England is predicted to have a 5bn litre a day shortfall of water supply within the next 3 decades. Currently, we're losing 3bn litres a day in leaks - fixing that would take us a long way toward water security. 🧵

Midsummer, Louise Glück www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazi...

'His words left a chill upon her, and the underlying horror which seems always to lurk somewhere beneath the flamboyant loveliness of a lonely English countryside in the height of summer, a presence of that mysterious dread, which the ancients called panic, had become startlingly apparent.'

This morning scrolling Bluesky, there is nothing at all in my feed about Putin’s barbaric attack on the Ukraine’s holiest site, the UNESCO protected Lavra so I’m posting this here.

I just love to watch the Beautiful Demoiselle dragonflies partying on down around my local stream - total gorgeousness, and a sign of another year’s life to come

Standing in Kent right now. My 76-year old mother's house has no running water but you get your priorities straight, eh? It's not like it's hot here at all.

This is an utterly, pointlessly cruel policy and cis folks need to do whatever we can stand up against it. Solidarity with our trans and NB siblings 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍🌈

Fairlight published my first novel - and they’re totally lovely. Not only that, they love to hear from unagented authors of literary fiction (and it doesn’t have to be super high lit, whatever that is)

I’ve been away for a while, writing a book about rivers and people through time, and how we’ve lost and can regain our vital connections to rivers. It took six years so this is me recovering for a week in France by the Cernon. It was cold! And glorious! And clean!

Charity collecting donations for refugee charities for every metre walked by Yaxley-Lennon + his thugs yesterday has already raised £149,000 + rising. Link to donate in article: www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

Some relationship advice from this early 20th century postcard: Don't keep telling her about how much you love tomatoes dude she's clearly over it.

WOW, I just hit 19k followers! When I joined Bluesky in July 2023, I never imagined things would take off like this. The exodus from X was clearly waiting to happen, I’m so glad it did. It’s great to see such a large community of archaeology enthusiasts here! Thank you all! This figurine...🧵1/2 📷me

"Sheaf is the river that flows through the side of Sheffield where I live; it’s brimming with wildlife, herons and kingfishers and dippers. It’s also gathered wheat, or gathered paper..." 'The Story of Sheaf' by @suzannahevans.bsky.social suzannahevans.substack.com/p/the-story-...

🌿☕ Celandine (the yellow ones) are mentioned in C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. When Aslan returns, the woodland turns from winter to spring, the ground covered in all directions with 💛 celandine flowers 📸 Taken on a walk around Battledown, Cheltenham. No lions were however seen..🌿

Good to see this no-brainer policy finally. Imagine if it happened a decade ago…

The Green Party doesn't believe pensioners holding signs are terrorists. Nor does about 80% of the UK. The Telegraph try to portray this as being 'soft on terrorists'. No it is just not being a terrorist.

A UK state school is banning books in its library based on ignorance and AI. Totally appalling and - it seems - allowed??? www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...

Early Morning Shift, 1959, painting by Tom McGuinness, 1926-2006, County Durham coal miner and artist (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art).

As its not on today's theme, I'm going early with #bsbi #wildflowerhour. These are completely native daffs in a small reserve in Gloucestershire in the golden triangle, which was stunning yesterday. One person seeing this was nearly in tears...

Dear Shabana, Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

TIL that hair shaved from the heads of convict women incarcerated at the Parramatta Female Factory in the 19th century was used as a binding agent in the mortar in the building's stonework. Convicts often had to build their own prisons, but the corporeal aspect of this is particularly poignant.

1908: the Lancet, one of the most respected scientific journals, calls for 18 age limit on reading in bed amidst a moral panic surrounding children becoming "addicted" to novels, which were "designed to keep kids hooked" and destroy their attention/mental health

I’m going to be looking out for a shoe shop that sells cheese now (department stores don’t count - you have to pass the awful makeup counters) but this is great wisdom from Naomi’s therapist

Pepys clambers over fences to escape arrest - never a dull day for Sam!

Aw, how lovely! A rare sighting of a telegraph pole with its young.

