Steve's Herpetological Blog

An insight into the life of Steve, his research and the many books he reads

Botany

#SciFri: Visiting Kew Gardens

Roughly a year ago, I visited Kew Gardens for the first time since I was a child. It had been that long since I had actually been there, that it wasn’t at all like I remembered. I can only assume…

#SteveReviews: The Green Planet

We have been blessed in recent years with a number of new landmark series featuring Sir David Attenborough. Now, with The Green Planet, plants can finally step out of the shadow of animals and delight us in all of their…

#StevesLibrary: The Naming of the Shrew

There are many things that you learn during the course of a zoology degree, and the subsequent years regarding the scientific naming of animals and plants. These include such facts as the binomial system of taxonomy that we use today…

#StevesLibrary: The Orchid Hunter

After reading The Butterfly Isles earlier on in the year, I went looking for other books that had a similar story to them. Just to recap, in Barkham’s fantastic book, he spends the summer trying to see every species of…

#StevesLibrary: The Brief Life of Flowers

One of the consequences of the recent lockdowns, is a growing love for flowers. The garden in the house I’m renting was a bit of a jungle, but recently my partner and I took all of our frustration out on…

#SciFri: What’s that lichen?

During a recent walk along the North Downs Way recently with my good friend Vanessa, we stumbled across some trees that were covered in lichen. Being the curious types that we are, we collected some twigs from these trees and…

Dunedin Botanic Garden

You’ve guessed it! It’s another blog post from my recent trip to New Zealand – this time all about the Dunedin Botanic Garden. The Botanic Garden is located at the northern end of central Dunedin, within walking distance of the…