What a difference six months makes I’ve always been passionate about water and the creatures that live in it - be they reptiles, crustaceans, cephalopods or fish. In every film I made with Vicky we always managed to include a fish - even when making a film about fig trees or a film about elephants. It is not surprising then that pond creation was always high on my list for Rose-an-Hale. Besides, nothing boosts biodiversity faster than digging a pond - even if you don’t activ

At Rose-an-Hale we’ve had a succession of heatwaves this summer and, with them, very little wind. Any there was, tended to come from the east. It’s all change now though - the southwesterlies are back, bringing autumnal swells. It is the wind though that will bring Atlantic ocean visitors to the cove. Late summer / early autumn is a wonderful time here. The water is still warm and we are on the cusp of seasonal change - which is always exciting. Although the reserve has staye

It sounds like a title that should be emblazoned on a sign outside a Victorian circus tent, but our painted lady is a beautiful earth-toned, striped butterfly named Vanessa - Vanessa cardui - literally ‘Vanessa of the thistles’. We’ve all heard of the monarch butterfly and its migration the length of North America, but who would have thought we have a similar butterfly migration here in west Cornwall? A butterfly whose round-trip is almost double that of the monarch's - cover

June 2026 It is easy to look out from Lean point across the waters of Treen or Rose-an-Hale cove and think that little changes, except for the weather - the swells that build and subside, the wind that whips up spindrift, the squalls that pass through on a brisk northwesterly. Underwater though, in spring, it is all change. Just as on the cliffs where the blackthorn bursts into bloom, and thrift and squill colour the rocky back drop, underwater the seaweeds come out of dorman

May 2026 Ponds are one of the most effective ways to boost biodiversity. We created three small ponds alongside the track to the cove in March 2025 and then two larger ponds with small islands a year later. Two, we planted and stocked with native species, the others we left to allow slower natural colonisation. The rarest type of pond in the UK, owing to most having been drained and filled, is a ‘liminal’ pond - those ponds that always appear to be in a transitional state -

April 2026 It's been over a year now since Vicky died - looking out over the cliffs that she loved. In that time, we've held two 'celebrations' for her life - one here and one in Kenya. This winter though I started to feel that a lasting, 'living memorial' would both honour her approach to life and celebrate the natural world that inspired her. It would be something that would grow - perhaps in size, but more importantly in biodiversity. There was no moment of decision but I