Field Notes Journal Blog

A reflective assessment of the seasonal modelling work so far — where the models succeed, where they struggle, and what they may actually be becoming

Reviewing how well the seasonal models reproduce observed patterns, and what their limitations reveal

A warm, overcast walk around Thrupp Lake marked by the distant call of the first cuckoo, returning migrants, and the quiet activity of early May

Extending the simple seasonal models to three distinct ecological patterns: resident, seasonal, and winter visitor species

An early morning in Twickenham watching the first wave of Heathrow arrivals, where cloud, light, and aircraft combine into patterns not unlike those found in the natural world

A warm, bright walk with buttercups at their peak, early summer species appearing, and the first signs of the season turning on

The first swift of the year passes through as house martins and swallows settle into their spring airspace, while burdock reappears at ground level

Exploring how simple mathematical models can reproduce the seasonal patterns observed in wildlife records

A day-by-day account of a Tanzanian safari, written in the field and following the journey as it unfolded

A short note on how the material in Field Notes Journal is shared, and what matters in its use.

A bright spring visit to Radley Large Wood: bluebells in full flower, the wood under fresh leaf, and a gallery from a remarkable afternoon.

Using sunset, seasonality, and species behaviour to plan when bats are likely to emerge.

A small 1842 edition of Selborne, found by chance in Oxford, becomes a thread linking observation across two centuries.

Identifying individual bat calls within a recording and exploring how their timing, shape, and frequency change through a hunting sequence.

Bringing seasonal patterns together into a single view of the year

Not just when plants are present, but when the landscape comes into flower

Not just when species are present, but how the year renews itself

A reflection on the evolution of the Field Notes Journal—from structured observations and analyses towards a growing body of published works, shaped from the same underlying practice of attention.

A simple, repeatable pipeline for turning bat recordings into clearer, more interpretable signals using noise detection, filtering, and spectrogram analysis.

An introduction to bats and bat detectors, originally written in 1999 and revisited here alongside a renewed interest in recording and analysing their calls.

Returning to bat recording this spring, revisiting old pipistrelle recordings from 1999 and building a simple pipeline to turn sound into visible structure.

An interesting observation of a robin doing something out of the ordinary

A closer look at the simple measures used to describe seasonal patterns

Grouping familiar species not by name, but by the shape of their year

A short reflection on how long-term records begin to reveal something more than data

A hypothesis-driven look at how detectability and behaviour shape the record of a familiar species

What a simple monthly aggregation can reveal about behaviour, seasonality, and presence

A familiar resident species whose numbers fluctuate through the year, despite being present in every month

A clear seasonal visitor whose pattern reflects arrival, breeding, and departure, with a subtle late-summer peak

A seasonal visitor with a more complex pattern, reflecting both migration and a small but persistent winter presence

How simple monthly summaries can reflect different underlying processes — from behaviour and flowering to migration and social structure

A year-round species whose seasonal pattern reflects changes in group size rather than simple presence or detectability

A seasonal visitor whose pattern reflects arrival and departure rather than changes in detectability

Extending the plant comparison, showing how Dandelion maintains a visible presence across a much longer flowering season

A comparison with the bird analyses, showing how seasonal patterns in a common plant reflect flowering cycles rather than changes in detectability

A companion piece to the Blackbird analysis, showing a similar seasonal pattern in Robin, but with an earlier mid-summer lull

Exploring seasonal patterns in Blackbird sightings around Abingdon, using long-term field notes to reveal a late-summer dip in visibility

Revisiting Galium aparine and Taraxacum officinale stem sections using an improved version of the improvised double-bladed sectioning tool

Revisiting Hedera helix stem sections using an improvised double-bladed sectioning tool, with noticeably improved consistency and structural clarity.

A short account of the origins, purpose, and continuing intention behind this long-term personal record of observation