Dawn Chorus: Symbiosis in action

The pictorial definition of symbiosis

A red-deer stag and his ‘feathered groomsmen’, as captured (above) by wildlife photographer Lawrence Chatton in Richmond Park, south-west London. ‘These animals share a special symbiotic bond,’ he explains. ‘The jackdaws feed on parasites such as mites, ticks and fleas, benefiting from a consistent food source, as well as helping the deer stay healthier. Additionally, during moulting season, jackdaws collect the deer’s loose fur for their nests, further strengthening this mutually beneficial bond’.

Quiz of the Day

1) What is the female equivalent of an Earl?

2) Which fruit comes from the rose?

3) What ancient unit of length was based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger?

4) Who wrote My Family and Other Animals?

5) What is an elver?

Answers at the bottom of the page

318 pages of joy

'The first edition of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace was 1,225 pages long. This year, the pages of Country Life will total more than 8,200 when all 51 issues are added together,' writes Editor-in-Chief Mark Hedges in the Country Mouse column of the print magazine this week (which, at 318 pages, is the biggest Christmas issue the magazine has produced in its 128-year history). 'I doubt any magazine, anywhere, will have produced more pages and for that I am hugely indebted to my wonderful staff, most of whom have worked together for far more than a decade. They are not so much colleagues as friends.

'As I find it ever harder to make sense of the increasing conflicts around the world, I have come to realise that I can do nothing to stop them. I don’t understand why so many leaders are warmongers. I also don’t understand why humans prefer reading bad news to good news. That is why Country Life, which I endeavour to make relentlessly positive, will never have the circulation of the Daily Mail and yet, because there is so much good to write about, remains one of the biggest and most successful magazines in Britain. In this crazy world, your friends and family become ever more important. The song thrush, singing outside my window as I write this, is beautiful. The small things, the little joys, are real.'

A lovely sentiment, beautifully expressed — and we'd say that even if he wasn't the boss. Whatever you do, make sure you pick up the special Christmas double issue — and if you can't get to the shops (or find it once there) we'll happily post it out, anywhere in the world.

Pulling up the drawbridge on your nearest and dearest

Multi-generational living is very much a thing now — but how can you do it without getting on each other's nerves? Madeleine Silver took a look.

That's it — you're done for today

Quiz answers

1) Countess

2) Hip

3) Cubit

4) Gerald Durrell

5) A young eel