Nature

The power of flowers — how they accompany us, heal us and ‘make us gasp with pleasure’

‘Just living is not enough... one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower,’ wrote Hans Christian Andersen. Jay Griffiths explores their emotional pull.

'Isolation is a revelation... there’s the time to see in depth what, before, we’ve only caught in passing'

Country Life's mystery columnist Agromones finds the silver lining in self-isolation.

10 utterly glorious images from the South Downs National Park photography competition

An image of horses enjoying a peaceful stroll on the South Downs was voted the best picture in the national park's annual photography competition — but the others on the shortlist are just as worthy of celebration.

A tour of the trailblazing Elmley nature reserve: 'Little more than an hour from London and we feel we’ve been on safari'

One family’s steadfast commitment to Nature means the privately run Elmley National Nature Reserve in Kent teems with wildlife, including the country’s largest lowland collection of breeding waders

Purbeck Heaths becomes the first 'super' National Nature Reserve in the UK

Dorset's Landowners have combined three existing NNRs to form a biodiverse haven for wildlife, with the environment seeing phenomenal benefits already.

A simple guide to the wildflowers of Britain

From deciduous woods yet to fill out with leaf, to windswept hilltop shingle beach and riverbank, our flora can give so much pleasure.

21 joyous pictures of Britain to raise your spirits on the first day of Spring

There's never been a more important time to get out into the countryside and smell the roses. Or watch the lambs. Or marvel at the views, and dozens of other things.

Why the world's tree planting plans must be about more than just battling climate change

Planting trees is good — but they have to be the right trees.

Jason Goodwin: 'He had power of a prophet who knows he is right, because there is only one way of living sustainably'

Our spectator columnist admires H. J. Massingham, the journalist who became a sustainable visionary before his time.

Celandine: The delicate flower, harbinger of spring, which Wordsworth thought more beautiful than daffodils

Lauded by Wordsworth for their ‘glittering countenance’, the appearance of the first celandines and the swallow’s return to our shores are Ian Morton’s favourite, and much anticipated, harbingers of spring.

Jason Goodwin: 'Urine is sterile – I recommend the bucket-by-the-back-door method, myself'

A single hen can produce about 10lb of manure a month and is the perfect compost accelerator – although Jason Goodwin is looking a little closer to home to produce his compost this year.

Dan Pearson: A garden has to have boundaries — but they need to be blurred if we're to connect with nature

How do you make a garden that fits its landscape? It's a question pondered by plantsman-designer Dan Pearson in the first of a new series of articles for Country Life, with photography by Huw Morgan.

The Ash: Is this the last stand for one of Britain's great native trees?

Mark Griffiths celebrates the historic, handsome and irrepressible native ash.

How farming has fallen from 'no finer investment' to fighting for its future

Jamie Blackett defends livestock farming on the urban media trail in the wake of 'Veganuary'.

Is it better to save our nation's footpaths or let them return to nature?

Ramblers are encouraging Brits to map any overgrown path they can find, but the CLA believe we should focus on maintaining those we have and let the rest fall back to nature.

Jason Goodwin: 'I pedalled for dear life with the devil at my back'

A nighttime excursion leaves our columnist with one clear thought: do less of this sort of thing.

The funny, dramatic and heart-rending stories behind the public's favourite pictures in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition

A pair of mice brawling like drunks outside a pub won the people's choice at the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year award.

Arnside and Silverdale: A landscape on par with the Lake District in its beauty and significance

People often miss the delightful landscape of Arnside and Silverdale as they hare off to the Lake District.

The 10 british songbirds at risk of extinction, from the turtle dove to the marsh tit

The latest figures on songbirds make for sobering reading.

16 absolutely stunning images from the 2020 British Photography Awards

Our picture editor Lucy Ford picks out some of the finest from among the 320 shortlisted images entered for the 2020 British Photography Awards.