Not sure throwing yourself into designing a website is the standard response to a burglary, but that seems to be what's happened. I'm pleased with this as a shiny new place to showcase photos & share sea journeys. Why not take a look.

I have a new, & different, project. Today I'm starting new socials for it, e.g. here. And you'll find links there (e.g. this, that show how researching metal music is linked to oceans & gannets. Please do follow if interested.

Went to the opening reception of the 49th @stmagnus festival, then paddled out to Gairsay (the island where Orkney's most famous Viking, Sweyn Asleifsson, had his drinking hall). This view, from Gairsay's hill, across most of Norse & Neolithic Orkney, quite a way to end the day.

If you're in Orkney (for the St Magnus Festival, maybe, or the Sea Kayak Symposium) why not come to a talk tomorrow? I'll be in conversation with festival director, Alasdair Nicolson - we'll discuss the perspectives on past & present that kayaking creates.

Off the water & onto the cliffs. Five peregrines tearing through the sky & scrapping in the seaspray. Juveniles landing beside us to catch their breath. Morgan watching the dramas overhead.

Finally, two years after getting robbed, have bought a car & sea kayak. Just in time to head North for some talks (Lyth Arts Centre tomorrow, St Magnus Festival in Orkney on Sat). But first, out to sea: feels so good to be followed by seals & dodging arctic skuas once again.

Just found lesser spotted woodpeckers nest building in central Birmingham. 100m from a really big road (& right on my daily walk to work). The tree is near a greater spotted nest hole, & they're already getting territorial with each other. Anyone know if they'll have a chance?

Quite some conditions in the Peaks right now - get up above 300m if you can!

Asked Morgan a question.

The stillest morning & the thickest fog. Quiet but for flocks of fieldfare. Probably should've stayed out on the water.

As well as the advertised cast - Fiona Stafford, Andrew MacNeillie, & me - we'll be joined by the wonderful @JMLockhart2 (author of Raptor, & Wild Air), who'll talk about the poetry of Norman's world, & read from his collaboration with Douglas Dunn.

If you can make it to Cheltenham this Wed, please do come & celebrate art, literature, coasts & islands with us. Planned to feature Norman Ackroyd, who sadly passed away two weeks ago, we'll now pay tribute to his life/work & the places that inspired him

These photos are of a beautifully quiet place, worth walking slowly. While relying on trains for hikes, Edale to Glossop has become a favourite. The start & end (Kinder-Alport Castles & Shelf Stones) are busy. But the best bit (Alport-Bleaklow) never is. In purple on the map.

Possibly the most fun I've ever had with a camera. Here's a link to my photos/blog from the arena of dreams @BLOODSTOCKFEST 2024.

Reasons to sleep with the door open.

I love how the richness of summer shores & seas makes seabirds of falcons, owls, & kites. There's nothing quite like kayak journeys accompanied by raptors.

It's one of those weekends when there's salmon around, & the dolphins have gathered for the chase.

In Croatia to learn about thousand-year traditions of tiny rowboat ferries & the building of wooden boats. Using days off to swim between islands through two national parks (Telašćica/Kornati). Eleonora's falcons, red-backed shrikes, & whipsnakes. Dolphins in crystal seas.

Some Birmingham badgers have built burrows to their main sett all around a footpath. Walk by at sunset & you'll hear the whole large family murmuring & chittering underground. Look down & you'll sometimes find you're being watched.

The perfect wake-up call. There used to be more lapwings and golden plovers here, but I don't remember these curlew calls filling the landscape as they do today.

Today's red dawn, over hillsides filled with green hairstreaks. Golden waders - plovers & curlew - on the wing.