Nature

The 'irreplaceable' trees destroyed in their thousands by Storm Arwen

Barnacle Geese: The curious tale of the bird which people believed grew on trees

A curious set of coincidences surrounding barnacle geese prompted our forebears to draw some strange conclusions about where Branta leucopsis came from — generating myths that lasted centuries, as Ian Morton discovers.

Walking the Quantock Hills: 'The last sprigs of heather speak of Coleridge's never bloomless furze'

Colour never dies in the Quantock Hills, a landscape that inspired great poetry — and which catches Fiona Reynolds just the same.

HRH The Prince of Wales: 'It is a complex, dynamic and interconnected process... The task is to find an equitable balance between space for Nature and space for food production'

HRH The Prince of Wales writes in his birthday leader article of the many challenges that lie ahead as we seek to balance Nature, farming and biodiversity — and all on a small, heavily-urbanised island with a growing population.

How the poppy captured the imagination of the nation

Poppies aren't just beautiful, natural flowers lighting up the countryside; they're inextricably linked with our history. Jack Watkins looks at how the ‘painted glass’ that ‘never glows so brightly as when the sun shines through it’ became a powerful symbol of the brevity of life.

HRH The Prince of Wales: 'The UK is one of the most Nature-depleted places on the planet... we have to respond now before the capacity of Nature’s systems is ruptured for good'

Wednesday's edition of Country Life sees HRH The Prince of Wales write his traditional birthday leader article, focusing this year on the huge importance of hedgerows to the nature of Britain — and what we can do to protect and nourish them.

Why do we need more hedges? Biodiversity, carbon capture, soil retention and water quality, as well as beauty

From biodiversity and carbon capture to soil retention and water quality, the humble hedge provides a solution to a plethora of environmental problems.

Solving the mysteries of the countryside, from hair ice and cramp balls to pillow mounds and the sheepwash with a 16ft drop

Naturalist John Wright has all the answers to our most unusual countryside mysteries.

Rosie and Jim: Spectacular nature, bitter cold, fantastic parties and the utter misery of flu — the love/hate affair with Autumn

Rosie and Jim just can't agree on autumn — and the division is so deep that they can't even agree on whether to capitalise it.

Foraging for sloes: 'Are we not actually closest to Nature, valuing it most, when we pick it — when we are inside the food chain ourselves?'

On his annual October sloe-picking harvest, John Lewis-Stempel admires redwings, greenfinches and wood mice gathering their haul of autumn’s bountiful berries.

The day a Country Life photographer captured an image of a ghost, a picture that's become one of the most famous 'spirit photography' images of all time

Some 85 years ago, a picture of the fabled ‘Brown Lady’ of Raynham was taken by Country Life photographers. Was it really the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole, an 18th-century mistress of the manor? Caitlin Blackwell Baines takes a look, and tells tales of how many struggling country house owners have found that ghosts help them to stay connected to a more illustrious past.

13 truly staggering images from Close-up Photographer of the Year 2021

Tree planting only helps if it's done properly, and monoculture plantations can even hurt native ecosystems, according to Kew report

Planting trees in the wrong places and neglecting what is already growing are just two of the potential pitfalls, according to a new report. Carla Passino reports.

Batcombe House: The 'essential Somerset garden' with a gloriously wild display of flowers, a relaxed atmospheric landscape and an unexploded WW2 shell in one of the borders

When Libby Russell moved to Batcombe House, Somerset, it was the countryside with which she fell in love. Over the past 17 years, she has taken cues from that landscape to create a garden that is entirely at home in its setting. Natasha Goodfellow reports. with photographs by Eva Nemeth.

In Focus: How poetry 'offers us something unique at times like this... It does not give us all the answers, but it helps us process the world around us'

As entries for the Country Life poetry competition have begun to arrive, Tim Relf celebrates our countryside poets and the locations that inspired them to write such evocative verse.

The wine cooler built into a kitchen island, and seven more of the best new looks and ideas for your most-used household space

The latest designs and products to inspire, selected by Amelia Thorpe

The change in law that means gene-edited food could be heading to the shelves

The Government has opened the door for gene-edited food to hit our shelves, to the delight of some farmers and the concern of others.

Jason Goodwin: 'No one ever quite knew if he was telling the truth and the story was too terrible either to investigate or disbelieve'

Does lightning really strike twice? Absolutely, but rarely in so chilling a manner as reported by our columnist Jason Goodwin.

How keeping chickens boomed in the pandemic — and the charity helping new keepers do it right

Chickens became the fourth most popular domestic pet in Britain over the past year and a half, and the British Hen Welfare Trust have been helping thousands of people. Annunciata Elwes reports.