Happy New Year to friends and followers of the FFON
2020 was our biggest year for the FFON website – readership grew by more than 200% and came courtesy of 90 plus countries. We couldn’t have created so much wonderful…
Author: Simon H King FLS
FFON Co-founder
Butterfly feeding experiment by Rowan Allen who is eight-years-old.
The following article, “Butterfly feeding experiment”, is by Rowan Allen, who is eight-years-old. Readers of FFON will remember Rowan’s previous contributions to the website – a poem about an ocelot…
Move Over Robin Hood? With a Tribute to Pamela
By Graham Wellstead. I expect many of my generation will echo in some way, but my life growing up in the 1940s and 50s was not run-of-the-mill. I lived with…
Podcast Episode 8: Make Nature Your Playground and “Consider the Colours”.
Welcome to autumn: Simon, John and Margaret join forces this autumn/winter with the wonderful team at Haith’s wild bird food (https://www.haiths.com/) to launch their new project – “Make Nature Your…
We’re in ‘Peregrine’ – The magazine of the Hawk and Owl Trust
No. 113 Autumn/Winter 2020. Visit https://hawkandowltrust.org to find out more about The Hawk and Owl Trust.
The Nar Valley in Norfolk – A foot safari during the Covid lockdown.
John and Margaret Cooper’s Pentney to King’s Lynn ‘safari’ 13 – 15 July 2020. A report on our walk – and the natural history that we saw – for the…
Gilbert White: 300 year anniversary of his birth.
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS. Rev Gilbert White FRS (18 July 1720 – 26 June 1793) was a pioneer naturalist, who collected over 40 years’ observations of the flora and…
My Woodland Odyssey.
By Graham Wellstead. It would not be to difficult to calculate how much of my life has been enriched in terms of years, an educated guess would be 3 to…
The Smell of Green
By Susan Underkoffler – our Pennsylvania, USA correspondent. I met someone during my first experience away from home at university. His name was Marco and he was from Iceland. Stocky…
THE FISHES’ TALE. Part II : RESURGENCE
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS If you missed Part I, it’s here. Franz Witte back in Leiden could hardly believe what he was hearing on the crackly phone line from…
“Wild place in a crowded county” by Graham Wellstead
I (Simon King) heard recently from naturalist Graham Wellstead who was keen to write about a special place for FFON readers – he wrote: “Here I am taking liberties. I…
Podcast episode 7 – An Anniversary (Maxwell Knight’s) and an Armchair Assessment.
Simon, John and Margaret’s theme for today’s podcast is “An Anniversary and An Armchair Assessment” and marked the fact that the 9th of July (when the podcast was recorded), is…
THE FISHES’ TALE
By Dr Valerie Jeffries FLS – FFON’s Kenya and UK correspondent Part 1: DARWIN’S OWN LAKE Lake Victoria has been a highway for trade, could become a highspot for tourists,…
Bee orchids: a plant being able to outwit an insect is truly phenomenal.
A genius evolutionary mimic of developing a decoy female bee to attract males hoping to mate with the ‘inanimate female’, but instead the males end up pollinating the flower free…
An entertaining short video relating to a social distance dispute (hedgehogs!), but first – moths:
The photos below and the video clip of hedgehogs were sent to John and Margaret Cooper by their friend Tim Roberts who lives in a small village in Shropshire. Tim…
“The Ocelot” by Rowan Allen (age 8)
The illustrations below were sent to John and Margaret Cooper (in response to their ‘An invitation to children and young people’ project invitation) by their friend Michelle O’Brien, who is…
Podcast episode 6 – Bees, bugs, ponds and water-bowls.
Simon, John and Margaret’s theme for today’s podcast is “Bees, bugs, ponds and water-bowls.” The FFON (www.ffon.co.uk) team discuss Sean Wensley’s timely blog “Growing close to nature during lockdown” and…
A note from “SE4 Sally”
“Bee-watching in garden – never noticed “bee preferences” before. In the case of Kniphofia (red hot poker plant) – always thought it was snails eating the flowering pokers – its…
Pond life.
By Graham Wellstead. My garden, like many, contains a pond. Not a great lake, just a small formal pond about 8ft square with raised sides, the theory being we could…
Podcast episode 5 – “Where have all the flowers gone”
Simon, John and Margaret’s theme for today’s podcast is “Wildlife – Interactions and Relationships.” The FFON (www.ffon.co.uk) team discuss John and Margaret’s recent blog post about their delightful village lane…
‘Although not wildlife, my canary stock is worthy of comment.’
By Graham Wellstead. ‘We feel it is good to have a certain amount about animals in captivity on FFON. Many naturalists also keep or tend animals in their homes; it’s…
‘Moments I treasure’ by Graham Wellstead.
The absolute pinnacle of the sport of falconry is to fly a Peregrine falcon. I have, over the years, flown every species of bird flown in the UK except Eagles,…
Introducing ‘AntBoy’ – with superpowers of the entomology kind!
A few weeks ago, I (Simon King) received an email from Graham Wellstead (FFON contributor) about a fascinating young man named Xander Johnston AKA ‘AntBoy,’ a 13 year old award…
“Where have all the flowers gone?”
By John and Margaret Cooper. On Monday 23rd March 2020, nine weeks ago, we started to “self-isolate” as over 70s in our tiny cottage in Norfolk. During our lockdown we…
Can anyone identify this beetle?
Our London correspondent, Helen Jeffries has a question for FFON readers. Helen has an inordinate fondness for beetles – ‘I like the specimens one can get in see-through blocks,’ she…
The joys of an early morning walk to work
A note to John and Margaret Cooper from Sarah Pellett, BSc (Hons) MA VetMB Cert AVP (ZooMed) DZooMed (Reptilian) MRCVS. RCVS Recognised Specialist in Zoo and Wildlife Medicine. Sarah is…
Podcast episode 4 – ‘Don’t keep your natural history to yourself’
Simon, John and Margaret’s theme for today’s podcast is “Records and Rapport”. But first, they share messages from a variety of places including India, the Caribbean, Scotland and a safari…
Marvellous Moths
By David McHattie. Colourful visitors photographed during Essex garden lock-down from the Dengie Peninsula. I have been lucky this spring – lots of moths and butterflies to see in the…
Man-Made Nature
By Helen Jeffries – FFON’s London Correspondent. Since people have been allowed out for as much exercise as they want, and have been gradually returning to work, London feels more…
