MY ADVENTURES
Wandering in nature is my happy place. I love the freedom, the peacefulness, the endless change and the possibility of so many things to investigate and learn. The closer I become to nature the more I want to share and protect it.
Back to the Wild
It’s been a while since I’ve written here, but not for lack of inspiration. I’ve been bothering bugs, butterflies, birds, and bats, looking, listening, learning, and feeling the joy of the natural world deep in my heart. I’ve been out and about climbing mountains,…
A season for change
This autumn I feel a huge and welcome change. My children’s lives, and my own, are no longer dominated by the rhythm of the education system. For the first time in a very long time, I realise that I’m not measuring time by the school term, counting down to the next…
Creating a nature conversation
On Blackpool Sands Beach, if you know where to look, you will find a secret treasure. Beneath the cliffs, overlooking the sparkling sea, a beautiful coastal wildflower habitat is waiting for you to discover its gems. Wild carrot, vipers bugloss, sea campion and kidney…
Exploring the forest bathing experience at Dittiscombe Estate
In the distance, I hear a buzzard calling. I imagine it wheeling high on the summer thermals, amber light resting on its strong wings, its sharp eyes watching for movement in the fields below. Closer, probably in the understory of the woods behind me, a blackbird…
Creativity and conservation
Creativity and Conservation Bring a Lost Species Back to our Community: This weekend, two local and internationally renowned artists opened their studios and invited the public to engage with thought-provoking artworks that highlight the epic decline and renewed hope…
Mission impossible?
On our way home from watching the Wilding film my friend expressed her disbelief at how ridiculously long it had taken for The Knepp Estate to get beavers onto their land. How could it possibly have taken 10 years!? 10 years ago bringing beavers back to the British…
City trees
Barcelona has over 200,000 street trees. That’s more than most other European cities, with approximately one tree every 10m. The benefits to the city and its residents are huge. Not only do the trees draw carbon dioxide from the air, their transpiration also…
Silver Y
It’s unusual to see a moth feasting during the day, but this Silver Y is a day flying moth and it was ravenous. Silver Y moths are migrants and travel long distances, usually at night, some of them crossing the channel to the UK from mainland Europe. This particular…
Dark-edged bee fly
This gorgeous creature is not, as it may first appear, a small bumblebee with a long stinger on the wrong end, but in fact belongs to the fly family. This is a Dark-edged Bee-fly and the beautiful long spike is its proboscis, which it uses to sip nectar from deep…
1950’s Ladybird language
Drawn by the nostalgia of a Ladybird book, I picked this up in a charity shop recently. I wasn’t around in 1950’s when this book was published, so I lack the first-hand context needed to comment fully. However, if this book represents a narrative typical of the era,…
Temperate rainforest
Considering the recent weather, I think we can all begin to imagine the British landscape peppered with temperate rainforest. Dartmoor still hosts a few remaining fragments of these woodlands, which are characterised by their ancient moss-covered oaks, estimated to be…
Bullfinch
18 years living in rural Devon and finally she came. A fleeting visit. Utterly magical and unforgettable. The rain finally cleared for a while and I stood at the window watching the birds browsing in the garden and jostling at the feeders. A community of wildlife so…