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My daughters laugh at me. Openly. I've checked my flies and they're closed; there's no spinach stuck between my teeth and no one drew a moustache on me whilst I dozed in my chair. So, I was forced to ask, 'what's so funny?' It's when I start to talk about nature and...

My day started with a real bang the other morning, when my bike tyre exploded. Everyone stared, wondering if it had been a gunshot. Forced to find another way in to work, I took full advatage of being on the bus and tube with commuters to eavesdrop ... and the conversation was not typical for a grey...

I was contacted by the Daily Mail this week about some photos they'd got of a fox looking for an easy meal at Barnes. Nothing unusual in that; it's what foxes do. It was what happened next that was fun. All the ducks, geese , coots and cormorants ganged-up in a rare moment of solidarity, effectively...

If you're going out with mates this evening and everyone's having a great time, stop it dead by saying the following out loud: "Today marks the fifth anniversary of laws preventing people from paving over front gardens without planning permission". Life and soul of the party you...

It's a bit like Sleeping Beauty rousing from her slumber .. I was so captivated by the Olympics (and will soon be an armchair expert in Paralympic sports too) that I had failed to notice, time had passed. Our garden birds, flitting busily around feeding their young, have completed their short...

It was a beautiful morning in the city of Sondon but the Fat Controller was not happy. "My really useful engine is in the wrong place and its all the fault of those nasty conservationists." He harumphed, stamped his foot and clenched his fists. The previous day, Thomas, a cheeky, fussy little...

Look out the window right now. Do see any house sparrows? I don't. In the nineties, London lost seven out of every ten sparrows and there were fears the cockney sparra could soon be extinct in the Capital. Bear in mind that this little grey and brown bird has more or less colonised the world,...

Frazzled. Everyone's frazzled and it's not just the air temperature. Defra's been frazzled by proposals to control buzzards around country estates where people pay to shoot pheasants. Suggestions included capturing buzzards and destroying nests around the estates. Eviction and imprisonment...

The weird weather's still around but nature's soldiering on and is alight with action. The lawn I laid earlier this year is now thriving and has brought in a much wider range of birds to my garden. I've more thrushes, a wren, more finches and even a new blackbird challenging the resident...