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.
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The gardening jobs to enjoy with secateurs in one hand — and a glass of wine in the other
Gardening does need hard work, says John Hoyland — but not all the time.
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John Lewis-Stempel: Why autumn is the time to go nuts
Whether enjoyed as a healthy snack or deployed as the playground weapon of choice, nuts are versatile, abundant and plentiful now, says John Lewis-Stempel.
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John Lewis-Stempel: 'Rewilding is half backwards-looking fantasy, half dystopian vision'
Those who make the case for rewilding ought to be careful — MUCH more careful — what they wish for, says award-winning nature writer John Lewis-Stempel.
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William Shakespeare: The original Nature boy
William Shakespeare wasn’t only the greatest playwright of our history, he was an avid ornithophile, a green man and a master of transposing the true power of Nature onto the page, says John Lewis-Stempel.
