Blethering Ben - Innerdouny Hill

[@jonnyanderson2271]

If I was living near locations like yours, I’d always take my tent, sleeping bag etc. Just in case the forecast for clear nights or I’d enjoy the silence sooo much, I’d decide to stay the night. Obviously if I knew I could get to work in time the next day. 🙃🙄👊

[@BenvironmentBlog]

I like the torchlit walk-out too much to camp ;-)

[@blormpf1740]

Beautiful video and commentary - always enjoy your videos - sipping a strong orange pekoe tea watching this

[@BenvironmentBlog]

Thanks!

[@CathyPack]

Thank you for sharing a beautiful walk.

[@BenvironmentBlog]

My pleasure! :)

[@natalieminnis]

It looks like we might get a white Christmas, even at low levels this year. I've become a fan of night walking recently, after doing solo night navigation practice. I haven't done any snowy night walks yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

[@BenvironmentBlog]

Yes the tabloids have been churning out their annual clickbait about Siberian this and Arctic that ;-) The trend is still looking colder than it is just now but there's no way to know until the 22nd at the earliest, as that's when the low pressure currently over Nova Scotia will arrive, and that's when we'll know what direction the air (or any moisture) will be coming from. As ever in the UK, near impossible to call beyond 3 or 4 days in advance ;-) We live in hope though! :)

[@natalieminnis]

@@BenvironmentBlog Let's hope so! if the White Christmas does happen, no doubt it will be described as a "Polar blast" in the press. 😂

[@Kay-xb9cp]

Gorgeous walk, thank you for taking us along with you ❄️

[@BenvironmentBlog]

Pleasure :)

[@jonhillman]

Makes up (mostly) for me working through the snow 👍🏻

[@BenvironmentBlog]

Glad to oblige ;-)

[@spijkerpoes]

odd the way that spruce is harvested so young. I'd say let it mature and thin it out and let it rejuvenate by itself - you'll have a high value wood stock for decades.. nice shots, indeed the most ugly stuff improves with a good dump of snow on it. .Boris, Donald, Erdoghan..

[@BenvironmentBlog]

I imagine it's dictated by whatever they intend to use it for and of course economics. 35-45yrs seems to be the average in the UK.

[@ScotsWildcamper]

Yes I always look handsome in the snow ugly as Duck usually!!

[@spijkerpoes]

@@ScotsWildcamper Eddiee!! You are peachy - even in 6 feet of mud

[@spijkerpoes]

@@BenvironmentBlog This.. ..is madness.. I was thinking more like a 300-year scope. Economics of high value wood but also tourism and biodiversity Sustainable forest management .. blah blah .. I fear I'll never see the fruits of it although sometimes you show little hidden projects that look very promising (-@ Knepp - Frans Vera - Peter Wohlleben etc

[@BenvironmentBlog]

@@spijkerpoes It's a lovely vision, but if you're a forester or a land manager and you want to actually return a profit in your lifetime then..... It's like Christmas tree plantations. They're grown to somewhere between 4ft and 12ft and then they're felled and sold. Depends what your objective and commercial interests are. Not saying I wouldn't rather have lovely old growth forests but a 300yr crop rotation isn't gonna pay the bills ;-) Besides, you'd never get permission to fell a 300yr old forest for wood.....assuming humans are even around in 300yrs of course, which seems unlikely. Conservation-wise there are estates in Scotland that have 200yr forest management plans, but they're not in it for timber.

[@michaelatkinson8291]

Hi mate. If I could give you any present for Xmas it would be a recording of the sound of your feet walking through snow just like on this video & your recent-ish walk on Gael Charn that you could drift off to sleep listening to through your headphones. Have a good one mate & keep the videos, long or short, coming. All the best for hopefully a normal 2021.

[@BenvironmentBlog]

Cheers, same to you!