A personal essay exploring the plant silverweed (brisgean in Gaelic) and what it tells me about my own culture, history and food habits today.

“We didn’t come here to plant spot. We came for the walk along Portencross beach on the Ayrshire coast, and for the views across the Firth of Clyde to the Isles of Arran and Cumbrae. I’m a little off balance, crouching in a nook between the footpath and the sea ... It’s my first time at Portencross beach, and it’s my first time seeing silverweed in the flesh.”

Career story feature on Claire Brady, community engagement officer at TCV, for the Environment Job blog.

“We’ve got kids who don’t know what nettles are. Some of them have a real disconnect.”

Claire is tasked with remedying that disconnect through her activities, using sensory tactics to get people engaging with nature up close. They are encouraged to touch and smell, and sometimes taste, what they encounter.

A blog article aimed at gardeners around Argyll, from my gardening blog at www.papavergardening.co.uk.

Have a positive impact on the planet and improve the health of your garden by gardening more sustainably. Composting, water saving and more, read my five easy steps to get you started.

An essay and a call to action for a local project which is close to my heart.

“Walk along the newly cleared beach at West Bay in Dunoon, you could be fooled into thinking that this is a sandy beach. Above the high tide line, running alongside the footpath, shingle once supported coastal wildflowers like sea radish and mayweed. Living among these plants could be tiny shingle-loving insects like the rare gilkicker weevil. The roots of the vegetation helped to stabilise the shingle beach, reducing some of the risks from storm surges and the rise in sea levels. 

“Plantlife, shingle and the insects were scooped up by a digger on a maintenance sweep of West Bay in July 2023, following on from a smaller clean up in 2022. Surviving areas of shingle punctuate the newly exposed sands, small stone exclamations reminding us what was once there. “

Herbal tea is a passion of mine and I occasionally write about it on my Papaver Gardening blog.

“Filling the gaps in between rows of vegetables in our kitchen garden. Peeping out between tall stalks of mint in our large planters. Reappearing in places I’d forgotten I’d sprinkled seed. Chamomile – Matricaria recutita – blooms from June and through summer in our garden in Dunoon.

“As a hot brew addict, planting for my cup is one of my main reasons for growing herbs. Now it’s growing and setting seed around the garden, chamomile should reappear each year with minimal effort on my part. Constant calming cups of chamomile tea will continue as part of my day. “

A career blog article for Environment Job blog with ecologist Diane Lyons.

“Diane spots a long-tailed tit watching us along the trail and stops suddenly. “Peesh, peesh, peeshhhhhh,” she projects towards the tiny bird, repeating the sound with a confident rhythm. I’m completely fascinated by what’s happening. The long-tailed tit, which is normally a very shy bird, is bouncing from branch to branch among the hawthorn and birch trees. I can see the beginning of tiny buds – the hawthorns are coming into leaf. The tiny long-tailed bird is clear and brave ahead of us, showing himself as a distraction. It’s breeding season, and he is protecting his nearby nest by drawing our attention away from it. It’s working – we are entranced by this gorgeous bird.”