I must have been about five years old. My brother and I were given shrimping nets and set free to ‘guddle’ in a pond while we were visiting relatives in the Easter holidays. We probably had our…

About mid-February, I noticed the red kites were back. Once again, the skies over our cottage and fields are graced with the flight of these beautiful raptors, and I can stand in the garden, head…

This month I’m hoping for some cold, crisp days when I can get out to the mosses.

With the shorter days and colder weather, December is perhaps a month for staying nearer home, so this month I’m looking at gardens as a wildlife habitat. It’s a good time to plan what you might…

This month I’m rambling along the hedgerows. The pastoral landscape of England is defined by hedges – something rarely seen in the rest of the world – and Shropshire is well-blessed with them.

Birch trees are among the first to start showing their autumn colours – tinged with yellow even in September, and soon to be dropping a golden carpet of fallen leaves. I’m heading out in October…

There’s a great feeling of anticipation in birdwatching at this time of year. Passage migrants, by their very nature, are unpredictable, so you never know what you might see or where you might see…

The first Sunday in August is the traditional start of the whinberry harvest in Shropshire, so I’m heading for the hills – specifically, the Stiperstones.

July finds me heading for the riverbank. My husband enjoys fishing, and now the closed season is over, he’s keen to spend some time on the river. I don’t fish myself but the quiet times sitting…

June, for me, is the month of meadows. This is the time they reach their glorious peak, with a tapestry of wild flowers blooming, grass heads in a myriad of different varieties rippling in the…