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What I’ve been reading this week, 24 October 2020
A bumper instalment this weekend, as I didn’t publish last week. A landscape of hope, the impact of Coronavirus on outdoor education, traverse of the Mamores, an open-source fleece, and photographs from peak to shining peak. Nature and environment Red Backed Shrike And Vigo The Bearded Vulture — wonderful images
Sidetracked Vol. 19 shipping now
I’ve just received my copies. This one is breathtaking. Working on Sidetracked magazine continues to be a pleasure, and this issue contains some truly spellbinding stories. During the editorial process I was particularly enthralled by the piece ‘Leaning to Listen’ by Luc Mehl, about a long-distance ice-skating expedition in
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
What I’ve been reading this week, 11 October 2020
Outdoor education in crisis, how to walk across Scotland, beating the winter blues, and travel in a time of Covid. Outdoors School’s out: the crisis facing outdoor education — ‘the ban on overnight school trips, gaps in the government’s coronavirus support offering and continued Covid restrictions has created a
Wanderlust Europe now available on sale from Sidetracked
Looking to get hold of my new book, Wanderlust Europe, while also supporting one of the best adventure magazines in the UK? Good news — in an exclusive promotion with gestalten, the publisher, you can now get hold of the book for £30 (£5 off retail price) with free postage in
What I’ve been reading this week, 3 October 2020
Winter’s where it’s at, beyond the Nevis watershed, wildlife crime in 2019, and the West Highland Way at 40. Environment and nature Birdcrime 2019 report — this damning report from the RSPB into birdcrime illustrates why simply ‘protecting’ more areas is meaningless. Wildlife crime is happening right now in
A Test of Mettel
In a year in which Swiss glaciers lost three per cent of their total volume, Alex Roddie returns to an Alpine peak he first climbed a decade before, and finds huge changes. This feature was first published in the August 2019 issue of The Great Outdoors. 2007 ‘My sleeping bag’
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
What I’ve been reading this week, 26 September 2020
Not all gamekeepers, a resurgent forest, walking the perimeter of Britain, and the world’s most stupid navigational error. Environment and nature Shocking discovery reveals lengths raptor killers will go to to conceal crimes — for me, in a week filled with bad news, this was story of the week. Driven
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
