My reaction to a swallow alarm call is only marginally slower than the intended benefactors. I don’t always get to see the source of the concern, and there are moments when the outcome is decidedly anticlimactic (such as the summer that the swallows and woodpigeons shared eave-space), but a quick dash outside will often bringContinue reading “Everything Changes”
Tag Archives: Wildlife
The Shortest Month
I once worked with a Sci-Fi nut who took pride in seeing everything, knowing everything and being first to everything. With a brand-new Star Wars film on the horizon he was saving pennies and beginning to bubble. And in order to ensure he saw it before anyone else he knew, he bought plane tickets toContinue reading “The Shortest Month”
Buzzards…
To paraphrase a former Labour Party spin doctor, 2016 has been a good year to bury bad news. At least, it might have been if people were still worried about the need for dilution. What we have learned this year is that its okay to basically say whatever you want about whomever you want. ForContinue reading “Buzzards…”
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) always acting as an anchored point of reference. Rather like a compass needle, I ‘roll’ around the corkscrew to find my position in the year,Continue reading “Polarization”
The State of Nature
Today saw the publication of the latest State of Nature report – a ‘stock take’ of our wildlife made by over 50 of our conservation organisations. Unsurprisingly, the results do not make for pleasant reading. Well over half of our native species have declined since 1970 and one in ten are under threat from extinction.Continue reading “The State of Nature”
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”
Trumpet Blowing
A month has passed since publication day and its very much a case of so far, so good for Rivers Run. Sales have been solid, book shops have been ever so generous with their product placement (testament to the design team at Rider) and, most importantly, people seem to be enjoying it. Aside from theContinue reading “Trumpet Blowing”
Shapes
With less than five weeks until the end of the fishing season, I am normally fishing frenetically in early February, but even on those odd days when the river has shrunk back within its banks the wind has howled and I have left the rod bag in the calm of the hallway. I did manageContinue reading “Shapes”
Countryfile magazine feature: Soaring Buzzards
From a population of just 5,000 pairs in the early ’60’s the buzzard is now our most common bird of prey, and has spread from isolated pockets of the west and north, right across the British Isles. Not everyone is happy though. Calls have been made for buzzards to be culled in order to preventContinue reading “Countryfile magazine feature: Soaring Buzzards”
Symbiosis
Whenever I’m creeping around the woods with a mushroom basket on my arm, my eyes regularly flick skyward. I’m not looking for birds, or checking for rain clouds but keeping in eye on the trees and more specifically the species beneath which I am walking. Fungal mycelium form a network of strands within the soilContinue reading “Symbiosis”
Kevin Parr 