Too much…

Had the coarse fishing season ended a week ago, then I really wouldn’t have minded. Having book-ended the weekend with trips to a new stretch of canal, I found myself in such a contented state that the standard late season urge had all but gone. Friday had been damp, especially in the morning, but weContinue reading “Too much…”

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 had been previously dismissed as a grass snake (or variant of) and it was a man called Dr J E Gray who got round toContinue reading “Smooth Operator”

New Colours

It would be lovely to slow time down in spring. So much can change in a day, while over the course of a week, an empty sky is suddenly thick with swallows, and the yellows of celandines and primroses have been swamped by the blues and purples of violets and bluebells. With the sun high,Continue reading “New Colours”

Waking Up…

Its been a slow start to spring. The weather has been reasonably settled but successive systems have channeled Arctic air from north, keeping  temperatures down and many of our migrants south of the Channel. Normally by now we would be seeing a steady stream of swallows, chats and warblers arriving on the south coast, yetContinue reading “Waking Up…”