Such a pleasure to interview my old friend Charles Clover (now also a neighbour in the West Highlands) at Tobermory Book Festival 2025. Charles’s contribution to marine sustainability is immeasurable. We had an exhilarating conversation about his great book ‘Rewilding the Sea’.

Driving early to the Tobermory Book Festival this the view that greeted us. The programme, speakers and atmosphere were all excellent too

"John Muir Trust crisis 'doing enormous harm' says landowner," reports The Herald - Vicky Allan following up her previous pieces about chaos in one of Scotland's leading green charities. Many concerned voices now raised about its dire predicament (paywall) www.heraldscotland.com/news/2553004...

The estimable Hamish Trench invited me to write a blog about land reform for the Scottish Land Commission. I did – but didn’t think they would publish it. It is critical – fairly, I believe – of #ScotGov. You can read it here. Fair play to the #SLC. www.landcommission.gov.scot/downloads/68...

Featuring contributions from @ruthtingay.bsky.social @pettorelli.bsky.social @jmbecologist.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social @amyjanebeer.bsky.social @whittledaway.bsky.social @hughraven.bsky.social @vickihird.bsky.social @drbulman.bsky.social @markaeaton.bsky.social

Fares on our lifeline #CorranFerry - on which our business #Ardtornish completely depends - rise again. Another ~10% on top of prior steep rises in recent years. There are two ferries, one 50yo, the other ~25. Ie pretty ancient and unreliable. The crew? Dedicated. The Highland Council? Not so much.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped’ had David Balfour, the hero, coming through #Morvern. He stayed at #Kinlochaline - “the most beggarly vile place that ever pigs were styed in, full of vermin, smoke and silent Highlanders.” The accommodation here is now much improved.

Thinking of marrying? Try #Ardtornish

I have just asked the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and call a federal election on April 28. We need to build the strongest economy in the G7. We need to deal with President Trump’s tariffs. Canadians deserve a choice about who should lead that effort for our country.

Granite setts, Somerset House, London. Good colour mixing. 👏

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, we learn that the newest vessel in the #Calmac fleet - the 7-yr delayed 3-month old #GlenSannox - is out of service. A weld is cracked. #CalmacCrisis continuing: now the longest-running public sector farce in recent history.

So proud to host the team from @open-seas.bsky.social at #Ardtornish for strategic planning, having grown from one staff post to ten. Of many charities I’ve watched over ~40+yrs, this might be the most effective. Our dinner - prepared by the boss - showed seabeds ravaged by industrial fishing. 👏

The colours this evening on #LochAline are exceptional. Early spring really is the most exhilarating time of year. #Morvern #Highland

Gosh… who knew? Please note we also welcome #LGTB+ guests at #Ardtornish, just a ferry ride or two from the UK’s new lesbian capital: “Forget Brighton, the UK’s new gay and lesbian hotspot is … Oban” www.thetimes.com/article/8171...

Telegraph reports that Ukraine membership of the Single Market would boost its economy. Irony is dead. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...

The UK papers are reporting on a European leaders’ summit with this photo, Justin Trudeau very clearly in it. Is this a new Canadian bid to join Europe? Leave N America…. ?#BoldMove

“Mystery donor’s £17.5m gift could turn Scottish estate into rewilding showcase,” reports the Guardian on @scotwildlife.bsky.social acquisition of the Inverbroom Estate. 7,618 ha of land includes two Munros and coastline at the head of Loch Broom. Congratulations to the Trust - & thanks to the donor

🇵🇱🇪🇺 "The paradox is that 500 million Europeans are asking 300 million Americans for help to protect them from 140 million Russians," — Tusk ❗️"We must rely on ourselves, fully aware of our own potential and believing that we are a world power," he said.

Tesla shares are down 40% since December, reports the FT, & “Tesla sales are declining rapidly, especially in Europe (maybe) partly due to increased competition but also a consumer backlash against Musk’s aggressive cost-cutting measures for the US government and unnerving political interventions.”

Today’s The Times…. #CalmacCrisisContinuing - the casual subheading acknowledging “a third of the fleet is out of action.” Unbelievable - though given recent incompetence, all too believable. Consider yourself lucky if you don’t live in a Clyde or Hebridean community.

On #CorranFerry - still the #MaidofGlencoul, our second best standby vessel, 50yo this year. The main vessel’s been off nearly six months - so we have this replacement, with no crew facilities, and a fraction of the capacity this route needs. So more strangulation of our economy. #BrokenScotland

The centenary is this year of the death of Highland #Scotland’s foremost architect, Alexander Ross. We’re holding a symposium at # Ardtornish to mark the occasion, with a panel of distinguished speakers (and me). May 17th. We may publish the proceedings.

You’ve got to admire our #Hebridean neighbour #CameronMackintosh. His productions cover the full range - menacing, dolorous, joyous and raucous - and feel both contemporary and historic at once. This has them all. Mr Bumble, the Artful Dodger, Fagin all deserve the #Olivier award. #Respect

Delighted today to attend the well-deserved introduction to the House of Lords of Wendy Alexander – or, as we shall need to learn to call her, Baroness Alexander of Cleveden. Wendy’s experience and exceptional intelligence make her ideal for the upper house. It was an honour to see it happen.

This is #LochAline. Imagine in this tranquil scene the intermittent splash of jumping fish. The #seatrout are back - amazing brothers & sisters to freshwater Brown Trout that choose to migrate to sea instead. They seem to be recovering here, probably due to the closure of the industrial salmon farm.

