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Naturally Speaking

Year of the Bird
Naturally Speaking

Year of the Bird

We’re already at the midpoint of the year, with the summer about to wreak its full heat on us and then the fall to bring us migratory birds, both expected and accidental. We never know quite what will arrive because storms sweeping the island and driving the birds here are never predictable. In 2009 a storm swept some 200 yellow-billed cuckoos our way instead of to their intended destination south, while just six months ago at least a hundred killdeer…


Naturally Speaking

A Rose by Any Other Name…

When I left the UK and had my first Christmas in Bermuda, I knew I had to adjust my thinking. Where decorations were concerned, it could no longer be simply a matter of the holly and the ivy. That said,…


Naturally Speaking

Ch-Ch-Changes…

I have to admit to being a conservative where places I love are concerned. Usually I need them to stay exactly the same for my own peace of mind, so that if a new building goes up or an old…


Naturally Speaking

He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not

I have to confess that after all these years my home has been in Bermuda, I still miss the wild flowers of my childhood, immortalised in Cicely Mary Barker’s Flower Fairies. Every February and March I have a longing for…


Naturally Speaking

Look – But Please Stop Swimming

It’s only natural that as parents we want our children to enjoy our own magical childhood experiences. For me, one such experience was freely picking wild primroses, cowslips and violets in an English springtime woodland during the 1950s. For many…

Naturally Speaking

Cahow Do You Do?

It's not surprising that when we arrived at the dock on Nonsuch Island last May, it was with a feeling of déjà vu because we had been there before—twice. The first time was in 2003 before the hurricane of Fabian fame when David Wingate’s motor…