My Nature Journal - Best of 2018
Summer 2018
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| Tūī chick in my garden |
One of the most memorable experiences last summer was getting up close to a tūī chick in the garden and watching the brood flourish. I wrote about it in my most popular blogposts: Tūī Takeover. Our tūī provide a source of both interest and entertainment all year round. And...
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| Native shore bindweed |
Staying close to home, I explored the Pukerua Bay coast, using iNaturalist to identify coastal plants and animals. These were popular posts, proving that what we find close to home, can be as interesting as on a big trip away. Here's one of the posts: A Coastal Walk
Autumn 2018
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| Driftwood sign at Hokitika |
In autumn, I did go on a trip away. I was lucky enough to visit the West Coast on an author tour of schools. It was inspiring to meet young people with a deep love for nature, especially the forest around them. If you missed it, here's my Forest Fungi and Whitebait post.
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| Kohekohe flowers |
At home the kohekohe had a particularly splendid flowering season. This sparked lots of interest among my fellow trampers and local community, so not surprising I ended up writing two posts about kohekohe. Autumn Nature Walk and Unusual Trees of Aotearoa.
Winter 2018
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| Hanging club moss |
Winter in the forest can be a time for some interesting discoveries. Finding this example of hanging clubmoss sparked a whole post just about this intriguing plant. On the Trail.
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| Zines are handmade magazines |
Not everyone enjoys tramping in the rain and cold, sometimes we need nature activities we can do indoors. I responded to requests from followers to provide some ideas for children to Create Your Own Nature Journal. And linked this to some fun I had creating Zines.
Spring 2018
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| Kiekie flower |
I had a busy spring launching my new book "Animals of Aotearoa: explore and discover New Zealand's wildlife" but managed to squeeze in writing a post and children's activity inspired by this stunning kiekie flower - Nature's Symmetry.
Best Nature Book
I'm always reading about nature: non-fiction and fiction. My favourite non-fiction title was "Where Song Began" by Tim Low about Australian (and New Zealand) birds and their place in the history of birds. It's reviewed here What I'm Reading.
Best of Instagram 2018 #discovernaturenz
If you enjoy nature pics, then Instagram is the place to be. There are lots of keen people sharing great pics and stories about nature on Instagram. Here's my favourite's from among my 2018 pics. My Instagram name is DiscoverNatureNZ
Coming up in 2019
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| My summer reading |