Wind-rattled night in our tin box on wheels, but it is the Hebrides and with a sunrise like this…

Chasing family ghosts in Islay.

The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."

Life, letters & low tide in Shetland “Valda is clearly the more practical of the two. It would become apparent that without her at the helm, they were doomed.” Dr Colin McIlroy @natlibscot.bsky.social examines the letters of Hugh MacDiarmid & Valda Trevlyn Grieve www.nls.uk/collections/...

I’ve been at this for a while. The photo is from 2017 - the last time I stood in an election - Mid Argyll ward. I’ve stood for Westminster (Argyll & Bute), Holyrood (Highlands & Islands and Mid Scotland & Fife) and Europe (in the good old days). Electioneering days gone, voting habits remain.

For whoever needs to hear this I'm the only Jewish person to lead a political party - third largest in the country. The Daily Mail have been & always will be my enemy - they historically supported fascists & continue to do so. I'll take no lectures from them on Antisemitism.

Election season.

In the archives today: Helen B Cruickshank and Hamish Henderson exchanging letters in 1952 - he expresses gratitude and she mock-protests having received and laundered a parcel of his clothes, mended a sark and returned all to him, whilst he was recording bothy ballads in Banffshire. An orra loon.

Ach, it’s not that cold.

Altocumulus and a vigorous Great spotted woodpecker. Waiting for a bus in Mid Calder. Bodes well for a day in the archives @edinburghuni.bsky.social

Brilliant evening at @cultarlann.bsky.social for Metagama - Atlantic Odyssey. If you get a chance to catch it , you won’t regret it. Tapadh leat @dsmurray.bsky.social and the rest of the talented team.

It’s World Poetry Day and I’m fair tricket to have an abstract accepted for a paper presentation about poet Helen B Cruickshank, at the ASL annual conference this summer.

And in a blink, light drains and renews in nocturnal glare. #aberdeenharbour #fittie #thesilverdarling

Favourite place in the Silver City.

It’s a blue sky morning here in the glen.

“i want back my rocking chairs, / solipsist sunsets, / & coastal jungle sounds...” A poem by Renee Nicole Good, who was murdered by ICE earlier today. lithub.com/renee-nicole...

Second-hand books are the best. A useful haul in today’s post. A ‘working’ copy of Octobiography by my muse, an anthology edited by founder of the Glenesk Folk Museum and the Cairns Craig volumes. In the 140th anniversary of your birth dear Helen, I WILL get the book drafted. #scottishliterature

We are delighted to publish Issue 6 of Paperboats Zine, Nature's Voice. Edited by @alexnye.bsky.social and Ian Grosz and featuring a host of wonderful writers and poets. Brew yourself a cuppa and settle down for an inspiring and uplifting read. paperboats.org/category/zin...

Leaf mould black-brown, an upturned Peacock butterfly damaged; gently uprighted, plumage glows. A fleeting life. Rose-leaf stretchered to a geranium bloom grave, I bow my head in gratitude. Ten minutes pass, maybe more. On my return it is gone.

What the heck. Inspired by this lovely place I've shrugged off writers block and penned a wee essay at the last minute for #WordsOfTheWild comp. Not my finest - but words have been written. Now on with the main project.

🎤 NEW PODCAST! The latest Nothing But The Poem podcast is a Norman MacCaig special. @samueltongue.bsky.social takes a deep dive into two of the most famous poems by one of Scotland's most beloved poets to see what lay beneath the bonnet. www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/noth...

Summer solstice salutations. Here’s a wee poem penned three years ago having spent the solstice eve by Loch Laide in Abriachan. Poem published in Pushing Out the Boat Issue 17.

Bricht and blue through the canopy of the old garden apple, budding plenty for the autumn ahead.

An #Otwituary for #LorettaSwit, ‘Hot Lips’ Houlihan in M*A*S*H I heard you served with the 4077th, an instrument of sanity in the madness of operations gone wrong, in a show we would like to forget but cannot, a tragedy wearing comedy’s scrubs.

To celebrate the life of Lesley Storm friends are hosting an event which will commence at 3pm on Saturday 7th of June at St Vincent's Chapel, Edinburgh. PLEASE SHARE😌 Event Details: leamingtonbooks.com/lesley-storm

'His body is a jubilee of turquoise feathers, mistletoe green edges, and an autumnal orange belly...' 💙 Last year's winner, Hannah Murphy, perfectly captured that frozen moment when wildlife takes your breath away. Could your writing be next? ✏️ 🔗 Enter today: buff.ly/uphRCZW #WordsoftheWild

I didn’t expect to see my face and poem at the reception desk of Inverness Central Library this evening. A fine evening listening to poetry and song hosted by the ever joyous @kittyjomac.bsky.social

Fruit and veg corner. Verdant in the much needed shade of the old apple tree, twitching with hungry birds. Makeshift seedling protection using long-ago coppiced hazel, scraps of yarn and mouse-eaten fleece - a perhaps futile effort to deter the cats and hen. Rhubarb from our old garden bedding in.

