In a non scientific way I have counted the rook nests in the village for a number of years now. In previous years my count took place in late February or early March, after which a couple more nests invariably appeared. This year I delayed my count slightly and waited until the spring equinox, not just because it was the warmest day so far in 2025, but also the first day of my retirement. Until this moment I'd been too busy finishing my career, and work, at the BBC.
An adhoc forage into natural history, the rural scene and related topics based on personal observations, professional encounters and informative associations. Instagram and Threads as @wessex_reiver
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Friday, 21 March 2025
The Spring Equinox Rooks
Friday, 24 January 2025
Bicknoller in 1883
In June 1883* the writer Richard Jefferies visited Somerset. There is a little confusion as to why he visited Somerset during the long days of summer given the main work published the following year was a book on red deer, with unsurprisingly the title of Red Deer. This now classic study of deer was a detailed natural history of the landscape red deer roamed over with meticulously researched methods of hunting and products created from them. Which is why visiting in the summer is a little confusing as the deer hunting season happens during the winter months. To gather the information for his book he therefore spent a few days in Exford with the master of the Devon and Somerset Staghounds Arthur Heal.
I don't wish to go into more detail about the book, as there are better sources than me. And you can read more of Jefferies Somerset Adventure and a synopsis of the book via the Richard Jefferies Society Website beginning on page 54 of the Societies' Journal Number 39 – 2024
link here : https://www.richardjefferiessociety.org/p/the-richard-jefferies-society-journal.html
My visit to the Quantock Hills this week was to finally begin researching locations for a maybe fanciful idea of mine of producing a Jefferies in Somerset self guided tour. He covered a large area in the 19 days he spent here, he must have never stopped, but for this visit I began, where else, at the beginning, the hamlet of Bicknoller.
I know Bicknoller only to drive through as it is close to where we come to watch nightjars on a summers evening (no evidence Jefferies saw nightjar here, I'd be surprised if he didn't do so). This however was the first time I'd explored the hamlet, or maybe it is a small village as it has a pub and a shop? First I walked through the churchyard, greeted as I crossed through the gate with a riot of spring flowers, quite early considering it is only January. Rooks and jackdaw were noisily prospecting for nest sites above me as I wandered through the gravestones, not looking for anything in particular just something I like to do.
Friday, 10 January 2025
Embargoed Beavers
I'm not sure where to begin with this. Maybe a photograph of me out birdwatching one day will provide enough impetus for everyone to run in horror and move onto the most important part of the story. Beavers!!