Obviously loving this chapter @nicwilson.bsky.social. “These names send me back through the centuries.” 😁 #naturewriting

Since I’m in Ely (Eel place or island) let’s make bird place-name of the day 92: FOWLMERE. OE fugol + mer. Wildfowl pool/wetlands. Only 23 miles from Ely and part of the same former fenlands. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

This evening I’m at Toppings in Ely. Hope to see you there! #thecuckooslea #naturewriting

I have been looking into the name Purbeck @drmjwarren.bsky.social and am wondering if it is at all possible that the origin is Bittern Hill. Bearing in mind that it had extensive marshland around a navigable chalk ridge when the Saxons first explored it in the C7th.🤔

A great example of birds in new build naming schemes. From the brand new estate literally across from my house, built right on the edge of the River Blackwater in Essex. No nightingales here, new owners. #birdsandplace

Just a week until I’m at Toppings Books in Ely! Couldn’t be better: Ely cathedral and it’s old marshes is on the front cover of #thecuckooslea! Details and tickets here: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/w... #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Any goldcrests in Goldcrest Drive, do you reckon? #birdsandplace

A fine group of books and authors. ☺️ @chiffchat.bsky.social @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social #naturewriting

Bird place-name of the day 91: CRASTER (Northumb). OE crawe + ceaster. ‘Old fort inhabited by crows.’ www.birdsandplace.co.uk/carrioncrow #birdsandplace #naturewriting

🐦 Birds are written into the land. In The Cuckoo’s Lea, Michael J. Warren uncovers the lost stories of birds hidden in English place names. 🌿 “Exquisitely crafted” – The Observer

If you’re in the Cambridgeshire area, I’m at Toppings Books in Ely on Fri 19th talking about #thecuckooslea. Come to hear about cuckoos and the old Fens. Couldn’t be a better venue: it’s Ely cathedral on the books’s front cover! www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/ely/w... #naturewriting #birdsandplace

Bird place-name of the day 90: HARLOW HILL (Northumbs). OE higera + hlaw. ‘Magpie or jay hill’. www.birdsandplace.co.uk/jay-1 #birdandplace #naturewriting

Bird place-name of the day 89: WROXALL (Isle of Wight). OE *wrocc + halh. ‘Buzzard’s nook.’ linktr.ee/cuckooslea #birdsandplace #naturewriting

This is an emotional read, from @nicolawriting.bsky.social. Beautiful reflections on what it means to belong to a place, the wrench of change and a new chapter. It is no surprise to me that birds turn up so often! Good luck Nic! #naturewriting #senseofplace nicolachester.com/2025/08/20/a...

Incredible find by reserves officer Jasmin! This beautiful wasp spider is weaving an enormous egg sac. Once it’s filled with eggs then, sadly, her work is done and she won’t see another year. But we’ll be on the lookout for wasp spiderlings in spring! @wildlifebcn.org @britishspiders.bsky.social

Deforestation has killed half a million people in past 20 years, study finds. Our fate is inseparable from that of the natural world. share.google/vXMy5t7jvhOY...

“This is nature restoration based on the ‘Lawton principles’ of bigger, better, more & joined-up habitats… Here, we’re celebrating the inclusion of the Middle Marches Community Land Trust’s new sites” Let’s have more communities owning land for nature: www.theguardian.com/environment/...

In February 2026, esteemed naturalist/author @themarshtit.bsky.social and I are leading a wildlife and writing tour to Islay, Queen of the Hebrides with Wildlife Worldwide. A week watching stunning winter wildlife, with cosy fireside (and whisky) writing sessions. Interested? #naturewriting

This morning’s bake. I’ve been making sourdough since my elder daughter was born (my starter is as old as her—7). It’s a weekly ritual for me and the magic of seeing the result (has it risen?!) never grows old, like hearing a nightingale. #Sourdough #EatGoodBread

Another lost one. Bird place-name of the day 88: COCKLAYC (Cumb). OE cocc + ON leikr. ‘Place where grouse lek.’ www.birdsandplace.co.uk/grouse #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Since #86 got so many likes I’m continuing with the ‘lost’ theme. Bird place-name of the day 87: SNITE (Stone, Glos). Field name this one, literally just the OE name for snipe. That’s it. Nothing else required. Love that. www.birdsandplace.co.uk/snipe #birdsandplace #naturewriting

A very worthy and important crowdfund. I’ve just donated. #RightToRoam @righttoroam.bsky.social

Win win … help secure access to our countryside AND be in with a chance to win some great books. 😉 😀 #RightToRoam

Medieval Mystery Solved: Sutton Hoo Bucket Was a Cremation Vessel www.medievalists.net/2025/06/medi... #middleages

“I don’t remember anyone ever saying to us ‘Oh I just don't think we're properly reflecting the Green Party view, or the liberal-left view on this story’,” one former BBC journalist told me. “It was always just slanted in one direction – which was basically the nativist, authoritarian direction.”

Bird place-name of the day 86: RAWERHOLT (Cambs). A lost place on the Fens. OE hragra + holt. ‘Heron wood.’ Presumably the site of a heronry. www.birdsandplace.co.uk/greyheron #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Time is running out to secure this beautiful piece of Worcestershire wetland... ⌛ We are tantalisingly close to reaching our goal of £325,000, but we need your help to ensure we make it by 31st August. Donate now to protect Worcestershire's wetland 👇 www.worcswildlifetrust.co.uk/appeals/prot...

