Awards
I have received three awards for my work.
Book of the Year award
My book A Right to Roam received the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild's Book of the Year award in 2000.
Award of Excellence
My essay entitled Edgelands received the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild’s Award of Excellence for the best one-off feature about the environment in 2003. (listed in 'landscape tastes' section on environment page)
Lifetime Achievement Award
In 2009, I was deeply honoured to be presented with the Outdoor Writers and Photographers Guild - Golden Eagle Award for lifetime achievement in the outdoors field.
I was the first solo woman to receive the award. The winner is selected as a result of voting by the OWPG's members.
In my acceptance speech I drew attention to what I see as a new ‘Theft of the Countryside’.
The award takes the form of an original landscape painting by David Bellamy of a place selected by the winner featuring a golden eagle flying overhead; I asked David to place my eagle in the skies over one of my favourite spots - North Uist in the Outer Hebrides.
Previous winners of the OWPG's Golden Eagle award have included Sir Chris Bonington, Sir David Attenborough and the late Chris Brasher.