It's a little early perhaps to be thinking of cruises in 2011, but we've already had our first bookings as cruise lecturers and on two of our all-time favourite ships.

From 3rd to 20th January 2011, we'll be on board Discovery, a comfortable and welcoming ship that always provides excellent value for money, on a cruise called "Natural Wonders of South America".  The highlight for us will be cruises up the Orinoco River (a new site for us) and a return visit to the Amazon as far inland as Santarem.  Other ports of call are Barbados, Trinidad, Devil's Island in French Guiana, and Fortaleza, Natal and Recife in Brazil.  Full information is available on the Voyages of Discovery website here.

Later, on 1st to 15th September, we'll be sailing from Istanbul on board Spirit of Adventure, another highly commended cruise ship, on a cruise called "Black Sea Navigator". The main themes of the cruise will be historic and cultural, but we will be there because the Black Sea is such an interesting ecosystem, with rich coastal wetlands, and because the autumn bird migration season, down the Black Sea and across the Bosphorus should be just at its height then. We'll also be visiting some botanically rich parts of the Aegean.  Ports of call, as well as Istanbul, are Yalta, Sevastopol and Odessa in Ukraine, Nessebar in Bulgaria, Volos and Santorini in Greece, Iraklion on Crete, then flying home from Limassol in Cyprus.  Full details will be available on the Spirit of Adventure website soon.

Lastly, we're awaiting possible news of an amazing South Atlantic cruise in March - April 2011.  We'll post details here as soon as we know more.

Scottish Natural Heritage has just published a "scoping study" into the prospects for Marine Ecosystem Objectives, intended as a means of ensuring the wise management of the seas around Scotland.  I was commissioned to research and write this report jointly with Dr Graham Saunders, (then) of Royal Haskoning. You can find out more about the report, and download a copy as a PDF file from the SNH website here.

The first photos are now available online from the Above and Below Image Library that Sue and I have set up.  The launch page for the library is here, and you can see a sample of the photos we offer and how the system will work here.  Please let us know what you think!

I'm pleased to help publicise the wonderful flora and scenery of the Cairngorms Mountains of Scotland in a feature article in the winter 2009 issue of Plantlife, the membership magazine of the charity Plantlife International.  The magazine has had a recent redesign, and is now a very high quality publication indeed, that does Plantlife huge credit (even if I am biassed as a founder member!)