Tree Fractals video

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In: art, film, nature, plants, science, trees

My writing about art and math in nature are always among my most popular posts, and I’ve meant to write about fractals for a while because they fascinate me. This time of year the bare branches of deciduous trees display their full beauty and fascinating growth patterns. Did you knowContinue Reading

An interactive Google Map showing the journey of John Jeffrey (1850-1854)

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In: books, feature, film, Green Gold, nature

John Jeffrey, the main character in my latest book Green Gold, walked, paddled and rode at least 10,000 miles across North America while hunting for plants from 1850-4. During the two years I spent researching and writing the book I plotted his travels in detail and can now publish the route in full for the first time.Continue Reading

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In: film, horse chestnut, science, trees

Today I watched a horse chestnut leaf miner moth, Cameraria ohridella, laying her eggs on the fresh young leaves of a horse chestnut tree. Here’s a short film that I captured. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURZ-GsXyIY The tiny larvae will hatch in about three weeks and start to feed on the tree’s resources.  FirstContinue Reading

Winter Ash Haiku

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In: art, film

Afterlife tool and spoke Winter ash gale bend and yield Oak a merest nod Gabriel Hemery http://youtu.be/fZYMHKjnCbs During the recent winter gales in England I was inspired to write a Haiku poem. The amazing flexibility of the ash Fraxinus excelsior tree means that its wood is widely used in toolContinue Reading