Obsessed with the weather? If you’re a British reader, then the answer is certainly yes. Thanks to our seasonal climate, we have always been a nation with one eye on the sky – and it’s only a short hop from there to observing how our flora and fauna respond to these ever-shifting conditions. Being in early winter now, it’s the time of year for geese and gales, starlings and mistletoe, tree rot and fungi in staggering variety. There is always, always something changing about our wildlife, day by day.
This is the foundation on which the Guardian’s Country diary column flourishes. It’s a sort of slow-motion version of the BBC programme Springwatch – one short piece each day, from a different writer in a different part of the UK, each focusing on a different aspect of nature.
