Last week, as I was sat at home, I heard a loud but unfamiliar squawk outside followed by alarm calls from smaller birds. When I looked out the window I saw a starling on the ground, motionless under the tight grip of yellow talons. It was a sparrowhawk, the first I’d seen at home in two years… and I was ecstatic! They’re actually one of our more common birds of prey but for most of us they remain elusive on account of their stealthy hunting strategy. They are fast and manoeuvrable but, like a cheetah, their chase can’t be sustained…

David Lintern visits a 21st century croft in the Cairngorms, and comes away with free range eggs and hope for the future. Just off the road to Tomintoul over the Cromdale Hills, there’s a small wooden bungalow and a couple of outbuildings that have seen better days. When my own family were looking to move to the Highlands, we looked at this property. It came with a lot of land; more than we had the capacity or know-how to manage properly… but since then I’m very glad to say it’s been bought by two women who really do know what…

A bit of rebranding works wonders for the underappreciated. Back in my bagging days the idea of spending more than an hour roaming a squelchy woodland would have been a complete anathema to me. Not that I didn’t appreciate woodland or forest at the time, mind. I always enjoyed passing through them but they were for just that – thoroughfares on my way to a Munro rather than being destinations in themselves. Times have clearly changed, because a couple of months ago I deliberately spent six soggy but wonderful hours exploring the exceedingly mossy interior of Ariundle National Nature Reserve,…