Among their deceptively inert branches, trees shelter feathered Pavarottis, scuttling beetles, opportunistic fungi and fierce owls. John Lewis-Stempel recounts a day in the life of an oak and the creatures that call it home.
After days of incessant January rain, the chicken paddock has turned into a quagmire, ghost ponds have resurfaced and a sheep has come close to drowning. But there's joy to be found even despite all that, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Plodding home in the gloaming, through a wood stripped bare by November gales, John Lewis-Stempel stumbles across a magical fairy ring of wood-blewit fungi
The weather we've had this autumn means that mushrooms have mushroomed — and award-winning Nature writer John Lewis-Stempel is delighted.
Be it bees buzzing around pollen, a breeze through a field of wheat or the barking of deer, there are certain sounds that will forever evoke our British countryside, wherever you might find yourself, says John Lewis-Stempel.
On a breathlessly hot day in July, John Lewis-Stempel mounts an attack on ‘injurious and noxious’ weeds with the help of his trusty little grey Fergie tractor.
Lithe, opportunistic and with a predilection for poultry, these elusive, often pocket-sized predators have long raised a stink for farmers and gamekeepers, but not all of them deserve such an otterly bad rap, believes John Lewis-Stempel.
Tasked with shearing his neighbour’s sheep late on a warm June night, the clickety-click of John Lewis-Stempel’s metal hand-shears is accompanied by a vociferous twilight chorus of crickets, birds and bats.
As he repairs a fence that’s gone floppy thanks to the cattle rubbing against it, John Lewis-Stempel pauses on a warm Spring morning to admire all the birds busily building and lining their nests with cow hair.
Pie filling, pest or pet of underrated beauty, the rabbit is a mute and gregarious commoner that will nonetheless scream, fight and kill when warranted, says award-winning nature writer John Lewis-Stempel.
Pie filling, pest or pet of underrated beauty, the rabbit is a mute and gregarious commoner that will nonetheless scream, fight and kill when warranted, says John Lewis-Stempel.
As attractive to artists as it is to moths and butterflies, the ‘White Period’ of heavenly spring blossom is upon us and John Lewis-Stempel couldn’t be happier.
Dormice sleep for months, hedgehogs snore in quilts of moss and wood frogs turn to ice — a spellbound John Lewis-Stempel investigates the annual mystery of hibernation.
Award-winning writer John Lewis-Stempel's soul is moved both by the art and the science of the snowflake.
Second Lieutenant George Moor was a teenager who signed up for service at the outbreak of the First World War and battled through unimaginable horrors. John Lewis-Stempel tells his heartbreaking tale, a chilling reminder of what our forefathers had to do to survive.
On his annual October sloe-picking harvest, John Lewis-Stempel admires redwings, greenfinches and wood mice gathering their haul of autumn’s bountiful berries.
Equus caballus has served us for millennia on the land, the battlefield and in the sporting arena, so it’s no wonder our passion for our trusty steeds remains unbridled, says John Lewis-Stempel.
Capable of feeling jealousy and grief, as well as the love and adoration we’ve basked in for centuries, the dog is a creature like no other for John Lewis-Stempel.
As Country Life launches its Trees for Tomorrow campaign, to mark the magazine’s 125th anniversary, John Lewis-Stempel reflects on why these gentle giants are the key to our survival.
John Lewis-Stempel picks out his ten favourite British trees.