And if you aren't in the US/Canada, you'll be happy to know you can ALREADY buy the paperback Deorhord from @profilebooks.bsky.social or wherever nerdy wordy books are sold. profilebooks.com/work/the-deo...

Antarctica is in extreme peril. "Abrupt changes" threaten to send the continent past the point of no return, a new study finds. grist.org/climate/anta... #Climate #Ice #Antarctica #Environment #Heat #Science #Research #Study

An Ecology of Love & Ruin; a long goodbye & an acknowledgement that, what we feared for so long, never came to pass. More of this in my first book #OnGallowsDown #BookSky nicolachester.com/2025/08/20/a...

My Land Beneath the Waves offer is open until the end of the evening. if you'd like a signed and stamped copy with a nearby nature notecard from me about the moths I've met today, just drop me an email to [email protected] #booksky #naturewriting #lifewriting #mothsmatter #teammoth

After my 6 viewings yesterday morning. I returned to @rspbminsmere.bsky.social again early this morning and this time was treated to one on the reed fringe preening in golden sunlight. Perfect. #Bittern #EarlyMorningBirding

Sat here early this morning at Island Mere hide at @rspbminsmere.bsky.social. Entire reserve to myself and I’ve been rewarded with 4 great bittern sightings. Never anything less than magical, as though I see them for the first time every time. #Bitterns #earlymorningbirding

Bird place-name of the day 85: SHOTLEY (Suff). OE cusceote + leah.’Wood pigeon clearing.’ www.birdsandplace.co.uk/pigeonanddove #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Went back to @nationaltrust.org.uk’s Sutton Hoo today. My most exciting moment was finding these house martin feathers among the faeces below their nests under the eaves of the main house. They’ll make an excellent addition to my collection. 😁 #SuttonHoo

We were absolutely thrilled to hear Dr Eleanor Parker give a shoutout to The Cuckoo's Lea by @drmjwarren.bsky.social as her cultural pick on BBC Radio 4's Front Row last night! You can listen back down on BBC Sounds 👉 https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002hb9p

Delighted that #thecuckooslea has recently been named medievalist and author Eleanor Parker’s (@Clerk ofOxford on X) cultural pick on Radio 4’s Front Row program. I’m a big fan of Eleanor’s books, so especially chuffed. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... #naturewriting #medievalhistory #placenames

I’m at @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social on Friday 3rd October, giving a guided walk and book talk all about marshes and their birds. Can’t wait! A favourite reserve, and my very favourite habitat. Tickets and details here: events.rspb.org.uk/events/126099 #thecuckooslea @rspb.bsky.social

Bird place-name of the day 84: BEMERTON (Wilts). OE bemer + tun. A speculative one, from Prof. Carole Hough (Uni of Glasgow), who suggests that towns in England beginning with OE bemer (‘trumpeter’, but literally ‘boomer’) refer to bitterns. #naturewriting #birdsandplace linktr.ee/cuckooslea

“Nature is under stress.” The signs are all around us. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... #climatechangeseasons

Double whammy today because I happened to drive past the sign. Bird place-name of the day 83: NORTH CRAWLEY and CRANFIELD (Bucks and Beds). These two are close by to each other. OE crawe + leah and cran + feld. ‘crow clearing and crane open land’. linktr.ee/cuckooslea #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Bird place-name of the day 82: GREAT FINBOROUGH (Suff). OE fina + beorg. ‘Woodpecker hill.’ www.birdsandplace.co.uk/spottedwoodp... #birdsandplace #naturewriting

I’m in Cranbrook (Kent) this October (11th) in conversation with @alexpreston.bsky.social for the Cranbrook Literature Festival, the place where writing #thecuckooslea began and where the book begins! #naturewriting www.ticketsource.co.uk/cranbrook-li...

Bird place-name of the day 81: ARNEWOOD (Hants). OE earn + wudu. ‘Eagle wood’. A lost place. FINALLY, I saw WTEs in Sussex yesterday at Amberley Brooks, my childhood haunts. I write about this hoped-for moment in #thecuckooslea, so delighted I’ve now seen these birds. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Let's say it again, "the economy" is entirely dependent on the environment. No economy on a dead planet, no #PublicHealth on #biodiversity-depleted islands www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

And I’ll be speaking at the Chipping Camden Lit Fest 2026! Looking forward to it. #ChippingCamdenLitFestival #naturewriting #thecuckooslea

Bird place-name of the day 80: WRENINGHAM (Norf). OE wrenna + ing + ham. ‘Homestead at the place of wrens.’ There’s a folk legend involving a witch who transforms into a wren attached to this village! #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Mark your calendars for Sept. 30! @nicolawriting.bsky.social's GHOSTS OF THE FARM is highly anticipated as: ⁠ "a Nan Shepherd of our time"—@themarshtit.bsky.social "exquisite prose"—@authorrhysbowen.bsky.social "heartening, haunted & beautifully written"—@robbiecowen.bsky.social #BookSky

@patrickbarkham.bsky.social: ‘People’s connection to nature has declined by more than 60%.’ This is why place-names are so important—they show us the integrated and intuitive connections we once had, and the important of recovering meaning in our places. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I'm reading the book this comes from and it's amazing.