Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

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This week

  • A sunny outdoor shot shows a large flock of sheep with black faces and legs, and thick white woolly bodies, many marked with red dye, standing in a green field. Some sheep are closer to the viewer and in focus, while others are further back. In the background, there's a low stone wall, and behind it, a few trees with green foliage and some dry, dead trees. The sky is blue with some white clouds.Yan Tan Tether Mether Pip … 16th July 2025 Old Molly Metcalfe counting sheep Yan tan tether mether pip she counted Up upon Swaledale steep and bleak Yan tan tether mether pip she said… So sang Jake Thackray about…
  • Lochan of the Lost SwordLochan of the Lost Sword 25th September 2023 Beneath the reflections of the autumnal hues rests an abandoned sword, a long-sword, the claymore that belonged to Robert the Bruce. Near this wee loch lies Dal Righ, a place…
  • A manmade lake sits below rolling hills, the water a cool blue against banks of bare grey rock and rubble. Rough grassland climbs the slopes, dotted with young trees and scrub still finding their feet, and a dark line of forestry runs along the ridge behind. Down on the shoreline, near a small pool of pale turquoise water, an orange digger stands parked on a stretch of cleared track, a small reminder that this stretch of ground is still being coaxed back to life after its mining days.St Ninian’s Eco-Leisure and Wellness Park 31st August 2026 Every summer for close on thirty years we have travelled north on the M90 past a mighty scar of an opencast coal mine. I have no early memories of it;…
  • A two-story stone house sits on a steep cliff below the coastal town of Salt urn-by-the-Sea. Cars and a bus navigate along the steep road up the cliff. Top left are terraces of four-story dwellings. There is a red-roofed commercial property lower down the cliff.Teddy’s Nook: Where Facts are Optional 9th January 2025 Working with the National Trust at Old Saltburn, tucked away in Littledale—a predictably small valley with a narrow view across to the new town. The place has some flora worth…
  • A stone slab path winds through open moorland, flanked by rust-coloured grasses and patches of purple heather. The ground rises gently towards a low horizon, beyond which lie hazy fields, wind turbines and distant hills under a pale, overcast sky.Quakers’ Causeway 29th August 2026 Stanghow Moor has not seen my studs in years, and it is easy to see why. It sits west of Birk Brow, bleak and boggy as you like, with barely…
  • An expansive, eye-level shot capturing the mountain ridge of Beinn Mhòr on South Uist on a cloudy day. The ridge, covered in green grass and scattered rocks, stretches from the foreground towards the left, eventually meeting a towering summit peak shrouded in mist. To the right, another misty subsidiary peak is visible, and the sea and lochs can be seen in the distance on both sides of the ridge.Beinn Mhòr: The Big Hill with No Goats 1st June 2025 I had expected little from the climb of Beinn Mhòr, South Uist’s highest mountain. From the west, it looks like nothing more than a bulky lump, and its name, meaning…
  • Loch ArkaigBonnie Prince Charlie’s gold 1st May 2023 Out and about on my own stamping grounds this morning, and the bank holiday meant that Roseberry was bustling with activity. So instead of sharing yet another snapshot of the…
  • Wrack HillsRunswick Bay’s Ironworks Beneath the Cliff 25th July 2024 Today I was at a National Trust property near Runswick Bay, a hidden gem previously unknown to me. Spanning a 5-hectare meadow, this land is a tapestry of ragwort, thistles,…
  • SE0478 On Dead Man's HillOn Dead Man’s Hill 20th February 2019 Or the continuing story of Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib. We parked up at Scar House Reservoir at the top of Nidderdale last night and from across the reservoir,…
  • Old fish pond, KildaleThe Old Fish Pond, Kildale 17th May 2023 Welcome to the picturesque col, or pass, connecting Commondale and Kildale. Here, the nascent River Leven gracefully meanders through this marshy terrain, making its entrance from the right, just this…

All Time

  • Thimbleby and the Vale of MowbrayFrom Barbados to Morrisons—The history of Thimbleby… 11th August 2023 The agricultural landscape of the Vale of Mowbray stretches across to the Dales , a view made visible through the recent felling of what was called ‘The Big Wood’ on…
  • The Giant's BootThe Giant’s Boot 8th April 2020 Northern Ireland’s most visited attraction is the iconic Giant’s Causeway, polygonal columns of basaltic rock formed sixty million years ago when molten lava spread across the land and created clouds…
  • Duncombe Park Army CampDuncombe Park Army Camp 5th April 2021 About 3km after crossing Rievaulx Bridge with its opportunity to gaze at the majestic abbey, the Cleveland Way crosses a concrete road at Griff Lodge. Here the National Trail bears…
  • RoseberryMiddlesbrough’s Dark Past: the 1961 Cannon… 21st August 2023 A reminder popped up on my phone today that back in 1961, things had hit a boiling point on Cannon Street in Middlesbrough. Three nights of rioting had built up…
  • SE0478 On Dead Man's HillOn Dead Man’s Hill 20th February 2019 Or the continuing story of Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib. We parked up at Scar House Reservoir at the top of Nidderdale last night and from across the reservoir,…
  • Lochan of the Lost SwordLochan of the Lost Sword 25th September 2023 Beneath the reflections of the autumnal hues rests an abandoned sword, a long-sword, the claymore that belonged to Robert the Bruce. Near this wee loch lies Dal Righ, a place…
  • A high view capturing the vast, green, hilly landscape of the Outer Hebrides. In the foreground, large, grey, flat rocks are scattered amidst patches of grass. The midground features rolling green hills with visible sheep paths, leading down to a cluster of small white houses with dark roofs. Beyond the houses, a calm blue loch, dotted with several small boats, extends towards the horizon, where more hills rise. To the left, a turquoise bay with a sandy beach glistens. The sky is partially cloudy with patches of blue.Crash on Vatersay: The Lost Catalina of 1944 7th June 2025 I had hoped to photograph the tombolo that links the two high points of Bhatarsaigh—a narrow strip of machair, that low, sandy grassland so typical of the Outer Hebrides. But…
  • 2019-02-19 SE1274 Jenny Rig and her daughter Tib.jpgJenny Twigg and her daughter Tib 20th February 2019 Ee, I love maps me. I happened to notice the name “Jenny Twigg and her daughter Tib” marked on the map of Fountains Earth Moor overlooking Nidderdale, and so I…
  • Hackness HallThe Hackness Shame 27th August 2020 I had a look around the Forge Valley near Scarborough, a place I’ve always wanted to see but never had the opportunity. I must admit, I wasn’t that overwhelmed. A…
  • An elevated, wide-angle view of the rolling green countryside of North Yorkshire on a misty, overcast day. In the foreground, a slope of dark reddish-brown bracken and scrub leads the eye down into a valley of patchwork green fields separated by dark hedgerows and thin lines of trees. Dense, low-hanging grey clouds dominate the upper half of the frame, but a dramatic break in the mist allows bright, ethereal "God rays" to beam down onto the valley floor. The light catches the texture of the fields and a distant forested area, creating a stark contrast against the moody, shadowed hillsides in the background. The atmosphere is quiet, damp, and atmospheric.Solmōnaþ — Cake, Mud, and Lowered Hopes 1st February 2026 It is Solmōnaþ. Cake Month. A rare cause for cheer in the damp gloom of February. In the Anglo-Saxon calendar, Solmōnaþ sat where February is now. It marked a time…