Simon Barnes Author and Journalist

Sports and Wild Blog

Simon Barnes
  • Home
  • Biog
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Pictures
  • Contact
  • Twitter

Archives for June 2019

A wild June day in the great indoors – with a dash of Attenborough

27 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 2 Comments

It was the 26th day of Wild June and I was running out of days to be wild on. But there I was, catching a train to London even though it was promising to be lovely weather. Even the Stour estuary seemed short on wildness that morning: just a cloud or crowd of gull and… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Rolling along on a carpet of gold…

24 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 2 Comments

Wild June is best enjoyed from the back of a horse. Like most other months. We had walked down the shallow slope to the flood-plain and as we reached the grassy path we rolled into a canter without discussing the matter, for Miakoda, my American Paint mare, knows both the place and the routine as… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s blog 22nd of July

22 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 4 Comments

22nd of July

Posted in Wildblog

Flying towards the light…

21 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 4 Comments

f you sit out in a wild place with a birder, birds will be noted, no matter how big the subject you are discussing. You could even be talking about England’s chances in the women’s World Cup or England’s defeat in the cricket World Cup — but if a nice bird appears, it will be… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

The ladies that show us the way to the stars

20 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

A butterfly mind. To us, that means silly, inconstant, flighty, unable to concentrate on one thing for more than a second, always flying off to look at something more interesting – and then going back to the first thing, or maybe another even newer thing.  I seem to have spent most of this Wild June… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Wild June in Bloom with a dash of egret…

17 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

Once again Wild June had me racing towards London with a book to promote. I was reading Ulysses as the train rattled south and west from Norfolk: the following day was June 16: Bloomsday: the day on which the fictional action of Ulysses takes place, and on which those who love the book will raise… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Words and birds, words and birds…

15 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

First, apologies. Fallen behind with the blog. Book promotions, lots of running around, little time to look or listen, and even less time to write. So it goes. Yesterday I was in Cromer, for a Jarrolds literary lunch, and in the middle of it I had to take a long call to interview, well, a… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

For this relief much thanks

11 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 7 Comments

Swifts have become the birds of relief. They excite a sigh of gratitude: phew, look, a party of swifts, must be at least a dozen of them flying over the common, well, that’s OK then, things might be very much worse, we haven’t buggered it all up quite yet. I had just such moment, sitting… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Of reeds, reed warblers and waterproof trousers

7 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 11 Comments

June 5 Eddie and I were seated on the ground. It was soaking, but who cares? We had our waterproof trousers, which of course are, the next best thing to a super-power: nothing that life could throw at us could cause us grief. So we sat and we drank – beer for me, apple juice… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

How to set eyes on a living sound

6 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 6 Comments

Eddie and I were sitting out on the marsh an hour or so before dusk when we heard the cuckoo again. Good. He – only a male cuckoo says cuckoo – has been hard at it for six weeks now. Cuckoos love this spot, one that we in Norfolk, without a trace of irony, call… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Eddie’s Blogs

6 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 8 Comments

Here are the first 34 of Eddie’s blogs. Wild June 2019:2-1 Wild June 2019:2 Wild June:3 Wild June:4  

Posted in Wildblog

Ashanti golden treasure in the nettlebed…

5 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 3 Comments

June 3 I was stepping out of my hut – the hut I work in at the bottom of the garden, in front of the marsh – when I found a piece of gold. Pure, shining, 24-carat gold, reflecting the generous sun of the day with such enthusiasm it could almost count as a rival. … [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Blackcap

3 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 5 Comments

June 2 There are a few bits of essential equipment for wildlifers recommended in my book Rewild Yourself, including the all-essential supermarket carrier bag, and of course a copy of Basho’s haikus. But I forgot the hammock. The keen pursuer of wildlife can’t afford to be without on. I took to my hammock on the… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Wild June and a sky filled with passion

2 June 2019 by Simon Barnes 8 Comments

The boat is called the Golden Mean, but there was little moderation that day: the first day of June, the first of 30 Days Wild that the family, as encouraged by the Wildlife Trusts, will try and follow: at least one wild moment every single day of a wild month. It is the start of… [Read More]

Posted in Wildblog

Receive Blog Updates By Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to my blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 6,287 other subscribers.

Recent Comments

  • Sue on On the whole, stoats are better than work
  • Michael John Clark on On the whole, stoats are better than work
  • Elaine Slee on On the whole, stoats are better than work
  • Keith Owens on Midsummer – it must be time for a swift drink
  • Christopher Baker on On the whole, stoats are better than work

Categories

  • Myblog (7)
  • Sportsblog (7)
  • Wildblog (217)

Archives

  • June 2022
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • July 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014

© Simon Barnes · info@simonbarnesauthor.co.uk
Home page photograph © David Bebber · Bird drawings © foxillustration.com
Created by Purple Hippo