CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

  It's now a 14 years since I first saw a harlequin ladybird in Country Durham, and a decade since I first found one in Teesdale. Yeste...

Ivy's flowers provide a wonderful nectar and  pollen resource for insects in autumn (see some examples at the bottom of this post) and ...

Spent the last day of winter walking beside the river Tees through woodland downstream of Egglestone Abbey in Teesdale. The pace of spr...

I nsect numbers have plummeted since the first hard frosts arrived about a week ago, but ivy provides an almost unlimited supply of food  fo...

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary describes encounters with ladybirds in Weardale and Teesdale. Back in the spring it seemed as th...

This blackbird snuck in under our radar and built her nest in an ivy-covered fence within a few feet of our windows. It'll be convenient...

Rob, over at The Living Isle , on the Isle of Wight, has posted some interesting pictures of wasps visiting ivy flowers  , while pictures o...

The long, narrow gorge spanned by Egglestone's Abbey Bridge bridge provides one the most picturesque viewing points on the River Tees ...