All good things...

I've been blogging now at least once a week for six years and seven months, and this is my 416th blog post here. It's been an exhausting, brilliant and amazing journey, but I've made the very difficult decision that it's time to take a break from blogging for a while.

I began blogging when I was seven because I wanted to share more about the bones I found and the places I explored around my village. When I wrote my very first blog post, which only a couple of people read at the time, I never imagined that I would create something read by thousands of people every week.

 I never ever imagined that it would lead to me appearing on television and in newspapers, that Chris Packham, CBBC Newsround and CBBC Wild would come to my house to film, that I would end up appearing on Autumnwatch and Winterwatch, that I would appear on BBC Breakfast, or spend two hours on BBC Radio Four, or even appear on the BBC alongside Sir David Attenborough. And the most amazing thing of all, though, is definitely my book.

Explaining the mystery of hair ice

In the December of 2009, I wrote one of my first blog posts on something very strange that I found on a walk. It was ice attached to a rotting tree branch, but it looked almost like candy floss and looked very delicate and pretty.

Since I first found this, I have seen them loads more times and finally got to the bottom of the mystery about these strange formations - but I've just realised I never blogged about it ! Since my village is covered in snow and ice at the moment, this seemed the right time to blog about it !

Exploring the abandoned bunker

WARNING: Even by my standards, climbing into a disused, 50 year old flooded underground structure in the remote countryside is a really dangerous idea. But you're probably going to do it anyway, so here's the rules. Never do it alone, always have someone at the top, bring a rope, phone, torch and appropriate footwear, and make sure your tetanus jabs are up to date !

This picture shows a little bit of history hidden away - and one I've been meaning to explore for ages ! In some remote woodland outside my village is a fenced off clearing, where there are three tiny structures. Two are no bigger than a tree stump, and the third looks the size of a sheep trough form a distance. This is a place that was designed to be difficult to find - and also it's a bit of local history you may find near you !