Sunday book review – The Colour of Silence by Clare Newton.

This approaches a coffee table book. Open the book at almost any page and you will find pleasant and arresting images, often close-ups of plants. And on many pages there are some thoughtful words, often quotes from the dead and famous. It’s a good book with which to spend some time. I enjoyed looking through…

I have a cold and a cough

They are just a cold and a cough because I’ve been sticking things up my nose and trying to find my tonsils to do lateral flow tests, all of which have been negative. I don’t think I’ve ever had hypochondiacal tendencies, I’m more likely to think and say ‘I expect it’s nothing’ but in these…

Latest Wild Justice legal challenge and crowdfunder

The Northern Ireland authorities license the unrestricted killing of Wood Pigeons and Rooks for conservtion purposes, unlike authorities elsewhere in the UK. They don’t explain why they do this or what the conservation benefits might be. In well ovr 30 years working in nature conservation I’ve never come across an instance where conservation has been…

Guest blog – Halloween: A Time to Celebrate Spiders by Debbie Rolls

Debbie is a freelance writer and lecturer in Teacher Education. She has contributed creative fiction and non-fiction to anthologies, has written for BBC Countryfile and is a regular contributor to Leeds Living website (https://leedsliving.co.uk/author/debbie-rolls/). She is in process of writing a children’s book presenting world history through the eyes of a spider. She can be…