Wildlife
Red kites should never have been reintroduced to Britain
Red kites should never have been reintroduced to Britain
The man-eating leopard of Laikipia
Laikipia Plateau, Kenya Until only a few years ago, the constellations blazed across the sky above the farm at night…
In defence of badgers
My dog was bitten by an adder last week. Jessie had been snuffling around in bracken a few yards from…
Kill badgers to save hedgehogs
Until last month I hadn’t seen a hedgehog for close to 30 years, though they were part of everyday life…
What we can all learn from Jim Corbett’s tiger tales
What we can learn from Jim Corbett’s big-cat tales
The scourge of urban gulls
These ‘endangered’ birds are taking over
How much of a litre of fuel is now tax?
Common knowledge Tensions in the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Jamaica led some to speculate that…
Are wolves stalking us on the school run?
Italy’s wolves are on the march
My battle of the bulb
The streetlighting engineer walked up and down outside my house trying to work out who was right: me, or my…
Why it’s boom time for bitterns
Bitterns are booming, both literally and metaphorically. These handsome brown birds from the heron family make a noise quite unlike…
Is the adder slithering towards extinction?
In early April, when the chiffchaff sings its drab little song in the leafless hawthorns, something is stirring in the…
We’re spending lockdown defending a family of mice
Austin My first Independence Day in the US for many years. Usually I’d be in Paris avoiding Texas heat. My…
Are you a lockdown eel or a pygmy goat?
I identify strongly with the garden eels in the Tokyo aquarium. Pre-corona, they were perfectly sociable. Come opening hour, when…
Vegans are brave – and they have a point
It was a clear and icy night at home in Derbyshire last week. I love these times and, before bed,…
The commercialisation of shooting may kill the whole sport
A few years ago I was sitting on the sofa at Sandringham enjoying a ham sandwich with the Queen’s then-head…
Why we should listen to elephants
Laikipia, Kenya ‘An elephant has fallen over,’ said the man running up to me. My first thought was that…
Wildlife obsessives must learn when to back off
Richmond Park is an eerie place at this time of year. It’s not just that it’s the deer rutting season,…
All hail the return of the crane
The RSPB regularly gets calls from people who have seen ‘a funny bird’. ‘It’s got a red head and it’s…
Building artificial beauty spots to protect nests is a bird-brained idea
While walking or riding on the beautiful heathland near my home, I have noticed a growing number of signs telling…
The heartbreaking story of Pecky, a young green woodpecker
Ever since I was a child, I’d always yearned to see a green woodpecker. With its scarlet cap and lime-green…
The biggest threats to gorillas (Cincinnati Zoo not included)
Gorilla warfare Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, was shot at Cincinnati Zoo after he started dragging away a boy aged four…
What do we gain by burning ivory?
Burning stockpiles of ivory was meant to wipe out poaching. After nearly 30 years, is it working?
Snakes, kookaburras and bandicoots: a garden in Australia’s rainforest
What you can see from a tin house in the Australian rainforest
Your guide to the coming moth invasion
After this mild winter, you can expect a clothes-ruining epidemic. They’ve already got my best suit
