CHICK BOOKS

Edition A new book gives a new area covered by gardens in the UK. Suffolk has been dropped with Somerset taking over as its area is more like the new garden coverage in the UK! WE now have Somerset at an amazing 4,171 km2 (1,610 sq miles in 2017) [used to be Suffolk 1466 sq miles 3798 sq km!] This is an expansion of 144sq miles and 373 sq kilometers! I visited a friend the other day because someone said ‘you have got to visit her garden, it is beautiful'. I have known this la

The city of York may be well known for its history with its impressive minster, Roman walls, trains and Jorvic Viking centre but it is another Viking name which is just as important but totally missed by the millions of tourists and often locals as well and that is the word Ings. How many towns and villages around the country would have wanted one of these protecting them from the floods of 2014! Yes these are the ancient flood plains and meadows surrounding our river system

It was by chance how I came to start writing these children books. I was walking down the Newcastle quayside in February 2011 with a friend looking at sites for my 'Hadrian's Wildlife' book which came out a year later. We were amazed to see 2 Kittiwakes already inspecting their nest under the famous bridge. We carried on to look at the information board placed to inform locals and visitors some of which would be walking the now famous 'Hadrian's Wall footpath'. This goes alon

With snow on the fells and roads not so bad myself and Ewan decided to head east into Northumberland on Friday. The first prize was the fish and chips in Haltwhistle [The centre of Britain!] with a massive fish spreading from end to end in the box provided! The chips were good as well! I don't like eating them just sitting in the car so decided to drive up the Wall where Hadrian had made such a good job along the Whinsill with views across Crag Lough and Steel Rigg. This part

Since the invention of the gun, birds of prey have been killed to protect game birds, especially as driven Red Grouse moors cannot survive without the removal of birds of prey. The shooting estates remove predators, which produces a higher density of Red Grouse, so there can be a higher numbers pushed over the guns. With the invention of the ‘camera gun’ shooters no longer have to kill the birds they are aiming at. Built like a proper shotgun with optional ear muffs worn by t

We hear so much about bees being lost to the world but what about the humble dung beetle! This beetle was sacred to the Ancient Egyptians for the ball it creates looking like the sun itself, The beetle was found in Hieroglyphs [Egyptian alphabet ] and a famous large carved beetle is still found at Karnac Temple. The beetle is a big friend of us humans because by burying the dung it takes away the chance of diseases. In the 1980s it was so common that by every dog poo you woul

Had a great walk this week at Ennerdale. I think I have only 'touched' the valley before by going to see Bowness Knott, a crag by the present car park where a Peregrine falcon used to nest. This time it was the real thing from 11am to 15.30 pm walking up the valley to see the present work in what is called 'Wild Ennerdale'. We [John, Thelma and Ewan] walked roughly 8 miles stopping and starting with Woody and Susie [Border Terriers] to look and photograph the landscape and di

A New Year and New Blog! I don't expect to do it every day but I do have some wonderful days in a year and this was one of them. I live overlooking the Pennines in the great Valley of Geltsdale. I have lived here for 29 years [30 this year!]. I came to the area with the RSPB in 1981 the same year I married Thelma. We have 3 boys - Jamie, Tom and Ewan now 32, 31 and 28. More personal info will come out over the blogs. As many of you can imagine we have had a few wet days this