PIKE: how we caught the staring terror of the haunted pond
IF you're talking predatory freshwater fish, there's one that springs immediately to the fore - that King of the Killers, that Great...
MALLARD: the cheery duck that saved me from a beating
I was feeding a couple of mallard ducks at my local pond the other day when it struck me just how much we take this most handsome of...
COW: mothering instinct puts our own crying baby in peril
DANGEROUS and unpredictable - not normally how you would describe that placid beast, the cow, but this was the picture painted after they...
TAWNY OWL: face to face in a rain-drenched hollybush
FEW wild sounds are as quietly thrilling after dark than the mournful "hoooo...huhooo" of a tawny owl as its perches somewhere unseen, a...
RAT: shock in an African hut replaced by admiration
I MUST confess I have never much liked rats...more so after being woken at 3am in a Moroccan mud hut by one brazenly sitting on my bare...
FOX: hunt gives pause for thought as death comes slowly
FOXES are now so common in some of our cities that they can be spotted in broad daylight trotting along railway lines or relaxing in...
HEDGEHOG: garden visitor with a taste for chip shop batter
WHEN it comes to violent yobs wanting to inflict grievous bodily harm on small, defenceless animals, the humble hedgehog is a pricklier...
WASP: two painful encounters with this small angry menace
SUMMER in this country often heralds one of our less welcome traditions as temperatures start to rise - getting ourselves bitten and...
DRAGONFLY: savage beauty of a summer killer
MY six year-old daughter saw it first, letting out a cry of fright as it skimmed the surface of the small pond in the garden of her...
GREY SQUIRREL: American import defeats a British cat
WITH a vicious bite and seriously destructive habits, it's a little surprising that the grey squirrel has prospered so well in its...
