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…
Category: Animals
“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…
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…
“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…
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…
An explosion of starlings
Written by Graham Wellstead. Not everyone is keen on these brash argumentative birds but I have a soft spot for them. For several years starlings have been missing from my…
A more optimistic long view of our place in nature
By Dr Valerie Jeffries. Walking along briskly for my lockdown exercise I was watching the starlings congregate for their evening swarm on the TV aerials, and listening to quarrelling sparrows…
“Habitat is King”; look after the habitat and all will be well
By Mike Gadd. As a great lover of wildlife art and sculpture, I fell into the fascinating world of taxidermy and have tried to recreate the beauty of nature ever…
From Paul Budgen, FLS
Further to your earlier posting on the FFON blog, I offer you a photograph of a dark-edged beefly (Bombylius major), as requested. This was taken on 8th April this year, on…
From a friend in Kinross-shire, Scotland
A friend in Kinross-shire, Scotland, kindly forwarded to us some photos for the Armchair Naturalist FFON website. We encouraged him to do so when he told us that he has red…
Wooing the birds
Written by Beatrice Bray. The French twentieth century composer Olivier Messeain took avian observations to a new level. Not just content with listening to birds, he sought to recreate it…
Made in Chelsea
By Helen Jeffries – our London Correspondent. As it was such a beautiful day today, and I had a day off, I went for a walk along the Thames through…
My Garden
Written by Paul Beecroft. My garden is a busy place no matter what month of the year it is. As I sit at my computer today (April 20th) in full…
Notes from the Back Garden Naturalist
Written by Graham Wellstead in Darkest Surrey Simon King urges us all to become armchair naturalists during these rather frightening times. However, if I sit down, I fall asleep. I,…
Is that a deer I see before me?
Written by Norma Chapman – leading deer biologist. Muntjac deer are now very widespread in Britain, not just in the countryside but frequently living in villages and towns. Gardens provide…
Being isolated at home in Pennsylvania, USA won’t stop forensic scientist and wildlife enthusiast, Susan Underkoffler from watching nature.
A contribution from Susan Underkoffler, forensic scientist and wildlife enthusiast, who is currently isolated at home in Pennsylvania, USA. One thing this crisis is good for is getting people outside…
Maxwell Knight Symposium coverage in the IAT Bulletin
Thanks for the generous coverage of the MaxwellKnight Symposium in the IAT Bulletin.
