Alison Strange

Over £1500 raised already! 🙏

The donation window is open until midday next Tuesday 9th December and any amount you can spare will be so gratefully received and doubled through match funding.

Please support Archaeology Scotland to make a difference with disadvantaged individuals and communities.

Land reform is the pathway to building true people power It is telling that within weeks of the Land Reform Bill passing in our Parliament, we are discussing the future of land reform in Scotland with…

Josh Doble of Community Land Scotland: “This is not a fringe issue. Land reform touches upon all of our lives as we face housing shortages, rising food prices, growing inequality and ecosystem collapse.”
www.thenational.scot/news/2566814...

Stunning photo Eddie 🥰

COP30 overpromised, underdelivered, empowered distractions, backtracked on issues and once again gave big oil and big ag a free pass.

Unfortunately, the suspicions of climate scientists (here in Brazil and abroad) were confirmed again.

Novel ecosystems: the new normal? - British Ecological Society As humans continue to radically alter the environment, we are seeing combinations of organisms that have never been observed before. What does this changing world mean for ecology?

Novel ecosystems are those which have been significantly altered by human activity, even containing non-natives

They are controversial, with debate about whether we should accept them or seek to ‘restore’ ‘native’ ecosystems

See our short digest
www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/nove...

Congratulations Affric Highlands

👍👏

What a cracker!🥰

My favourite bird. Stunning photo Eddie👌

Toasty 😇

I am doing a slight bunk off 😉 taking the dogs out for an icy slide, then in by the fire😊

Gosh. What a surprise.

Very House of Bruar 😉

I quite like their lambswool jumpers and the food hall is good, but that's reduced the shopping area, for me, by about 80%

PhD opportunity!

Focusing on ecological processes offers an adaptive approach to conservation at a time of rapid environmental change

But how do we measure & conserve these processes?

This PhD will explore the use of species traits to assess ecosystem condition
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

I must do a Google search, I thought he was fantastic

Keble Martin... 😍 I'll have to look out for that one

The flower structure does look potato like, but the detail is a bit blurry. Difficult to tell.

Hope you feel better soon, would love to meet up for a coffee some time when you have recovered

Front cover of author Frank Rennie's book titled: 'Among the Layers of the Land' with the subtitle: 'Stories of people, perspectives and place'. This text sits on a background of vibrant watercolour stripes - indicating sea, coast, uplands and sky - with a row of cottages, connected by power cables, and outline of mountain tops overdrawn in black ink. Further details and reviews are available at: https://acairbooks.com/books/among-the-layers-of-the-land/

The last @landscaperesearch.bsky.social meet up was a rare event where group size & make up enabled a proper conversation started by @frankrennie.bsky.social around his remarkable book: Among the Layers of the Land. A thoughtful, deep time story of place in alternating factual & fictional chapters.

I have published a new briefing for MSPs for the Stage 3 debate on the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill tomorrow (wed 5 Nov). You can download a copy here andywightman.scot/2025/11/land...

As the debate on the Land Reform Bill continues, one thing is clear: in its current form the Bill does not meet the scale of the challenges we face.

Here @lmacfarlane.bsky.social gives evidence at the Net Zero, Energy & Transport Committee on why it needs significant amendments.

Yet again seen a paper in a high impact journal which does not cite highly relevant literature

This shows that any paper is a work created by the authors whose findings must be assessed alongside the rest of the literature

and that no single paper alone should be used to support an argument

Quite shocking really, I think quite a lot of people prefer a garden

Not sure, it is the Wildlife Trust after all and I've had some really good experience of several, particularly the excellent Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust. So fingers crossed, mind you, I would still like to see parcels made available to smallholders etc but it seems expensive...

It would be good if the productive areas could be offered to the "ordinary" person 🤔

Abrdn's sale of Far Ralia is in trouble but will Oxygen Conservation hoover it up? - parkswatchscotland My thanks to the reader who, commenting on an old post, alerted me to Abrdn Property Income Trust (APIT)’s interim report and results for the half year to 30th June 2025,  published on 30th September ...

"more sensible/risk averse “investors” are already getting out of carbon markets, before they were even half-developed, and are no longer prepared to pay exorbitant land prices. "
parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2025/10/20/a...

I thought it really shocking

'No citizens anywhere else in the world own so little of their own country' Scotland’s land is owned by the few, while the many are left powerless. Despite overwhelming public support for reform, political will remains…

“Scotland’s land is owned by the few—and the Government is letting it happen….

“And why? Because land is power.”

www.heraldscotland.com/politics/hol...

MSPs urged to toughen up Land Reform Bill as poll shows huge support for more action New research shows overwhelming public support for land taxes and stronger community powers as Holyrood faces pressure to toughen the Land Reform…

www.heraldscotland.com/news/2553407...