Derek Niemann
- Indexed articles, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Oct 1, 2026
- Outlet visibility, for Aol
- Top 10K sites
- Earliest in this view
- Jul 15, 2026
Latest articles
Country diary: Which tree sounds the best in the wind? Take a bough, the poplar - AOL (opens the original)
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The wind-catchers along the bottom of the valley miss nothing. Even the lightest breath has them whispering. And when the wind strengthens, they do a good imitation of the river streaming over boulders below their feet. Truly, when it blows, it pours. Pass a poplar and you are enjoying the best example of psithurism, the sound of wind in trees. All this growing season, I have listened politely to oaks, alders and willows, but if I rocked up in a pub looking for chatty company, I’d want a poplar
Country diary: Drama on the trail cam â this is Somersetâs version of the snow leopard | Derek Niemann (opens the original)
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Frome: Weâve been trying to help out struggling hedgehogs, and finally we have a sighting. But how long should we intervene for? Deep into the night, and out of our sight, tiny claws rake over plastic. The animal skitters halfway through a pipe, then stops. A hunter five times its weight is on its tail, but it is safe from harm, and not just because the tunnel is too narrow for the hunter to enter. Curiosity killed the catâs predatory thoughts with a face full of prickles a long time ago.
Country diary: One flower here is thriving, defying the drought | Derek Niemann (opens the original)
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Frome, Somerset: While other plants are withering or skeletal, tansy is growing in great profusion, and it rewards close observation At first light, the scent of ’76 hangs in the air, a reminder of that endless summer burning itself into autumn, just like this one. I first caught a sniff of it walking home one sweltering evening in the June heatwave and said: “Too soon, too soon.” Now the toasted aroma of spent grass is everywhere – on crispy playing fields, straw village greens, and these scorc
Country diary: One flower here is thriving, defying the drought - AOL (opens the original)
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At first light, the scent of ’76 hangs in the air, a reminder of that endless summer burning itself into autumn, just like this one. I first caught a sniff of it walking home one sweltering evening in the June heatwave and said: “Too soon, too soon.” Now the toasted aroma of spent grass is everywhere – on crispy playing fields, straw village greens, and these scorched tawny meadows of the combe. Scattered groups of cattle have their heads down here. For them I think eating the grass must be like
Country diary: The rewards of sloping off down an old railway line | Derek Niemann (opens the original)
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Frome, Somerset: I feel like a walking carriage, trundling down Colliers Way, glimpsing hedgerows and hayfields and, best of all, one of the original tracks If there is such a thing as a level playing field in the Mendip Hills, I have yet to find it. Not one street has “Rise” in its name, for nigh on every road has a rise (and fall). Folk here walk, run and cycle up the steepest of climbs. The former Guardian journalist Matthew Engel once interviewed an elderly yet sprightly man in a similarly v
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