With good light, the regenerating woodlands in #Morvern are a magnificent winter sight. These at L Arienas, managed jointly by @ScotWildlife & #Ardtornish, are entirely natural: not a planted stem among them (at least not for 100+ yrs). The seedbed was prepared by pigs.

Nature restoration in #Morvern attracts a crowd: over 40 - more than 10% of the local population - turned out on a lovely winter’s day to discuss our community’s hopes & plans for habitats & wildlife here. Thank you to the great speakers, local enthusiasts, & team #Ardtornish: a great evening. Xx

Our biennial #BurnsSupper at #Ardtornish is a chance to enjoy the huge talent we’re blessed to have in #Morvern, and see old pals and new from near and far. 86 will break bread tonight - and celebrate the millennial gifts of Scotland’s greatest bard. 🎉

One final shout out for the #Ardtornish public meeting in #Lochaline this Saturday, 4.30, to hear about the ecological restoration plans we’ve developed over the last decade. Great speakers (plus me).

Please let’s turn the M8 - at least the bit disfiguring central Glasgow - into Scotland’s answer to Manhattan’s HighLine.

D’you know that #salmon industrially farmed in #Scotland no longer has to use the word ‘farmed’ on consumer labels? What do the industrial growers want to hide? Could it be that the real impacts of salmon farming are increasingly publicly known? Or why the obscurantism ? wildfish.org/latest-news/...

Edinburgh - the food capital of Britain? So says today’s Times. These eager eaters seem to agree: a 35-yard queue on a freezing morning for the hipster bakery on Henderson Row, Lannan.

@caledoniansleeper.bsky.social you appear to have increased flexipass (or carnet) costs 19.5% for Club class. Is this true, please, and where can we see the announcement? On the ‘news’ page of your website the only reference to prices I saw was ‘there are no plans to change ticket prices’ (June ‘23)

Millionaires leave Britain in droves. Who cares? You should, if concerned with public services or #philanthropy. Treasury estimates of a £2.5bn rise in tax revenues cut no ice with accountants, who predict lower tax receipts. Charity giving will fall. That matters. “A monumental act of self-harm.”

I’m pleased to have been appointed as a Scottish Land Commissioner and looking forward to contributing to Scotland’s land reform agenda in that role.

We at #Ardtornish are hosting a gathering in #Lochaline Feb 8 to outline plans for ecological improvements, possible species (re)introduction, woodland creation etc. - and, we hope, to get feedback from members of the community. #Morvern now has such huge expertise…. Please come along & share it.

Ben Goldsmith - a good writer, here in his Substack: Take the moral panic over #lynx, while “the entirely legal annual release of 50 million+ non-native pheasants into the landscape by a different set of people without a shred of paperwork tells you just who is in charge.” #BenRocks

On the loose in the park: #Lynx. Always seemed likely to happen, given the scaredy-cat authorities had dragged their feet for so long: a license for legal lynx release was submitted several years ago. #GuerillaRewilding

Scotland to far S Europe by train @seatsixtyone.bsky.social - Step 1: @caledoniansleeper.bsky.social Fort William > London. Comfy, tho’ en suite toilet gave up. No water in sink today. ~90 mins late, so full refund. Cost £230. Price for two unchanged in 15 yrs, as 2 can now travel on 1 ticket.

Festive decos looking pretty good, no? That tree isnae bad either. #NobleFir. Happy Christmas.

Orwell Raven (Charles, grandfather) Steinbeck Nicolson (Adam, bro-in-law) Raven (Sarah, sister) #Embarrassing #Nepo-Reader

More extraordinary news in The Herald on the #Calmac #ferryfiasco: “it is estimated that the subsidy for the running of over 30 lifeline ferry routes over a new ten year period is set to soar to £370m-a-year from just over £120m a year in the last eight-year period.” £370m pa! Unbelievable

Eating at Knepp’s Wilding Kitchen is outstanding. With the best menu I’ve seen in years - truly impeccable sourcing - and exceptional food preparation, it excels on many levels. Ambience? Lovely, the building beautiful, & the friendliest most helpful staff. It you can, go. #NoRegrets ⭐ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Absolutely delighted to be hosting ⁦‪at Ardtornish‬⁩ a symposium with ⁦‪the AHSS‬⁩ to mark the centenary of the death of great Highland architect Alexander Ross. Ross was much the Highlands’ most prolific designer - #Ardtornish House among his largest domestic commissions.

A visit to @KneppWilding is always a pleasure and an education, esp. with Charlie Burrell or Isabella Tree or preferably both. Thanks to Charlie for the personal tour, and the remarkable kettling flock of white storks - overwintering here now. Britain’s first. 😀

The UK’s overseas territories #UKOTs are home to much the most important wildlife & natural resources that we have - inc. ~94% of our endemic species, and all the world’s main habitat types. Huge thanks to John Ellerman Foundation and Environmental Funders Network for their leadership 👏👏

Very proud that #Ardtornish is sponsoring tonight’s #NatureOfScotland awards, the Very Big Deal event for Scotland’s environment community. Huge thanks to @rspbscotland.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social and others…. This is some party! 🎉 😀🎉

This looks like some properly good news on the #CorranFerry, after the ruinous disaster of the total outage for long periods last year. Thank you to our MSPs and councillors of all parties and none for their advocacy, and to #ScotGov for a good decision on ferries at last.