Nature for Absolute Beginners

One year ago, I knew quite a lot about birds, but not much else in the natural world. The 2020 pandemic and subsequent lockdown enabled me to study nature in a way I never had time (or the inclination) to do before. Although I enjoyed walking in the countryside and wondering about the plants and creatures I was seeing, I never took the time or trouble to find out more about them.
 
At the beginning of the first lockdown, my local councillor in Oxfordshire asked people in her district to send her emails about anything that might be of interest to the local neighbourhood. She then passed those emails on to the people who couldn’t get out themselves. I sent her an email with nature photos, and so began an entire year of sending out one email a day about some aspect of nature to a growing group of people from all over the world.

As I photographed species familiar to me, yet new to my understanding, I educated myself and my neighbours about the natural world. This has changed my perspective on life. 
 
At the end of the year, I began writing articles for the Henley Standard, a newspaper published near my home in the Chilterns, Oxfordshire. 
 
Here is the first article, published on November 20th, 2020.