0018hrs. 57.33N Trees backlit by a streetlight beyond the mill burn cast leaf shadow. Simmer dim.

Looking for your next job opportunity? 💼 We're looking for a strategic thinker with excellent communication skills and understanding of early years in Scotland to join our team. Find out more and apply here 👇 www.scottishbooktrust.com/about/vacanc...

Looking after nature = looking after the garden. ‘Carol used to look after the garden with such care.’ Judgement from one of my new neighbours, clearly missing the point. #nomowmay etc. Now to tackle the streetlight issue.

Waiting out in the last-light to hear the first tawny owl call of the night. 9.45pm and drawing out.

I’m delighted to be part of @paperboatswriters.bsky.social 5. Thanks to all involved in this excellent, honest project. @byleaveswelive.bsky.social @asls.org.uk paperboats.org/2025/04/07/b...

If you are a Scottish based poet who hasn't had a full collection yet, why not apply for this: stmungosmirrorball.wordpress.com/2025/04/24/a...

Offering words to inspire action for nature on World Earth Day we give you Issue 5 of Paperboats Zine: Our Power - Our Planet. Edited by Polly Pullar and Linda Cracknell and launching today: paperboats.org We open for submissions for Issue 6 in autumn.

Procrastination Central.

No time for a dook today sadly - just a wee toe dip. Recycled glass green and as clear as I’ve seen a river. A longer stop off on Saturday is called for to wash away the week of visitors.

Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhain, Glen Affric. Dook, family picnic and a daunder.

A brief but precious interlude alone. Seeking shade under the bluest of Highland skies. The clarity of a blank page to gather my thoughts.

A wee detour from Snecky to Skite to visit the Maiden. Bricht-lichted aneath the Mither Tap. #themaidenstone #pictishstones #thegarioch #bennachie #aberdeenshire

Book post is best. Home from work to find the paperback of @davidworthington.bsky.social ‘s fine book waiting for me. That’s school holiday reading sorted.

#Ospreys return to the Highlands in late March/early April to breed, nesting in tall trees like Scots pines. 🌲🪹 These raptors live on a diet of fish like trout and pike. 🐟 Did you know? 🤔 Ospreys have reversible toes to securely grasp slippery fish! Learn more 👉 bit.ly/41OIfZD

Ending the week with a brand new online workshop up on northseapoets.com 🌊 Time and the Figurative with Karen Solie 🗓️ Saturday 5th July 7-9pm 🎟️ £35 / £25 concession #NorthSeaPoets #Poetry #PoetryCommunity

On Monday our instagram account was hacked and then deleted. We received a ransom note to recover it; obviously we couldn't and wouldn't pay, and therefore lost thousands of followers. Meta support was useless. But we're BACK with a new account: @littletollerbooks. Can you follow us there and share?

We're hiring a Communications Officer (maternity cover) to join our team! Would you like to use your communications skills to support the UK’s largest ecological restoration project? Apply now! bit.ly/cc-jobs-and-... @rspbscotland.bsky.social, @cairngormsnews.bsky.social, @naturescot.bsky.social

I am a product of Scotland’s oil industry - bought and sold for the price of nature. Atlantic salmon are at risk of extinction. Following the salmon run from the North Sea to the Cairngorms, I ask - can we save not just this keystone species, but ourselves in the process? #scotwriterpitch2025

“The life & career of the gifted Glaswegian writer Catherine Carswell was marked by such alarming & recurrent notoriety that her present obscurity is baffling” —@emmagarman.bsky.social on the life & work of Catherine Carswell (1879–1946), b. #OTD, 27 March 1/5 www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/06...

#scotwriterpitch2025 Yell, Shetland, 1928. Fourteen-year-old Merran meets a mysterious stranger on the beach who causes her to question whether there was more to her brother's drowning five years prior. But the stranger, Solveg, isn't all she seems, and her presence brings danger to the community.

Her poetry my guide, I walk in the footsteps of Helen B Cruickshank (1886-1975), journeying in Scotland’s glens, hills and islands to explore a narrative of cultural and environmental change, reflect on what is to be a woman walking and find poetics of hope in a time of crises. #scotwriterpitch2025