Exploring Our Wild Places Through Words

Exploring Our Wild Places Through Words

On the trail of the white-pawed fox

On the trail of the white-pawed fox

By Keith Broomfield As far as accessibility was concerned, this was the fox den from hell, which to reach involved wading knee-deep across a tumbling river followed by a scramble up a steep, nettle-infested bank. I had first noticed the site on the far bank of the...
Paradise in a nutshell at Knoydart

Paradise in a nutshell at Knoydart

By Keith Broomfield They were flowers of the sea breeze, a sweeping carpet of yellow-dazzled colt’s-foot that swept along the wild Knoydart foreshore in a shimmering celebration of the beauty of a west highland spring. Often described as Scotland’s last wilderness,...
The marvel of evolution

The marvel of evolution

Adaptive radiation is a fascinating aspect of evolutionary biology where a common ancestral species develops into a wide variety of different others, each one adapted to the niche parameters of their specific environment. The famous Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos...
A magical otter encounter

A magical otter encounter

A piercing whistle whirls across the damp air from the far bank of the River Devon. I know it is an otter but as I peer through a tangle of alder and willow branches, I see no movement. Another whistle, even louder this time, and then I spot the otter running along a...
Glorious chatter of redwings in the gloaming

Glorious chatter of redwings in the gloaming

By Keith Broomfield As the diminishing light of dusk gathered over the hill pasture in the strath, redwings swept up from the green-spiked rushes ahead of me, dancing and bobbing in the air before alighting on the top of a beech that stood proud in a nearby...