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On my way to the old quarry I carefully pick my way through a clearfelling. I don’t know when the last stone was cut, but it must have been a while ago as a mature ash now stands right in the middle of it, and its heavy branches reach as if their twig fingers wantContinue reading “More about forest moss reproduction”

There is an irony in planning to look at lichens in the riparian woodlands around some of the lowland lochs in Angus and then being caught off guard by the exceptional flooding in these areas that make these very woodlands inaccessible for the time being. The same rain that breathes life into these woods nowContinue reading “Riverwoods, rain and runoff”

Several years ago I found myself passing time at a sheep fank at the foot of Shiehallion. It was early July, the morning skies were blue, and the car park at the foot of the munro had already filled up. Walkers would stop at the fank and ask, “I am looking for lichens, look atContinue reading “Passing time at Shiehallion”

For just fifteen minutes Correen Cottage is the centre from which I experience the world. I had been looking at this spot on the map, looked up its name on Canmore (Historic Environment Scotland’s online database), and imagined what it would be like. Now, with artists and family in tow, I have reached it throughContinue reading “Correen Cottage: re-creating local ecological knowledge”

To celebrate the Cairngorms Nature Festival from 12 to 21 May 2023, I was commissioned by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to write a self-guided walk inspired by the mosses of Morrone Birkwood on the outskirts of Braemar (owned and managed by Mar Estate). The walk follows the circular route (circa 2.75 miles or 4.5Continue reading “The mosses of Morrone Birkwood”

Earlier this spring I returned to the Highland Wildlife Park to deliver a number of lichen tours for staff. The lichen survey that would feed into the park’s biodiversity plan I had done the previous year had been a welcome way to continue some of my thinking about the interactions between lichens and animals.. AtContinue reading “Lichen herbivory: on the trail of reindeer and slugs”

Caledonian pinewood: granny pines, a glimpse of a capercaillie, the drum of a woodpecker. Our imaginations of these woods seems infused with the sights and sounds of a mythical past that draws us to protect and enhance them for the future. The genetic continuity at the core of the notion of Caledonian pinewoods gives usContinue reading “Holding on: lichens in Caledonian pinewood”

A ‘commanding view’ is the phrase the RCAHMS uses in their book In the Shadow of Bennachie to describe the hillforts of Donside. There is something captivating about visiting these hillforts. The expansive views, often across vast areas of lower lying farmland, and the appreciation that these hilltops were once not the destination for aContinue reading “A commanding view: hillforts through the lens of lichens and bryophytes”

This is a place of intense beauty, the place where I expect to see a white-chested dipper scuttering along the edge of the burn when boulders have become submerged after days of rain. It is the place where I glimpsed that iridescent flash of blue and knew the trees heaving across the water are justContinue reading “Not far from my house”