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Amongst the Heather
Recently I’ve begun helping my new friends Joan and her husband John with their exciting woodland restoration project. Once dominated by non-native Sitka spruce, the site now has a diverse range of trees including rowans, larches, oaks and wild cherries. As a result, it’s attracted plenty of wildlife from bumblebees to pine martens! So far…
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Wren Family
Earlier this week I went looking for badgers. Unfortunately I didn’t see any but I wasn’t discouraged. Any foray into the natural world is dependent on good timing and a healthy dose of luck. Besides, even if you don’t manage to see what you set out to find, there’s nearly always a surprise and this…
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Day and Night in the Forest
With all the dolphin excitement recently, I’ve been sticking closely to the shore on my walks and neglecting the forest. I’ve always been worried that I’ll walk for miles and then get an alert saying there are leaping whales in the complete opposite direction. But, the other day I decided to take a chance and…
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Relocation
For the past few months, I’ve had a growing sense of being in the wrong place. I’ve lived in Hertfordshire all my life, but since coming back from university in Cumbria, I haven’t felt like I’ve belonged in the south. Throughout my childhood and adolescence, I’ve been lucky enough to spend a lot of holidays…
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Escape to the Wilds
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Doe, A Deer
The first wildlife I encountered when I crossed over the bridge into Tring Park was the grasshoppers. They were everywhere, their electric buzz sounding from every direction. The pale grass in which they were concealed was jungle-thick with a million places to hide, but a particularly noisy individual drew me in and I knelt on…
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Salty Paws
As diluted sunlight comes streaming through the window I’m awoken by the squalling of gulls – a tangled symphony of disgruntled burbles, high-pitched cheeps and open-throated cackles from chimney top perches. The weather in the Scottish Highlands is always a lucky dip. Some days I wake up to driving rain and moody skies. Today the…
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Anagach Woods
After one day of the Grant Arms Wildlife Book Festival, I had already ticked off 27 species. The morning started off gloomy so I wrapped up knowing that the Highland air would bite without a little sunshine. After a delicious breakfast I met my guide Sue and we set off. Our destination was Anagach Woods,…