Despite having left the camera out for over a week I had a pretty poor showing from the beasties. A fox blurred past and a badger was a pixellated mess too far away to make a decent photo of, plus 95% of the footage was again from the resident blackbird and mouse, depending on time […]

This is self-described wandering bard, Jiří Wehle, playing the Ninera – the unique Slovak version of the hurdy-gurdy – at Prague Castle in May 2016. After passing so many other buskers, street musicians and performers, none of whom seemed to fit the ambient (especially skatting jazz ensembles), I was amazed to find someone who not […]

I can’t even begin to explain just how monumental this action was, and it was pure serendipity that we happened to be exactly there at precisely the moment it happened (we were actually heading to the Technical Museum) on May 21st 2016. Stalin’s head had looked out over the entire city of Prague, Czech Republic, […]

Yesterday we went for a walk just after lunch. Knowing that area well, and the time of day, I wasn’t expecting to see any large animals about as they usually prefer dawn and dusk to break the cover of the treeline. However, as we’ve had three days of constant hard rain, and this was the […]

This Green woodpecker (Picus viridis) always taunts me when I walk along the old road near the house. Every time I try to take a photo it hides behind a tree trunk and then flies on to the next tree when I try to get closer. It basically acts like a squirrel. We don’t get […]

Probably, out of all my hobbies and interests, cataloguing the creatures which live around my house ranks the highest. As a kid I used to keep a daily diary of what birds and animals I’d seen and often draw one of them. Now I have cameras and trailcams but the principle is still the same. […]

After yesterday’s multiple hard-going walks, this morning’s was at a much slower pace. The sun was out but the temperature fluctuated between too warm and too cold, meaning having to don and remove outer garments often. The meadows are filled with bird song and presented the opportunity for a few photographs (there should also be […]

I can’t explain how much I love being able to wander freely out here – through meadows and forests. From my atelier’s French doors I look across a huge field leading up the side of a hill to a forest I love to spend time in. All I have to do is get dressed, grab […]

Today we (my wife, eldest son and myself) went for a very pleasant walk through the forest at the top of the hill behind the house. The journey took several hours and was quite hard going due to the steep climb on an unused forester’s trail, but the forest looked stunning with flowers growing everywhere. […]

This is the weekly round up for the beginning of May. This morning the sun was shining so I hopped on my motorbike, Feisty, and set off for my village house. Once there, I donned my bush garb and traipsed across the now overgrown meadow to go check on my trailcam – I had a […]