’ has been and gone and if, like a friend of mine in the village, you couldn’t wait to tidy up when June came along, your garden will now be pristine and lovely to look upon. Which got me thinking that beauty is still in the eye of…