Biologists have long known the corvid family – it includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdaws – to be among the smartest of all birds. Corvids, and other birds, have been seen to solve problems by insight and learn by example, as human children do. On the Pacific island of New Caledonia, crows have demonstrated… Continue reading
Ymweliad byr â Conwy – A short visit to Conwy
Dyma fy erthygl deithio gyntaf yn Gymraeg – This is my first travel article in Welsh. (There is an English translation below.) Cerddais i mewn i’r Erskine Arms, ychydig ar draws y ffordd o Orsaf Conwy, yn union fel oedd fy nhren o Lundain yn tynnu allan o’r platfform. Yn fy llyfr nodiadau ysgrifennais… Continue reading →
Writing Aylesbury out of a children’s classic: how important are real places in literature?
When The Story of Holly and Ivy was first published, it was set in the Buckinghamshire market town of Aylesbury. In later editions the location was switched to somewhere called Appleton. (There is a village of Appleton in Oxfordshire, but the descriptions in the book don’t fit it.) Has the book lost something as a result? “And where does your grandmother… Continue reading →
Never mind the weather: Patrick Leigh Fermor takes meteorological liberties in A Time of Gifts
Did one of the finest British travel writers of the 20th century start his epic adventure across Europe on a meteorological fib? Patrick Leigh Fermor – “a thousand glistening umbrellas tilted over a thousand bowler hats in Piccadilly”. The Sunday Times – “At Kew it was 33° (1°C). Light falls of snow again occurred locally.” But does it… Continue reading →
Shedding light on Turkey’s quieter classical remains
Most tourists in Turkey know of Ephasus and Troy. Yet there is a multitude of Greek and Roman sites around its south and west coast, many of them little visited with scarcely an explaining noticeboard. But this rich, unreported history is under threat, as the country’s tourist boom continues. One archaeologist wants to develop a… Continue reading →
Strolling the mountains around Lake Uri, with super-helpful signposts
This is an update of a piece of mine originally published in The Times. In a gloomy recess in Ingenbohl Forest above Lake Uri, a buttercup yellow arrow beamed cheerfully out of a monochrome background. “Trust me,” it seemed to say. “I’m a Swiss signpost.” Think of a cartographical St Bernard, proffering reassurance, guidance and,… Continue reading →