Flights of the butterfly

  • THE TALE OF THE STAG HEAD OAK

    Once upon a time, there was a young oak tree. She lived in a hedgerow and hoped, one day, to grow tall and strong, like her friend in the next field. But, one day, she got sick. Maybe it was tree flu, I don’t know. But she was very ill. And she “died”. Only, of…

  • THE HURRICANE FACTORY

    Hurricanes are a nuisance. Before you scream, please read on a bit. I have never endured the horror of a hurricane. But I have had the privilege of visiting a Caribbean island just after one went through. I had the honour of seeing the courage, optimism and good humour of the people as they cleared…

  • EVERYTHING’S GONNA BE ALRIGHT

    Mr and Mrs Swan with their new kids: This is the little pond at the end of my road. This pair have been returning here each winter for about the past ten years. It’s not really big enough for swans, but they use it as a sort of maternity unit cum nursery until the cygnets…

  • Duckduck

    This is Duckdcuk, sitting on the roof ridge of a house behind me. He’s a mallard drake. He hangs out on these roofs quite a lot. All the other ducks mess about in the water and muck of the watermeadow. I don’t know if he is suffering from DBO (Duck body Odour) or some such…

  • DUCKS AND STUFF

    A dull, but mild morning. Spring is in the air. And sex. Especially among the duck people. Mallards are living on the flooded watermeadow and it’s just sex and mayhem. Worse than a Weatherspoon Friday night. Bunches of males are trying to get to the females and being noisily warned off by the mate of…

  • SHREW

    This is a little shrew I saw on the track this morning. It was sad. He seemed to be intact, no sign of an attack so I hope he had a peaceful passing in the night. Now, this is important, do not confuse a shrew with a mouse. Some years ago, I lived in the…

  • Cold morning

    Watched the geese and ducks mooching about on the flooded watermeadow. Cold, this morning, a full moon just setting through the bare trees.Their bums and feet must be frozen. A duck started swimming across, quacking all the way. Think he’d spotted a squaw and was giving it a bit of “Fancy a quickie, darlin’ ”.Looks…

  • Dark morning

    Went for a short saunter at about five a.m. A little bird was singing his head off in a tree nearby. Now, this struck me as odd. It was a very dark, cloudy morning and about two hours before dawn. No moon, no starlight. Unless the little fella was using his smartphone, how did he know to…

  • Murder at Sycamore Gap

    I am horrified at the crime that was committed at Sycamore Gap. This is not vandalism, it is murder. Just because trees do not wonder around with a mobile phone glued to their faces does not mean they are not sentient beings. They just live to a different timescale from we rats scurrying about their…

  • Not a Butterfly

    This beautiful creature is not a butterfly. It’s a seed pod.