Wilder Visions & the Urban Wild - Creating and Managing Meadows and Scrub Conference this May www.facebook.com/reel/2273715...

Delighted but a bit bemused to see this plant beside the River Derwent. I thought it was a snowdrop but it seems to have too many inner petals. There's another, not in flower, close by, but no others. Apart from trees fringing the river, the land here is open fields. Can anyone confirm what it is?

Spotted this little gaggle of intruders in my local nature reserve! They saw me coming and shimmied off along the brook looking guiltily pleased with themselves, like a bunch of kids who've skipped school and headed for the park. (Yes I did dob them in to @wildsheffield.bsky.social). #naturewriting

Couldn't help marvelling at the contrast between turbulent water rushing over an old weir on the River Rivelin, and an absolutely motionless heron. #naturewriting

Delightful half-hour listening to earth scientist @anjanakhatwa.bsky.social walking and talking along the Dorset coast. She conveys immense knowledge and a lovely engaging personality. Must be sure to read her recent book! #WhispersOfRock #naturewriting www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

So entranced with recent time in Scotland that I'd almost forgotten how lovely my local patch is! In just a couple of weeks, the Rivelin Brook has gone full autumn. #naturewriting

Great week in Scotland for stimulating paperboats.org discussion on Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park's role as a nature refuge, followed by encounters with some wonderful new #naturewriting at aberfoylebookfestival.wordpress.com, and then a few glorious mountain walks. I do love Scotland!

Stimulating time last week at www.ukeconet.org/wilder-future-for-the-uplands.html. Inspiring work going on but I'd like more focus on people as part of the process. Great wording from Steve Lipscombe @rewildingbritain.org.uk, not "people and nature" but "people and the rest of nature" #naturewriting

My brilliant daughter-in-law created a triptych of erasure poems for part of her MSc. The underlying text is Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, but the poems and images subvert and critique growth-based economics, referencing #1 colonialism, #2 degrowth and #3 reciprocity. Thoughtful and beautiful!

Key themes: management & protection of temperate rainforest, natural regeneration, Curlews, peat cutting, grouse moors, rewilding. Oct 1-3, Sheffield. Booking now open. Details 🔽 raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/08/24/c...

Finally quit my university job and spent the week helping out with a survey of moorland vegetation. I can now confidently distinguish between bilberry, cowberry, crowberry, cranberry, assorted heathers and multiple grasses, sedges and rushes. Nice transition to a life more focused on #naturewriting

Trying to convince these two that this is #internationalcatday but they're not too impressed. With their very different personalities, it took some cunning (and strategically placed treats) to lure them into the same space for a photocall. But they're a roller-coaster delight every day of the year.

Taken some time off for an inspiring week at Moniack Mhor (moniackmhor.org.uk) where @kathleenjamie.bsky.social was guest writer, followed by a glorious wander round the Ardnamurchan peninsula, combining (if I can steal some earlier Jamie-isms) enraptured solitude with blethering to the locals.

Seems I'm not the only person obsessed with the Derbyshire Derwent! The Derwent Pilgrimage (www.facebook.com/profile.php?...) sounds rather lovely. Thankfully, despite their main post, they're not starting at the source where it's pathless and fragile, but at the Derwent Dam. #naturewriting

Not my usual river but it's very accessible and I'm taking things easy post-covid! This is the lovely Rivelin Brook, looked after by www.wildsheffield.com. Bluebells fringe the banks, orange-tips and speckled woods pay flitting visits, chiff-chaffs insistently call their own names. #naturewriting

Does this qualify for #BlossomWatch? The moorland above Dovestone Clough (@nationaltrust.org.uk) is covered with it. It's beautiful in Spring, although maybe more familiar in late summer foraging for bilberry pie!

Relishing some free time to reconnect with the River Derwent, beginning its journey here in the remote high moorland of Bleaklow. I'm following its entire length in stages this year, exploring its ecology and stories. Can't wait to read Is A River Alive? (@robgmacfarlane.bsky.social) out next month!

Happy to be back on the Peak District's Eastern Moors, after desk-bound weeks of writing up research on .. the Eastern Moors! No surprise that for the city dwellers who make up the majority of visitors, it's a much-loved space of "wildness close to home". @rspb.bsky.social @nationaltrust.bsky.social