GET OUTDOORS LANARKSHIRE

As we head towards November, let's take a moment to think about Samhain, the ancient Gaelic festival that has been reborn as Halloween. As we are all too aware, this weekend marks the start of the darker half of the year - winter is nearly upon us. All around us we see the natural world dying away, most visually obvious in the leaves falling from the trees. Incidentally, if you want to learn more about why leaves change colour in autumn, check out this great video from The

There are, of course, many reasons to go for a walk. #Walktober is helping me discover a new one every day. I feel very lucky to have been experiencing this as part of my job and I hope that the prompts that we have been posting every day on social media have been encouraging you to get outdoors. That is our aim after all, the clue is in the name. At the start of the month, I drew up a wee calendar to plan the different walk prompts, but on Monday night as I listened to T

This month isn't just Walktober, it is also Brocktober, Scottish Badgers' celebration of all things badger. If you're reading this the day it comes out then you're not too late to sign up for their annual conference which is taking place online on Saturday 9th October, where you can learn everything from how to prevent crime against badgers to what nature friendly farming means. There are also lots of resources on their website if you want to learn more about badgers in Sco

Given that I live in the west of Scotland it's a good thing that I like walking in the rain. Whilst I do subscribe to the saying "there is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing" it seems to have become my life's mission to find the most appropriate clothing! I own a lot of raincoats. Several of them keep the rain off my top half but leave my legs soaking wet. So then I purchased a pair of waterproof trousers. They left my legs dry but channeled the ra