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…

May is the month of spring in its full glory, and there’s nowhere better to experience the fresh transient beauty of the season than in deciduous woodland. I’m preparing a talk about oak trees…

All that work, claiming and holding a territory, building a nest, brooding and defending a clutch of eggs, feeding a hungry nestful of chicks - do bird pairs have a modern relationship, sharing…

It’s a busy time of year for our garden birds. Territories are being claimed and nests are being built. Birds become much more visible as they proclaim ownership of our gardens with vibrant song…