A walk today, with my son and the dog. The air, at around 17°C, was mild despite a light, persistent rain. Or perhaps because of it – a beautiful fragrance filled the air, a complex perfume of early summer. The Broom (Cytisus scoparius) still offers some flowers, though small green seed pods now hang from…

The days remain cool and unsettled. Temperatures hover between 12 and 15 °C, and light rain comes and goes. We walk during the lulls—sometimes under a sky that lifts just enough to let the sun reach through. When it does, its warmth feels sudden and generous.Yesterday, under such fleeting sun, we visited the small old rubble…

14. May 2025 The meadow beyond the garden has been cut. In the centre of the bare field sat a Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo)—silent, still. After a while, it rose with slow, steady effort, lifting itself into the wind, and drifted beyond sight. Overhead, the breeze carried hundreds of dandelion seeds, white and weightless, crossing…

Yesterday:Temperature: 25.5 °C | Relative humidity: 38% | Weather: sunny, mild breeze | Locations: mosaic of field, meadow, riparian woodland, and village garden A free day. We set out — son, dog, and I — past the edge of the village. The track winds across open fields and early-summer meadows, toward the stream-boundary woods and further,…

Finally a day off. Saturday morning – I’m heading out into nature with my little son and our dog. We’re going to check out the wetland. On the way, we pass a badger’s den (Meles meles) gaping from the stream bank. A bit further on, there are more and more entrances to the badger labyrinth.…

I’ve been kind of caught up in life lately. Or rather, I don’t have time to go out into the countryside. Well, I do, but I go with my son and my dog, so we do other activities than collecting plants for the herbarium or bird watching and so on. You just can’t do that…

It has warmed up again, with temperature records broken at several weather stations. The sun was shining, and it reached up to 14 °C. The remnants of snow and frozen puddles have melted, and water lingers in the muddy furrows of the fields, just like in spring. I’ve started serving fat balls to the birds…

The European Climate Service Copernicus has confirmed that last year was the warmest year on record.On a walk around the village, I photographed the birds’ nests, now exposed in the leafless bushes. The GPS coordinates stored in the metadata of the photos point about a kilometer off, so it was a pretty pointless activity. But…

Shared joy, double joy. Shared sorrow, half sorrow. My best friend died today. Cancer. It was quick, within days. I dare say he lived a happier life than most dogs. He was used to walking free, off leash, because he knew when to wait and when to go. He was calm, friendly, loving and a…