In our local park this week, the ornamental cherries are in full bloom and this tree in particular caught my attention. Not content to display its candyfloss blossom on its branches, it has bloomed all the way down its trunk too!

This winter, my binoculars have scanned the hedgerows in vain for some of my favourite winter visitors - fieldfares and redwings. Flocks of these thrushes migrate from Scandinavia to feast on our berry bushes.

Is this what a dolphin ‘sees’ when it looks at an expectant human mother?

At this time of year, as well as gracing our gardens with his confiding presence and lyrical melody, the robin graces our homes on Christmas cards and decorations.

Autumn colours are bursting forth in our forests, parks and roadside verges – a feast for the eyes before the onset of winter. Most of the trees dropping their leaves are broadleaved – the oaks and ashes, beeches, hornbeams and so on. But did you know that a few conifer species also shed their ‘leaves’ in autumn after a display of beautiful colour?

I’ve always loved the sea, its otherness, vastness and restlessness. One day benign and inviting, the next, turbulent and forbidding.

Sky above, a horizon of tree-lined banks around, the body immersed in natural water, without a whiff of chlorine, and preferably not another soul around – this for me is swimming!

Out of the corner of your eye, you spot movement in the treetop, you raise your binoculars and… it's gone! At times, bird-watching can be a series of near misses; but then there are golden moments when you manage to focus in on that barn owl or yellow wagtail and it takes your breath away.

The unmistakable call of the cuckoo is an integral part of the British spring soundscape and I love to hear it. Despite my best efforts, I have never seen a cuckoo. But I live in hope.

We’ve hit on a great wildlife-watching spot for our working holiday in the Fen country this week. On our doorstep are ducks, moorhens, coots, partridge, pheasants and geese galore with goslings trotting around amongst noisy, fretful parents.

Last Friday, David and I were astonished and thrilled to see an otter on our local river, the Roding. It swam upstream a little way and then clambered up the bank and disappeared into the undergrowth.

I'm fascinated by trees - organisms whose lifespan in some species can exceed a millennium. I love their astounding diversity, from the minute Dwarf Willow to the towering Coast Redwoods like ‘Hyperion’ in the US, which at over 115m is higher than the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Have you ever seen a starling murmuration? It’s a wonderful sight even on TV or social media but if you get the chance to see one ‘in the flesh,’ go for it. There is a starling murmuration map that gets updated every winter as sightings come in…