the merry and magical magpie

There are magpies in the neighbourhood! 

This little scavenger of the corvid family has populated the imagination of humans since we noticed its beautiful black-and-white pattern and its chattering, cheeky nature.

nature in the city: beloved garden birds

Every day back in our room in the Philippines, wonder | wander | women would look out our first floor window at the bamboo thicket and foxtail palms outside, and there would always be at least one or two birds in the branches. 

birds of London, part 2: working girls

Here in the UK, even as new buildings are springing up and globalisation takes root, city councils are finding that old ways can provide new solutions. As London sheds its industrial past and gets shinier and cleaner, flocks of pigeons can create a messy problem. The solution: hawks.

The birds of London, part 1: wetlands

London has a thriving wildlife population for such a busy city. Many birds especially are adaptable enough to thrive even in areas thickly populated by human residents. 

Walking along the canals of East London this spring, we saw ducks, swans, moorhens and other water-loving birds enjoying themselves in the spring sunshine.

London's Canal and River Trust recently turned a stretch of the Limehouse Cut, lined with apartment blocks and industrial buildings, into a rich ecology by planting reed beds along the sides of the canal to protect nests and seasonal insect populations.

blossom time: spring in the city

It's an unusually sunny spring in London and people are flocking to the...beaches? Not exactly; Londoners prefer to sun themselves by the calm waters of the Thames and its tributary canals instead of going east to the still-freezing waters of the English Channel.

Flowering trees by Limehouse Docks