The real gymnast of the bird table in winter is the nuthatch. I always think of them as strong athletic birds, just as happy running up and down a treat stump or swinging from a bird feeder. Nuthatches readily come to the bird table, being particularly partial to peanuts and sunflower seeds which replace the […]
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Something in the air You’ll have seen them hanging in the breeze above motorway verges, precisely adjusting wings, body and tail so as to keep the head dead still, like it was pinned to the background. The lovely old name for the kestrel is the ‘windhover’. Our most abundant bird of prey, the bread and
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Bringing some much needed colour to the New Mills countryside, gorse with its acid yellow flowers and prickly green spikes is really welcome in the depths of winter. These pictures are from the bridleway leading up to Lantern Pike – but gorse is common all over the area. There are different varieties (common and western
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Tree creepers are not rare but you don’t see them very often. That’s partly because they’re usually silent but more due to their secretive creeping up the rough bark of trees in search of spiders and larvae of insects hidden in the fissures of the bark. A treecreepers beak is perfectly designed for this: a
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Holly and ivy can be found all over our New Mills hedgerows and woodlands, some woudl even say it’s teh ivy that is holding New Mills together. Both plants are evergreen which led to beliefs that they were magical; in pagan times, they were used in winter festivals as a symbol of new life to
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November is a great month to look in the woodlands of New Mills for the tiny but rather beautiful Candlesnuff (or Candlestick) fungus. Dark at the bottom and white on top, it supposedly looks like a snuffed candle. It grows on decaying tree stumps and glows in the dark – though unfortunately at levels too
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Came across this by the pond today; from a distance it looked small enough to be a damselfly but on closer inspection it became clear it was a dragonfly, the Common Darter. At rest, dragonflies hold their four wings spread out, unlike the damsel which has them together over their back, like a butterfly. The
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No taming these! I’m not expecting many ‘likes’ for this because we tend to shy away from small, fast, furry things with four legs but here goes. This winter, for the first time, I sprinkled mealworms on the ground below the bird table; robins, blackbirds and thrushes love them. But the tasty morsels also attracted
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Who doesn’t love the horse chestnut? With their spiky green cases, gleaming seeds, celebrated by children (I hear ‘conkers’ has started to make a comeback). Horse chestnuts, with their mahogany-bright conkers, are the very essence of a British autumn and more importantly you can find this beautiful tree all over New Mills But did you
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Flora and fauna : Signs of Spring Well Spring is hanging round the corner and everything’s on the point of happening. We had a wander along the canal across from Swizzels last weekend and hiding behind The Hub (that pink building) were a few patches of lemon yellow coltsfoot. A sure sign of things to come.
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