Miriam Darlington

Nov 8, 2024 | thetimes.com | Miriam Darlington

The green lane near my house is a ferny microclimate of deer and fox scents, and at the bottom of the valley there is a stream that I think of as an otter way. I’ve seen otters here, and found their tracks and spraint. There are water vole holes burrowed into the red Devon clay of its banks. The air was a soupy realm of moisture as the dog and I descended — and for a while the regular stomp and scratch of our feet and paws, and our slow, regular breaths were the only sounds.

Jul 5, 2024 | thetimes.com | Miriam Darlington

It is 8am and under a polished blue sky the heatwave is already stoking insects and melting the dew in the grass. The sleepy green contours of the Sussex Downs are a graceful backdrop to my walk along the River Ouse at the hamlet of Southease. The thousand-year-old Norman church here, with its round tower and conical spire, is wrapped around by a green effervescence of lime trees whose flowers are thronged with masses of wild bees.

May 24, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Miriam Darlington

The enviable images of friends silhouetted against the shimmering aurora sent us belatedly searching the night sky of Dartmoor. We threw tent, sleeping bags and the dog into the car and pitched in a vaguely level spot beside the River Dart. Positioning our camping chairs with clear views of the sky and lulled by the summer water, we tipped our heads skyward. A green woodpecker yaffled at our presence, probably because we had placed our accommodation exactly over its own private ant-lawn.

Apr 12, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Miriam Darlington

The River Hayle in Cornwall was bathed in a mixed blessing of showers and Easter sunlight as I set out on an unexpected detective mission. An otter had been hit by a car near where I was staying — the last creature you might expect to see so close to the busy riviera. The very fact one had been found was exciting proof of their secretive presence. The Hayle is only 12 miles long from source to sea and may not support more than two or three otters at most.

Mar 9, 2024 | bookreporter.com | Miriam Darlington

You probably know someone who is fixated --- maybe even borderline obsessed --- with seeing a certain animal. For many people, it’s a particular bird: a pileated woodpecker, an owl in flight. But for others, it’s an elusive mammal: a blue whale, a moose, a fisher. In nature writer Miriam Darlington’s case, the object of her fixation is the otter.