Ron Freethy's weekly nature column from the Lancashire Telegraph

Blogs and columns

Spiky problems for all wildlife

4:10pm Monday 6th May 2013

The winter of 2013 has seemed perpetual. As Easter fell, swathes of the UK were buried under a compacted blanket of snow, bringing scenes more akin to January than springtime.

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Blog: A struggle for our butterflies?

5:11pm Monday 29th April 2013

I try not to be too pessimistic when writing about our local wildlife but all who love science have to tell the truth.

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Blog: Our birds have a bullish nature

4:24pm Monday 22nd April 2013

How have bullfinches fared this spring snowtime?Those who cultivate fruits for a living hate the bullfinch because this lovely looking bird feeds on the buds of fruit trees during the spring.

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Dark depths of the 'earth throwers'

4:51pm Monday 15th April 2013

THE colder the weather the deeper moles have to dig and so the spring of 2013 must have been a real problem for them.

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Thumping way to attract a mate

5:10pm Monday 8th April 2013

HAS spring sprung? I doubt it. I have heard it said that rabbits and hares look alike but once you have seen a hare you will never again confuse the two.

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Red squirrels helped out by a rare friend

3:13pm Monday 25th March 2013

The red squirrel has long attracted headlines of doom. Bullied out of house and home by its American grey cousins, it has become the UK's equivalent of the panda - a creature seemingly doomed to extinction despite its power to pull at our collective heart strings.

Spring in step on winter walk

4:51pm Monday 11th March 2013

It was Sunday, February 24th when I set out to find a subject for this week’s column.

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Nature Notes: Expert hunters lurk in the reedbeds

2:07pm Monday 4th March 2013

I always feel a bit sorry for Esox lucius – not an assassinated Roman emperor but a pike, by its scientific name.

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Column: Enjoy the sight of grace and beauty

2:00pm Monday 25th February 2013

I am writing this in early February and watching yet more snow falling.

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Fox noises echo through darkness

4:16pm Monday 18th February 2013

MY BLACK labrador has an alarm clock in her head. She has got used to a six o’clock start, whatever the weather.

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Helping out our spider friends

2:20pm Monday 4th February 2013

As the snow swept down I was warm in my living room watching a house spider spin its web. I had a word with my wife and we agreed to leave it alone until it moved of its own accord.

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Enjoy a canalside winter walk

3:39pm Monday 28th January 2013

IN winter weather it obviously makes sense not to take risks and walking is best done on the flat. Whatever the time of year I never tire of strolling along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. Over the years I have walked every inch of this 126 mile cut.

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Churchyards are wildlife havens

4:12pm Monday 21st January 2013

Those who attend church services, especially at Christmas, simply walk through the churchyard without giving it a second glance.

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Blog: The wonder of the water flea

5:47pm Monday 14th January 2013

Everybody who keeps fish knows that they are often fed on water fleas. They are so small that their life history is not well known.

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Walk to blow away the cobwebs

2:33pm Monday 7th January 2013

Strollers are often advised not to venture up onto our high hills in the winter.

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Blog: My breeding bird report for 2012

4:25pm Monday 17th December 2012

I cannot remember a summer during which I have had to battle so hard against the weather.

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Go with the flow to spot a dipper

10:26am Monday 10th December 2012

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to give a lecture about the life of the dipper to a group of southern-based naturalists.

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When will winter 2012 really bite?

2:20pm Monday 3rd December 2012

I was busy setting up my bird table and including lots of goodies when a friend arrived and showed me a newspaper headline.

A batty time for nature's nightlife

2:46pm Monday 26th November 2012

The first few days of November 2012 gave us a period of quite hard frost.

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Be patient, you’ll see the ‘fairies’

3:23pm Monday 19th November 2012

However cold this coming winter turns out to be, our wildlife will cope.

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