About

As an ecologist, writer and photographer, I focus on wildlife and conservation, the environment and scientific research. Through visual and written storytelling, I hope to raise awareness of environmental issues, explain scientific advances in understanding, and inspire action to protect species, habitats and vulnerable communities.

My love for nature began in childhood, spending family holidays boating around the west coast of Scotland, exploring deserted beaches and islets and watching the waves for marine life. As a marine biology student at the University of St Andrews, my fascination for ecology developed, spending summers as a research volunteer in Indonesia scuba diving coral reefs and trekking rainforests in search of frogs and civets. Deciding I wanted to share my passion for the natural world with a wider audience, I earned a master’s degree in wildlife documentary production in 2009.

My professional ecology work spanned ten years, during which time I worked for public, private and non-profit organisations in Scotland. Every day brought new challenges and rewards, from sleet-driven hillsides, to sunny heather moors and bejewelled blanket bogs. I found myself variously watching otters along shorelines, searching for beavers in Argyll’s forests, monitoring ring ouzels in the uplands, radiotracking bats, and my favourite – conducting botanical surveys of a wide range of habitats.   

I’ve spent the past seven years living abroad, working with marine conservation non-profits in the Seychelles, smallholder food security in Mexico and a peace advocacy foundation in Thailand. I now write full-time for global environmental news outlet Mongabay, focusing on Southeast Asia.