Category Archives: Nature

Don’t Write Off the Bat

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Roger Gosden

It was a perfect evening for a spin in the Batmobile with a team of three amateur chiroptologists. The air was warm and still when the sun went down. After leaving the carpark, we were overtaken by every vehicle along … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature | Tagged ACE-2, Batmobile, Big brown bat, Chiroptera, coronavirus, COVID-19, Red bat, SonoBat, White-nose syndrome | 2 Comments

Virginia is for Oyster Lovers

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Roger Gosden

“Why then the world’s mine oyster, which I with sword will open.” Thus, Shakespeare gave us a new idiom in the Merry Wives of Windsor repeated ever since, and Oscar Wilde wielded it with customary wit: “The world was my … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Environment, Nature | Tagged Chesapeake Bay, Oscar Wilde, oyster, Shakespeare, VIMS, York River | 1 Comment

About Giant Eggs & Double Yolks

Posted on June 27, 2020 by Roger Gosden

This week’s gift from a neighbor’s chicken coop included one extra-large egg. After hard-boiling and cracking open we found a double yolk, which some say is a good omen on our wedding anniversary. The following conversation over a meal would … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Assisted reproductive technology, Fertility, Nature | Tagged blastocyst, Human egg or oocyte, IVF and ARTs | Comments Off

Into the Wild at Knepp Estate

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Roger Gosden

Isabella Tree and her husband Charlie Burrell loved to travel from West Sussex to the fauna of wilder places in the world. No longer. They have re-envisioned their ‘backyard’ as semi-wilderness. Some backyard! They own the Knepp estate of 3,500 … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Nature, Other | Tagged Frans Vera, Isabella Tree, Knepp estate, Oostvaardersplassen, Rewilding, West Sussex | 2 Comments

Death of a Lawn Mower

Posted on June 2, 2020 by Roger Gosden

The novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald knew that Americans find public expression of their successful lives in a neatly groomed lawn. Jay Gatsby was so horrified at Nick Carroway’s ragged lawn next door that he sent his gardeners over to mow … Continue reading →