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Welcome to Field Notes Journal — a personal natural history of place built from long-term observation, recording, and analysis.

This site brings together wildlife recording, microscopy, bat acoustics, weather measurement, seasonal modelling, and field journaling. Though the subjects differ, they are connected by the same underlying practice: to observe carefully, record systematically, and return to those records over time in search of pattern, recurrence, and change.

Some parts of the site resemble a notebook, some a field guide, some an archive, and some a laboratory bench. Together, they form a long-running record of attention directed toward the living world and its surrounding conditions.

If you are visiting for the first time, the sections below provide a good starting point.

Explore the Site

Wildlife Recording

Long-term wildlife observations arranged into reports, trends, heatmaps, seasonal summaries, and ecological analyses.

This section includes:

• Species directories
• Abundance and composition reports
• “Year In The Life” seasonal studies
• Ecological clustering and similarity analysis
• Downloadable datasets and charts

The emphasis is not simply on individual sightings, but on how repeated observations accumulate into visible seasonal and ecological structure.

Microscopy

Microscopy investigations carried out using a restored 1912 Leitz microscope and a structured programme of specimen study.

Topics include:

• Plant structure
• Pollen and spores
• Aquatic microscopic life
• Prepared slide investigations
• Historical microscopy methods
• Notebook-style plate records

The work follows the older observational tradition of careful specimen-by-specimen examination, supported by modern imaging and digital archiving.

Bat Acoustics

Analysis of bat recordings using spectrograms, pulse timing, and behavioural interpretation.

This section combines:

• Field recordings
• Spectrogram analysis
• Feeding buzz detection
• Pulse timing studies
• Heterodyne and time-expansion workflows
• Custom analysis software and notebooks

Particular attention is given to behavioural structure within recordings and the relationship between sound, movement, and feeding activity.

Pocket Ecology

Portable ecological computation on constrained handheld systems, particularly the TI-84 Plus CE-T Python calculator.

Projects include:

• Seasonal wildlife models
• Ecological timing tools
• Behavioural pulse analysis
• Simplified field-ready analytical workflows

This section explores the idea that useful ecological computation need not depend upon large or complex systems.

Field Journals

Long-form observational writing and compiled reports drawn from travel, local recording, and extended investigations.

These journals combine narrative observation with structured records, photographs, maps, charts, and specimen notes.

Examples include:

• Wildlife travel journals
• Seasonal field observations
• Microscopy investigations
• Notebook-derived reports
• Compiled PDF field booklets

A Suggested Starting Path

If you would like to explore the site gradually, these sections provide particularly good entry points:

• The seasonal ecology analyses, modelling and the “Year In The Life” studies, which use long-term wildlife records to examine recurrence, timing, and ecological structure across the year
• The microscopy investigations and plate studies
• The bat acoustics analysis pages
• The booklets available in the reference section

The Underlying Idea

Field Notes Journal is built around a simple principle:

A single observation may be interesting; a long run of observations becomes evidence of pattern

The site therefore places emphasis on continuity, accumulation, and return. Reports are generated not from isolated moments, but from the steady keeping of records over months and years.

In that respect, the site is less a gallery of highlights than an ongoing working archive — a digital continuation of the older field notebook tradition.

About the Site

If you would like to read more about the origins, philosophy, and methods behind the project, see the About page.