This post was inspired by something that happened a few months ago. I’ve sometimes found run-over hedgehogs on the road near my house, and I usually bury them. I can’t bear the thought of a hog just lying there like a piece of rubbish. So one morning when I saw a brownish shape in theContinue reading “Favourites and familiars”
Tag Archives: #nature
Peartree Green: after the fire
On 12 August 2022, after weeks of dry, hot weather, the inevitable happened: there was a serious fire on Peartree Green local nature reserve. I was sitting in our garden when my partner came out around 5 pm and said, “Something’s on fire over there”. I turned to look and said, “Oh my god, thatContinue reading “Peartree Green: after the fire”
Outdoor Learning: Noticing Nature
Not surprisingly for a nature-lover, one of my favourite parts of working in outdoor learning at Youth Options was when young people showed an interest in the natural world around them. Sometimes this was in the forest school area, and other times it was out on a walk around Itchen Valley Country Park, where weContinue reading “Outdoor Learning: Noticing Nature”
Wonderful Woodland
When I worked opposite Southampton’s Little Common, I’d often go for some ‘tree time’. If I was tired or stressed, I knew even a few minutes with trees would revive me. Sometimes I’d eat my lunch there – the only problem was motivating myself to go back into my office! I have a similar problemContinue reading “Wonderful Woodland”
Winter Treasures
I don’t know what this seedhead is. Normally that would be a source of anxiety for me, as I like to identify things. That’s been my usual pattern in the five years or so that I’ve been regularly exploring my local nature reserve, Peartree Green – taking photos then spending time looking up what I’veContinue reading “Winter Treasures”
Exploring Itchen Ferry shore
Until a few days ago, I didn’t know my limpets from my barnacles. Now though I can tell you a limpet is a mollusc whereas a barnacle is a crustacean, and I can recognise a barnacle because I found some on a rock at Itchen Ferry shore. Itchen Ferry was a village destroyed when theContinue reading “Exploring Itchen Ferry shore”
A wilder garden
Lunchtime today, and I glanced out of the window and spotted a wren hopping around in the front garden. What’s the connection with this photo? Well, ‘my’ wren might be paying me frequent visits because it’s finding food. Not the seeds and fatballs that are popular with the sparrows and starlings, but the insects itContinue reading “A wilder garden”
Dandelion Nature 