The Chequered Skipper is perhaps the British butterfly with the least expected UK range. Given that this butterfly is found over much of Europe where would you expect its UK range to be centred? Just over the Channel in southeast England? Maybe the New Forest or Dorset heaths? Think again! The Chequered Skipper is found…
Category: ME:
The curse of this blog…aaaarrrrghhh!
Have you noticed that this blog can cast its spell quite widely? Cambridge haven’t won the Boat Race since they attracted our attention last year (here, here, here, here, here, here and here, here). This year’s performance was particularly dire, wasn’t it. Whereas as soon as Derby City Council renounced their daft ideas to wreck…
A Swift blog
It’s the last day of April and I haven’t seen a Swift yet. So I am sitting in the garden looking at the sky. I’ll tell you tomorrow whether it worked or not.
Cut!
The ‘lawn’ has been cut for the first time since the autumn. You can see that this end of the garden is a bit rough and ready. I think I might have preferred it uncut! I’ve left a strip of unmown grass on one side to participate in…
Striptease at Stanwick
Comments Off on Striptease at Stanwick
I’ve never been to a striptease show (doesn’t really appeal) but there were two at Stanwick Lakes this morning. When I got into my car at 0730 the windscreen was frozen up – an unusual experience over the last several months. As I drove the few miles to the lakes I could see that…
361 days to go…
And so we say farewell to the Cheltenham Festival for another year. Here are some random thoughts: the whole experience was life-enhancing the company of friends is one of the best things in life Margaret’s pie is simply the best Cheltenham racecourse is rather cruel to have a ‘Ladies’ Day’ in early March when some…
Blackcaps in my garden – and yours?
All records of Blackcap in my garden are winter records. Here they are: 2005 1 2006 0 2007 0 2008 0 2009 0 2010 6 2011 0 2012 0 2013 11 2014 2 The earliest records are 27 January and the latest 7 April (3 January records, 9 February records, 6 March records, 2 April…
Summoned by students
Yesterday evening I was talking to a room full of bright young things – students (mostly) at Oxford and members of the Oxford University Conservation Society. I talked about large and small NGOs (because that’s what they asked me to do) and said that NGOs were like people. None was wholly good and none was…
Gloucestershire
I gave a talk in Cheltenham on Monday evening and another in Gloucester on Tuesday evening – so I’ve been largely in Gloucestershire for a while. Here are a few rather random thoughts: It’s very wet out there! When I head back to Cheltenham in two and a half weeks time I’d be surprised if…
January – rain stopped play
I am suffering from bird deprivation! I’ve seen under 90 species of bird so far this year. My visit to the Exe Estuary and a boat trip was rained off. My visit to the north Norfolk coast was rained off. My visit to the Nene Washes was curtailed by the rain. I was so desperate…