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    This week
    • Subscribe to Country Life
    • Quiz of the Day
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    • London's sexiest hotel room

    Two turtle doves: Why the endearing bird is an animal for all seasons, not just Christmas

    The beautiful, soft-voiced turtle dove is a symbol of courtship and love and must be saved, urges Mark Cocker.

    • Baby, it’s cold outside (even if you have a natural fur coat): How our animals brave the winter chill

      When the temperature drops, how do Britain’s birds, beasts and plants keep the cold at bay? John Lewis-Stempel reveals Nature’s own thermals.

      By John Lewis-Stempel Published 16 November 25

    • Dangerous beasts (and where to find them): Britain's animals that are best left alone

      John Lewis-Stempel provides a miscellany of our otherwise benign land’s more fearsome critters.

      By John Lewis-Stempel Published 9 November 25

    • ‘Though she be but little, she is fierce’: Everything you didn't know about sparrowhawks

      Scourge of the bird feeder and a master of ‘shock and awe’ assassinations, the sparrowhawk pursues its quarry with such tenacity and unpredictability that it often blindsides its prey.

      By Mark Cocker Published 31 July 25

    • The white-tailed eagle is crafty, controversial and has wings the size of a barn door

      A penchant for spring lamb saw the raptor species ruthlessly exterminated, but the beguiling white-tailed eagle — also known as the sea eagle — is now back on our shores.

      By Mark Cocker Published 24 July 25

    • Peregrine falcons went to the edge of extinction in the 1960s — today, there are more of them than at any time since the Middle Ages

      In the latest instalment of Mark Cocker's 'Winging it' column, he looks at the peregrine, a bird of prey with astonishing speed and super strength.

      By Mark Cocker Published 3 July 25

    • From turtles to pink sea fans: Why Mediterranean marine life is drifting into British waters

      Both leatherback sea turtles and the soft corrals’ presence near our shores coincides with our warming seas, Lotte Brundle writes.

      By Lotte Brundle Published 26 June 25

    • It's a cruel summer to be a bee with up to 80% of swarms dying if they cannot find a safe place to settle — but here is how you can help

      Currently, swarms of bees are taking flight to search for new homes and up to 80% of these swarms will perish if they cannot find a safe place to settle, but we can all help, says the BBKA.

      By Annunciata Elwes Published 24 June 25

    • Hen harriers: The 'marvels of evolutionary adaptation' that are 'ballet and theatre and poetry inscribed on air'

      The hen harrier is one of the most glorious birds of prey in Britain — yet it provokes fierce debate. Mark Cocker unpicks why this breed is among the most controversial of all British birds.

      By Mark Cocker Published 19 June 25

    • DebTGJ2AhfjPTMNaHYqaLn.jpg

      Cavalier King Charles spaniels: Handsome, good-natured and the aristocrats of the dog world

      With a silken coat, affectionate nature and boundless enthusiasm for life, the Cavalier King Charles spaniel lives up to its royal heritage, says Catriona Gray

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