Nicola Chester

Nature Writer and Activist

hedgehogs

  • Nature Notes

    Hotchi Witchi. An Apology. Near-dark, and I am trying to point out a small, still hedgehog under a hedge by the Scout hut to my son. He only sees it when it trots off, a conker on fast little legs. He is astonished I spotted it. But I have a special eye for hedgehogs. And […]

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  • Nature Notes

    Pulling Ragwort. I love the ritual of pulling ragwort. We make a heap of it, slapping bites from horse flies with the clap of a flat palm and a smear of our own blood. For a few weeks, I’ll wear an unscrubbable half-moon of dark juices beneath my fingernails and know its July stink and […]

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  • Nature Notes

    Strokes of Havoc … An evening walk takes me past gloriously uncut verges of ox-eye daisies, buzz and insects – but this is a perilous joy. Just as nature is at its most vibrant, productive and protective (of bees, butterflies, the unnamed, sustaining bugs, nestlings, voles, and even leverets, hedge hoglets and fawns) so many […]

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