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...
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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...
Planning a multi-day border hike that relies on public transport and low-impact wild camping is one of my favourite ways to explore Britain's edges. It combines the logistics of moving between towns and villages, the satisfaction of carrying only what you need, and the quiet reward of spending...
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Paths are the arteries of the landscapes I love. Walk them enough and you start to notice small changes — a new rut in the turf, a muddy ribbon widening across a slope, or stones pushed aside to make a shortcut. Left unchecked, these minor shifts become entrenched erosion: deeper channels, lost...
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When I’m walking upland routes that cross peatlands — whether a wind-scoured bog on a border ridge or a sodden moor beside a coastal climb — I carry two things beyond my map and waterproof: curiosity about how that landscape works, and a simple question: how can I help? Over the years I’ve...
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Peatlands feel like a different world: broad, soft, often silent, with a strange buoyancy underfoot and an honesty about weather — what starts as a light drizzle can become a sodden, wind-lashed slog in minutes. I’ve spent countless days walking across blanket bogs and raised mires around...
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I spend a lot of time photographing seabird colonies around Britain, and one lesson keeps nudging me every time I leave the path: the best images come from patience and respect, not aggression. Nesting birds are especially vulnerable during the breeding season. Disturb them and you can cause adults...
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I’ve stood on more than one exposed headland with a shredded tent fly or a rucksack strap dangling uselessly and that knot-in-the-stomach question — do I try to fix this here, or do I accept defeat and get off the hill? — is one I’ve learned to answer quickly. The difference between a long,...
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I spend a lot of time on peat and heather — the flat, lumpy, wind-bent places where lapwings, curlews and golden plovers feel most at home. Often these birds are heard before they're seen, or gone altogether except for the subtle signatures they leave behind: a half‑moon of footprints in soft...
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I remember the first time I came across a red deer rut on a windswept Scottish ridge: a raw, rasping chorus of stag calls rolling across peat and rock, a thunder of hooves as stags clashed for dominance. It felt like stepping into a different world — intimate yet public, thrilling yet fragile....
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When I plan a cliff walk on the Northumberland coast I do it with two goals in mind: to experience the drama of the edge and to leave the place no worse than I found it. The coast here is a study in contrasts — long sandy bays, jagged sandstone stacks, grassy headlands and soft, erodible cliffs...
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Every few miles on a long Borderhike route I find myself sinking into that soft, sodden world of heather and peat — boots disappearing, water seeping in from some cunning breach I didn't even notice. Choosing the right walking boots for wet heather and blanket bog is more than a gear checklist:...
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