Derek Niemann

During a severe drought in Frome, Somerset, tansy is flourishing in striking localised abundance while surrounding grasses, trees and other plants wither under intense heat and grazing pressure. The piece describes the ecological refuge provided by a hillside spring and riverbank, observes how cattle have adapted to the conditions, and examines tansy’s distinctive appearance and historical use as a medicinal and culinary herb.

A walk along Colliers Way between Frome and Radstock highlights the rare flatness of the old railway line, now a cycle and footpath. Seasonal vegetation encloses the route, revealing glimpses of hayfields, wildlife and remnants of original railway tracks still embedded beside the path. The piece reflects on the landscape, history and charm of travelling this unusually level stretch through the Mendip Hills.

A walk near Frome in Somerset reveals the stinging nettle as an important habitat and food source despite its unpleasant reputation among humans. Aphids, red soldier beetles, spiders, blackflies and nettle pollen beetles gather on the plants, while their wind-borne pollen contributes to hay fever. The nettle’s defensive hairs make it difficult to love, but close observation shows a lively ecosystem centered on the much-maligned plant.

Inland gulls around Frome, Somerset, become especially visible and vocal in May, drifting over the town, gathering in aerial flocks and competing for territory on rooftops and church spires. Their behaviour contrasts with the negative reputation of coastal gulls, while their calls continue to evoke seaside memories and childhood associations.

A garden lawn in Frome, Somerset, has become dominated by moss, primroses and tiny speedwell rather than grass after a mild, exceptionally wet winter. The changing balance illustrates how climate change is reshaping gardens and challenging traditional ideas about what a lawn should look like. The writer plans to observe how the moss responds to summer drought before deciding whether any intervention is needed.

A former Somerset paddock nicknamed “bitey horse field” is being transformed into Frome Community Woodland through a 99-year council lease and community planting project. Around 600 volunteers are planting native trees suited to different ground conditions, including willow, black poplar, alder, oak, hornbeam and field maple. The woodland is being created in memory of Moko Sellars and is intended to provide a lasting community space for future generations.

While observing long-tailed tits and a soaring buzzard near Frome, Somerset, the writer watches the buzzard struggle to balance on the tip of a conifer. The bird’s visible anxiety and awkward movements prompt the writer to unconsciously mirror its posture, producing a moment of empathy and connection with another creature before the buzzard abandons its precarious perch.

A walk beside the River Frome in Somerset becomes an attentive exploration of the sounds produced by flowing water as it encounters stones, banks, branches and a weir. Listening closely reveals subtle variations in the current, while the river’s changing volume and rhythm provide a calming, mindfulness-like experience during winter.

A visit to a derelict ironworks in Frome, Somerset, prompts reflections on its industrial history and the way nature has reclaimed the site. After learning from a newly installed information panel about the dangerous work and short lives of the ironworks’ former employees, the writer explores the ruins and finds a small piece of iron, treating it as a tangible link to the workers and the site’s past.

A walk through a damp gorge in Wadbury Valley near Frome, Somerset, highlights the dominance and visual variety of ivy, ferns and moss. Sheltered conditions around the waterfall and abandoned ironworks allow moss to cover trees, branches and other surfaces, creating an intensely green autumn landscape.

A writer in Frome reflects on the Westbury White Horse, a prominent Wiltshire landmark recently covered with a red Saint George’s cross. The act is seen as a troubling appropriation of a shared countryside icon for divisive politics, contrasting with the horse’s competing historical associations with King Alfred and Hanoverian rule. Its rapid removal restores the landmark as a symbol of beauty, continuity and welcome to visitors of every background.

After rain returns to Frome, Somerset, snails reappear on a doormat and across the garden after months of drought-induced inactivity. The observations prompt concern about how increasingly arid summers may affect gastropod health and breeding, as well as song thrushes and other wildlife that depend on them, though the varied snails emerging in the downpour offer some grounds for hope.

At Vobster Quay in Somerset, researchers search artificial refuge traps for endangered native white-clawed crayfish, which have been devastated elsewhere by invasive American signal crayfish and disease. After several empty traps, they find one small female and measure her before returning her to the protected quarry, described as an ark for rebuilding the species.

A morning observation of daisies in a meadow near Frome, Somerset, celebrates how their flowers open with the sunrise and vary in colour due to anthocyanins, soil, light and genetics. The piece contrasts this natural beauty with the longstanding tendency to remove daisies from lawns, recalls John Clare’s praise of the flower, and explores the historical and poetic origins of the name “daisy,” derived from “day’s eye.”

A nighttime expedition in a river gorge near Frome, Somerset, uses a bat detector to identify soprano pipistrelles and the lesser and greater horseshoe bats emerging to hunt. The observers also encounter a mother otter with cubs before hearing the horseshoes’ distinctive high-frequency echolocation calls translated into strange, science-fiction-like sounds by the detector.

A visit to the Neolithic chambered tomb at West Kennet in Wiltshire becomes a meditation on the connection between modern visitors and the people who built the monument more than 5,000 years ago. Skylarks, swallows, cowslips and fritillaries animate the surrounding landscape, while the massive stones and traces of wear evoke the labour and skill of its prehistoric builders.

A walk through the ancient woods near Frome, Somerset, reveals expansive carpets of ramsons, or bear’s garlic, whose chive-like scent and white spring flowers dominate the landscape. The piece explores the plant’s folklore, German name and seasonal cycle, contrasting its abundance in the west of England with its rarity in the writer’s former woodland haunts.

A nature diary from a gorge near Frome, Somerset, describes the sounds of woodland, river and storm-damaged trees. The account focuses on a large oak uprooted from the hamlet of Bedlam, its roots exposed and crown shattered as it fell upside down into the gorge, where it is expected to remain and slowly decay for decades.

A visit to the medieval churchyard at St George’s in Beckington, Somerset, aims to photograph ancestral graves for descendants overseas. Frost, wind, rain, moss and lichens have damaged or obscured most inscriptions, leaving only two graves that could meet requests from relatives. The effort highlights the fragility of physical memorials and the importance of recording family histories before names disappear.

A nature diary from the River Frome describes the elusive beavers and otters living alongside visible signs of ecological decline. A designated bathing spot downstream received a poor water-quality rating because of E coli and intestinal enterococci, while agricultural fertiliser runoff is polluting feeder streams. Despite official inaction and opposition from a former local MP to water-quality measures, the Friends of the River Frome is campaigning for change.