Most, apart from the best-informed naturalists among us, are puzzled from time to time by the sounds of nature; particularly the ones which surprise us in the middle of the night. Charlie Bennett investigates some of the creatures which go screech in the night
Shadows in stone
Kevin Dowling explores the fascinating story of the Ulgham window head
A visitor to the church of St. John the Baptist in the ancient Northumberland village of Ulgham (locally pronounced ‘Uffam’) will find a curious stone set into a wall inside the church. It is an old sandstone window head which is thought to have been a part of the exterior of an earlier chapel which occupied the same site in the 12th Century.
The sycamore
Clive Wilkinson, of Rothbury, continues his occasional series of musings on country life…
Our late-lamented friend and neighbour, John Wallace, used to come into our house and make straight for the sitting room window. He would stand and look for a few moments and then say, in his lovely lilting Irish brogue, ‘That’s a wonderful tree.’ And we would stand beside him and share that special moment.