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As our horizons have shrunk with Covid-19, so small victories have become something worth savouring. Today I had a small victory, along with a huge dose of luck. I disapprove of treating wildlife-spotting like stamp collecting. It seems disrespectful, somehow, to treat living things in this way. But the exhilaration that I get from seeing a creature I’ve never seen before, particularly if it’s rare or special, is beyond compare. It’s like finally meeting your favourite movie star, except that …

It’s the fifth month, which is not quite halfway around the year from Christmas, but close enough. And a song which has long puzzled me. Ironically, it’s not the fact that ten lords keep leaping or the quandary over why French hens are so much better than any other kind, but the two turtle doves. You see the turtle dove is a summer bird, flying here to join us for our summer and then returning to overwinter in sub-Saharan Africa. …

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 …