Author Archives: cattie42

Have you ever notice how a great many of people’s hobbies annoy someone else? Motorists get like hell about cyclists, while mountain bikers may scare pedestrians and horse riders – who annoy the walkers by leaving piles of poo on … Continue reading →

Well, here we are,  in the depths of December, in the dark of the year. We’re  only ten days off the shortest  day, then the year turns. For another month or so, we’re in the armpit of the year, the … Continue reading →

Arwen. Tolkien’s elvish maiden of legend, fairest of all, Evenstar of her people. But her name will be rather more infamous after this past weekend, a storm of power and fury like many of us have never seen. In places, … Continue reading →

The nights, as they say, are fair drawing in. We’re now into the darkest two months of the year and less than a month from the winter solstice. It makes for long, dark nights but it does mean that sunsets … Continue reading →

Autumn is often a time of misty mornings. Mild damp days followed by chill nights make water condense out of the air and a blanket of mist covers the land. Or, some days, just the cooler, damper places, like up … Continue reading →

It’s been the sort of week where you stop saying ‘late autumn’ and start saying ‘ early winter’.  Oh, it’s been unseasonably mild – we’re still seeing plenty of toads wandering around the reserve, when they should be thinking about … Continue reading →

While our autumn colours are glorious, I’ve known years when they’ve been better and lingered for longer. Why? Well, the wind this year has been the difference! We’ve had a pretty unsettled autumn, with lots of strong winds – and … Continue reading →

We’re well through October now, and, this week, the Hunter’s Moon was riding high in the sky. By it’s light, and, more importantly, navigating by the stars, came a rush of windthrushes, redwings freshly arrived from Scandinavia. And they came … Continue reading →

What’s in a name? We’re taught, as children, that name calling doesn’t matter – ‘sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me’. But, of course, that’s not true – names, words and descriptions are strongly … Continue reading →

One of the things I love about nature – and there are oh, so many – is that there is always something new to see and experience. A big part of that is the turn of the seasons and this … Continue reading →