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Curious Questions: Were Mallory and Irvine the first to reach the summit of Mount Everest?
It’s now 100 years since George Mallory and Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine disappeared high on Everest; speculation about their achievements has been rife ever since. Robin Ashcroft takes a broad perspective
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How to eat nettles without being stung, by expert forager John Wright
The nettle is probably the first plant most of us can remember, thanks to its harsh sting, but it's also delicious deep fried and useful as a natural medicine.
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Packing a pinch: Everything you could ever want to know about the UK's crabs
Some are delicious to eat, some live thousands of feet underwater, some are the size of a fingernail. Step into the world of these curious crustaceans.
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Sir Peter Scott: the Olympic sailor, national glider-flying champion and Second World War veteran who became the father of wildfowl conservation
As well as helping found the WWF and designing its panda logo, he also took part in a hunt to find the Loch Ness Monster.
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Tarquin Millington-Drake's tale of 500 hours, 45,000 photos, and the endless subtlety of the wild grey partridge
Photographer and author Tarquin Millington-Drake's dedication to capturing wild grey partridge is extraordinary. Paula Lester went to meet him.
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Britain's creepiest crawlie? The 250-million-year-old Scorpion Fly
A living prehistoric relic, the scorpion fly is a permanent guest at the ugly-bug ball, says Ian Morton.
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The terrible truth about the cuckoo, and the 'monstrous outrages' it perpetrates on its foster parents and siblings
The cuckoo is a bird whose behaviour is so horrendous — when judged by human standards, at any rate — that it wasn't until the advent of wildlife film that ornithologists finally acknowledged and accepted the depths that it plunges. Jack Watkins explains.
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From the 'gatekeeper' to the 'Scotch argus', where did butterflies and moths get their strange names?
Members of the Society of Aurelians were artists, designers, silk traders and men-of-letters. So what inspired them to coin the many names of butterflies and moths we use today? The answer, reveals Peter Marren is beauty.
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The mystery of the hedge: How an exhibition on these living walls seeks to explain our fascination with their place in the landscape
Gareth Gardner wondered if he was the only photographer interested in hedges. Now he has the answer.
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18 of the best places across Britain to go and see bluebells this spring
We round up the best gardens to visit to see carpets of bluebells this spring and explain how to tell the difference between the native flowers and foreign interlopers
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The neglected weed with 100 different names that 'deserves more than a passing thought'
Shepherd's purse is a common sight in our hedgerows, but there is much more to this plant than what meets the eye.
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The Legacy: Philip Wayre, the man who saved the otter
The heartwarming tale of how this film-maker and naturalist restored the otter to English rivers.
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19,000 miles of exquisite beauty: Britain's incomparable coastline
Our beautiful, infinitely varied coast has become central to our national concept of what makes Britain so special, says Peter Waine.
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The woodpecker's maracas and the duets of owls: Why Nature is the unbeatable soundtrack of Spring
The unmistakable sounds of the world coming awake after winter are enough to put a smile on our faces, even when the skies are still grey and the fields still damp.
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The Legacy: Sir Joseph Banks, the naturalist who created Kew
The Lincolnshire landowner who was described by David Attenborough as a 'passionate naturalist' and 'the great panjandrum of British science'.
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The very nature of Middle Earth — how Tolkien's passion for the countryside inspired the Lord of the Rings
A Nature writer at heart, J. R. R. Tolkien drew on his love of the Malvern Hills and the surrounding countryside to paint his fantasy realm, says James Clarke
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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.
