A proud wildlife watcher
Dara shares his different way of looking at the world and a different way of ‘being’.
Dara shares his different way of looking at the world and a different way of ‘being’.
The bearded tit is an unmistakable cinnamon-coloured bird of reedbeds in the south, east and north-west of England. Males actually sport a black 'moustache', rather than a beard!
On their boards, Tom and Finn get to rub shoulders with mackerel, eels, crabs, bass, whiting and more. Very soon, they hope to add dolphins to that list too.
The fluffy, white seed heads of Traveller's-joy give it the evocative, alternative names of 'Old Man's Beard' and 'Father Christmas'. A clematis-like climber, it can…
A plain-looking warbler, the garden warbler is a summer visitor to the UK. It is a shy bird and is most likely to be heard, rather than seen, in woodland and scrub habitats.
A dark, stocky warbler, the Cetti's warbler is most likely to be heard, rather than seen - listen out for its bubbling song among willow, marsh and nettles.
The distinctive spiky, or 'bearded', green flower heads of wall barley appear from June to July and are easy to spot in an urban environment as they push their way up through pavements…
Tawny owls are the familiar brown owls of Britain’s woodlands, parks and gardens. They are known for their ‘too-wit too-woo’ song that can be heard at night-time.
This tiny gamebird is rarely seen, but its distinctive "wet my lips" call can be heard ringing out over areas of farmland on summer evenings.
The song of the Roesel's bush-cricket is very characteristic: long, monotonous and mechanical. It can be heard in rough grassland, scrub and damp meadows in the south of the UK, but it is…
In early spring, listen out for the 'chiff chaff chiff chaff' song of the appropriately named chiffchaff. It can be heard in woodland, scrub, parks and gardens across the UK.