Boggy bogs

These last few weeks I've been paid to wander across the bogs, heaths and grasslands of Exmoor National Park, recording the changing vegetation types and the varying peatland characteristics, in the sunshine.  Thank you, job.  Thank you, fortuitous Indian Summer.

So much sunshine.  Four different days at four different sites across the stunning Exmoor National Park, Somerset and Devon, the southwest.

Coastal conveniences

There aren't many places more beautiful than the coast of the UK (in my humble, completely biased opinion).  Here are two spots in which I had a peaceful moment a few weeks ago.

I found out my phone does panoes!   

The top spot is near to White Sands Beach, on Saint David's Head, and the bottom, looking out at New Gale to the left and Solva to the right, both within the magical Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

Green and pleasant (and flat) lands

Hedgerow facilities that I used whilst on-a-job, taking measurements of sugar-beet crops in middle England.

A sugar-beet field, somewhere near Holbeach in what was apparently the administrative county of Holland until 1974 (now Lincolnshire).

Midnight sun-spots

This is my first recorded bog-spot in the Arctic Circle.  It wasn't too cold, and was anything but dark being the season of the midnight sun.  One of many shots from a magical Nordic adventure.

A fjordland walk in the Lyngen Alps (to the lighthouse), northeastern Troms county, Norway.

More peat pees

A few weeks ago, in the height(ish) of winter, I was out doing fieldwork again, but this time in Northern Ireland.  It was beautiful, but bloomin freezing.  We had snow and rain and hail and wind and sleet and sunshine....and a rainbow.  Here are a few of the views from the public facilities.

Sun....

Snow....

And a sunset view (my colleague had been warned!).

Up in the peat around the Dungonnell Reservoir, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.  A beautiful place with the friendliest of people.

Burncrooks' bog

Here are several scenic toilet stops I used this last week in a big area of boggy peat, about 30 mins from Glasgow.  I was out there doing some field work....or trying to, before Siberia sneezed on the area.  We turned back when the blizzards were hurting our faces and we couldn't see what we were meant to be surveying or where the ditches and ponds were, or each other.  It meant my toilet stop the next day (below) was then 5 inches under snow, but very beautiful.  I wouldn't recommend planning field work in Scotland in winter. 

Two beautiful sites, on two separate days (pre- and post-snow storm) near to Burncrooks Reservoir, in a big peaty water catchment, Stirlingshire, Scotland.

Early-morning Scottish stroll

A quick pre-ascent stop, looking down at yet another reservoir.  Part of a beautiful walk I took with a good, and wise Scottish lass I've known for years.  Feeling smug at 9am on a fine Tuesday morning; a welcome change from the usual computer-bound start to the day.

On the Pentland Hills behind Blinkbonny, Lothian, Scotland (still part of the United Kingdom!).