Bog Myrtle & Peat

I didn’t want to start a blog. Back in 2009, I thought that writing online was a poor equivalent to the prestige of print, and it seems laughable now that many of my first pitches to magazines were sent out as hard copies by post. I was already out of date in this, and I… Continue reading

Some people say that working a bull too soon will only bring trouble. Others reply that there is no reason why bull calves cannot work at twelve or fourteen months old, and even the difference in height between mates is surmountable where there is sufficient willpower. Farming is full of conflicting advice, and it’s hard… Continue reading

I walked on the South Downs to Firle Beacon in the sun. Beset by butterflies and forever distracted by wildflowers, I made slow progress. Almost at the top and with a view of the Channel, a riot of corn buntings rang in the dried-out crops, while english partridges chittered nearby. The sun roared in that… Continue reading

In the days when I had to be driven, we used to take the high road to Edinburgh. My parents loved the Beef Tub way, and I was not old or wise enough to tell them that it’s quicker to go through Biggar. So we climbed into the hills and slipped down through the mass… Continue reading

Working for Waders was established to bridge a gap between ecologists and land managers. Wading birds made for a decent rallying point because they’re almost universally popular, but the real driver was a bid for reconciliation. Traditional conservation has often been defined by warring factions, broadly characterised as the data-driven scientists versus the practically minded… Continue reading

Nearby friends are working on a bog restoration project, unpicking the harm caused by a sitka spruce plantation. The trees were recently felled, leaving the kind of apocalyptic wreckage you’d usually expect to find in the wake of a commercial crop. Beneath the nightmare of brash, branches and splintered tops, the ground itself was deeply… Continue reading

I’ve been back and forth to Strathspey over the last few weeks. As part of an unexpected commission, I’ve been asked to pull together videos and interviews with a range of gamekeepers and estate managers on the subject of capercaillie conservation. It’s not the first time I’ve stared into this particular can of worms; I’ve… Continue reading

Summer’s dead, and now for the doldrums before the bracken turns and the rowan berries flicker into life like the lights on a Christmas tree. As I write this at 5am, I can hear curlews out in the thatchy grass. They’re tall, returning failures coalescing in the same old fields where they come to lick… Continue reading

I met the poet Tom Pow at the Edinburgh Book Festival in 2018. I’d often enjoyed his work in the past, and I was more than a little starstruck to meet the man himself on a hot summer’s evening in Charlotte Square. Since then we’ve been for a pint or two, and my reading world… Continue reading

I wrote a silly article for this blog, and it seems only fair that I should amend it. Pondering the connection between ash trees and weaponry, I made out that my own experience of working with ash led me to believe that it’s a fragile, shattery wood. I reckoned it was no good for making… Continue reading