I can’t wait to…

…SEE HEMLOCK WATER-DROPWORT

In June, oenanthe crocata pops up lacy white parasol blooms beside streams, ditches and ponds, but its delicate looks belie a toxic heart. Every part of this comely plant contains poison, a muscular convulsant that draws its victim’s face into a rictus grin as it kills. It’s one of many lookalike umbellifers that froth across Britain, some edible

(parsley, parsnip), some scary (giant hogweed, hemlock), but it’s not all bad. Small doses were once used medicinally for gallstones, and those flowers are good for pollinators, and ever so pretty to look at – but not touch.

Jenny Walters, Features Editor

…GO CAMPING

People think of campers as a species apart – Nuts in May types avid for a bit of discomfort or too tight to pay for somewhere with a bath. But when I camp I feel like the richest man in the world (not to mention the carbon friendliest). Who else’s bedroom has a view like that? Who breathes such cool, sweet-smelling air all night? Camping is a night away from reality, but it’s also an escape to the reality that days don’t naturally break up into chunks of ‘indoors’ or ‘out’, or ‘day’, and ‘night’. And that the warmth, appreciation and companionability of the little world around you is what really matters in life. Guy Procter, Editor

…SPOT A BASKING SHARK

Ever since I went to Cornwall aged eight, and learned that basking sharks visit the waters of Britain and Ireland in early summer, I have longed to see one from the coast. The world’s second-largest fish species, these gaping giants of the sea hoover up the clouds of microscopic zooplankton that drift here on Atlantic currents. With luck, clear waters and a sunny, calm day, you might spot one swimming close to the shore. They can grow over 30 feet long and weigh over six tonnes. I’ll be walking the Cornish coast again this June, scanning the sea with my binoculars for a three-foot dorsal fin.

Philip Thomas, Features Writer