Notes
Five-minute storm
The sky knows more than we do, and it always did. As tier three creeps closer stormclouds queue over the marsh, a fire’s set and for five minutes arrowed droplets dance in Velvia haze. The moon tries to come up while light peels back, laserburned by the taproot of
Nature Notes: wildlife photography, summer 2020
It’s been a while since my last wildlife photo blog. That’s simply because I haven’t been taking as many photos, and that’s because wildlife sightings have, accordingly, declined; I haven’t been seeing anywhere near as many birds from July onwards as I did before. By
Field notes: the Mercantour Traverse, Maritime Alps
In the October 2020 issue of The Great Outdoors, you’ll find my feature, ‘Shared Silence’, about hiking the Mercantour Traverse. Here are a few notes on the trail, plus some previously unpublished images. In some ways, 2018 feels like a lifetime ago now. It was early summer when, casting
Writing (two) books during the pandemic
It’s a hell of a time to be an outdoor writer, isn’t it? Since the COVID-19 pandemic kicked off early this year, I have written not one but two books. Here’s a little about how it’s been. At the best of times, I’m a slow
Nature notes: recent nature and wildlife photography, 18 July 2020
Stellar invertebrates, birds, and local rewilding I didn’t post a ‘nature notes’ blog post last week, because my wildlife photography has become a lot less prolific over the last few weeks. That’s because there has simply been less wildlife out and about for me to photograph. The birds
Field notes: Back to Basics in Torridon
In the June 2020 issue of The Great Outdoors, you’ll find my feature about traditional navigation in Torridon. Here are some words and images that didn’t make the cut. For several years now, I’ve been a digital-first mountain navigator, preferring GPS and smartphone tools to paper maps
The gear that I would have taken on the 2020 TGO Challenge
Sadly the 2020 TGO Challenge is not to be, but here’s the gear I would have been taking on my journey across Scotland… As I write this, I should be in Oban, preparing to set out on my very first TGO Challenge (here is a little about the route
Book spotlight: Wild Light: Scotland’s Mountain Landscapes by Craig Aitchison
Craig Aitchison’s second book, Wild Light: Scotland’s Mountain Landscapes, is one of the finest books of Scottish landscape photography I’ve seen in recent years. I read this book and viewed the images it contains well over a year ago, but it still sticks out in my memory
How you can help support outdoor writers during the Coronavirus pandemic
Although writers are less affected by the current crisis than many others, these are challenging times. Here’s how you can help. We may not be able to travel to the hills or wild places right now, but writers help us plan our next trips and travel there in our
Coronavirus and the outdoors – an apology, and a way forward
Last weekend, I published a blog post that exploded in popularity and took on a life of its own. In it I encouraged the outdoor community to change its messaging on the coronavirus pandemic, to start urging people not to travel to the mountains in order to prevent the spread
