Simon Barnes Author and Journalist

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Archives for January 2016

Clothed in light

29 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 12 Comments

Is this the most exotic bird in the world? It took command of the highest point in a bare tree 15 feet from the ground, where it was skewered by a beam of sunlight. It looked as if it was striking a pose in a spotlight. It was a bright shining purple spangled with dancing… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Getting excited about waders

27 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

As I write this I’m expecting a photographer to turn up any minute. He’s taking a picture of me to be used as a by-line shot for a magazine: I’m starting a new column next month – of which more later. The snapper rang me yesterday to finalise things. “And do you have a wild… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

The hawk of truth is swift

26 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 9 Comments

  A flicker of movement caught my eye as I sat at my desk. Perched on a fence-post – no, not a thrush, not quite right. I raised the bins to perform one of the routine miracles of the birding life and turned the not-quite thrush into a wholly perfect sparrowhawk. A male, compact, barred… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Big Apple Blog

24 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 11 Comments

Eddie’s Big Apple Blog

Posted in Wildblog

Barnes is seeing double

23 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 4 Comments

My sister Rachel gave me a kind and funny present for my new writing-hut. It’s a silk-screen print of Withnail affectionately clasping a bottle of plundered Chateau Margaux ’53 (“best of the century”). The joke is that there are two images of Withnail, with two or three ghost-images discernible behind them. So here is Withnail… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Short ears and golden eyes 

22 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 12 Comments

We are learning a new set of responses to the wild world. When our ancestors — even our recent ones — saw a top predator, they saw human failure. They saw loss of control: a place where the humans had slackened their grip, or worse, where humans had never been able to impose themselves in… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

The Great Norfolk Champagne Mystery

16 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 12 Comments

There are mysteries surrounding the most humdrum of lives. Even mine. A parcel arrived this week, forwarded from my previous address. Not a quick process, so perhaps it was something to do with Christmas. I opened it without excitement, expecting a couple of ghosted autobiographies of footballers or perhaps a guide to the golf courses… [Read More]

Posted in Myblog

A trunk call

14 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 20 Comments

There’s a big ash tree at the bottom of the garden, in full view from the bedroom window. When you stare out in winter before the day’s thought-processes have started to kick in, it’s possible to discern in the bare branches the bearded features of both DH Lawrence and Charles Darwin. It’s a funky old… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

The Sacred Combe

11 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 4 Comments

The Sacred Combe My new book, The Sacred Combe is published this week. Here’s the first chapter. 1. The Valley It was the moment when I noticed someone was eating my house that I knew I’d come home. It was my first night in the Valley: perfectly black, the air filled with swishing, ripping, munching…. [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Back!

11 January 2016 by Simon Barnes 29 Comments

Eddie Blog 2016:1

Posted in Wildblog

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