Bug Woman – Adventures in London

Venetian Halloween Biscuit Dear Readers, we’re shortly heading home, but I realise that I haven’t shown you some of the quirkier sights of Venice, so here are some of my favourites… It doesn’t matter how long you sit outside this Venetian caff, nobody ever

Dear Readers, the planned vaporetto strike for today didn’t materialise, and so we headed off on the 5;1 vaporetto to Giardini.

Dear Readers, I had never been to the cemetery island of San Michele before, but today we decided to make the short hop across the lagoon.

Dear Readers, time seems to have gotten away with me a bit today, but I have just enough time to tell you a bit about our visit to Guidecca today.

Well, Readers, today we were at the Bienniale, Venice’s two-yearly art festival, and as usual it was a combination between a funfair and a fiesta.

‘The Angel of the City’, Marino Marini Dear Readers, I’ve been lucky enough to have visited Venice many times over the past twenty five years, but somehow I’ve never gotten to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Yep Readers, I’m back in Venice for what must be about the tenth time in the last twenty-five years.

Yes, Readers, I’m off yet again, and 2026 is clearly the year of getting out and about.

Fig-leaved Goosefoot (Chenopodium ficifolium) Photo By Dalgial – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nihgov/38876617041 Dear Readers, over the past decade there have been real advances in understanding the role of our microbiome – the community of bacteria (and other organisms) that live on and inside us – in our health.

The Golden Apples of the Sun (Photo by Liam Moloney from https://www.flickr.com/photos/tir_na_nog/3931125486 Dear Readers, as you might expect I am still thinking about my friend Ann, and her love of poetry.

Beetroot found next to Muswell Hill Playing Fields (see this post) Dear Readers, we are having a trout, orange and beetroot salad for dinner today, and so I was wondering if I’d ever done a Wednesday Weed about this somewhat divisive root vegetable.

Dear Readers, today I went to Epping Forest in Essex with my friend L.

Black-veined White (Aporia craetagi) Photo By Sven Damerow – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Dear Readers, Hampstead Heath is a remarkable place, with a whole range of habitats, from woodland and grassland to lakes and even bogs.

Hedgehog (Photo By Gibe, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Dear Readers, my friend Ann, who is interviewed below, was the friend who died a few weeks ago.

Photo by By Matthias Bethke – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Fruit on a Wild Service Tree close to Heartwood Forest near St Albans Dear Readers, it’s always a joy to see a Wild Service Tree thriving, and I was astonished at the amount of berries on this specimen, seen opposite the Heartwood Café in Sandridge (the c…

From https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/02/wagner-parsifal-review-royal-opera-house-london-titov-hrusa-gerhaher Photo by Marc Brenner.

Dear Readers, earlier this week I made a trip to Cookham, to see the Stanley Spencer Gallery, and the church where he was buried.

Hedgehog (Photo By Gibe, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Capsicum annuum Well, Readers, I don’t know about you but I often converse with my plants – praising them when they’re doing well, cooing over my baby spider plants, gently encouraging anyone who looks a bit sickly.

Photo by Smerikal at https://www.flickr.com/photos/smerikal/7433126868 WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW BEFORE by Ada Limón was how horses simply give birth to other horses.

Dear Readers, I was visiting a friend in Walthamstow today when I noticed that the only plant that seemed to be flourishing in the parched front lawn of a local housing estate was some yarrow.

Weeping Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) Photo By Jean-Pol GRANDMONT – Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Dear Readers, earlier this week a very dear friend of mine died – I will no doubt write more about her in the days to come, but for now I’m feeling heavy and sad.

Winner of the 2026 Dog Photography Awards – Outdoor Category – Photographer Elena Marchi Dear Readers, people often think that you have to go to exotic places and photograph unusual things to win awards, but sometimes it’s the creatures that are closest to

Fire Amoeba (Incendimoeba cascadensis) Photo from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/fire-amoeba-record-breaking-heat Dear Readers, this week scientist Angela Oliverio of Syracuse University revealed that an amoeba had been found which could survive temp…

Dear Readers, there is something very special about walking in ancient woodland, and Symondshyde Great Wood has been recorded since the time of the Normans – it was part of the Bishop of Ely’s deer park in medieval times, and has a series of ancient banks,

I loved this ‘Poem on the Underground’ by Young Poet on the Underground Rebecca Hawkes.

Dear Readers, as long-time members of the British Museum we were able to get tickets for the Bayeux Tapestry, currently being exhibited in London for the first time.

Slender Blue-Winged Cricket (Sphingonotus caerulans )Photo By Andreas Eichler, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?

Rowan berries on Huntingdon Road Well Readers, I’m finally home after nearly a month of travel and, fun as it was, it’s really lovely to sleep in my own bed.

Dear Readers, today I’ll be heading home via Brussels, so here are a few photos that didn’t seem to fit in anywhere else this week – particularly some of the ‘weeds of Antwerp’.

House on General Van Merlenstraat Holy moly Readers, we had a lot of fun today wandering around the Art Nouveau area in Antwerp (technically Zurenburg).

The Port Authority Building, Antwerp (Zaha Hadid) Dear Readers, today we went on a boat trip around the port of Antwerp, and there is no doubt that the building in the photo above is probably the most controversial edifice that we passed.

Dear Readers, what a quirky place Antwerp is!

Dear Readers, the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp is the largest Gothic building in Benelux, and so today, our 25th wedding anniversary, we decided to go and investigate.

Well, Readers, after seeing Meerkats in the wild in South Africa just over a week ago, here they are again in Antwerp Zoo, enjoying the sunshine with minimal risk of being eaten by jackals or eagles.