There are few things I find as quietly thrilling as watching gannets wheel and plunge against a late-summer sky, their plunges throwing up silver bursts that catch the last light. Dusk is a particular favourite: the day’s heat eases, human visitors thin out, and the colony settles into a rhythm where you can learn the birds’ routines without getting in their way. But sea cliffs and breeding...
Read more...
I spend a lot of time at the edges of fields and lanes watching owls. Barn owls are among the most rewarding birds to...
On a damp morning on the uplands, I found myself crouched beside a small eroded channel where water had cut a neat V...
I’ve spent enough days slogging across Scottish blanket bog, lowland peat haggs and wet coastal fringes to know that...
I often plan cliff-nesting kittiwake shoots around the same two priorities I have for any wildlife photography: get close enough to make meaningful images, and stay far enough away to leave the birds exactly as I found them. Dawn is my favourite time — the low light sculpts the cliffs and the...
Read more... →
Peatland restoration is one of those practical conservation tasks where a small group of volunteers, the right kit, and a little know‑how can make a real difference. Over the years I've joined peat diggers, drain‑blocking teams and revegetation crews across Britain, and the gear they reach for...
Read more... →
When you spend as much time on Britain's wild edges as I do, the question of what to carry for an emergency bivvy moves from theoretical to essential. Wet border hikes—sea-swept cliffs, peat-drenched moorland, and drizzle-prone coastal routes—demand kit that actually works when everything else...
Read more... →
I’m often asked on the path — usually by someone balancing a camera and a wind-blown jacket on a cliff-top — which lens they should bring for “dramatic cliff portraits.” There’s a deceptively simple short answer (bring what you can handle), but the practical truth is richer and rooted...
Read more... →
I spend a lot of time on long, mixed-terrain day hikes — coastal cliffs, heathered peat, stony upland tracks and muddy forest rides. Over the years I’ve learned that being able to walk all day is as much about sensible training as it is about good kit. You don’t need a gym membership or fancy...
Read more... →
When I set out for a day on Britain's wild edges I expect three seasons in a single walk: a wet morning, a bright but blustery afternoon, and a chilly, damp evening. Selecting layers for that unpredictability is part kit, part judgement. Over thousands of miles on coastal cliffs, peatlands and...
Read more... →
I often think of fieldcraft as the quieter half of photography — the set of small, patient skills that let you collapse the distance between yourself and a scene without collapsing the scene itself. On Britain’s borders — where cliffs meet sea, peatlands breathe in mist, and woodlands keep...
Read more... →
On long, cold marches where the rain never seems to stop and wind bites through layers, keeping your energy up is as much about having the right calories as it is about having food you can eat quickly, cleanly and without leaving a mess. Over years of walking Britain’s coasts and peatlands I’ve...
Read more... →
I’ve learned the hard way that a long ridge walk is not the place to discover your phone battery is dead and your handheld GPS has been quietly draining itself all morning. Over years on Britain’s windswept edges I’ve settled into a routine of using both a rugged handheld GPS and a smartphone...
Read more... →
I’m drawn to the edges — where field meets scrub, verge meets meadow, and the thin slice of marginal ground seems to hum with life. On short walks close to home I look for those thin threads of wildflower habitat that punch above their weight for pollinators: a roadside bank of hemp-nettle, a...
Read more... →