Nature Notes
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Nature Notes
H is for Hawk, Part II It seemed fitting to climb the hill to watch the solar eclipse. I have come here to watch comets, meteor showers, sunsets, the Northern Lights and beacons lit across the country. There is a disappointment of thick cloud white as a snowfield, yet at the appointed time, the landscape […]
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Nature Notes
H is for Hawk, Part I. Back in midwinter, a thrilling discovery: the plucking post of a bird of prey in the centre of a clearing in the wood. The stump of a great, fallen ash, upended on its rootplate so that it forms a thick column just taller than me, is all roots, orange […]
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Nature Notes
Kissing’s in season. I’ve been walking around for a week with a box of pearls in my coat pocket, little green clasps attached to their tops, like beads from a broken necklace. Though it doesn’t seem the season, these milky, translucent spheres (like trout eggs) are mistletoe berries, ripe for planting. I have always loved […]
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Nature Notes
A Crop of Birds. A fieldfare in snow is a beautiful thing; in its element, it seems, having come from Iceland, or Norway perhaps, Sweden, Austria or Poland. The snow frames its aurora borealis colours like nothing else. The black tail and chestnut wings brighten against the white; its snowfield breast is speckled with hearts-and-darts […]
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Nature Notes
Ice. On an icy night, coming back from Wickham, eight rats and two mice run across the road within the space of a mile. With such rich pickings, the barn owl is near its usual place, clinging to the shattered, flayed remnants of the hedge. We drive alongside, breath misting the glass, close enough for […]
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Nature Notes
Mobbing. From the flint track over the down, I watch someone walking their dog well away from the footpath and where they ought to be, with interest. The dog quarters an area of rough grass where several hares will be lying up. But it is not these I am half-expecting, half-hoping to see. A pale, […]
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Nature Notes
Hawking Bats. Late one evening, just after sunset, I thought I’d startled a woodcock into flight ahead of me; this most crepuscular of birds glanced low out of the edge of the wood and flew away down the ride with its characteristic twisting, bat-like flight. But I wasn’t sure, in the half-light; it was half […]
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Nature Notes
Autumn Senses. Autumn has an indelible patina loaded with meaning and memory – of old, sensory allusions, scents long forgotten and then suddenly revived, bringing you up short and unexpectedly sometimes. Every autumn of a life outdoors is a little like pulling on a favourite jumper that smells faintly of someone you love. There are […]