As if to tease us, indications of better things to come arrived just as daylight hours reached their minimum. The first tentative daffodil shoots appeared amongst the rapidly dwindling Calendulas in the garden and deep in the hedge a Song Thrush started to sing. Knowing that the worst of...
According to the traditional English carol The Twelve Days of Christmas, on the seventh day we should look forward to the delivery of “seven swans a swimming” which would be a notable addition to any menagerie. It conjures an idyllic, pastoral vision of a septet (or should it be...
Like many people I run a moth trap in the garden. It gets put out on suitable nights from March through to November. The best nights are those with low wind speeds and overcast humid conditions. Evenings with heavy rain and high winds are definite no trap days. In...
A close-up photograph of a dandelion flower reveals the strange strategy of dandelion pollination. Each “flower” is actually a composite of hundreds of individual flowers. Each has a single petal but its own set of male and female parts and produces its own nectar and pollen. Early flowering dandelions...
As well as all the fascinating organisms reported in On the Beach, if you delve down among the seaweeds you may find some colourful and graceful creatures that you might be surprised to learn are called Sea Slugs. Scientifically they are known as nudibranch molluscs, the first word meaning...