Harry and Marianne live in Breukelen , which is a lovely small town - and the origin for the name of the New York area Brooklyn. The first day, I walked the 25 minute route to the station, for the train to Utrecht. On the way back, with Harry, he wheeled his bike to "the tree". This.... I am not sure what tree it is... fell in a storm and so is horizontal, the trunk, anyway, but the new shoots reach up. I think it fell many years ago. We had dinner and then cycled home - with

My choice for a workshop trip was, obviously, a visit to a nature reserve. Amelisweerd is a time remnant of woodland that is constantly under threat from development. In fact, a big tract of it was felled for a new road. Local people, artists, activists, naturalists and others have worked together to protect it and they do some cool "multispecies justice" projects. It was lovely to be out of town - and we had fine weather for it. The little plaques on trees were part of a sug

I tried to find non-human kin in Utrecht. Pigeons and jackdaws were the most notable residents. There was a cool hare sculpture - I was never in the right place with my camera... but you can see it here . The hare - and I think this must be a hare not a rabbit - is enacting the pose of "The Thinker". A nice image for a week of thinking about more than human intelligence. And we see the missionary Willbrot riding his horse as he takes the Christian message through the Netherla

He wasn't expecting to see me! I was crouching down... for reasons best known to myself... and he landed on the fence all abother. Now, I am writing this on Day Three in the Netherlands.... and here I have heard blackbirds and I think blackcaps, wrens definitely and tits. Starlings, pigeons, jackdaws and magpies. Parakeets. But I am not sure about the robins. Harry says they visit more in the winter. Marianne and Harry say they have hedgehogs in their garden. They rescued a b

These are blackthorn blossoms... in the light of the evening, they shine like stars. While I was sitting there, the Merlin app heard the kingfisher... this was indeed my kingfisher-spotting place - so I was very happy to realise that I can sit in the same place again this summer and hopefully spot azure meteors passing by at lightning speed! I saw a rabbit who rushed into her burrow and a heron flew over. The calm and quiet of a world without humans. Starlit in the twilight.

Specifically, the surface tension of the water. That image on the front is a coot rising from a dive. There are more of them in today's offering - a walk at the Reserve the evening before I left for the Netherlands.

The purpose of the trip to Utrecht is to present our paper about dandelions. It looks like it might be published, so I can't share it here... and the published version won't have our four interwoven voices and the music and the gifts of "dandy tea" for the attendees! But I can share another few dandelions from the garden - where there are many. When I am in the garden, I often feel as though someone is watching me... And often someone is sniffing me too... That's Chilli from

So, I am off to Utrecht. I am leaving my world in the capable care of Clare. Part of that care is for the vegetal community. I thought I would share an update on the little trees. Poplar, horse chestnut, and rowan, all doing well! The little oak is slower to come into leaf, but that too is looking good. There are a lot of dead nettles in the garden - and they seem to be a source of delight for invertebrates. There was one very golden bee who seemed quite, well, aggressive - a

That, on the front page, is Tane sneaking in for some grub. I am a useful human shield most days. On this day, Falco went for a bath.... and I have to say he looks VERY bedraggled! Later the blackbird did the same but he still looked dapper when he emerged from the water. Falco dried off and resumed provisioning his new family.

Blackbirds, I have discovered, will not feed cuckoo chicks. Researchers discovered this by putting cuckoo chicks in blackbird nests. The chick turfed out the blackbird eggs, but the parents just would not feed it. Song thrushes would, but cuckoo chicks could not remove eggs from song thrush nests as they are too deep. Neither species is parasitised by cuckoos. But the researchers don't know why blackbirds respond in the way they do. Maybe they are former hosts who learned to

It's funny as the suckers from my cherry tree bloomed white a few weeks ago, but now the main tree is coming out in the pink. It's quieter out there as now all the birds are nesting and wary. My dad gave me some browned apple from his garden for the badger and I left two last night. This morning, one had gone. They are BIG apples. I decided to walk down to where the local sett is. Actually I ran as the crows had told me to go via the park to feed them. I came back via the vil

The plan was to go to Epping Forest, but I ended up at Wicken Fen which is where cuckoo expert Nick Davies did the vast majority of his cuckoo research. I spoke to a lad who walked there daily with his dog and asked if he had heard any cuckoos yet. He said he had and gave me directions, so off I went. I was nearly there - close enough to hear if a cuckoo called - and for some reason sat down in a particular place. Moments later a pair of marsh harriers started courting above

I got some gorgeous shots of Falco but that bloody TWIG on the right is annoying. I know I could erase it with Photoshop or something, but I really struggled with those programmes. Maybe I will ask Dave if he can help. Or Jane. These shots are also nice and don't have annoying twigs. Today I witnessed one chase. Yesterday, I think I saw Falca. Every morning the bald-eye bird hopes around the patio. The crow was interesting: one was perching on top of a tall leylandii and watc

Far too many photos.... but there's also a semi-interesting video!

Well, not as fierce as the sparrowhawk whom I think has taken another pigeon. Nor quite as fierce sounding as a vixen who was screeching in the garden last night. Perhaps because she got there after the badger- he had eaten everything including two apples. But, this little bird remains adamant that no other robins shall eat in my garden, even though his nest is not here! Tane will come and eat right next to me - I am sure it is Tane, now. He literally eats a foot from my head

I seem to recall that it's illegal to dig up primroses...Yes... mind you, that's not specifically about these plants. The law refers to all wild growing plants. As for primroses, they are early nectar sources, and so important to insects, and apparently such plants don't transplant well. Not sure why.... Let's dig deeper, without digging up the plants - and this is from my friendly AI... Primroses ( Primula vulgaris ) are part of that first opening of the year, when not much

As I will be away for a week, I did almost all my tree visits early. The two areas at the Reserve, on on the road above the lake, and the big beech at the ruined church. I just have the two on the run that takes me to the poplar copse. There's not been a great deal to report, if I am honest. The ashes are stable, as are the horse chestnuts and the sycamore. Three compromised oaks are stable. There's a stable beech and so far two healthy oaks - one of whom sits in flood water

I found that broken shell up by Kairos. I guess a gull had it and was flying and being chased then dropped it? Or a crow could have carried it? I like finding unexpected things even if they are not extraordinary. Recently, pairs of ducks have been quite high up in the wood. That's a new thing for me. When I walk past, they fly, quacking, out of the trees and back onto the lake. I imagine there is some courting going on. A pair of swans were near the shore, just down from the

He tends to look at me. Or, perhaps, check up on me. He follows me around the garden, though not necessarily that close. Falca, in contrast, keeps a low profile. I love these images of foraging: the bird looking for prey, lightning swift when he strikes, peering and inspecting. Just on a smaller scale, but no less a predator than hawk, tiger, orca. At times though, I know that I am interacting with other robins. One who may have been Tapdance. One who may be Tane - and this T

Sadly the fox had eaten most of the food by the time the badger arrived!