Williamson's Weekly Nature Notes

IF any of you readers have a dairy herd, be glad you do not live in the Azores. You would not only be using old-fashioned churns but you would have to take the milk for collection by horse or mule as well.

By The Newsroom

Published 29th Aug 2008, 12:51 BST

Updated 8th Jun 2018, 03:16 BST

Of course, many farmers also use 4x4s and many also use a haybox on the back of the tractor. Forgive me for being away from West Sussex for this week but thought this picture would interest you.

What I was really looking for on these tiny islands in the middle of the Atlantic ocean last week were the four special birds that only occur on this Portuguese territory, which is midway between Europe and America.

All four have been on the Azores for so long they have adapted to a completely different way of life. It really is what Darwin was talking about regarding natural selection.

The first I saw was a 'funny' chaffinch. Lots of them, in exactly the same sort of places you would expect to see chaffinches in the UK, in the corners of fields and along the hedgerows and wherever cattle were living.

For full feature see West Sussex Gazette September 3