Snowcock, showing well

Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s great replacement propaganda has reached North Norfolk

Two male Cetti’s warblers having a territorial dispute in the snow. I’ve seen two woodcock, a snipe and a water rail, all forced out to feed by the harsh weather.

First light on the Wensum

It’s a cold one on the common this morning. Stay safe everyone x

Annual mercury, in flower but slightly frost-wilted (aren’t we all?), for #wildflowerhour this week

Saw my woolly chums again

First light by an icy river. Have a great Sunday all.

2026 has started with a strong sunset game

The travellers’ fluffy mares are in foal on Night Common and they smell divine

First sunset of 2026, from my front door. I hope the year is good to you all.

Well worth watching if you’re interested in Fenland history and landscape www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oNs...

Funny old year really

I’ve just released deets for a new wetland ID course, with a special emphasis on lowland fens! 😍🌱 Find out more here: britishbotany.co.uk/products/rea...

I just listened to Jessye Norman singing the Vier letzte Lieder. If you need me today, you’ll find me sobbing into my pillow.

After a couple weeks trapped indoors, long walks, some winter sunshine, and some four-footed company were most welcome today.

Horses as drivers of biodiversity: burdock seeds which will fall from a forelock next time it is shed and Poronia punctata, nail fungus, which apparently returned to Norfolk with ponies NWT imported from Dartmoor a few years ago and is now found on various nature reserves where horses roam freely.

After a couple weeks trapped indoors, long walks, some winter sunshine, and some four-footed company were most welcome today.

Good morning from a wild corner of Norfolk, from the Dexter cows, from the lark above and from me

Very sad that I felt I had no choice but to resign from The Infinite Monkey Cage - a victory for the transphobes and other bigots - I did it because so much of the media has chosen to believe the kind and empathetic people are a fiction - they are real and so often unrepresented.

Really very special to be included in @civileats.com 2025 Winter Holiday Book Gift Guide! The true story of Miss White & her incredible, innovative women farmers of the 40s & 50s would be delighted! @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social

Ah yes, we have reached the end-stage of our society at which I can learn about birds without the wretched inconvenience of having to go outdoors and look at birds. Is it really only me?

Ah, this looks a captivating read just going by the title & author! It brought to mind one of my favourite quotes (I hope you don’t mind me including here, Nick):

There comes a point in every boy’s life when it’s time to rock out the Weihnachts Oratorium.

Some people are sent to Earth to make everyone else’s lives better. @lucylapwing.bsky.social just glows with kindness and love and pure, unfettered joy in the wild. I’ve only read one chapter of Love Is a Toad before today but I know that it will glow too.

Since I’m heading to Norfolk tomorrow for a talk with @timholtwilson.bsky.social and @themarshtit.bsky.social at Cley (22 tickets still available), bird place-name of the day 119 is CRANMER (Norf). OE cran + mer. ‘Crane pool/marsh’. #birdsandplace #PlaceNames #naturewriting

And now we sit and wait until pages and pages of notes start to make some kind of narrative sense. In the words of Captain Oates…

And that was November …

I can hear a little owl from my bed. First time in years. Last night I gave a talk in which the local decline of little owls was tangentially mentioned. A few hours later, an 🦉 is pointing out I know nothing.

🦢 🦢 courtship on a towpath. I’m here for it.

Oh - my current read (and rabbit hole - thinking about place names and the medieval birds locked within them, as if in amber) “The Cuckoo’s Lea”. Michael is at NWT Cley 5th Dec with @themarshtit.bsky.social doing his usual convivial thing of getting the very best out of people.

On these Natural History shelves at Norwich @waterstones.bsky.social I’ve just counted 38 authors I’ve interviewed. No wonder I never have time for Dickens!

A garbage gull at a Greggs

I heard a tawny owl as I walked home from our kooky little 1950s cinema last night. And I heard a tawny owl as I walked for my bus to Norwich this morning. Every time they make me smile. 🦉

Tomoz at Dragon Hall, Nodge. I know that no one's interested but I have to go through the motions. 😂 All books will be going cheap. Dragon Hall is a medieval merchant's house close to the River Wensum. It's steeped in history and actually has dragons!

This will be fun ☺️

This will be fun ☺️

Mood

I have filed three articles this morning and I am MIGHTY

It’s not been much of a botanical week for me, but here is a brave late harebell in the dunes at NWT’s stunning Holme Dunes reserve.

‘Oh go on, writing that chapter can’t be more important than my walk…’

I have just written the line ‘A crack willow is a slo-mo Sisyphus.’ And for this I deserve the rest of the month off.

An evening of wonder chatting with @drmjwarren.bsky.social last night about his beautifully-written book THE CUCKOO'S LEA, at The Bookery in Crediton - discussing crows & owls, placenames & Anglo-Saxon Charters! Buy Michael's book here or from your local indy - www.bloomsbury.com/uk/cuckoos-l...

Lesser White-fronted Geese - framed ready for my exhibition. A flock of 24 painted at Ken Hill Marsh, Norfolk in Jan 2025 and one of the highlights of the year. @wildkenhill.bsky.social details jamesmccallum.co.uk

Bachman's Warbler was discovered by the Reverend John Bachman in 1832 on the Edisto River a few miles north of Jacksonborough, South Carolina. In 1833 John J. Audubon painted and named the species after his friend Bachman. The photograph from 1958 is one of the last observations before extinction.

Oh Norfolk

Pink-footed Geese arriving at dawn, North Norfolk - framed ready for my exhibition this weekend. Painted in sub-zero conditions and ice crystals have left their own marks in the watercolour washes