When you pay a lesser whitethroat the attention he deserves, you realise he has a lot more going on than just his hollow rattle.

Lots of red deer activity along the river last night. Within just a few miles of here last week, I saw roe, fallow, Reeves’s muntjac and Chinese water deer. Send me your lynx and wolves…

Crikey that was a demanding week, but it included wild garlic & wood spurge in South Norfolk (at one of the only Norfolk sites for the latter), crab apples before the frost browned them, & cowslips in last night’s sunset on the wonderful restored chalk downland of Massingham Heath. #wildflowerhour

SWIFTS

Hands up if your day is improved by a sedge warbler getting trapped in a blue tit imitation loop and not being able to find a way out that makes musical sense

Good morning from beside the Wensum

Stallions sparring in this evening’s chilly sunset. Good night all 🐴 🐴

Meadow foxtail in flower. @luciemr.bsky.social and I have just seen our first large red damselfly of the year, five minutes after we predicted it.

welted thistle / melted thistle

This same cuckoo was here last year. His cuck is beyond reproach. His oo is lamentable.

Cruel frosts do shake the darling buds of May

The garden warbler singing close to my home this morning must be questioning his life choices…

Dear all, I'm running the London Marathon this Sunday dressed as a badger for Norfolk Wildlife Trust – to make our beautiful blue & green planet a tiny bit more beautifully blue & green! Any support for NWT gratefully received, thank you 🙏https://2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/backthebadger

Peter Godfrey-Smith’s interview on R4 Today just now was a masterclass in genuine expertise politely eviscerating a story which has been sensationalised beyond all evidence.

On 30th April I’m giving a fundraising talk - on the amazing first century of Norfolk Wildlife Trust- for the lovely folks at St Margaret’s in Ruins, West Raynham. Do come if you’re local.

If you wish to sponsor a Badger 🦡 running the London Marathon on Sunday all in aid of a very good cause … 2026tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/backtheba... #BackTheBadger @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social #NWT

In the words of Aristotle (I believe it was): red-legged partridge + goshawk = ☠️

Just no, Gertrude, not the kitchen too.

Rather a lot of duck for one small (previously beautiful) sink pond 🦆

Oops

Grey wagtails, wrens, whitethroats and my Wensum

The moment the muntjac realised what they were blundering towards (but didn’t clock it was the vegan of the species).

I ache for the fragile beauty of it all

Shortly before he stole my hat

Precious little getting through the Straits of Houmous

What have I done, to deserve to share this Earth with apple blossom?

Frost by the river today. Wishing you all a safe, prosperous week.

Some spring flowers this weekend for #wildflowerhour cuckooflower bird cherry bluebell early purple orchid

Sumer is icumen in Lhude sing cuccu Groweþ sed and bloweþ med and springþ þe wde nu Sing cuccu

Dawn with nightingale, blackcap, pheasant and distant cuckoo and crane.

And as a bitore bombleth in the myre, She leyde hir mouth unto the water doun Dawn with bittern, among other things.

Thanks Nige. Used your flyer to rescue this gorgeous queen wasp. Had to be good for something 🤷🏻‍♂️

Five years ago, welted thistle was abundant on my patch (for the first time ever). I haven’t seen it here since. This year it’s in several places again. Plants are weird 🤷🏻‍♂️

For the 15 years I have walked this stretch of river, there has been a whitethroat territory here. This morning he’s half drowned out by passing greylags and accompanied by linnets, woodpigeons and the drone of a common carder bee. While typing I’ve heard a gadwall drake, my first here this year.

Lovely by my river today

For 11 months of the year, jays sound exclusively as though they were having a difficult poo. In late March and April they become the freakiest imitators and ventriloquists.

A Japanese cherry to make Ru Paul (or Mrs Slocombe) blush

Critical Atlantic current significantly more likely to collapse than thought - Scientists say finding is ‘very concerning’ as collapse would be catastrophic for Europe, Africa and the Americas #AMOC #climatecrisis Story by me www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Really rather galling

For everyone whose Tuesday could use a dose of unreasonable cuteness, here are Gertrude and her gertlings. (And yes, she does have a whiff of bronze-winged duck about her.)

🦊 💩

Almond willow, on the brink of dropping pollen

Good morning from beside the Wensum (Spot the greylag nest)

How in God’s name am I supposed to work when there’s Epistrophe eligans on my Euphorbia amygdaloides?

The inevitable has happened. I have surrendered one of my ponds to Gertrude and her gertlings 🦆 😭 😆

Cruellest month

Three little ringed plovers just flew high over these fields. I wouldn’t haven’t seen them if they hadn’t been gargling and chirping, as they do in spring. Beyond the line of blackthorn and oaks, there are wetlands along the river.

Good morning from beside the Wensum

Wood forget-me-not Myosotis sylvatica by the river this morning for #wildflowerhour