Quiet
Nearly three months have passed since I last walked the Common. I’ve been frequently tempted, particularly when I have woken early and the air has been fresh. The prospect of […]
Tag Archives: Adder
Vipera berus
My Ma and Pa found a box of old school memorabilia as they cleared the loft before moving house. Among the old books was one of mine, and the opening […]
Sunshine
A blackbird piped up from a garden in the village yesterday afternoon. He wasn’t fully tuned, but it was still a sound to make me stop and smile. He’s quiet […]
Bad Workman…
I have never before pulled into the car park at West Bexington and found it completely empty. It clogs like fat in a drain during the summer, while out of […]
Campion-ing the Cause….
I have really enjoyed writing a monthly column for BBC CountryFile Magazine, not least because of the amount of things I have learned. Research can become lazy in the internet […]
Coiled Spring
The final day of the fishing season was exactly as it needed to be. Lots of fun, plenty of fish, some decent tea making and excellent cake. It wasn’t particularly […]
Spring air..
As they respond to the late winter sun, so adders depend heavily on their carefully chosen hibernacula. Desperately sluggish in the cold, a snake will only move a foot or […]
Polarization
I often wonder how other people view ‘time’ in their minds. Mine shapes like a loop in a rollercoaster, blurred at the bottom, but specific dates (my birthday for one) […]
Smooth Operator
It seems quite incredible to consider that our rarest reptile, the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca) was only recognised as a British species in 1859. A specimen caught six years earlier […]
Sloughing heck it’s cold!
It has been a peculiar week. Eight days ago I drove home towards the setting sun, after an afternoon spent on a favourite patch of Dorset heathland. The air had […]
