It’s now official: the Robin is Britain’s number one favourite bird1. We love them the year round, but especially so at Christmas when envelopes of Robin-adorned Christmas cards arrive at our door. Let’s find out a bit more about Robins and why they’ve become so loved. In Britain, Robins are known as approachable and confiding […]
How were our ponds created? There are a good number of ponds to be found around Bredfield. How did they get there? Though ponds can result from geological or other ‘natural’ processes, it is most likely that the ponds around Bredfield are the result of human intervention: ‘man-made’. This feature article examines Bredfield’s ponds from both a […]
The plant we’re looking at here has various names: Bittersweet, Woody Nightshade, Bittersweet Nightshade and quite a few others. The scientific name is Solanum dulcamera. It is a native wild plant that evokes mixed reactions. On the one hand, it is an undeniably attractive plant. The flowers are deep purple with bright yellow stamens shooting […]
Dragonflies and damselflies are the essence of summer. They are a delight to look at and fascinating to watch in flight. They are also one of the most interesting insects and lend themselves to what are known nowadays as ‘fun facts’. We will look at some of these facts shortly, and then conclude by examining […]
Much maligned, yet poetically celebrated Is there a plant more denigrated and maligned than Ragwort? In a 2013 article, the Daily Mail claimed that Ragwort has “infested the country”. In 2014, former Conservative minister Lord Tebbit told the nature charity Buglife that pulling up ragwort should be a low-cost form of National Service for “young […]
‘Drrrrrrrrr’, ‘Drrrrrrrrr’. When the sound of a beak hitting wood at more than twenty beats per second echoes through the trees, it means that it is time for courtship and territory claim for our commonest woodpecker. The Great Spotted Woodpecker doesn’t sing as a courtship; it’s a drummer. This woodpecker’s head is built for drumming: […]
A group of six people are walking through a meadow in June, sharing a delight in the flowers and, together, trying to remember what they are all called. A woman posts a picture on the local Facebook group of a woodpecker on her bird feeder and exclaims that it was a wonderful surprise. A couple […]
British small mammals include mice, shrews and voles. Most are common enough in the wild, but we rarely get to see them; perhaps only a glimpse of a creature scurrying through the vegetation. For good reasons or not, voles are probably the most endearing of these small mammals. Even ‘Ratty’ in The Wind in the […]
A recent climate emergency summit in Woodbridge included a talk by a representative of the Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The talk, which was largely about nature habitats and wilding, was interesting and galvanising, but I noted that that there was no mention of ‘climate change’ in the whole talk. I suspect that the speaker assumed that […]
Red Kites are increasingly being seen and reported flying over Bredfield. At the start of 2022, there were at least three sightings in the first few weeks. This is cause for celebration. Red Kites have come back from the brink and they are now a favourite bird of many people. They cruise overhead, slowly and […]
