The photograph accompanying this month’s article is of a bush cricket. It hopped, or maybe flew, in through my open window last year, apparently to inspect my curtains. A handsome creature, it has only fairly recently hopped or flown into Worcestershire and is called the Roesel’s bush cricket. It is not the subject of this …
It is often reported that the English oak, particularly a specimen of advanced age, is host to a greater number of associated species than any other tree in Britain. Less well-known is that a wide stretch of old-established hedge can do just as good a job. The number of fellow life-forms attributed to the oak …
Happy New Year for 2021, I wonder what it will bring? A return to normal for our Teme Valley Wildlife group meetings, I hope. One of the talks we had to postpone last year was about a project to re-introduce beavers into a number of sites in Wales, so I thought I would write about …
It is customary to review the year in a December article, but what a year we’ve had. No-one could have predicted the events of 2020 – tragedy for so many and disruption to daily life for everyone. As far as wildlife is concerned, two unmistakeable facts have emerged. First, wildlife prospers in the peace and …
Last summer concern for the environment and worries over plastic pollution dominated the news, this summer the all-engrossing topic has been the coronavirus pandemic. At first sight they don’t seem to be connected, but on closer inspection subtle links can be drawn between them. Some corona viruses affect bats, of which a particular type has …
Following the many footpaths that criss-cross our island is an excellent way of keeping fit, seeing the countryside and enjoying the great outdoors. In 2006 my husband and I set out to walk the length of the River Teme in the company of two friends who were fellow residents of the valley. Fourteen years and …
In May I wrote about the wildflower charity Plantlife’s “No mow May” campaign, which was aimed at providing extra nectar for pollinating insects. I was therefore very pleased to see the following headline in my daily newspaper in June, “orchid’s blossom like never before as shaggy lawns enjoy record sun”. Two photographs accompanied the article, …
Having had the unusual combination of plentiful fine weather and plentiful time at home, those of us lucky enough to have a garden will have been able to spend more hours there than usual. Each year I count the different species of damselflies and dragonflies that appear on my garden pond, but this year I …
Whilst pulling up huge amounts of yards-long streamers of goose-grass, clearly planning a takeover of my garden from behind a large shrub, I pondered whether there was enough to say about this commonplace weed to fill a whole article. Stop reading now if you think the answer should be no. As a child, I was …
The subject I’ve chosen for June is a mammal that we rarely see but, by dint of its abundant works, is one we are all aware of, it is the mole. In The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Graham portrayed Mole as a rather timid creature, enjoying warm friendships with practical Ratty and boastful Toad, …