Frost Shadows and Compasses
It is that time of year when nature likes to get out her frost compasses for us to admire. I took this photo last Friday…
Category: Sun
Prickly Lettuce, A Compass Plant
Prickly lettuce is known to some of its navigating friends as the ‘compass plant’ and to its Roman friends as ‘lactuca serriola’. In truth it…
Nature’s Radar
Nature’s Radar, my academic paper on natural navigation observations during a small boat voyage in the North Atlantic has just been published by the Journal…
Analemmas and the Equation of Time
If you stood on the same spot and took a photo of the sun every day during a year’s worth of good weather, at exactly…
Chankillo and the Solar Triangle
In the desert of western Peru there are the remnants of a civilization that still holds many mysteries. Archaeoastromomers are able to deduce a few…
The Shape of the Land
The week is already feeling full with the task of collating and writing up observations from the sail north. At the end of the month…
The word ‘Naturalism’.
The word ‘nature’ does not confuse many, which is itself a little confusing, since it can have over two dozen meanings. The word ‘nature’ is…
Urban Natural Navigation
A couple of days ago I got off the train in London Victoria station at about 6.40pm. I knew the place I needed to get…
A Unique Sense of Place
Navigation is about knowing where you are as much as working out how to get to where you want to be. A lot of the…
Football Frost Shadow. Updated.
It is that time of year again. The sun and Jack Frost are working together to paint the land. In this photo of a dog-mauled…
Oman Desert Navigation Training
As promised, here is a more detailed update on my short time in Oman last week. My main reason for being there was to train…
That Sudden Autumn Feeling
Have you had that feeling recently that the season has not so much shifted to autumn, as snapped? There is a time each year when…
Sunrise and Sunset Direction
It would be true to say that I would not be writing this blog if the sun rose in the same place each day. In…
All Roads Lead Home Update
A huge thank you to everyone for all the messages that have been coming in about All Roads Lead Home. I thought it was time…
Greek Island Embarrassment
OK, it’s confession time. Again. I’m just back from a week’s holiday with my wife on the Greek island of Kefalonia. It was our first…
Natural Navigation and Sunscreen in One Tree
I recently came across this short video by Michael Barton. It contains a neat natural navigation tip and bushcraft at its most fun. Click on…
22 Degree Moon Halo
Just saw and managed to snap a beautiful 22 degree moon halo. They are caused by the moon’s light refracting through the ice crystals in…
A Riddle for Sailors
Just back from a bracing and invigorating couple of days on the water. My wife and I sailed from Chichester to Cowes, where we met…
Sneak Preview
My book is being published in the US in January. I’m very excited and not a little curious to see how American readers react to…
Equinox Trivia
Happy Equinox All! At nine minutes past three this morning, GMT, the sun was overhead the equator. To celebrate, here are a few things that…