Author: admin

There’s been a break in the lockdown diaries recently, caused in part by an IT failure at home. That sounds so much more innocent than “I messed up an update and wrecked my website,” doesn’t it?  The other reasons for the absence of updates are (a) decoratng the master bedroom, for the first time in 25 years (yes, I did say 25. Mrs. D is a very patient person) and (b)  I have been taking advantage of the new freedoms …

Today was a day for the Odonoata or dragonflies to really start to show up. In my local area are some ponds, part of a flood relief scheme, and over the last few years they have sprouted, like a developing beard, the tall stems and fluffy heads of reedmace (called bullrush when I was young) and the sharp, spiked points of rushes. These shallow, warm pools are the perfect habitat for dragonflies, and I have watched over the years as …

No sign if the kingfisher on my walk today, and I was beginning to worry until I heard the familiar “peep-purrp” sound flashing down the river, chasing the bird itself. You don’t always have to see a kingfisher to know it’s there. The hand-buzzer rasping of a whitethroat  entertained me, as it flew from bramble stand to bramble stand, always keeping fifteen or so feet ahead of me as I walked. And then, joyously, it did a skylark-like display flight, …

I went for a walk in the rain today. It was generally a beautiful day, with blue skies and scudding white clouds. But a low pressure anchored off Scotland’s east coast brought a steady westerly gale, driving a series of intense rainstorms across Wiltshire like bullets from a stuttering gun. “April showers” sounds such a wonderful phrase, but “May downpours” is far nearer the truth, albeit less poetic. Most of the wildlife today was smarter than me and was keeping …

A pleasant walk today, in which my old friend the Kingfisher popped up very close to me while I was taking a brief rest from my daily walk. I was happy to see him, especially as he sat still long enough for this photo. I was puzzled for a while by what seemed to be patchy fog, in the middle of a hot and sunny afternoon. It turned out to be the downy seeds of the willow tree – the …

Today’s walk was a joy. Partly because I’m now regularly seeing a kingfisher, one of two pairs that are local to me. I searched for kingfishers for many years before I realised that they are actually to be found near my home, on the same lake where the grebes hang out. I strongly suspect that they are nesting, which means that I have to be extremely careful not to inadvertently disturb them close to the nest – it’s an offence, …