My most magical bat encounter came when I walked into the bathroom and saw a bat on a toothbrush. My brain struggled to process what my eyes were seeing; they kept trying to convince me that it was a used teabag that just happened to have feet. #bats
24 property viewings, 17 months of renting, 5 house offers, 4 surveys, 2 long-awaited glasses of champagne* *Yes, I know these are wine glasses; we hadn't unpacked the champagne ones, LOL.
Last autumn, I told you all about our new dream house in Worcester, minus one minor detail: we didn't actually own it. I suppose I didn't mention it because I thought it would only be a matter of time before we did and because I didn't want to bore you. We had arranged to rent …
If I had to pick a favourite harbinger of spring I think it would have to be the flowers of Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna). I spotted my first one in bud on the shady banks of the Laugherne Brook during the New Year Plant Hunt but I had to wait until 8th February to see …
The month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god with two heads, one of which looks into the future and the other, the past. He is the god of beginnings and transitions, but also of doorways, gates, passageways and paths...
At the end of September 2021, Mr Rixon and I, our two girls and our two cats finally moved out of London. Not to Devon, as long-planned and dreamed, but to Worcester in the Midlands instead. Back in June, we were in the process of purchasing a house in a pretty little village in Mid …
There are many books that encourage children to take a deeper interest in the natural world around them. I was delighted to receive a particularly wonderful one through the post recently: 'A Friend to Nature: Activities and Inspiration to Connect with the Wild World' by Laura Knowles and Rebecca Gibbon. A Friend to Nature is …
Every day, I'm horrified by the amount of plastic I throw in the bin. Since plastic was invented in the 60's, the world has produced over eight billion tonnes of the stuff. Around half of it is single-use plastic, such as drinking straws, drinks bottles, takeaway coffee cups and lids, food wrappers and other packaging. …
We didn’t mean to have a wild, epic adventure through brambles, stinging nettles, rocks, sand dunes, a golf course and deep muddy puddles with two small children and a pushchair. But if we had not done so then I would not have seen so many beautiful wildflowers, including my first ever orchids... It all started …
ComfreyFumitory of the WallBlack MedickGarlic MustardOxford RagwortCuckooflower What began as a wildflower awakening back in February has slowly blossomed into bit of an obsession. Now, I notice wildflowers wherever I go. More and more of them are becoming well known to me, usually just by their common names, but sometimes by their botanical ones too, …
Little Wild Tales 