THIS recognition of Scotland’s wild land as a nationally important asset that needs to be safeguarded marks a historic breakthrough. Scotland’s landscapes are spectacular, contributing to our quality of life, our national identity and the visitor economy. The John Muir Trust has fought long and hard over many years with the support of many thousands of people to achieve official recognition for wild land and we welcome this commitment. I would endorse these sentiments, made by Stuart Brooks of the John Muir Trust in response to the Scottish Government’s recent announcement of further protection for Scotland’s wild land. Other NGO’s…

We’d been slogging away for hours, post holing through breakable crust down from the Cairngorm plateau, face into a wind that was gale force something or other. The crisp white covering and cobalt skies of the previous afternoon were long gone, to be replaced by cloud to our knees and a frigid wet blast forced through every gap in our clothing. We covered barely a kilometre an hour, there was no let up. But after a good half day of trudging, deep in the private space of the glen, a fox leapt out from hiding in a heathery crag, bushy…

Last month on the 21st April, the John Muir Way opened. The same day is also the anniversary of John Muir's birthday. I thought I'd mark the occasion in hindsight by mentioning a place that isn't on the Way, but is close by – the new long distance trail passes within 1km of it. It’s also very close to my heart. Aberlady Bay was the UK’s very first LNR, or local nature reserve, established in 1952, 3 years after the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act was passed. This act allowed the formation of National Parks – the…

I'VE often wondered what it is that makes us so excited and thrilled to see wild animals or birds of prey in their own environment. A few years ago I made a television programme about a long walk on the Isle of Skye and we camped for our first night at Rubha Hunish, at the northern tip of the Trotternish peninsula. Before settling down for the night we had been watching minke whales surfacing just a couple of hundred metres offshore. We were thrilled, a hard-bitten, seen-it-all television crew, five grown men all experienced in the ways and sights of…

As a nature enthusiast I'm on the lookout for wildlife on any walk I take but I never go expecting to see anything in particular. Hoping, perhaps, but not expecting. Imagine my delight, therefore, when a recent walking holiday on the Isle of Skye unexpectedly turned into something of an eagle safari regardless of where I went or what I was doing. Scotland has two species of eagle, the golden and the white-tailed (or ‘sea’ eagle), and both threw themselves at me from every direction. Literally so during a visit to Duirinish when, after I’d spent two hours dozing motionless…