I have been a contributor to the century-old celebrated Guardian Country Diary column since 2017. Below are a selection of some of my Country Diary pieces and photographs. A number of my contributions appear in a Faber & Faber/Guardian book, Under The Changing Skies, published in September 2024 featuring a compilation of Country Diaries from the last decade. All my Country Diary pieces can be read by clicking here.

 

Whirling whirligig beetles on the surface of Dartmoor pools was the subject of my May 2026 Country Diary. The active little aquatic beetles have eyes split into two pairs, to look both above and below the water at the same time. 

 

 

 A great spotted woodpecker opting to 'drum' on a plastic junction box outside a bedroom window was my topic in January 2026. Male woodpeckers typically drum on hollow branches to stake out a territory and attract a mate - but this regular visitor was keen on the acoustics of the rain cover box.

 

  

Sightings of snipe on boggy stretches of moorland close to home was the subject of my December 2025 Country Diary. These well camouflaged birds always surprise the walker on damp days, waiting until the last moment before suddenly taking flight.

 

Timely on Halloween, my Country Diary on October 31 described finding a rare devil's fingers fungus on Dartmoor - an aptly-named species which smells of decaying meat to attract flies that spread its spores.

 

Sightings of eels in the River Tavy, Devon, was the topic of my July 2025 Country Diary. Low, clear water after a spell of hot weather meant they were relatively easy to spot, foraging on the stony riverbed.

 

Striking spring emperor moths on a Dartmoor walk was my April Country Diary. Photo far left shows a cocoon, while left is a male emperor moth and, right, the heather-clad moor beside the Warren House Inn.​

 

My February 2025 Guardian Country Diary described an unfamiliar little species of terrestrial crustacean called the landhopper. They are a bit like the sandhoppers you get under seaweed on the beach, only landhoppers are found inland under plant pots, logs and stones.

  

In October I wrote about a sighting of a mystery fish in a tidal pool in North Devon - and wondered why it mattered that I couldn't put a name to it.

 

My July 2024 Guardian Country Diary described a visit to the River Culm in Devon where I joined conservationists working to save Britain's native white-clawed crayfish.

 

My March 2024 Guardian Country Diary described overwintering harlequin ladybirds which had emerged inside my house in numbers.

 

Guardian Country Diary features in August, September and December 2023 described sightings of brown trout on Dartmoor, a slow worm and winter starlings.

My June 2023 Guardian Country Diary described a pair of stock doves which nested in a bird box in the garden and raised two young, while March saw spring visits of mallard ducks.

 

A flock of crossbills in plantation conifer forest on Dartmoor was the topic of my December 2022 Guardian Country Diary. To read this and other Country Diaries click here.

 

The large and spectacular death's-head hawk-moth, with its sinister reputation and almost legendary status among entomologists, was the subject of my October 2022 Guardian Country Diary. To read click here.

 

The return of cuckoos is always special - and one clocking in on time in mid-April 2022 was the subject of my Guardian Country Diary. In the summer I joined a rockpool safari and came across the rare St Piran's hermit crab (right) and also went in search of southern damselflies.

  

Celebrating a wildlife conservation success story - the recovery of the cirl bunting in the Westcountry - was the subject of my February 2022 Country Diary.

 

In July 2021 I went looking for the UK's largest slug - the ash-black slug - reputed to be the world's largest land slug. My nocturnal searches were finally rewarded with a sighting. To read my Guardian Country Diary click here.

 

My June 2021 Guardian Country Diary was among the most significant I have written, revealing that ring ouzels - mountain blackbirds - had not bred on Dartmoor during the spring/summer for the first time. Given that I have helped monitor nesting pairs for the last decade, it is certainly depressing to witness their gradual local extinction in the national park, their last outpost in southern England. While there is always hope, things certainly look bleak.

 

A surprise sighting of a dipper in an urban setting beneath the A38, on the outskirts of Plymouth, was my March 2021 Guardian Country Diary, with a piece on curious pond caddisfliy larvae in April. To read click here.

 

A strange parasitic plant called dodder was the subject of my Guardian Country Diary in August 2020, followed by a search for harvest mouse nests in September and choughs in December. 

 

Finding grayling butterflies on Dartmoor was my Guardian Country Diary for July 2020, with nest building wasps in May. To read click here.

 

Encounters with great diving beetles and a friendly garden robin that became tame enough to feed from the hand were topics in March and April 2020.

 

My visit to see dancing cranes at Lake Hornborga in West Sweden was a main travel feature with trip photos on Guardian Travel online in February 2020 (read here), while my latest Guardian Country Diary was on invasive Pacific oysters (read here).

  

Dormice, meadow pipits and the evening flight of hundreds of greater horseshoe bats were my Guardian Country Diary pieces in late 2019.

 

An after-dark visit to a Dartmoor wood in search of the rare tree-climbing, slug-eating blue ground beetle was my Guardian Country Diary in May 2019 - click here to read the piece.

 

Encountering a visiting flock of golden plover on west Dartmoor was the subject of my Guardian Country Diary in February.

 

 A search for the tiny eggs of the scarce brown hairstreak butterfly near Exeter made for a fascinating morning with Devon Wildlife Trust and was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in January 2019.

 

A sighting of a scarce winter visitor - a black redstart - in Ford Park Cemetery, Plymouth, was the subject of my December 2018 Guardian Country Diary.

 

 A trip to view rare and endangered freshwater pearl mussels in Devon's River Torridge was the subject of my October 2018 Guardian Country Diary, and also featured in the Western Morning News.

 

A marine wildlife watching trip off Cornwall, which included close encounters with a minke whale and rare ocean sunfish, made for a July Guardian travel feature with photos. Click here to read.

 

Fleeting glimpses of rare grey long-eared bats was the topic of my June 2018 Guardian Country Diary, along with a project to save England's last remaining population of a threatened species of wood ant in February.

 

 My Guardian Country Diary for January 2018 described an encounter with a scarce hawfinch in a Devon wood. The Plymouth pear, one of Britain's rarest trees was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in October 2017. 

 

An encounter with a scarce wood white butterfly at a Devon quarry featured as my Guardian Country Diary in July 2017, while a surprise otter sighting in Plymouth was the topic in August.

 

The violet oil beetle was the topic of my Guardian Country Diary in May 2017. A grass snake find featured in September 2017.

 

​An adder encounter featured as my Guardian Country Diary piece in April 2017 with photos.

 

A surprise hare sighting on a Dartmoor lane at night was the topic of my first Guardian Country Diary in February 2017. To read this and other Guardian Country Diaries click here.