With the countryside in flames, farmers losing millions and the water-supply industry in turmoil, the TV weather presenters finally acknowledged the longest summer drought since 1976 and started to talk about the “chance” of showers, rather than the “risk”! We actually had six days with measurable rain during July but only on 29th was there...
Rob Duffy: Sidewalk Botanist, Mid-July notes.
First signs of autumn are already with us in the form of ripe blackberries, rowan berries and hawthorn “haws”. Soon other trees and bushes will follow.
Rob Duffy: Sidewalk Botanist Goes Brookside: A short excursion down Court Hey Brook
Court Hey Brook is some 680 metres long within its Park and is crossed by two footbridges, one in the “middle” and the other at the southern end. It was never a boundary within the Victorian estate which ran uphill to the present Rimmer Avenue and it barely appears on any maps. It is hard...
Dr Phil Smith: Wildlife Notes June 2018
Reports of Red-eyed Damselflies at new localities in Merseyside led Trevor Davenport and me to visit the Leeds-Liverpool Canal at Aintree where this distinctive species can be found perching on Fringed Water-lily leaves. We logged about 25 Red-eyes, including several pairs, as well as four other species of dragonfly in this exceptional month for these...
