Country diary: Saved by a tree I didn’t know I knew Blacka Hill, South Yorkshire: The snow is so thick, on the ground and in the air, that I can no longer tell one from another The Guardian - UK · Mar 15, 2023
Country diary: Many layers of history in one spot Newbrough, Northumberland: Beneath the monuments to landowning families is a fortlet that predates Hadrian’s Wall by decades The Guardian - UK · Mar 13, 2023
Country diary: A remote church in a long-lost borough Llanfihangel Cefnllys, Powys: The bracken hillsides are aflame with light as I follow the lane to the spire The Guardian - UK · Mar 11, 2023
Country diary: Clean water brings the dippers Wolsingham, Weardale: The cock bird, an operatic tenor in immaculate evening dress, delivered a avian aria that I could hear above the tumult of the river The Guardian - UK · Mar 3, 2023
Country diary: The holy fountain that’s neither holy nor a fountain Agnes’ Fountain, Allerford, Somerset: Drip becomes puddle becomes zigzag becomes river. It’s gentle and thriving, but there’s nothing sacred about it The Guardian - UK · Mar 2, 2023
Country diary: The sweet pre-spring scent of optimism Otley, West Yorkshire: These rich woods, which I grew up next to, have been bought out by local groups who know the true value of nature The Guardian - UK · Feb 28, 2023
Country diary: English thatchers are having to take to the woods Start Bay, Devon: I’m on the hunt for straight hazel for a roof, and supple hazel for a fiddly porch. Normally I wouldn’t be doing this The Guardian - UK · Feb 25, 2023
Country diary: It’s started – the blue tits are house-hunting Langstone, Hampshire: They’ve been popping in and out of the nest box we put up, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll sign on the dotted line The Guardian - UK · Feb 21, 2023
Country diary: These woods, this hill, are now out of reach Sandy, Bedfordshire: The town fireworks were held in Cox’s Hill every year, but no longer The Guardian - UK · Feb 17, 2023
Country diary: A coastal walk looking over Plymouth Sound Rame Peninsula, Cornwall: We take the path from a popular country park to Cawsand Bay, via woodland of old and fallen sweet chestnut The Guardian - UK · Feb 16, 2023
Country diary: The earth is still moving under our feet Cowms Moor, Derbyshire: Sudden landslips, cracks that become crevices – this landscape isn’t as settled as you might think The Guardian - UK · Feb 10, 2023
Country diary: New discoveries on my childhood patch Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire: I know this woodland and canal so well. What a thrill to find species have moved in since I moved out The Guardian - UK · Feb 8, 2023
Country diary: The only movement is a party of rooks Tre’r-ddôl, Ceredigion: A soft and still day is robbed of its early promise The Guardian - UK · Feb 6, 2023
Country diary: All that remains of a vast local industry Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire: I’m drawn to this mysterious relic of working lives interrupted. But what was its purpose? The Guardian - UK · Feb 4, 2023
The Guardian - UK · Feb 3, 2023 Country diary: Slowly bringing tech into these hills Tebay, Cumbria: I’m a traditional farmer, but I can see the worth in trying electronic collars for our cattle
The Guardian - UK · Feb 2, 2023 Country diary: The changing course of our local rivers Bossington, Somerset: Whether by human or nature’s hand, the riparian landscape here is being reshaped
The Guardian - UK · Feb 1, 2023 Country diary: There’s a peacock butterfly presenting the news Crook, County Durham: After the delight of finding this magnificent butterfly overwintering in our house comes the dilemma
The Guardian - UK · Jan 28, 2023 Country diary: Honeysuckle twines its way towards the light Allendale, Northumberland: It brings promise every winter at around this time, twisting around branches and becoming just as fat
The Guardian - UK · Jan 26, 2023 Country diary: A floating ghost town with a soaring view of the world The Marches, Shropshire: At the iron age hillfort of Old Oswestry, time hangs heavy in the air here
The Guardian - UK · Jan 25, 2023 Country diary: The linnets have brought out the merlins – and the twitchers Broom, Bedfordshire: These exhilarating finches are quite something to watch, with their whirring wings and showboating glides
The Guardian - UK · Jan 20, 2023 Country diary: The briefest, luckiest glimpse of a harvest mouse Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: It’s the time of year for surveying the UK’s smallest mouse, so I’m taking to the fields with notepad and stick
The Guardian - UK · Jan 19, 2023 Country diary: Dripping trees and a swollen Tamar Gunnislake, Tamar Valley: On a dim winter day, lurid moss shrouds the tree trunks, the fallen limbs and sprawling roots
The Guardian - UK · Jan 18, 2023 Country diary: Much to be found in the two inch-tall rainforest Egglestone, Teesdale: Crouch down at this time of year and you’ll see the irrepressible energy of new foliage, fresh shoots and spring’s promise
The Guardian - UK · Jan 17, 2023 Country diary: The alder trees here are suffering Wolfehopelee, Scottish Borders: A walk in a familiar fragment of woodland is pleasant enough before we see the first dead crowns
The Guardian - UK · Jan 16, 2023 Country diary: No weeds, no tree sparrows – only a few are hanging on Poyll Vaaish, Isle of Man: One field on the island is a throwback to the heyday of mixed farming, full of veg and weeds. The resulting biodiversity is astonishing