August is the season for collecting thistles seed heads to use as an excellent tinder for firemaking. The flowers die back and the seed heads burst out in warm weather then disburse in the wind. There are lots of types of thistle in Britain; like Marsh Thistle and Creeping Thistle but one of the best …
Category: Flora and Fauna
Hallival and Askival
It was time for a holiday. I'd worked pretty much every day in May and June and was looking forward to a short break out west, to the Isle of Rum. Rum is in the Inner Hebrides, one of four islands that make up the Small Isles; with Eigg, Muck and Canna. Rum is the …
Tracks in the Snow
This blog is about animal tracks and signs in the snow. I have been building up my photographs over time and I think I've enough now share them. Most of them I am pretty confident about but others less so... I can't distinguish between the tracks of a Crested Tit and Coal Tit for example …
Sgurr na Banachdich
Sgurr na Banachdaich is a 965m mountain on the Cuillin Ridge, the most dramatic, precipitous, technically difficult range of mountains in Scotland. Along its 12km length there are 11 prominent mountains (munros) and a further 26 separate peaks. Almost all involve scrambling on steep and exposed terrain to reach their summits. Sgurr na Banachdaich, peak of …
Springtime flowers
Over April and May more and more plants, trees and shrubs come into the flower. Up in the mountains purple saxifrage is among the first to come into bloom and in the woods, primroses, snow drops and wood sorrel flower early. In this blog I have listed some of the flowering plants, trees and shrubs …
Tree Bud Photo Guide
In March, trees in Scotland start to come back into leaf. Now's a good time to study tree buds as they get bigger and begin to open up. Hawthorn and elder are amongst the first and oak and ash among the last to come into leaf. All of these photos were taken in Mugdock Country …
Flax Cordage
Flax Phormium tenax is a plant from New Zealand that is pretty common in gardens and public spaces in Scotland. I learnt about the plant from Simon and Carol West, on a recent About Argyll Walking Holidays tour to Orkney in July 2017. The Maori name for flax is harakeke and is used for making …
Marram Grass Cordage
I visited the Shetland museum last week and was keen to find how local plants have been used to make rope, cordage and baskets (the Shetland word for rope is simmens). As well as reeds and straw I was interested to see that marram grass was used to make rope (see photo below). Yesterday I …
Foraging for food in Orkney and Shetland
Here are some edible plants I have been munching on up in Orkney and Shetland these past two weeks. Been guiding with About Argyll Walking holidays who run week long walking tours in the northern isles. I have to say a big thanks to Dr Carol West for teaching me so much about plants last …
Bumblebees, rare chickweeds and sundews
It's been a very busy couple of months. We've run lots of Duke of Edinburgh's Award expeditions and in Scotland and in France and I've been guiding up in Shetland, Skye, Galloway and Argyll for About Argyll Walking Holidays. There's been plenty of amazing wildlife encounters like otters, dolphins, eagles and ospreys but I find …
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