Will Hall Wildlife

Will Hall Wildlife Wildlife, Travel and Adventure

04/09/2026

One of the best bits of camouflage in the British countryside… because this isn’t a snake.

It’s an elephant hawk-moth caterpillar, and those huge “eyes” aren’t eyes at all. When threatened, it retracts its tiny real head and swells the front of its body, making the eyespots much more prominent and creating a surprisingly convincing snake-like appearance.

It’s a form of defensive mimicry, designed to make a potential predator think twice before taking a bite.

The “elephant” name comes from the caterpillar too. When extended, its long, tapering front end was thought to resemble an elephant’s trunk.

They’re particularly noticeable in late summer, when fully grown caterpillars can reach around 8cm long before heading down into leaf litter to pupate for the winter.

Definitely one worth stopping for if you spot it crawling across the path.

26/08/2026

There’s really no getting around what this fungus looks like…

This is the common stinkhorn, Phallus impudicus, and even its scientific name acknowledges the resemblance. Phallus means pretty much what you’d expect, while impudicus translates roughly as “shameless” or “immodest”.

And somehow its appearance isn’t even the weirdest thing about it.

The dark, slimy material covering the tip is called the gleba. It contains the spores and produces an incredibly strong smell of rotting flesh, attracting flies which feed on the slime before carrying the spores away on their bodies.

Most of the fungus is actually hidden underground as mycelium. The rather conspicuous bit above ground is simply the fruiting body, produced to spread its spores.

So yes, it looks exactly like you think it does.

And apparently the person who named it thought so too.

24/08/2026

Dog vomit slime mould (Fuligo septica) isn’t a fungus, plant or animal. At one stage of its life it forms a plasmodium, essentially one enormous cell containing huge numbers of nuclei, which can slowly move across dead wood and leaf litter searching for food.

And slime moulds are capable of some surprisingly complex behaviour despite having no brain or nervous system.

In a famous Japanese experiment, researchers used another slime mould, Physarum polycephalum, and placed food at locations representing cities around Tokyo. As it grew between them, the slime mould produced an efficient network remarkably similar to Tokyo’s actual rail system.

It wasn’t “thinking” or designing a railway, of course. It was responding to its environment and finding efficient routes between food sources, but the results were impressive enough that slime moulds have been studied as models for solving network and optimisation problems.

They also play an important ecological role, feeding on bacteria, yeasts and other microorganisms associated with decaying material.

Basically, if you find something in the woods that looks revolting, it’s always worth having a closer look.

23/08/2026

Why are there suddenly so many jellyfish around Scotland?

Large jellyfish blooms can happen when conditions line up just right. Warmer water, plenty of plankton to feed on, favourable currents and calm weather can all concentrate huge numbers close to shore.

Jellyfish are a completely natural part of our seas, and blooms aren’t a new phenomenon. But changing ocean temperatures and ecosystems can affect when, where and how often we encounter them.

So if the sea around Scotland has felt particularly jellyfish-heavy lately, there’s quite a lot going on beneath the surface.



01/08/2026

Deadwood is one of those things we walk past every day and don’t really realise how much is going on within it. There’s a bit of a movement in forestry nowadays to leave these dead giants because they’re so essential for so many animals. This particular beech tree is in one of my favourite forests and every time I walk past it, I love seeing what’s changed about it. New fungi appear, different animals are feeding on it and the trees around it are already starting to replace it.

24/07/2026

The wildfire in Abernethy has been burning for over a week now. Challenging conditions, unpredictable weather, and prolonged dry ground has made it particularly difficult to control the movement of this fire. Nonetheless, hundreds of people have been working around the clock to try and bring the fire under control. With rain forecast this weekend, he’s hoping that can be managed.

11/07/2026

Have you heard of the cross winds rule? Once you notice it, you’ll spot it every time.

Trying my hand at a bit of street photography whilst in McLeod Ganj - monsoon season is definitely here and we spent a l...
10/07/2026

Trying my hand at a bit of street photography whilst in McLeod Ganj - monsoon season is definitely here and we spent a lot of today dodging heavy downpours. Made for some dramatic shots though!

10/07/2026

Ivy is one of the few plants that completely changes its lifestyle as it grows.

When it’s young, ivy exists in what’s called its juvenile phase. At this stage it prefers deep shade, producing lobed leaves and using tiny aerial rootlets to climb trees, walls and rocks in search of light. Contrary to popular belief, these rootlets don’t steal nutrients from the tree. They’re simply anchors, helping the plant climb.

Once ivy finally reaches strong sunlight at the top of the canopy, something remarkable happens. It switches into its adult phase. The leaves become broader and unlobed, the climbing slows, and instead the plant invests its energy into flowering and producing berries.

That change can even help with navigation. If you find mature ivy with flowers or berries, you’ve found the side of the tree or wall that’s receiving the most sunlight. In the UK, that’s often the southern side, although local conditions like woodland density, slope and surrounding buildings can influence exactly where that transition occurs. It’s a useful clue, but never something to rely on in isolation.

Ecologically, ivy is one of our most valuable native plants. It flowers late in the year, providing nectar when very few other plants are in bloom, making it a lifeline for bees, hoverflies and wasps preparing for winter. Its berries then ripen in late winter, providing an important food source for birds such as blackbirds, thrushes and wood pigeons when little else is available.

A plant that changes its form with age, helps you read the landscape, and supports wildlife through the hardest months of the year is far more than just a climber.

Langurs are specialist leaf-eaters, with a complex stomach that’s adapted to ferment tough plant material in much the sa...
09/07/2026

Langurs are specialist leaf-eaters, with a complex stomach that’s adapted to ferment tough plant material in much the same way as a cow. That allows them to survive on leaves that many other primates simply can’t digest.

They’re also highly social, living in family groups where grooming isn’t just about hygiene. It strengthens social bonds, reduces conflict, and helps maintain the group’s hierarchy.

They’re a hell of a lot more chilled than the Rhesus Macaques!

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