Tony Drakeford

Bluebells have been voted the nation's favourite flower and the are certainly mine too. I love to sit quietly in a bluebell wood on a sunny spring morning.

On a somewhat chilly morning in early May, I'm here for the dawn chorus, that glorious springtime phenomenon that never fails to enthral and stimulate the senses of anyone fortunate enough to experience it first hand.

Our road network began to expand with ever faster highways and a great increase in vehicles Not long after the Second World War ended.

We are all assured by the opening lines of an old song ‘birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it’.

There can be no more colourful and flamboyant exotic-looking duck the male Mandarin.

I love watching the gradual greening of bankside weeping willow, their bright green foliage seeming to glow against a springtime blue sky.

Our lively and friendly robins really enjoyed themselves over Christmas adorning cards and wrapping paper. Postmen were once nicknamed ‘robins’ because they wore red waistcoats.

We may be rewarded if we listen carefully when walking in Richmond Park and Bushy Park by hearing little owls uttering their plaintive yelping mewing calls from the many ancient oaks.

Two female feral pigeons stood together heads cocked to one side picking up crumbs on platform four at Earl’s Court Underground station.

I was fortunate to observe at close quarters just how successful a predator is the common wasp.