NDC
I was fortunate to have an enlightened teacher at prep school who encouraged us to engage with nature. Being utterly hopeless in most academic arenas, the option of keeping a bird-table diary (like a game book, but less terminal) and being asked to bring in recently expired specimens to be examined on the ‘nature table’ were my salvation. I’ll never forget the excitement of her handing me a freshly roadkilled tawny owl to practise my schoolboy taxidermy. The end product was not a success but
