"Look at it this way"

There are some dramatic pictures and videos emerging from the Swiss village of Blatten , and plenty can be found online. The village had been evacuated some days ago because of fears the Birch glacier was disintegrating, one person has been reported missing, and many homes have been completely flattened. Blatten's mayor, Matthias Bellwald, said "the unimaginable has happened" but promised the village still had a future. Local authorities have requested support from the Swiss army's disaster relief unit and members of the Swiss government are on their way to the scene. The disaster that has befallen Blatten is the worst nightmare for communities across the Alps. The village's 300 inhabitants had to leave their homes on 19 May after geologists monitoring the area warned that the glacier appeared unstable. Now many of them may never be able to return. For more on this, check out David Redfern's Substack , which includes an excellent analysis of the situation. Sub...

The location for the BBC's Springwatch / Autumnwatch programmes has often been in places I know well, and even very close to home. From Pensthorpe near Fakenham to Minsmere, and particularly Ken Hill in Snettisham (where I lived for 12 years)... And now they've moved to an area of Derbyshire which I visited regularly for decades when I was younger, for walks, climbing, pubs and generally getting out of the city and into the countryside at weekends. The new venue is the Longshaw Estate, which is close to Grindleford (with its famous cafe and where my parents actually had their honeymoon), and Hathersage, and Fox House (where I was first served alcohol in a pub... but that's another story.) Burbage Brook - a classic location for fieldwork for schools from Sheffield - runs through it - through Padley Gorge, and Stanage Edge is not too far away, or several of the other edges where I used to climb. Heading for Hathersage you will pass Froggy Rock and then Surprise View - always...

During the 125th anniversary year of the GA, I tried to collate a list of 125 inspirational places using a Google Form. I didn’t quite get enough places, so never did anything with the responses I got in the end.  Check out the Inspirational Places website that I created for a project I did with Professor Peter Knight as well. Perhaps it’s now time to try to get a good set of responses so that I can share them and use them next time I teach my Landscapes topic, which needs a little more  Please go to the form here and tell me about an inspiration place that is worth visiting in the UK.

Ken Worpole has been writing about Essex for decades. He wrote an influential essay called 'The New English Landscape' and has a blog of the same name. He also has a new book of essays on Essex newly published by Little Toller.

  It's that time of year again for the launch of the Young Geographer of the Year category.  This annual competition is run by the Royal Geographical Society. The Young Geographer of the Year is the Society’s annual competition which recognises the outstanding work of the next generation of geographers. With its age ranges spanning the primary years to A Level, the competition encourages thoughtful and creative answers to the competition’s theme which is set each year. The Society encourages schools to run their own in-house competition and then send their top 10 entries into the international competition. The Young Geographer competition has been running for over 20 years and every year thousands of children across the world take part. 2025 competition The theme for the Young Geographer of the Year competition 2025 is: Understanding islands Let’s take a closer look at the World’s islands. It is estimated that our planet contains almost 670,000 islands, of which around 11,00...

Natural England has updated the National Landscape Character assessments on their website.  Wherever you are in England you are in one of these areas, which has a particular character. Each NCA represents an area of distinct and recognisable character at the national scale.  Their boundaries follow natural lines in the landscape, not county or district boundaries.  This makes them a good framework for decision-making and planning for future change.  The information contained within the NCA profiles aims to help guide land management and other activities to strengthen character and resilience, responding to pressures such as climate change. I was born in Area 38: Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire Coalfield I studied in Area 37: Yorkshire Southern Pennine Fringe I trained as a teacher in Area 41: Humber Estuary My first job was in Area 69: Trent Valley Washlands The first home I owned was in Area 76: North West Norfolk and my school was on the very edge o...