CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

  The first blackthorn aka sloe Prunus spinosa flowers opened in a hedge alongside one of my favourite walks in Weardale last week. This of...

  A leafless hawthorn hedge in the Tunstall valley, County Durham, shorn with geometric precision by a tractor-mounted hedge cutter, but dec...

Maybe it's time someone produce a survey of the flora of rotting fence posts. There are so many fascinating and often beautiful examples...

This little crab spider was lurking amongst a bunch of ripening ivy berries. When I disturbed it, the spider quickly disappeared amongst the...

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary is about this remarkable 'golden' wall at Hexham, in Northumberland's Tyne valley. It...

Today's Guardian Country Diary is about the way in which the right combination of habitat factors - light, humidity and shelter from t...

Thursday's Guardian Country Diary explores the wonderful world of lichens that are the brightest objects on moorland in winter. Lichen...

Today's Guardian Country Diary describes a visit to the unique Kirkhaugh church in the tiny Northumbrian hamlet of Ayle. It's unusu...