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Field & Sky

Field & Sky

The natural history of the turning year: the birds that keep the calendar, the weather that carries its own folklore, the few weeks each thing is given. Why the swift returns almost to the day, why chalk downland greens before the clay beside it, why the mayfly rise undoes the trout fishing for a fortnight.
17
Jun
A lone broad-canopied tree on a ridge at sunset, the sun low and golden behind its trunk, a long shadow falling down a track toward fields below, watercolour.

The Latest Sunset of the Year: Why It Is Not the Longest Day

The longest day is not the day of the latest sunset. The earliest sunrise comes a few days before the solstice, the latest sunset a few days after, and the solstice sits in the middle of both.
3 min read
05
Jun
A chalk stream at dusk under a soft afterglow sky, rings spreading on the still water where trout have risen, and a faint swarm of mayfly high in the air beside a leaning willow.

Duffers' Fortnight: The Mayfly Rise on the Chalk Streams

For two weeks in early summer the mayfly comes off the chalk streams in such numbers the trout drop all caution. How to watch the rise at dusk.
3 min read
23
May
Watercolour of lowland acid heath at ground level. Blue milkwort, white heath bedstraw, rust-red sheep’s sorrel and yellow tormentil in short turf, gorse in yellow flush behind, low horizon.

Lowland Acid Grassland in May: What to Find at Ground Level

Lowland acid grassland is the closest thing to England before the plough. Milkwort, sheep's sorrel, and heath bedstraw at ground level.
3 min read
23
May
Watercolour of a nightingale perched on a hedge twig, beak open in song, among white blossom and cow parsley against a soft green wash.

The Nightingale in Britain: Migration, Decline, and the Sound of May

Two thousand miles from West Africa to southern England, the nightingale sings on still May nights. Its UK population is down ninety per cent.
3 min read
23
May
A common swift in flight banks over a slate village rooftop at dusk, its long sickle-shaped wings extended, pale throat patch visible, with a distant second swift in the pink sky.

The Swift: Britain's Most Precise Spring Migrant

The swift crosses the English coast in early May. Gilbert White's Selborne records still benchmark a population now down by half.
5 min read
28
Apr
A barn swallow flying low over a hawthorn hedge in the early morning, dark blue upperparts and chestnut throat catching the light, an old stone outbuilding and open pasture beyond.

Spring arrivals: a calendar of returning birds

A week-by-week guide to the birds returning to Britain from March to May. When to listen, what to listen for, and what each arrival tells you.
4 min read
14
Apr
Chalk downland in early spring, bright green turf with cowslips, a drove road visible, blue sky with fast-moving cloud.

Why Chalk Downland Warms Up Before Clay

Stand on chalk in early April and look down at the clay, and you see two seasons at once. The chalk drains, dries, and warms weeks before the clay does.
2 min read
14
Apr
Blackthorn branch in full white blossom on bare dark wood, no leaves, thorns visible against a cold grey sky.

What Is a Blackthorn Winter?

The cold snap that arrives with the blossom. Why it happens, what blackthorn has to do with Easter, and why nobody brings the blossom indoors.
2 min read