Nature

A dozen walks to do before you die

Lifelong walker, and former director general of the National Trust, Fiona Reynolds selects 12 exhilarating experiences that have personal meaning for her, from mountains to cities and coasts to river valleys.

Curious questions: how an underground pond from the last Ice Age almost stopped the Blackwall Tunnel from being built

You might think a pond is just a pond. You would be incorrect. Martin Fone tells us the fascinating story of pingo and dew ponds.

A Traitors-style castle, complete with round table for banishments, at the price of a Shepherd's Bush terrace

The hugely popular BBC show Traitors and a hungry (and very brave) otter make our Dawn Chorus round-up today.

The very hungry otter who stunned passers-by in the middle of Stratford

The home of Shakespeare is usually packed with tourists. This week, they were treated to an amazing sight.

'I’ve come here this evening to experience darkness. I’ve been craving it, the richness and peace of it, the way you crave silence when you’ve had too much noise'

Connected to a vastness that’s beyond comprehension, the night sky has inspired both artistic and scientific visionaries since the dawn of time, says Anna Levin.

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?

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.

'A robin redbreast in a cage puts all Heaven in a rage': Why this charming little bird is the nation's favourite

We’re more emotionally connected to the robin than any other bird, says Mark Cocker, as he considers why we feel so much affection for this sweet-songed, yet feisty Christmas-card favourite.

‘Look out! Look out! Jack Frost is about!’

Variously described as ‘wearing a cloak of silver’ and looking like ‘a hoary old man’, Jack Frost has attracted many artistic depictions over the centuries — some more positive than others.

Dawn Chorus: Nature's 'wholesale fightback' is an inspiration for us all to keep trying

Tuesday's Dawn Chorus brings you five reasons to be cheerful — or six, if you count turning an austere City institution into a brightly-coloured Christmas delight.

11 things to look out for on a Nature walk in winter

Winter is a season that few could genuinely love, yet as the leaves and flowers abandon us, the structure of the countryside is starkly revealed. John Wright takes the time to revel in form over flamboyance.

The cheetah playing hide-and-seek who's a Far Side cartoon come to life

A glorious cheetah has lit up our inbox this week — plus, can you help save the black poplar? And with the dust having settled, what does the budget really mean for country houses?

Minette Batters: 'I don’t believe this Government set out to wipe out the family farm. Yet it will be the consequence'

Minette Batters — a farmer, former NFU President and a Baroness sitting in the House of Lords — has a harsh warning for Keir Starmer's government.

'Fractals are everywhere, even within the human body: our nervous system, blood vessels and the structure of our brain and lungs'

What do spiders’ webs, snowflakes and snail shells have in common? They all contain fractals: Nature’s exquisite, endlessly repeating mathematical pattern.

Britain has its own rainforests — and they're disappearing even faster than the ones in Brazil

The rainforests of Britain, a Cornwall light show, Christmas gardens and more in our Dawn Chorus round-up this morning.

'I could see puffs of condensed breath as he sang. Suddenly, the world felt fine': The wren, a little mite with a mighty heart

Shy yet bold, furtive yet fearless and fond of nesting in your trousers, the tiny ‘Jenny wren’ has a lusty voice that matches its sense of adventure.

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.

Jonathan Self: November used to be a month of bleak fields and naked trees; this year we had summer flowers in bloom and ate lunch on the terrace

Jonathan Self discovers a name for his sense of unease caused by life being out of balance.

Dawn Chorus: Churchill's swimming pool, the end of puppy smuggling, Quiz of the Day, and a two tropical islands for the price of one

This morning's Dawn Chorus brings a few rays of sunshine to the start of December.

Curious Questions: What's in a (scientific) name? From Parastratiosphecomyia stratiosphecomyioides to Myxococcus llanfair­pwll­gwyn­gyll­go­gery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch­ensis, and everything in between

Scientific names are baffling to the layman, but carry all sorts of meanings to those who coin each new term. Martin Fone explains.