Nature


Kill the World, Make it a Better Place!

Posted on April 20, 2023

I was looking at some pictures of birds I have taken, the other day. One of my favourites is of a kingfisher (see above). They are incredibly quick in flight, so normally all you will see is an orange and blue blur. To see one sitting, looking for breakfast, is incredible. It’s when you realise what it really means to have your breath taken away. Who Cares? With pollution flowing down our rivers faster than bungs and donations passing ...

Read More


The Plight of Our Chalk Streams

Posted on March 19, 2023

I don’t know whether it is a coincidence or not but documentaries by David Attenborough and Paul Whitehouse in recent weeks have both featured Hampshire chalk streams. I care about these because I walk amongst them daily. 80% of the world’s chalk streams are right here, in Hampshire. I can even see one (The Bourne Rivulet) from my bedroom window. These precious rivers are under threat from a range of environmental factors, including ...

Read More


Giving Our Rivers a Bit of Wiggle Room

Posted on November 22, 2021

I was watching ‘The Lakes’ with Simon Reeve last night, and I was struck by some of the programme’s content.   On one section of the programme, Reeve was talking to a couple of geomorphologists. I will confess that I had never heard of this profession before. However, I quickly realised what a future role they will play in the natural environment.   Increased Flooding In layman’s terms, they explained many of the ...

Read More


The Dales, The Lakes and The Peaks!

Posted on October 28, 2021

It was good to head up north for a few days. We left on Saturday morning and made tracks towards Lancaster, the home of Jennifer’s son whilst he studies at university. All seemed well as we came off the A303 and had a straightforward trip up the A34, over the Chilterns and towards Oxford. Once past Oxford, things turned ugly. A 4-mile tailback all the way to the M40 set the precedent for a day in stop start traffic. The stuttering journey ...

Read More


It’s Snow Joke in Basingstoke!

Posted on February 4, 2019

According to BBC South news Local Basingstoke MP, Maria Miller, wants an investigation into the Friday snow that hit Basingstoke.Surely, she has better things to do? Here are my findings. The Forecast At the time every comes home from work on Friday evenings, it started snowing very hard. Although snow had been in the forecast, the extent of it had not been expected. Around 8-10 inches fell on and around the Dummer turn off from ...

Read More