There are places I'll remember as the song says. Another year when travel has been difficult or impossible but I managed few excursions. The Pegsdon Hills on the Herfordshire/Bedfordshire border looked almost alpine under snow last January.

In summer sunshine those same hills were shimmering with grasses and wildflowers.

 

 A walk through Bluebells in Hitch Wood near Hitchin means spring has arrived.

 

   The Walthamstow marshes are one of my go to places for some urban ecology. The River Lea wends its way through Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire into London where it joins the Thames at Bow Creek. The London stretch preserves some valuable habitats, once rural but now encompassed by the metropolis.

 I think my favourite walk of the year was up on the South Downs in mid-September. It was a gloriously autumnal day rounded off in Lewes with a glorious pint.

 

 A few weeks later I went to see the sea albeit not far from London on the Kent coast near Whitstable. On a clear day you can see Southend...