The sea is like molten silver. Pearly grey, sparkling where the sun peeks through the high cloud cover. The water is calm, not a ripple to be seen. To the south the grey green coastline drifts away into a hazy horizon. To the north the clouds have split, spilling sunshine and blue sky onto the land … More Dolphins in Aber
Past experience tells me the Devon countryside is stunning. Narrow, single lane roads with tight passing places. Towering hedgerows that block out all but a narrow strip of sky above. The occasional gaps in the hedge or where the road dips up and down, reveals undulating green fields with thick lines of hedges and round … More Devon’s Bunting
It’s just over 14 years and I can still remember the sensation of climbing into the treetops. A narrow rope bridge ascending upwards, up and over the forest below, a gentle incline at first, getting gradually steeper until it is almost vertical and like climbing a ladder. Emerging onto a platform 42 m up is … More Wild Barley Rewind: Jungle Observations
A tumultuous grey green sea crashes onto the sand rolling with white foaming crests that create bubbles that are blown up the beach. The sky overhead is pale grey. Along the beach a hidden forest is revealed by the low tide. Draped in brown and green seaweed are the preserved remains of ancient trees. Thousands … More The Weather Window
The world is full of magical creatures, from tiny beetles, bees and butterflies to magnificent whales and soaring birds. I grew up enamoured with whales and dolphins, and was introduced to the wonder of birds when I went to University and met Lee. As the years have passed I have been entranced by all our … More Wild Barley Rewind: Care of Magical Creatures
It was not just around the Lodge at Taricaya Ecological Reserve that we encountered wildlife. Each day whether we were walking to and from observation platforms, flower cutting, weeding, maintenance or even clearing trails, we were immersed in jungle wildlife. Of course we also went out on specific walks looking for wildlife. The first of … More Wild Barley Rewind: Jungle Trails
After arriving at Taricaya Ecological Reservein the Peruvian jungle back in 2006 we quickly settled into a routine. Each morning breakfast was at 7:30am. 8am and we would head off in teams to undertake one of the projects, planting and weeding flowers, maintenance, building or looking after the animals in the rehabilitation programme. Three days … More Wild Barley Rewind: Jungle Lodge
In October 2006 Lee and I headed to the Peruvian jungle as the first stop on a 9-month world trip. Here we spent two months working as volunteers at the Taricaya Ecological Reserve, a private nature reserve in the Peruvian Amazon, located along the Madre de Dios River. Arriving in Puerto Maldonado we climbed aboard … More Wild Barley Rewind: Welcome to the Jungle
The cliffs towered above the small boat as it rolled gently in the waves at their feet, its sandstone face honeycombed into multiple shelves and crags smoothed by the elements and painted in the white wash ubiquitous with seabird colonies. All available space on the ledges was taken up by nesting seabirds. The bulk of … More Seabirds of Noss
The boat cruised out into the stretch of water between the mainland of Shetland and the island of Bressay. Behind us was the built up, bustling, urban landscape of Lerwick and in front the rocky shoreline, moors, grassland and occasional buildings of Bressay. The boat stopped, gently bobbing up and down with the swell and … More On the trail of whales
