An Ordinary Person’s Views on Living With Minimal Environmental Impact
Written by Clare Topping on 4th Jun 2008.
A great morning’s birdwatching today – a large number of sparrows, young and adults, blackbirds a-plenty, chaffinches, greenfinches, bickering goldfinches, great tits, blue tits, a dunnock – the only thing missing was a robin and Walter the pigeon. Yes, these were all in my garden whilst I had my breakfast – I was so interested [...]
Written by Clare Topping on 25th May 2008.
Well, it is bank holiday and it is raining again. Â I say this despite the sunshine of earlier in the month, because it was raining this time last year. Â I remember this specifically because we spent far too much of our day watching recently fledged blue tits, great tits and coal tits in the garden, [...]
Written by Clare Topping on 31st Mar 2008.
OK, so maybe it is obvious to most people that it is now spring, but some of us have our own signs that the season has changed (for me Winter comes with the arrival of goosanders). So, the clocks have gone forward, the daffodils are out and, yesterday, so was the sun, and it was [...]
Written by Clare Topping on 19th Mar 2008.
I listened to a BBC Wildlife Magazine podcast this morning whilst eating my porridge and was fascinated to hear about a side of peregrine falcons that I had never heard about before. It is a much-publicized fact that more peregrines are taking up residence in cities these days and feeding on those pesky pigeons. Apparently [...]
Written by Clare Topping on 9th Mar 2008.
When I first moved to Daventry my back garden was a barren wasteland with respect to little feathered friends. Eventually, after putting out peanuts and other bird foods, rather than the expected starlings and sparrows, our first visitors were greenfinches. We have welcomed these back every year, including some youngsters, numbers increasing as I tempted [...]
Written by Clare Topping on 25th Nov 2007.
Last Sunday it snowed here in Daventry (and in numerous other places in the Midlands). The snow settled, but had gone by morning. On thinking about this I cannot remember the last time I saw snow in November – it snows in April more than in November, and this time last year there were still [...]