Vintage Perseids
I was at the Goodwood Vintage Festival last night. We saw Ronnie Wood and his band, The Faces, as well as The Wailers. When the…
Category: Sun
Procrastinating in Pyjamas
I have a rule that I write for an hour each morning before doing anything else. No distractions or procrastinating allowed. No pottering, no early…
Chilli Compass
Trees are the easiest plants to read to find direction, but one of my chilli plants is also doing a fine job. It has been…
Grass and Grass
The heat seems to have abated a little, but the sun has left its great big footprints all over the countryside. The baked earth is…
Marine Studios
A belated thank you to everyone who came to my talk at the Marine Studios in Margate a week ago, and another thanks to those…
Mysterious Green Fan
My thanks to everyone who came to my talk last night at the Weald and Downland Museum. What a wonderful place to spend a summer’s…
Camping Special
There is a ‘Camping Special’ in today’s Guardian and in it I get to lay an old ghost to rest. The first question I was…
Cardamom Coffee
A couple of weeks ago I promised to write up the story of my afternoon with the Bedouin. The article can be found here.
A Sun and Compass Quiz
Only one of these compasses can be correct, since I took the photo in my garden in the south of England in April, not at…
Dawn on the Downs
I woke very early this morning and felt restless so headed into the Downs for a walk. I listened to the Shipping Forecast in the…
Green Flash Hunting
Last night I managed to take 46 photographs in a desperate bid to catch the elusive, and some like to say mythical, ‘green flash’ at…
A Flower Pot Compass
There is a really good attempt to give a flavour of the whole subject of natural navigation in an article in the Independent today by…
Happy Spring Equinox!
Happy Spring Equinox! My plans this morning, as announced in the Telegraph, were to head to the top of a hill and catch the sun…
Radio 4 and Natural Navigator Book Reviews
Welcome Radio 4 listeners! You have found your way to the home of natural navigation on the Internet. (A podcast of my walk with Evan…
A Spring Journey
This photo of the roof of my home tells a story of the sun’s journey. The morning shadow from the dormer window is retreating and…
The Surprising Sun
At the start of my Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation courses, I do offer a friendly warning that natural navigation is a diverse and eclectic…
Courting Bustards
‘Courting bustards’ is not an excellent new profanity, something that would sound good with rasping voice and sent in the general direction of a parking…
Lightness and Darkness
I went for a walk in the South Downs yesterday afternoon. The air was cold, there were still chunks of ice lining the north-facing side…
Oxford Literary Festival
Another enjoyable Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course at the RGS yesterday. In attendance: a patent attorney, paraglider pilot, academic, film maker, doctor, retiree, vet,…
Getting to Know Puffins…
…with a little help from the sun. An interesting article on the BBC website today about the seasonal habits of Puffins. The most interesting thing…
The Palais-Royal Cannon
Nothing tickles me more than stumbling across an obscure reference to an arcane relationship between humans and the natural world. The tickling sensation is particularly…