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If the Unloved Birds’ Club has an apex predator in its midst, then it is surely the white-tailed eagleWhat part–if any–did the white-tailed eagle play in the mysterious disappearance of a group of Shetland foals? Mark Cocker investigates
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The modern farming festival is many things — but is it still for farmers?Has the festival saved farming — or sold it?
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Britain's gamebird of choice is more exotic in origin than you might thinkThe pheasant’s gradual triumph over the sporting imagination belies this striking gamebird’s hotly contested impact on flora and fauna, writes Mark Cocker.
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Forget all about caviar and Champagne, five-star hotels now want you to forage for your own foodForaging is the luxury traveller's new activity of choice, finds Lotte Brundle on a trip to Bovey Castle in Dartmoor.
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The Prince of Wales to guest edit Country Life in NovemberThe November 11 issue will see Prince William join a long line of royal Guest Editors and will focus on His Royal Highness’s advocacy for improving access to mental-health services in the countryside.
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'I can get the same sort of wellbeing from a glass of wine in the bath': A snob’s guide to pretending you like cold-water swimmingAs temperatures rise so too will the calls to go cold-water swimming — much to Sophia Money-Coutt's chagrin.
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If England wants to win the World Cup, it should listen to these emperor penguinsAs it turns out, the natural world has a lot of good advice for how to make a great football team. Country Life and the World Wide Fund for Nature break down the keys to success.
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Cheerio Churchill, hello hedgehogs: The British animals Country Life wants to see on our banknotesAs the nation votes on the British wildlife that will appear on the next series of banknotes, our writers argue their case for their favourite animals.
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These iridescently beautiful birds can slow time, reproduce the human voice and sing like angels — so why have we nicknamed them ‘stinker’ and ‘scootie’?A surprising members of the Unloved Birds Club is the starling. Mark Cocker explains why.
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A snob's guide to the village fêteSophia Money-Coutts waxes lyrical about the most English of summer countryside traditions. Illustration by John Holder.
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From Worzel Gummidge to the kakashi of Shikoku: The scarecrow is iconic the world overThey might be questionably effective at frightening away birds, but scarecrows remain a quirkily enduring feature of our physical and cultural landscape.
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What is everyone talking about this week: How Gen Z fell in love with fly-fishingThey may look closer to Brad Pitt's Paul Maclean than to the grandfathers who taught them how to cast. But they are flocking to the sport in their hundreds, lured by Nature's bounty.
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The marine animals that look suspiciously like dogsFrom Staffie-shaped seals and smiling Samoyed belugas to borzoi swordfish, World Ocean Day seemed the perfect opportunity to tackle one of life's most important questions: which marine animals look most like dogs?
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We rudely refer to them as 'sky rats', but pigeons add a touch of the natural world to our busiest metropolisesMark Cocker defends the ungainly pigeon in this weeks column, where he defends Britain's least likable birds.
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Small-scale cut flower growers have now been formally recognised by the governmentThe UK trade body that represents more than 1,000 small-scale cut flower growers, has been awarded dedicated Standard Industrial Classification codes.
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Where to listen to the greatest musical performance on EarthThe dawn chorus is a rich reminder of the beauty of the world we live in, far removed from its many horrors. And you can hear it from anywhere.
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You've got to have a lot of bottle to be an independent wine merchantIndependent wine merchants are going from strength to strength in rural communities. Gabriel Stone raises a glass to some of the best. Photographs by Millie Pilkington and Mark Williamson.
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Great black-backed gulls: Hitchcock's villain remains a formidable predator on the big screen and on our coastlines'The Birds' vilified this species of bird on the big screen. They remain instinctively wary and you can almost never get close to one — with good reason, writes Mark Cocker.
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Will AI be the saving grace of Britain's beloved hedgehogs?A group of scientists at the University of Cambridge has managed to identify specific sites that might offer habitat for hedgehogs, writes Will Hosie.
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Why is this British bird sometimes dubbed 'the black death'?In the second instalment of our series on Britain’s most misunderstood birds, the voracious cormorant is in the spotlight.
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What not to miss at the Chelsea Flower Show: Clive Nichols and Kathryn Bradley-Hole on the Country Life PodcastClive Nichols and Kathryn Bradley-Hole join the Country Life Podcast live from the Chelsea Flower Show.
