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Archives for June 2017

Eddie’s Last Wild June Blog

30 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 21 Comments

Here’s the final addition to Wild June: Eddie Wild 30 June 2017

Posted in Wildblog

June’s last wild…

30 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 11 Comments

We’re running out of June. So Eddie and I decided to take a stroll onto the marsh, last time in Wild June and first time I had done so since the op on my knee last week. A bit of an adventure then. We took drinks, smoothie for Eddie and a beer for me, and… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s 13th Blog

27 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 15 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s 13th Blog: Eddie wild 13

Posted in Wildblog

Sitting owl, sitting me…

23 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 12 Comments

This week I had an operation on my knee. Cartilage. Rum business. Walking was getting difficult — now it’s fixed I can hardly walk at all. I’m supposed to give it time. Well, what else have I got? I could hardly go looking for wildlife in pursuit of my Wild June ambitions, but I at… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Blog 12

21 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 7 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s midsummer blog: Eddie Wild12

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Blog 11

21 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 10 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s 11th blog.Eddie Wild11

Posted in Wildblog

A bird perhaps of tragedy

19 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 2 Comments

The best place for enjoying Wild June on these flaming days is from a hammock with a hat over your eyes. I have put considerable research into the question before reaching this conclusion. When you close your eyes the sounds leap into the foreground and hog the stage. The first thing you notice is a… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s blog 10

19 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 7 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s 10th blog: Eddie Wild10

Posted in Wildblog

The parable of the most beautiful bird

18 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 4 Comments

I’ve spend the last few days of Wild June in Morocco, chasing a few wild birds, so apologies for the break in transmission. I was travelling with my old mate Rod Tether of the travel organisation Natural High, and he told me this story. He worked for 12 years in North Luangwa National Park in… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Blog 9

15 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 5 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s 9th Blog: Eddie Wild9

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s blog 8

13 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 8 Comments

Here’s Eddie’s 8th Blog: 30 days8

Posted in Wildblog

Joni and the cuckoo

11 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 5 Comments

As Joni rightly said, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. But here’s another truth: you don’t know what’s gone until it’s been gone a long time… We notice stuff when it arrives, of course we do: that’s deep in our natures to do so. We cheer when the swifts appear in our… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Trekking to evening lands

10 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 6 Comments

I had to go to London, so I planned to write about the way June and the wild world affect even a hectic city full of people too busy to look up or down or about. But I was pretty hectic myself and the two tufties seen from the 209 bus and the lesser black-backed… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

An exotic dancer, a goddess and a gallop

8 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

The margins of the fields are tall and rich; the Raveningham Estate does such things properly. I rode past these tangled banks at a brisk canter: a couple of miles of wildness that flaunted and concealed at the same time. The vegetation concealed pheasants and hares and deer, all of which like to pop out… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Look skyward in sadness

7 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 11 Comments

I’m worried about swallows. There don’t seem to be enough of them this year. Perhaps I’ve been unlucky. Or perhaps they have. I look at the sky and I fret. Not many swifts either. Of course, they might just be dodging the dodgy weather with a side-trip to the Bay of Biscay… If you like… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Of swallows, hares and horrors

5 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 15 Comments

Wild June moves into Day 5 and I’m spoiled for choice again. Shall I write about the swallows above the meadow? Or the hare in the garden? We saw each other at the same time and we both froze, holding a 15 yard stand-off for a full minute. Or perhaps I’ll turn to the butterflies… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Last chance! Absolutely your last chance!

4 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 10 Comments

from Simon Barnes Cuckoo! Still calling, this fellow. Been hard at it since the last week in April. Eddie and I walked out onto the marsh and at once the cuckoo called cuckoo. Last chance, last chance in 2017 to meet a handsome cuckoo itching to make more cuckoos. They love this watery valley, the… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

A day with two miracles

3 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 8 Comments

Two miracles took place today. The first was that I correctly identified a plant. The second was the plant itself. Perhaps I should have put that the other way round. We’re all back from Alderney after an unforgettable week, and while we were away there’s been a serious attack of growth. In the fields the… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Gannet farewell

3 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 8 Comments

I twisted my neck to the correct slightly excruciating angle and looked down as the little aeroplane left the lovely island of Alderney and swept out over the sea. I did this so that I could look for gannets. And of course, I found some. Couldn’t miss, really. A week on Alderney is a week… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Wild June starts here

1 June 2017 by Simon Barnes 25 Comments

I have always liked the Wildlife Trusts’ idea of treating June as 30 Days Wild. Of course 365 days wild are even better, but limiting it to the short and lovely month of June does rather concentrate the mind. Eddie agrees with me  — and he contributes his own Wild June blog below.(For newcomers, Eddie… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

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