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Category Archives: Trees & Greenspaces
Scottish Light and Land:
There’s something unique about Scottish light and how it compliments the landforms – just like the Scottish people (and indeed people everywhere), landscapes too have their changing moods, their storms and periods of calm when they shine radiantly like the … Continue reading
On Top of the World – Two years in Solu Khumbu, Nepal
Sometimes it’s the old adventures that are the best ! Having recently got around to scanning some old slides (it only took me 30 years !), I’m now finally able to share some of these journeys from the 80s and … Continue reading
Posted in History & Culture, Mountain Treks, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places, World
Tagged Community Forestry Program, Deforestation, Dudh Kosi, Everest Base Camp, Fuel wood, Gokyo Ri, Gurings, Jiri, Lukla, Mani Rimdu, Mt. Everest, Namche Baazar, nature, Nepal, Phaphlu, Salleri, Sherpas, Solu Khumbu, sustainable development, Tamangs, Tibetan Buddhism, trekking, VSO
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Amongst Scotland’s Ancient Caledonian Pinewoods:
One of my favourite places to be in the World must be Scotland’s ancient Caledonian Pinewoods. Although now reduced to a few remnants, these distinctive forests used to cover more extensive tracts of the Scottish Highlands. In the words of … Continue reading
Land of lakes, rocky coasts & endless forests:
I’d never been to Scandinavia, until last summer that is, when we spent two wonderful weeks in a rustic, weather-boarded, retro-style, summerhouse set amidst lakes and forest, just a little to the East of Gothenburg. Although plenty of doomsayers warned us about the summer plagues … Continue reading
Posted in Canoe Trips, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places
Tagged Coastline, Gothenburg, Ospreys, Sweden, Wilderness canoeing
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Winter in the Vulcan Eifel
When you think of the Earth’s great volcanic regions, you tend to think of places like Pacific NW America, Indonesia, Iceland or the Aleutian Islands; Germany, by contrast, certainly isn’t a location which naturally springs to mind. Despite this, as little as just 10,000 … Continue reading
Posted in History & Culture, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places
Tagged Lieser, Manderscheid, Meerefelder Maar, Mosenberg, Vulcan Eifel
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In the Footsteps of Rob Roy
October is often a great month to visit Scotland and autumn 2015 was no exception, with fine settled conditions prevailing; effervescent morning mists dissolving away to leave clear skies and dramatic low angle sunlight. It was great to be back … Continue reading
Posted in History & Culture, In Scotland, Mountain Treks, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places
Tagged Aberfoyle, Balquidder, Callander, Clan MacClaren, Creag an Tuirc, Kirkton Glen, Leny Estate, Loch Doine, Loch Katrine, Loch Lomand and the Trossachs National Park, Loch Voil, native oakwoods, Rob Roy, Rob Roy's Cave, Robert the Bruce, Stirling, West Highland Way, Wild goats
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Season of Mists
Autumn is my favourite time of year to be out and about exploring the woods, fields, moors and meadows of the surrounding countryside. As well as the vibrant red, gold and orange hues of wild cherry, maples, birches and beech, there are … Continue reading
Posted in Aachen & Euregio, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces, Urbanism, Wild Places
Tagged autumn, autumn colours, biodiversity, birch, conkers, cultural landscapes, fly-agaric, foraging, Hohes Venn, mushrooms, norway maple, steuobstwiesen, street trees, sweet chestnuts, Urban Greenspace, urban trees, wild cherry, wild harvests
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Down in the Orchard
Over the last few weeks we’ve noticed a lot of fruit going unpicked in local orchards and decided eventually to do something about it. Today we knocked on the door of a local orchard owner who was only too happy … Continue reading
Posted in Aachen & Euregio, History & Culture, In Europe, Trees & Greenspaces
Tagged Aachen, ancient trees, apples, biodiversity, birds, cultural landscapes, fruit growing, healthy eating, invertibrates, local distinctiveness, local produce, nature conservation, orchards, organic produce, pears, sense of place, streuobstwiesen, sweet chestnuts
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Alps at the Crossroads: Green Utopia or Developers Paradise ?
It all looked great; a traditional apartment in the alpine village of Oberjoch, located at 1200m in the Eastern Allgaü region of Bavaria and close to the beautiful Tannheimer Valley in neighbouring Tyrol. With Germanic diligence I scanned the latest version of Google satellite maps for any items … Continue reading
Posted in In Europe, Mountain Treks, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places
Tagged Allgäu, architecture, Bad Hinderlang, bavaria, Bavarian Alps, climate change, farm tourism, forest education, Green Tourism, Hintersteinertal, local distinctiveness, Oberjoch, Schattwald, ski developments, Slow tourism, Sustainability, Sustainable tourism, Tannheim, Tannheimertal, timber constructure, Vilsaplsee, wellness resorts
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New Life in Scotland’s Ancient Forests
On the banks of the River Tay by Dunkeld in Perthshire stands the ancient “Birnam Oak”, reputedly the sole surviving tree of the famed Birnam Wood of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. In Shakespeare’s “Scottish” play, Malcolm’s soldiers camouflaged themselves with branches from Birnam Wood before capturing Macbeth’s stronghold … Continue reading
Posted in History & Culture, In Scotland, Trees & Greenspaces, Wild Places
Tagged ancient woodland, birch, Birnam Oak, Cairngorms, Caledonian Pine Woods, charcoal making, community woodlands, coppicing, Forest of Spey, forest schools, Glen Finglas, Glenmore Forest, Highland Birchwoods, highland clearances, Highlands, history, Loch Lomand and the Trossachs National Park, Loch Tay Woods, Macbeth, native woodlands, oak, Pass of Ryvoan, Perthshire, Scots pine, spirit of place, tanning industry, Trossachs, wood pasture, wood turning, Woodland Trust
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Off the Beaten Track 