I think it was my twelfth birthday when I received a butterfly and moth capturing kit. It came with a fine-meshed insect net and other items for euthanizing and mounting specimens in a display frame. With my net in hand, I ventured forth to hunt…

“You may go into the fields or down the lane, but don’t go into Mr. McGregor’s garden. Your Father had an accident there; he was put in a pie by Mrs. McGregor.” From “The Tale of Peter Rabbit,” by Beatrix Potter These past two summers…

“Two butterflies spin round and round above the buddleia bush. I watch them disappear over the wild cherry trees, still whirling on an invisible axis like some heavenly body moving through space.” — “Circle of the Seasons: A Journal of a Naturalists Year, August 1,…

During the summer a mysterious, rare and unusual plant can be found in the deep shadows of the forest. Between June and September, pearly white ghost pipe plants appear. Hiding from the sun, they emerge near the base of mature trees and the cool moist…

Regular readers will recall that I have an interest in bats and that interest drove me to volunteer with the Wildlife Division of the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) to help it assess the bat population in the state. There are…

  “Homegrown tomatoes homegrown tomatoes What’d life be without homegrown tomatoes Only two things that money can’t buy That’s true love & homegrown tomatoes” From the song “Homegrown Tomatoes” by Guy Clark For the past couple of years, I’ve had a dwindling relationship with my…