Tag Archives: nature
A Dispatch from the Depths
Or a wallow in the mire… Look away now if misery memoirs aren’t your thing… (Normal service will be resumed…)
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Tagged allotment, birds, despair, magpies, nature, one for sorrow rhyme, silent spring, tenacity
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A Return to Tranquillity
At the end of June 2022, I spent a few days on a birdwatching course at the Field Studies Council’s Rhyd y Creuau centre near Betws-y-Coed. On the final evening, I was determined to visit a place I’d not been … Continue reading
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Tagged Betws-y-Coed, church, churchyard, godsacre, nature, peaceful, St Michael's Old Church, Wales, wood warbler, yews
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Spring’s Shifting Soundscapes
As I walked around Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve recently, I noticed the difference in the birds occupying both the soundscape and the landscape. Residents had given way to visitors, the latter muscling their way in to sing their own songs and … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birdsong, birdwatching, common whitethroat, grasshopper warbler, nature, reed warbler, sedge warbler, Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve, walking
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A Whirlwind Weekend of Wonders
I learnt a very helpful piece of information during a recent weekend’s birding (14th-17th April): bird for spring migrants on a rainy day with a south-east wind blowing. It seemed counterintuitive to this fairly fair-weather birder and walker until the … Continue reading
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Tagged birding, birdwatching, connections, farmland, nature, Oglet, redstart, ring ouzel, wheatear, whinchat
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A Good Friday’s Birding
On a glorious Good Friday, I visited a new (to me) birding site with a friend. Target species: yellowhammer – another species in rapid decline, as I’ve mentioned before on this blog (https://wordsanddeeds.co.uk/not-the-bird-we-were-looking-for/). The reasons are numerous: farmers sowing crops … Continue reading
The Magical Mersey
Today’s blog post celebrates the River Mersey, and is a combination of a wonderful wildlife encounter I experienced earlier this month and a poem written in response to Lancaster LitFest’s call-out for its ‘From Source to Sea’ poetry co-creation project … Continue reading
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Tagged connection, estuary, harbour porpoise, Lancaster LitFest, nature, nature writing, poem, poetry, River Mersey
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A Walk through History at Calderstones Mansion House
Looking through my notes on the various talks I have attended in the last few months, I found that I had not written about the very interesting one that took place at Calderstones Mansion House last October, as part of … Continue reading
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Tagged ancient stones, Calderstones Park, history, Mansion House, nature, poems, poetry, walk
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Springing into Spring
Inspired by The Resurgence Trust’s latest Spring Equinox celebration on Zoom (21st March 2023), led by Georgie Gilmore, this week’s blog post looks at springing into the new season with an open heart and a sense of trying to find … Continue reading
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Tagged balance, blossom, equinox, friends, nature, northern wheatear, Speke Hall, Speke-Garston Coastal Reserve, spring, walking
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A Day in the (Urban Wild) Life
This week’s blog post is on urban wildlife; what the big city has to offer that could possibly compare to the natural world of our green and pleasant spaces.
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Tagged artwork, Baltic Triangle, kingfisher, Liverpool, Liverpool Marina, Mersey, nature, pavement plants, sunset, urban wildlife, walking
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