Do you welcome the coming of the dark nights as Autumn closes in? Or do you rage, rage against the dying of the light? At this time of year, when I pull the curtains closed of an evening, I can still hear my mother’s voice commenting doomily, “The nights are drawing...

The answer seems obvious. But it’s not so simple. In Scotland’s mild, damp climate we tend to take water for granted. But just now the loch beside our house is as low as I’ve ever seen it. The expanse of dried mud and stone all around its shore keeps on getting wider...

There's a very particular quality to the light here in Orkney, as anyone who has been here will know. Maybe it's to do with the Northerly latitude, or the open landscape and big skies, or the presence of the sea and bright lochs all around us. Orcadian writer George...