The Great British BBQ – fuelled by Bronze Age burners, butterflies and bramble-bashing. There is very little that shouts ‘British’ more than a damp bbq on a rainy bank holiday Monday. Across the country this weekend people will be partaking in two of the nations favourite activities: commenting on the weather, and cooking over charcoal. …
Wealden Worship and Wrens in the Woods
I could hear the song thrush even before I opened my eyes. In that lull of morning when the world breathes gently and gathers itself for the day, I lay and listened to the bird’s song ringing out like a call to prayer. Yellow spring sunlight found its way through the east-facing window of the …
What to Look for in Nature: January
January is the very core of winter; short cold days that all too often seem dreary and grey, punctuated with icy freezes. Despite the apparent bleakness of the month, the workings of spring are gradually gaining momentum, mostly under the surface. Above ground there is plenty to enjoy as well, if you know where to …
SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Autumn is ageing
6am. The morning has yet to break, the sky still darkened and unrevealing. A robin has just set up a brave solo from the half-leafed wayfarer tree beyond the bedroom window. Once daylight pulls apart the lingering night the morning will be chilly, and a damp film will cling to any exposed surface. By mid …
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Summer Adventure – Wild Rose Country
Alberta, Canada Canada. It seemed a world away. Amp had been several times of course since his parents emigrated in 2008, but I hadn't travelled further than a school trip across the channel to France, in my entire 25years! Many people found this lack of tourism hard to comprehend, their holiday memories being filled with …
SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Into the Wind
A buzzard, bent-winged into the wind, was hanging against the clouds as I walked up the driveway to work. I had to acknowledge a pang of mild jealousy as I watched him twist his ruffled feathers and bank, realign, then tilt and soar off over the tree tops. Behind me, the jays were raucous in …
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SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Return to Autumn
I popped to my Mums house, to exchange a couple of bits of shopping we'd picked up for each other. It is just a 5 minute walk around the corner, but I found myself amazed by the complete image of early autumn offered to me by the remnant hedgerows and woodland edges that soften my …
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SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: A Sweet Utterance
I have finally seen the bullfinches. All summer long I have heard their whistles from the long hedge that runs parallel to one of the glasshouses (of the plant nursery where I work) but they have remained elusive and disembodied. Today a movement in the bushes attracted my attention as I headed out on my …
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SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: The Snail Bone-Yard
It's been days since I heard the Swifts. July was washed away in a week of heavy showers, and the rain seems to have rinsed the cloud-cutters from the sky. Perhaps they have left us already; they are after all the first summer migrants to head south to their winter quarters. It does seem odd …
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SFN Journal – Autumn Almanac: Silence of the Birds
July 16th 2017 - Silence of the birds The weather has been hot, close and suppressive. I have taken to retreating to the cool shade of the woods when out for a lunch-break walk. Luckily the plant nursery where I work is bordered by woodland, filled with a myriad of textures and colours and illuminated …
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