28th April 2026 There is a large hatch of mayflies from the lodes at Wicken Fen, most likely Drake Mackerels Ephemera vulgata, that climb into the sky and are then carried on the brisk, easterly wind. Up to three hobbies hunt them at the edge of the Adventurers’ Fen, sweeping in low over the water…
Tag: Spring
Of cuckoos and drinkers
Forty years ago, the forestry in the Elenydd mountains was a monoculture of young Sitka spruce plantations. Today, it is a patchwork of ‘clearfells’ and different aged plantings. The overgrown clearings are rich in small birds and here, cuckoos are calling in surprisingly good numbers. One catches a drinker moth Euthrix potatoria caterpillar that it…
More Spring butterflies and other insects
It has been a great spring for insects in Kent with a spell of uninterrupted warm, dry weather through April and May. The holly blues Celastrina argiolus are all over the hedgerow dogwoods Cornus sanguinea laying eggs on the flower clusters. The small blues Cupido minimus at Fackenden Down are plentiful at the base of…
Audley End
In late March on a chilly day, under a blanket of stone grey cloud, the grand old house is drained of colour. Audley End is a remnant of a much larger palatial country house, a so-called ‘prodigy’ house built at the start of the 17th Century by a courtier to James I, who cooked the…
Spring butterflies in Kent
The local butterflies seem more abundant than last year and the recent, warm weather has only helped them along. The photos were all taken in Kent on trips to Stodmarsh National Nature Reserve, Shellness in the Swale National Nature Reserve, Mereworth Woods, and Fackenden Down Kent Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve.
Birds of the Gulf of Aqaba and Northern Red Sea in Spring
10th – 20th March 2025 Swallows run through in loose flocks overland, stopping briefly in the early morning to forage in vegetated wadis; small parties of green sandpipers huddle on the coast; and garganey flocks move north low over the sea. The coast is quiet and migration is just commencing; this is time when species…
Sissinghurst Castle Garden’s Sphinxes and Satyrs
Sphinxes and Satyrs are found on some beautiful, turquoise vases that adorn the patios and paths in the Castle Garden. A pair lining the forecourt have Satyrs as handles; these were wild, half-man, half-beast spirits associated with Dionysus, the god of wine and famed for their debauchery and outrageous behaviour. An adjacent pair are decorated…
Ancient Woodlands above Luddesdown
The organic vineyards on the slopes above the hamlet of Luddesdown are maturing and the arable weeds are hopefully still thriving. The ancient woodlands within Rochester Forest are alive with the sounds of spring birdsong and we find bluebells in flower amongst the celandine as well the much more local Moschatel or ‘town hall clock’….
Early spring on the North Downs
The cherry plum is out again in early February; always the starting shot to the new Spring with its blizzard of pure white blossom. The verges are coming alive with celandine and the single badger sett on the top of the bank is freshly dug, spewing flinted earth on to the narrow lane. Swanley village…
Kent – 13th May 2023
Saturday was a grand tour of some of Kent’s finest places. The day was bright and breezy and confirmed that May, the month of many weathers, is the best month of the year for wildlife (and possibly gardens). Sissinghurst We checked the plant species in the cottage garden where the colours are always burning hot…
Bursting Cornflowers
Cornflowers are just bursting. A pretty plant renowned for its a long association with cereal agriculture, apparently hated by farmers because its tough stems blunted their scythes. The pollen record suggests it was an introduction most probably from steppe habitats to Northern European countries from the ‘High Middle Ages’, perhaps enabled through the increased movements…
Forde Abbey
Forde Abbey is lost in a wooded valley on the borders of Dorset, Somerset and Devon. The Cistercian Abbey dates back to the 11th Century. Today, it is less of a place of worship and more of a grand country house and well-tended garden with a patchwork of artificial lakes. Beyond the gardens there is…