In my last article I wrote about clegs. And in the article before that, I wrote about ticks.  Given this latest article’s subject matter, some might accuse me (not unreasonably!) of being obsessed with wee biting beasties, but this time around I was genuinely intending to break the theme and instead write about something nice and inoffensive. Something pretty, or maybe something fluffy. Rowans, perhaps. Or roe deer. But then last month, as fate would have it, I was set upon by the largest concentration of keds I’ve ever encountered. A newsworthy concentration, for sure. And so here I am,…

Yes, I know I wrote about ticks last time. And yes, I know that makes it two articles on the trot about nasty wee beasties, but inspiration for subjects comes from whatever has crossed my path in the previous month…..and I’m afraid to say very little has crossed my path in July other than clegs! Indeed, as I’m writing this, I can feel the crazy itching of a cleg bite on my thigh and am desperately trying to ignore it, which is difficult when you’re writing about the very thing that caused said itching. What is a cleg? I can’t…

Sarah Lashley, Flow Country World Heritage Site Co-ordinator, explains why we should care about the bog below our feet The Flow Country, extending to around 400,000 hectares of Caithness and Sutherland in the north of Scotland, is considered to be the most outstanding example of an actively accumulating blanket bog landscape in the world. This exceptional landscape and its unique features resulted the highest-quality peatland and its supporting habitats being inscribed by UNESCO as The Flow Country World Heritage Site, in July 2024. It is Scotland’s only mainland natural World Heritage Site, one of just three natural sites in the…

Back in the depths of winter I was clearing away an old campfire site in a far-flung corner of woodland, and there was a big piece of soggy deadwood, a log, that had been put on top of the fire. Clearly it was never going to burn, but that hadn’t deterred whoever’s fire it was. The centre of the log was singed but the ends were not. As I crouched down, I noticed a striking pattern on one unsinged end. A jumble of lines and indentations in the wood, looking like a hectic road map, and so sharply-defined you’d be…

Molly Martin from Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels outlines recent progress in the battle to save one of our most charming creatures and explains how you can help by recording all your squirrel sightings – both red and grey. There’s nothing quite like getting out for a good walk, and Scotland is one of the best places in the world to explore by foot. With its dramatic landscapes which drip with history and stories, and views more varied than the weather, it’s no wonder that so many of us enjoy spending our free time scrambling, stomping, squelching or strolling around in…