Wildlife
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…
Barometer
Gorilla warfare Harambe, a 17-year-old gorilla, was shot at Cincinnati Zoo after he started dragging away a boy aged four…
Elephant in the room
Burning stockpiles of ivory was meant to wipe out poaching. After nearly 30 years, is it working?
My wild place
What you can see from a tin house in the Australian rainforest
The moths are coming!
After this mild winter, you can expect a clothes-ruining epidemic. They’ve already got my best suit
Born again
Six years ago, on Good Friday, the journalist Melanie Reid was thrown off her horse while on a cross-country ride…
Of geese and men
They’re noisy, filthy, scary – and glorious. No wonder we have such complicated feelings about them
The song of the whales
How humanity learned to love them – and what we learned about ourselves in the process
Barometer
So near and yet so far Henry Worsley died in a Chilean hospital of peritonitis after being airlifted from Antartica,…
Not so happy valley
Simon Barnes opens with a presumably true idea, that we are all in search of our own versions of paradise…
Pacific Islands: The wildest time
Robin Oakley on what to see in the Galapagos – if you can
The wings of winter
Our harsh December days are a temperate escape for some gorgeous birds
Anglesey: la dolce vita in north Wales
We teased our friends by saying that our holiday would be on a far-away island. The Maldives, perhaps? No, Anglesey,…
Barometer
Rogue traders Former UBS trader Tom Hayes was jailed for 14 years for rigging the Libor market. How long could…
It’s dark days for dogs and their owners
So who is poisoning all the doggies, then? I assumed, when the first horrible reports came through from Crufts, that…
South Africa: In the footsteps of Mr Clarke
Not everything is forgotten in the new Johannesburg, finds Lara Prendergast
Gloucestershire
The heat was still sweltering as we headed off at dusk towards the hide to watch wildlife with our enthusiastic…
The eternal beauty of John Clare
This has been a terrible year for horseflies. It’s bad enough if you’re human: often by the time you swat…
Diary
Sport is like love: it can only really hurt you if you care. Or for that matter, bring joy. You…
In praise of Dr Google
There’s something perversely satisfying in discovering that your children have inherited your vices. That’s why I was so quietly pleased…
Let them eat whales
Marine charities should stop obsessing about a few Faroe islanders and go after the real villains
Dear Mary
Q. We had our son’s fiancée and her family to stay recently. After dinner, expecting conversation, we were shocked to…
Letters
The Spectator 10 August 2013 9:00 am
In defence of bats Sir: I am saddened by the ‘us versus them’ stance taken by Melissa Kite (‘Bats vs…