Waterstones Romsey building their author events profile with this wonderful writer and all round beautiful person, Nicola Chester. And what a book to focus on, with a nod to the New Forest and a deeper gaze into farming on the Berkshire downs.

This thread.. thank you, thank you @nmgarrard.bsky.social. If you like the sound of this, do please read, buy, borrow, listen, gift, review. These forgotten women & their ghosts will love you for it, as will I!

What an extraordinary man #gaza #humankindness

now, I find, must only ever be 2-3 feet deep at most and perhaps from now on, seeing as I have witnessed its truth, it will be more willing to welcome me

A still summer-dry pond, which I have only ever understood to be black-water-deep-filled and oppressive

A still summer-dry pond, which I have only ever understood to be black-water-deep-filled and oppressive

The first of this year’s quince crop, just over the same again ripening still on the tree. The most ever from this fairly young tree and like everything else fruiting this season, it’s really gone for it.

My dearest wife, It is week two of the Siege of Portland, and still these barbarians will not yield to our troops. We have severed the cords of their latte machines but they are making cowboy coffee in their camps, where loud ukulele songs of resistance even now drift in on the breeze.

If you pick up the Guardian Weekend Magazine today, please read about my daughter Milly’s battle with Lyme disease. And if you’re feeling bold, drop your copy into your local GP. There are thousands of Millys out there. Most are currently not helped at all by the NHS or, worse, not believed.

This is the story of my daughter Milly and Lyme Disease. There was no rash, no "summer flu", NHS blood tests negative. And she's been ill for a quarter of her life. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s... Thank you @lymediseaseuk.bsky.social & @lymeresourcecentre.bsky.social for raising UK awareness.

Please spread the word – we urgently need more Lyme-literate doctors, the NHS must take this seriously, @ukhsa.bsky.social needs to log ALL cases. How many more Millys are there out there who believe they have long covid or other illnesses and they actually have undiagnosed Lyme?

It's strange how sometimes your online shop can seem to have been rendered invisible! 😁 Here's a link if you need a few cards, or just fancy a browse to save some bits for later: www.etsy.com/shop/SarahRo... #shopindie #shopsmall #artist #UKGiftAM

It’s going pretty well, not SO distracted by the view that no work gets done, quite the opposite; as planned/hoped, the self-imposed few days solo in the motorhome is proving fruitful #amwriting #amediting

So very honoured to have read @nicolawriting.bsky.social ‘s new book, Ghosts of the Farm (30 Sept ‘25). Full of the best of what Nicola does so uniquely: the layering of perspectives and stories, coming together in a rich, poetic appraisal of our human relationship with nature & place. Bravo 👏

Today’s treasure, Viola odorata alba (correct me if I have got the nomenclature wrong). First this clump and then others and further sprinkles along the hedgerow.

Bluebell no.2 in a different bit of woodland to yesterday’s initial find.

Yesterday I went looking for windflowers, Anemonoides nemorosa, and found this, my first this spring. Further into the woodland and there were many.

My favourite sign of spring. The first buds of the blackthorn blossom opening; I love the pin-prick effect of the multitude of flower buds, the winter twigs and the coating of lichen. So beautiful.

Peak primrose #ancientwoodlandindicator #enduringlove #primrose #spring

Pussy willow, yellow against a blue sky this morning, and further along the path, violets. #colour

www.theguardian.com/environment/... The delights and, be careful, the perils, of foraging, with a timely nod to Nature's reciprocity from Michael White

A timely blossom guide from @nicwilson.bsky.social A reminder that I need to get out and check my sepals to be sure of my blossom identification 😁

An icy wind again. A herd of 20 roe deer ripple across the winter barley. A halo of light in the topper-most treetop; new leaf? catkins? rare sun-spot? The entrails of a deer smarting, glistening red in dried grass, no bones. A heron rising from the pond. Wild narcissi. Spring.

A box full of precious letters and diaries; looking back enables one to fathom the present, and move forward. I love hearing afresh my conversations with my grandpa, and dear, dear friends. #amwriting

My CDD* has at last come to an end @themarshtit.bsky.social In the usual place for my first chiffchaffs of the year, this yesterday, one calling from the woods nearby, another responding from within these trees ... *chiffchaff deficiency disorder

I'm an artist based in the UK and I sell this sort of thing on Etsy - greeting cards, notepads and handprinted fabric patches 💚 Check out the link to see more www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Sara... #BSNM #art #handmade #shopindie

Writing about the river today (Medway) & harking back to May last. Golden, sunny, enchanted. Beauty & sorrow; the cuckoo is glorious, the ash die-back appalls. A moment before I heard reed warblers, a moment later, a nightingale ...

So delighted to have ‘Catchment’ on The Clearing, thank you @jonwoolcott @LittleToller www.littletoller.co.uk/the-clearing...

It’s going to take a while for the scope of this book to percolate. The language is rich, boundary breaking. Its ideas plunge us into necessarily fantastic possibilities; we must be brave & creative in our thinking. I am grateful. Magnificent @RobGMacfarlane #isariveralive

Today and this day last year. Prunus cerasifera, plum cherry.

First snowdrops. Photo taken a week ago. On the bank of the parish boundary, with bluebell foliage peeking through the leaf litter 💙

Pure excitement! 💙💚

A reminder for self that yes, we have had snow.

Yesterday’s birthday gifts, and the greatest gift of all and I’m SO lucky, the most amazing family 💝

Snowdrops

Broken down with a puncture on country lane - that’s all fixed, now battery is flat! Help’s on its way but just so moved by how concerned passers by are. Maybe it’s my silly hat that makes them feel sorry for me 🤣

5.30pm and I have only now made it to my writing desk. Sigh. #naturewriting

Omg this is going to be *marvellous* 🤩

I don’t get the John Lewis Christmas ad, can someone explain it to me please!

@hannahgold.bsky.social I’m new to this too and trying to get to grips with these very helpful starter packs people are putting together. This one might be of interest to you?

Six authors I love: Virginia Woolf Elizabeth Taylor Rosamund Lehman DH Lawrence Elizabeth Bowen Tarjei Vesaas #booksky

Six authors I love: Virginia Woolf Elizabeth Taylor Rosamund Lehman DH Lawrence Elizabeth Bowen Tarjei Vesaas #booksky