Profile

I have lived in many countries, love cooking vegetarian food and cakes, and spend lots of my spare time cycling, walking, and rock climbing.

Whilst working for Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) I climb giant spruce trees to satellite tag eagles, get up at 3am during springtime to look for lekking grouse, and spend the summer combing limestone pavements for rare flowers.

Working in Tay, I am lucky to have worked closely with Scotland’s most enigmatic and elusive species. Highlights include: camera trapping and building dens for the Scottish Wildcat; creating hibernacula for Scotland’s rarest newt, the great crested newt; beaver surveys and watches in conjunction with the Scottish Beaver Trial; capercaillie and black grouse lek watches; ringing birds of prey; and the long-term monitoring of rare botanical habitats.

No two days are the same for me.  I can be climbing a tree to remove a dangerous branch at The Hermitage, then walking along the beach the next day to look for white-tailed sea eagles in Tentsmuire, then building wildcat dens in the Angus Glens the next day.  If the weather is bad I try to spend some time in the office writing reports and replying to emails, and I also get to do talks and presentations to schools and other groups.