Whether woven to ensnare unsuspecting victims or to cocoon precious eggs, spider silk is a wonder of Nature, each translucent thread so fragile, yet stronger than steel, says Simon Lester.
A miracle of Nature, the salmon braves body changes, hungry seals and forbidding waterfalls on its extraordinary journey to and from its spawning grounds. But now, warns Simon Lester, it may be facing one challenge too many. Illustrations by Alan Baker for Country Life.
Few games rival conkers for sheer excitement. Simon Lester ponders the merits of round-topped nuts versus flat-sided cheesers and exposes the nefarious tricks some use to win at all costs.
Dialogue, tolerance and trust are crucial to Nature restoration, so events that encourage an honest exchange of views among different camps, such as May's Why Moorlands Matter summit, mark the way forward.
Raptors’ supersonic vision, effortless aerial acrobatics and ruthless hunting instinct make them the undisputed masters of the skies, but can you tell a merlin from a hobby or a goshawk from a sparrowhawk? Simon Lester explains the basics of these fascinating creatures and then gives a rundown of all 15 of Britain's raptor species.
Shy and elegant — yet far more hardy than its fragile appearance implies — the spotty-coated fallow deer is now more common than ever, despite only establishing itself on these shores when the Normans arrived, says Simon Lester.
Adept at cleverly camouflaging itself, the ptarmigan fools predators by turning snow white in order to survive in a harsh, arctic habitat. Simon Lester tracks this elusive species through the seasons.
Rolling like an enormous shape-shifting black cloud, as countless birds swoop and dive in unison, the starling murmuration is a spellbinding phenomenon. Simon Lester is mesmerised — and shocked at the noise.
With the curlew–that wader with a haunting call–now almost extinct in the South of England, Simon Lester meets the Duke of Norfolk, who is hoping to pull them back from the brink on his West Sussex estate. Photographs by Sarah Farnsworth.
Clever, companionable and mischievous, the crow or corvid family of birds has long loomed large in our lives and imaginations, as symbols of death and crop destroyers. But, contends Simon Lester, they’re not all black-hearted scoundrels.
