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There's dinosaurs in them thar hills: How Britain discovered the Megalosaurus
There's not much to say about the Oxfordshire village of Stonesfield, apart from the fact that it was once 'covered in crocodiles and slithering plesiosaurs'.
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Spheres with tails: our enduring love affair with the thrush
These round songbirds have inspired not only some of our best poets, but have also sewn the seeds of the countryside around us.
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'Neither fish nor flesh': The beguiling world of the otter
A creature of bewitching contrasts, the otter is ‘an animal that might have been specifically designed to please a child’ and has captured our imaginations since first we encountered its bright-eyed gaze.
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The Legacy: Arthur Hobhouse and the creation of our national parks
Legendarily beautiful, Hobhouse chaired the committee that prepared the legislation to create national parks in 1949, with the first, the Peak District, established in 1951.
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Britain has 763 different types of moss — and they're varied, distinctive and strikingly beautiful
As special as orchids, as beautiful as bluebells and as important as oaks, our ground-hugging mosses are worth a look down, says naturalist and author Mark Cocker.
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Leading landscape photographers share their secrets in latest Light & Land exhibition
Charlie Waite, Bill Ward, Astrid McGechan, Ed Rumble and Charlotte Bellamy are some of the many famous names who will be exhibiting at the Mall Galleries from September 3.
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Rarer than pandas: Meet the native breeds that have a crucial role to play in food security and conservation
Some treasured native farm animals have fallen dangerously low in numbers. Kate Green meets the breeders keeping the flame alive.
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Curious Questions: Why do so many animals have bright white bottoms?
Why do so many animals have such obviously flashy appendages, asks Laura Parker, as she examines scuts, rumps and rears.
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There are 200 chalkstreams in the world, almost all are in England, and they're the most biodiverse freshwater habitat on the planet
Chalkstreams were forged millions of years ago when Europe was largely underwater and developed into unique and complex habitats that we must consider national treasures, says Charles Rangeley-Wilson.
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'Water was coming in through the roof, the windows and the stone walls. It caused mushrooms to grow in the bedrooms, and sizeable bits of the ceiling to detach themselves without notice'
Water, water everywhere for Jonathan Self — especially in the places where you'd least want to have it.
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The 1930s eco-warrior who inspired David Attenborough and The Queen, only to be unmasked as a hoaxer and 'pretendian' — but his message still rings true
Martin Fone tells the astonishing story of Grey Owl, who became a household name in the 1930s with his pioneering calls to action to save the environment — using a false identity to do so.
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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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The Lapwing, the bird with dozens names that is 'one of the most evocative sights and sounds of the countryside'
Often preceded by its otherworldly call, the jaunty emerald-and-purple lapwing is an increasingly rare presence in southern England, says Vicky Liddell, as she explores a new initiative to halt the decline.
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What's in a colour? The mystery behind our obsession with green
The human eye can detect more shades of green than any other colour and they are matched by a bewildering variety of names, discovers Lucien de Guise
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Curious Questions: Why do all of Britain's dolphins and whales belong to the King?
More species of whale, dolphin and porpoise can be spotted in the UK than anywhere else in northern Europe and all of them, technically, belong to the Monarch. Ben Lerwill takes a look at one of our more obscure laws and why the animals have such an important role to play in the fight against climate change.
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Curious Questions: Do dock leaves really cure nettle stings?
Renowned as a ‘land robber’, docks don’t have much going for them, other than alleviating nettle stings — but do they really work? John Wright heroically finds out.
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From oinking fugitives to ecological engineers: How wild boars have re-established themselves in our woodland and what to do if they try and steal your shopping
Once a common sight for our Neolithic ancestors, the wild boar was hunted to extinction. Now, in places such as the Forest of Dean, they are slowly returning.
