Country diary: A little madness contained in the crop
Country diary
Country diary: On a thundery, windless day, aerial plankton hang in the summer heat
Country diary
Country Diary: My secret garden, my lunchtime retreat
Country diary
Country diary: A valley revived, as far as the eye can see
Country diary
Country diary: A small Chinese dragon has rippled into view
The Guardian view on nature-friendly farming: England’s green subsidies are working
Country diary
Country diary: My summer garden is quieter than it should be
Country diary
Country diary: Two kings of the cliff, living in something like harmony
Country diary
Country diary: The gawky yet graceful Irish hare has a lot of history to carry
Country diary
Country diary: The mimicry of a sedge warbler drifts in this quiet place
Country diary
Country diary: A small market town, honeyed with sunset and old memories
Country diary
Country diary: If there’s such a thing as an unnatural bird, it’s this
Country diary
Country diary 1949: the harvest gets under way
Country diary
Country diary: The night air is thick with bats
Country diary
Country diary: Snowdrops can come good in the summer
Country diary
Country diary: A modest defence of the Himalayan balsam flower
Country diary
Country diary: Into the woods for the (near) silence of midsummer
July 2024
Country diary
Country diary: Pine martens, dragonflies … this scarred peat bog is healing
Abbeyleix Bog, County Laois, Ireland: I was sceptical about whether this valuable but struggling habitat would be restored in my lifetime. I’m delighted to be proved wrong
Country diary
Country diary: Mending the last thatched roof in the village
Ardersier, Moray Firth: I’ve come all the way from south Devon and my colleague from the Outer Hebrides, such is the dearth of thatchers in Scotland now
Country diary
Country diary: Nature red in tooth and – quite literally – claw
River Culm, Devon: I joined a search for white-clawed crayfish, whose disastrous decline has taken place out of sight, but not out of mind