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About me
Welcome to my web site! I am an inspirational public speaker, ecologist, nature photographer and writer based in the Findhorn Community in the northeast of Scotland.
In 1986 I founded the award-winning conservation charity, Trees for Life, which works to restore the Caledonian Forest in the Scottish Highlands.
I care deeply about our planet, and have dedicated my life to protecting its biological diversity and sharing the beauty and wonders of the natural world through my photographs, talks and writing. Read more
My latest blog post
A twinflower day
“There’s something very elegant about the shape and alignment of the blossoms of twinflower that set it apart as something special and different from the other flowering plants in the Caledonian Forest.The species has a circumboreal distribution, meaning that it occurs all around the world at northern latitudes, in the boreal forest zone. I’ve seen …
Read moreImage of the Week
News
Forests Forever perpetual calendar now available
I’m pleased to announce that I’ve just published a new perpetual calendar – good for any year – entitled Forests Forever. It features 366 beautiful photographs of trees and forests from over 45 countries around the world – one for each day of the year – combined with quotations from people who have been inspired by trees, including Wangari Maathai, John Muir, Hermann Hesse and many others.
The calendar makes an ideal gift for anyone who appreciates trees and cares about the forests of the world. Further information, including many sample pages, and ordering details are available here.
Read moreOver on Twitter…
This suggestion makes a lot of sense. The huge growth in SUV sales has overwhelmed the reduction in emissions due to the sale of fully electric cars. "In the UK last year more than 150,000 new cars sold were too large to fit in a standard parking space." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/aug/03/ban-suv-adverts-to-meet-uk-climate-goals-report-urges
Another unique ecosystem being destroyed by fire due to increasing cattle ranching. Like the Amazon, the cerrado (Brazil's savanna) and the Pantanal it's paying the price of the unsustainable growth in meat eating. We need to shift to a plant-based diet. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/30/argentina-delta-fires-rage-out-of-control-parana-river
Doing a bit of digging into wild boar in Scotland: population unknown, but prob in low 100s. Came across figures for Europe from 2005: France & Germany a million each, Spain and Italy, 600,000. Densely packed Belgium, 21,000. Yet back in Scot, treated like an invasive plague.