Hello and thanks for visiting my website. Here’s a bit about me and what you’ll find here… I always wanted to be a writer. At school I got into trouble for making things up and frightening the other pupils with my tall tales. Perhaps it was this negative response that encouraged me to pursue a career telling true stories – in the shape of reporting, journalism and feature writing. (That said, I am also now returning to ‘making things up’ by writing short stories and plodding far too slowly through the first draft of a novel.)
Like most journalists and writers, a good story is what motivates me to write, but nature is also a major inspiration. You’ll find a lot of nature writing here and it’s also the theme of my weekly What are you looking at? newsletter (to which you can subscribe for free here.)
I like to try and write about whatever moves me to do so, but to give readers of this site some guidance on what to expect there’s a list of sections to the right (or towards the bottom of the page if you’re reading this on a smartphone). Hopefully this provides some sort of idea of what’s on here. Please note, Birds & wildlife is my main nature writing section, so titled to make the section appear higher up the alphabetical list.
Whatever your reason for visiting, thanks again and I hope you enjoy reading.
Latest posts
The Deer Park, Marloes, 2003
I wrote this 20 years ago and recently discovered it on some sheets of paper that I must have torn from a notebook. I’ve made some very minor edits but what follows is almost exactly as my (late) twenty-something self penned it. (For ref, the Deer Park is on the Pembrokeshire coast in West Wales).…
The lawn of your dreams
A leaflet came through my door. “We’ll help you get the lawn of your dreams,” it said. I doubt it I thought. I read on to see if I was right. “ESSENTIAL TREATMENTS,” the leaflet shouted. Before saying more quietly, “Bespoke treatments to keep your lawn and garden looking healthy.” Then there was a list…
(Carry) on camping
Over the last few weeks, because it’s the summer holidays I suppose, I’ve read a few articles in the British press about camping. They range from best ‘glamping’ experiences, to how ‘glamping isn’t camping’ and on to how the middle class have ruined camping – by polluting it with glamping. You’ve probably heard of glamping,…
Sophie Atherton 