A brief escape to the 17th century, where one writer is giving his suggestions for heartfelt inscriptions on poesy rings to a lover Truly a lost golden age of roman-... oh wait no never mind #17c

Artists have always loved to sketch! Sketch of a sparrow from Egypt dated c. 1479–1458 BC. Some 3,500 years ago in Egypt, artists used flakes of limestone as sketchpads! MMA excavations 1922-23, Deir el-Bahri. 📷 The Met www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti... #Archaeology

Hannah is the Green Party candidate for Gorton and Denton. She is also a plumber and dog rescuer🐕💪

1903: Don't build a fire station! It will arouse desire for a library.

First up - let me tell you about this event tomorrow night with @thelrm.bsky.social I'm like the Ancient Mariner about this book - grasping people by the arm, and telling them with a glittering, paranoid, neurotic eye that THEY MUST READ IT!

🔎 High-resolution multi-sensor technology reveals low collision risk to seabirds in offshore wind farms These results highlight the need to revise collision risk assessments by applying high meso-avoidance rates and very high micro-avoidance rates for seabirds🕊️ 🌍 Read more:https://buff.ly/VmQ7gGC

Italian voice actor Carlo Bononi was the voice of all of the characters on Pingu. A trained clown by trade, he used a theater technique called grammelot, which consists of "speaking" in a mix of babbled gibberish noises. He improvised all the voices live and unscripted.

I am braving the horrors of rail replacement buses to get to this, so please come 😆

It's St Agnes Eve - traditionally the coldest night of the year. Here's to warmth + hope to come, & the promise that ice will melt.

Excellent discussion of native vs non-native garden plants for wildlife from @katebradbury.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/katebrad...

Had an intriguing editorial discussion recently: how did people in the past talk about 'minutes' when they didn't have watches or standardised times? How does that affect your thinking? Come down an Elizabethan/Jacobean rabbit hole with me. 1/

Not long to go… have you signed up for the #BigGardenBirdwatch yet? 👀 www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen... 👈

If fracking were to be permitted in the UK, as proposed by Reform, some of the country's most exquisite countryside would be impacted, as shown in the British Geological Survey diagram below: share.google/4iPmjendxnR7...

The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f

Watery pleeps

Interview with Paul from the Chuckle Brothers in the Guardian asks if he'd ever like to do Shakespeare. He says, "To me, or not to me, that is the question."

🚨 BE IN THE AUDIENCE for Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics S12! Ticket application is NOW OPEN for our February 4th recording. Good luck, everyone! www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtour...

"‘It’s surreal’: US sanctions lock Intl Criminal Court judge out of daily life. Canadian judge Kimberly Prost is unable to use credit cards or access everyday services (Uber, Alexa, Ticketmaster...) in what she calls an attack on the independence of the judiciary." www.irishtimes.com/world/us/202...

‘The potato’s imprint became a waxing moon, a row of beans, a set of scans, the inside of a skull. One single potato which held so much.’ In 2025, for Annie Lord, love and grief took the shape of wreaths, potato prints and frost flowers www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/shad...

Writers, send me all your energies - I’m diving into my huge draft and have two months to turn it into the finished book I’ve been planning for five years. Lucky I love editing!

A quiet happy new year to all from my favourite hill, looking out over the Sussex High Weald last night. In moonlight so bright we needed no torches, we found a perfect waiting moment for the turn of the year. I wish you all stillness and peace this mid winter.

Oh yes please to long, quiet, serious documentaries where we’re allowed time to absorb complex and surprising things without some bouncy narrator leaping from rock to rock and emoting about how amazing This Fact is for a second before rushing off

Christmas is hard for many. The years roll, the ghosts at the table increase. We’re haunted by the absence of voices, of laughter engines who drank and ate with us. This can be day of remembrance rituals. For what it’s worth, Hooklanders near and far are in my candles today. Be gentle on yourselves.

Every year, about this time, somewhere deep in the Perigord, it happens. Magdalenian spirit-reindeer awake from their deep, cavern-dark slumber, and take flight. 🦣🦌🎄

This morning I found a small glow of energy. Boots on, through the mud to the river. She’s struggled so much this year but look how beautiful, strong and full of life she still is (and there are Mayfly and Stonefly for sure beneath the ripples). Thank you, small river. #river #ecology #sussex