Herald of spring and the timely townhall clock
Wolsingham, Weardale Whitlow grass marks the spring flora advent as moschatel unfurls its luminous green clustersThree warm days in a row and the longed-for spring had arrived. In a week there would be...
View ArticleCoastal scrub and grassland alive with birds
Seaham, Durham Impressions of movement, colour, sound and the scents of spring left an abiding sense of wellbeingAlong the well-worn cliff-edge path from Dawdon to Hawthorn Dene, blackthorn was in full...
View ArticleSecretive spore shooter prized by gourmets
Wolsingham, Weardale We were about to give up when we spotted the first morel, its convoluted, toffee-coloured, cap not much larger than a golf ballEvery winter this gently sloping bank on the outside...
View ArticleToxin-tolerant plants take root in colliery's spoil tips
Middlehope Moor, Weardale Miners who left waste rock beside the burn created a perfect habitat for the spring sandwortOn a grey day in a tree-less landscape, buffeted by a bone-chilling north-easterly...
View ArticleFluffy chicks make for anxious parents
Pikestone Fell, Weardale An oystercatcher, a gaudy pied clown with crimson beak and eyes, flew straight towards us, piping hystericallyIn winter this part of the Weardale Way can be a morass, but the...
View ArticleLily beetle wears a frock of frass to deter foes
Crook, Country Durham Tiny larvae hatched then covered their bloated bodies in their own sticky excrement so they resembled bird droppings At first I thought the flash of red under the leaf was a...
View ArticleA storm, then strong scents, steam and snails
Egglestone, Teesdale For some, rain came as a blessed relief after days of drought and the downpour coaxed snails out to grazeThe storm faded away to a distant rumble of thunder over the hills, taking...
View ArticleChirrup and rattle of the courting grasshoppers
Wolsingham, Weardale The grasshoppers are singing, dragging the little pegs on their hind femurs across the edges of their long membranous wingsIn the 40 years that I have followed this steep, stony,...
View ArticleInscrutable all-seeing dragonfly overhead
Hamsterley Forest, Weardale Their visual sensitivity challenges us and their ability to track small fast objects is unparalleledMuch of Hamsterley forest lay in deep shadow and the scent of conifer...
View ArticleA harebell grapples with a freeloading furrow bee
Daddry Shield, Weardale The architecture of the flower choreographs the insects’ movements, making pollination likelyThe footpath to St John’s Chapel, through hay meadows long since cut, follows the...
View ArticleBeastly beauties – on the hunt for feral gooseberries
Egglestone, Teesdale Some of the fruit is breathtakingly sour but, occasionally, one has sweetness and flavour that is delightfulThroughout the North Pennine dales there are traces of long-forgotten...
View ArticleCountry diary: slowworm's escape from jaws of disaster
Blanchland, North Pennines Seemingly in a trance, the reptile lay outstretched on the road with predator bites near its headWhen I was a child there was a sheet of rusting corrugated iron lying on the...
View ArticleCountry diary: strange spiders and help from the web
Crook, County Durham Within a day of uploading a picture of what I thought was one species of harvestman, I was told it was a more interesting alienWe may be living in a golden age for natural...
View ArticleCountry diary: up to the gills in toadstool spores
Hollingside Wood, Durham City Overnight, uncountable numbers of microscopic spores had drifted down to be made visible on the paper surfaceThere is something stealthy about toadstools. When we followed...
View ArticleCountry diary: mighty oaks and many, many, doomed acorns
Hollingside wood, Durham city Acorns’ chances of survival make lottery odds look attractive as most will be eaten by insects, birds and small mammalsThis wood was last clear-felled in 1799, then...
View ArticleCountry diary: hand-chiselled headstones speak in rural accents
Hamsterley, Weardale, Durham As the centuries passed, the memorials in the village churchyard became more formal and decorative, less idiosyncraticThere has been a place of worship on this spot since...
View ArticleCountry diary: brief encounter with a woodcock in the wildwood
Bishop Auckland, Durham Gnarled, leafless branches reach out like those menacing trees in Arthur Rackham’s fairytale illustrationsThe flow of Coundon burn is constricted by farmland and by a tunnel...
View ArticleCountry diary: venerable beech hosts a swarm of microscopic life
Mini-ponds have formed in the surface roots of an ancient tree and provide an environment for minute organisms to thriveThe beech that stands at the end of the stepping stones across Waskerley beck is...
View ArticleCountry diary: dancing and diving, a dipper braves the ice-cold river
Black Banks Plantation, Weardale, County Durham Maintenance of insulating plumage is vital for a bird whose survival depends on feeding underwaterIt was a morning of brittle beauty, the best kind of...
View ArticleCountry diary: the deadly beauty of spider silk
Wolsingham, Weardale: In the fog every surviving thread was spangled with water droplets, sparkling as the sun broke throughSwirling fog plays tricks. As we crossed an open field the silhouette of an...
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