Water, water everywhere

I HAVE written numerous pieces about mallard – this our most ubiquitous duck is a survivor. Mallard can be found almost everywhere, and I love them and never tire of watching them. They are underrated

Search for “bog” in this new edition of Seamus Heaney’s poems and you will find the word some 60 times; the 1,200 tissue-thin pages are mulchy with “the squelch and slap of soggy peat”. There is the o

Andrew Jackson , a social housing director, nurtured a wildflower wonderland in the garden of his Beverley new-build home. It has since featured on Gardeners’ World and he also created a show garden at Harrogate Flower Show this year. He shares his blossoming journey

Dr Smita Patel dreamed of a natural swimming pool in her garden, and after years of waiting, the dream finally came true, as Nicola Stocken discovers

An early-morning dog walk through the woods sees John Lewis-Stempel coming face to face–or skin to spider silk–with the industrious magic of a September dawn

Ian McEwan is strolling through the garden of his Cotswolds manor house. Bees waft drowsily between wildflowers. Plump apples, pears and walnuts bauble the trees. Vibrant cerulean-blue damselflies hov