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From the Caribbean with love: The other James Bond who wrote the definitive guide to tropical birds
The Caribbean plays host to a brilliant spectrum of colourful avians, says John Lewis-Stempel, as he revels in a birdwatcher’s paradise. Illustrations by Annabelle King.
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Mystery, muse and metaphor: There's more to fog than meets the eye
Smothering, transformative and beautiful, fog’s close-set shroud has inspired titans of literature, cinema and art — and forces the rest of us to look at the world a little closer.
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The secret life of seeds: The little wonders that sustain all life on Earth
They might not be especially striking to look at — if you can see them at all — but seeds are among the natural world’s most awe-inspiring marvels.
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How the full moons got their names, including tomorrow's rare Harvest supermoon
With a new full moon on the horizon, John Lewis-Stempel reflects on her many guises.
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An ode to Britain's wildflowers, from the London bloom which grew in the craters of the Blitz, to the weather-predicting scarlet pimpernel
Decorating the land with their brilliant and varied hues, our native flora which operate as clocks, calendars and Nature’s medicine cabinet are blooming brilliant, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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Puffins and shearwaters, skuas and terns, gannets and gulls and guillemots and wings, these are a few of our favourite things (seabirds)
From a heroic long-distance swimmer to a producer of spectacularly eerie sound effects, the seabirds seen swooping and diving over British waters have all manner of singular skills.
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John Lewis-Stempel: The English village, that beguiling habitat closest to the heart
Green, pub, church, duck pond and rose-garlanded cottages: did the perfect English village ever exist?
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John Lewis-Stempel: Why silence is golden
Quiet yourself and the distant hum of Nature’s parts connecting and working will soon come into focus.
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John Lewis-Stempel: Heathland, a place of freedom and unconventionality
Grey and bleak in midwinter, yet purple and exotic come high summer, our heathland is an unloved landscape that has become rarer than rainforest.
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John Lewis-Stempel: The moors, a landscape of 'seamless sameness'
Once considered a vast, stretching terror-land synonymous with bog, the national perception of the ecologically invaluable moors has dramatically changed
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John Lewis-Stempel: Into the deep of England's lakes
Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter’s paradise.
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John Lewis-Stempel: The Broads, a relic wetland resurrected
A strange, amphibious land floating somewhere between earth and sky, East Anglia’s majestic wetlands remind us that our ancestors made arcadias in these isles.
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John Lewis-Stempel: Beechwood, nature's own cathedral
‘Most lovely of all’, the stately beech is our tallest native tree and creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive.
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John Lewis-Stempel: The perfumed arcadia of the Downs, England's oldest manmade habitat
Home to the iconic skylark, the chalk downlands are as colourful and botanically diverse as rainforest.
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John Lewis-Stempel: The deer parks that came to define us
A Roman conception that came to define the topography of England, the deer park was both a status symbol for the arriviste elite and a training ground that would secure our victory at Agincourt.
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'A square yard of estuary mud contains the energy equivalent of 16 chocolate bars': John Lewis-Stempel on the life of the English Estuary
Part water, part earth and a habitat of constant movement, the bleak and desolate estuary environment is an acquired taste. Yet this monochrome minimalism can be paradise, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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Nightjars: The ventriloquist magicians of the bird world which sing 1,900 notes a minute
An early-morning foray in Dorset sees John Lewis-Stempel revelling in the antics of the nightjar or ‘fern owl’, the enigmatic crepuscular bird with a purr-like call.
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John Lewis-Stempel: 'Rewilding is a poor, pathetic box of tools for fixing the state of nature'
Turning the countryside into an eco-Disneyland ignores plenty of problems — most notably, where is our food going to come from?
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The M25 and A3 junction's 'wildlife bridge' shows the way forward for Man and Nature
We must ensure that the UK’s first ever heathland green bridge, straddling the A3 and a lifeline for diminishing wildlife, isn’t the last of its kind to open, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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John Lewis-Stempel: Never look after other people's animals
Our countryside columnist does a friend a favour, and ends up having to free a half-ton heifer from a muddy trench.
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Far better than its bite — what's really going on in the secret world of tree bark
A vital source of food, a pharmacy and a haven for wildlife, a tree's living skin is a surprisingly sophisticated surface.
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John Lewis-Stempel: On top of the mirey, merey moor, in the heart of James Herriot Country
With the wet December sleet pelting down on his tweed cap, John Lewis-Stempel and his terriers ascend Chimney Bank on Spaunton Moor for a breath of cold, damp air and to survey James Herriot country.
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On the night watch: The lives of Britain's nocturnal creatures
As the diurnal delights of the animal kingdom slip into a deep slumber, John Lewis-Stempel explores the velvety black shadows where the wild things are.
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Why has it been a bumper year for British berries?
The sunny, yet wet summer might have been a dampener at the time, but the resulting autumnal berry haul is a feast for mice and men, says John Lewis-Stempel.
