Welcome to the latest instalment of Lockdown Wildlife Watching 26th May – 3rd June 2020. This one overlaps with the first few days of this years 30 Days Wild event. Organised by The Wildlife Trusts, this initiative is aimed at getting people connected with nature by whatever means they can invent, imagine or create. Nothing…
Welcome to Dragonfly Identification Pt 2. In this article we will look at the key identification points for six of the smaller dragonfly species, the chasers, darters and skimmers. As with Pt 1 of this ID guide I’m going to concentrate on those species that are likely to be commonly encountered and reside in Norfolk….
Orchids are beautiful creations – you don’t need me to tell you that – but can be surprisingly easy to overlook. I visited New Buckenham Common recently with a friend to have a look at the green-winged orchids that grow there in abundance, a good show this year. I would like to share with you…
Another instalment of Lockdown Wildlife Watching 18th – 25th May 2020. Maybe we can now call it semi-lockdown, although I haven’t ventured far, mainly because I really don’t want to put pressure on those habitats and species that have become so used to not having us humans around. In any event the garden provides enough…
This article, Dragonfly Identification Pt 1, is aimed at those folk who have an interest in nature, would love to be able to identify our colourful and enigmatic dragonflies, and could do with a little help. In this first instalment, I’ll look at the larger species that come under the umbrella of ‘hawkers’. The second…
Welcome to Bermuda Shorts. It’s always interesting and enlightening to hear about and see images of wildlife that inhabits foreign lands. I’m delighted to be able to include these short blogs from countries very different to our own. This first is from Jessica Riederer who I had the pleasure of meeting when she worked as…
My mate Darren Archer hit upon the idea of staging a Lockdown Garden Birdrace. This was envisioned as just a bit of fun between like minded people frustrated by our inability to get out and indulge ourselves in some proper birding. Or at least that was the plan….things have a habit of developing a life…
Welcome to Lockdown Wildlife Watching 28th April – 13th May 2020. Weather is all. Give us sunshine and warmth and all is well; get out into the garden, rummage around and discover. Give us chill northerly winds and rain and suddenly it all changes and isn’t quite so much fun! Anyway, an update on the…
Vanna Bartlett has recently published a fascinating book, ‘Arthropedia: An Illustrated Alphabet of Invertebrates’, which tempts us to marvel at the diversity and beauty of those smaller creatures that we quite often dismiss or simply overlook. The artwork is superb, the need for such an accessible work unquestionable. I feel privileged to be able to…
A few days spent in Israel – April 2015 – immersed in spring migration at Jerusalem and Eilat, a fantastic experience. This post summarises my impressions of witnessing masses of birds at close quarters. The post first appeared as a series in my blogger site which is worth a look if you’re interested in my…