Copulating green beetles: why not?

Yesterday, Spring felt real for the first time, so I got outside and almost fell over all the copulating green beetles.

Field course round up

The weather nearly spoilt our annual second-year field course, but didn’t quite.

Spring flower extravaganza

April, as you know, was a complete wash-out for practically everything. However, now May has arrived, catch-up has begun.

Hungarian adventures

Just returned from 10 days in the old Carpathian basin, the first time I have been in Spring. It was eye-opening.

Flora of Southwick Wood

One of the glories of Northants is the old remnants of Rockingham Forest, and in spring they are just outstanding. One remnant is Southwick Wood, conserved by the Cambs, Beds and Northants Wildlife Trust. It’s bloomin’ marvelous. We went on 1st April (really!), and stuff was just coming out.

Pilgrimage to John Clare’s cottage.

I’m a bit of a fan of the poetry of John Clare, the 19th Century peasant poet. Since my parents live quite close to his home village of Helpston, we managed to arrange a dual visit on 31st March.

Interesting birds (and bad photographs)

It’s not often I get to comment about the garden birds, but there have been a couple of notable sightings to share with you in the last week.

My gorgeous Golden waxcaps

One of the treasures of my mini-meadow is the little “colony” of golden waxcap fungi that fruit in autumn.

Front Garden Frog

It was such a cutie, I thought I’d show you the frog we found whilst weeding the front garden on Sunday. Photo courtesy of the missus.

Last dregs of summer

Gorgeous weather the last few days has had us cutting the mini-meadow (always a great celebration), and enjoying the last insects of the year.