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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 FFON Armchair Naturalist website: https://thefrightenedfaceofnature.com/ Part 1. Last month we decided, as a break from our fifteen-week Covid-19 “lockdown”, to explore the River Nar on…
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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 like itself. When I go out to work I see a lot more people about and there is also more noise of traffic. I’m sure…
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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 and the raucous yells of the seagulls way inland. Many birds have adapted to live alongside humans in our urban landscapes, some like the house…
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If you are self-isolating, you must: make the most of nature’s playground daily…
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What happens when humans ‘turn off’ for a moment.
Written by Chris Middleton FLS. What a great idea Armchair Naturalism is. A perfect time to make some observations, and to encourage others to do the same. I like to think people might also use the time constructively to perhaps learn a new study discipline or new language, or just further their general knowledge. On…
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London in lock-down? Not as far as nature is concerned.
By Helen Jeffries As a key worker in central London I’ve seen a very different side to my city since the partial lock-down. Walking to work at 6.30am for the morning shift the birds are so much louder than before – whether that’s real or my impression now the traffic noise has reduced I don’t…
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Notes from the ‘armchair naturalists’ – connecting through nature to beat coronavirus isolation
There is so much that the “armchair naturalist” can observe if s/he takes a few minutes’ break from working on the computer or reading the newspaper and books, through the window, at the world outside. This morning, for example, I noticed a wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) on the wooden fence at the back of our tiny…
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Welcome to spring
If you’re in self isolation due to coronavirus, here’s how the great outdoors looks today – welcome to spring. I’ll be taking lots of photos, recording a few videos and considering launching a podcast to help all you ‘armchair naturalists’ dig deep and come healthily through being confined to barracks. Stay fit and well. Simon…
