Nature Notes

Love, friendship and loyalty in the aftermath of the Second World War

FOR the last few years during the Christmas season the Mill at Sonning has been offering something more sophisticated and satisfying ...

MY friend Matthew Coome applies the handbrake in a shady spot inside a mature woodland about 40 yards north of the A4130, the fast ...

WHAT weather we’ve been having recently. The temperature soars then drops, the wind is stilled then returns and then all that rain. ...

THE other evening I was enchanted by the sight of a clear, colourful rainbow illuminating the sky to the east. Rainbows are always a ...

IN recent weeks I have spent a lot of time searching the sky for those elegant, attractive and entertaining summer visitors from ...

EVERY so often when I’m out walking I stop, stand and stare to admire a great old tree and wonder at its size and longevity. Some are ...

MY friend Matthew Coome and I were having lunch at the Crown Inn in Playhatch with his wife and my mother when we decided where to go ...

I’M watching small birds from my mother’s front garden to see what they are up to. It is nesting season and if they haven’t built one ...

I HEAR my first chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) of the year and am so happy to note its little onomatopoeical song. It is a tiny, ...

WHAT a great start to Friday morning. The sun rises brightly and as I step outside for a breath of fresh air I’m assaulted by lovely ...

AS I stand outside on a sunny, warm, spring morning, I see and hear a host of greenfinches (Chloris chloris). I’m not sure where ...

I WAKE up, as usual, at about 7am as the sun warms my face with a gentle caress. A flood of light spreads across my bed. I get up, ...

IT is early, morning has broken and sunlight floods my bedroom. I get out of bed and look outside through a south-facing window. ...

I OPEN my eyes in wonder. Stepping out of my friend Matthew Coome’s car, I stand where my physical recuperation began many weeks ago. ...

GOING to bed one night recently, I set myself a challenge for the next morning — to make my own way out into the countryside to boost ...

GOLLY, it is cold. There is a sharp frost this morning and a bright blue sky above. I am expecting my friend Matthew Coome, who is ...

A STRANGE transformation has occurred in the hazel bushes near my mother’s home in Caversham, where I am living temporarily while ...

I STEP outside one evening as I’m hoping to spot some mini-comets or asteroids known as the Geminids that every year puncture the sky ...

I HAVE been looking forward to this day for an age. My friend Matthew Coome is taking me out on an excursion. It feels like a dream ...

I AM increasingly worried these days about the once beautiful world that we inhabit. Humankind doesn’t need to seek out ...