I started my career in forestry in 1976, working for the Forestry Commission in Easter Ross.

I am the dandy Forester,

My name you fear to mention

I spend my time cutting pine

Diggin' ditches and fencin' 

Smiled upon by my Chief Forester and District Officer (Findlay McCrae - who was instrumental in setting up Glen Affric a National Scenic Area and National Nature Reserve in the North of Scotland) I attended Inverness School of Forestry, doing City & Guilds.

After a few years the more formal course at Newton Rigg, Cumbria beckoned, and I qualified in 1982.

I spent several years in the North of Scotland with Fountain Forestry, before moving to the Crown Estate Commissioners in Glenlivet, Moray.

After about four years I left the Crown to work for Shotton Forest Management in Argyll, and latterly the Borders of Scotland and England.

Shotton purchased Tilhill Economic Forestry in 1997, and I left Tilhill at the end of 2000 to set up in private practice.

I acquired the National Diploma in Forestry (Central Forestry Examination Board) in 1992 and became a Chartered Forester by examination in the same year.

I am a member of Confor, the Royal Scottish Forestry Society, the Continuous Cover Forestry Group and the Institute of Chartered Foresters.