Peepshows, paper theatres and zoetropes at the Bowes Museum (got to introduce my 19-year-old to some lovely old plastic View-Masters too!)

Lepus leaping. From the Aratea, a 9th-century manuscript on astronomy featuring constellations comprised of words. More here: https://buff.ly/34uIsEa

Ok, with the new book properly underway, I guess I'm going to embrace 'narrative art' as a description for...[waves hand]. www.simongroth.com/marginalia/2...

A wet and windy #MorecambeBaySketchClub at Half Moon Bay

First commute of 2026 (miraculously there are still trains to Barrow today despite them seemingly going nowhere else!) #MorecambeBay

An attempt at drawing the last of the light #Morecambe #Solstice

Lantern parade in the rain #Morecambe

Sketching stone on stone paper at #MorecambeBaySketchClub today

Sand patterns

In the attic at Salts Mill, Bradford

My new short story colllection The Building Inspector is now available from @nightjarpress.bsky.social on nightjarpress.weebly.com

It was an absolute joy to be at the launch of Myriam Frey's (@dustynewrose.bsky.social 's) first collection, 'The Building Inspector', published by the indomitable @nightjarpress.bsky.social

A podcast has just been released of my story 'Feather Girls' read by MyAnna Buring: wordtheatre.org/weekly/

October commute

Barrow looking beautiful on my dinnertime wander yesterday.

At my dayjob in an archive today, workmen started bringing me the retro rubbish they found in the loft, including a 1960s fag packet and a 1990s coke can. There was also a 1980s page 3 (not pictured 😂)

Drawing the seaweed pools on Hest Bank Wharf at today's #MorecambeBaySketchClub

Moved my eldest for university yesterday. He's still in the north but right across at the other side 😭

This is a bit exciting :) Tickets available here: www.brasseriezedel.com/events/wordt...

Sometimes my dayjob brings niche excitements, like how ridiculously happy I was to get a reduction in rat wee staining with minimal moisture migration using low cost, cut-to-size gellan gum gel yesterday.

Thrilled that an old story of mine 'Feather Girls' is being performed at this event!

Pls stop what you are doing and read this entire report on Israel's murder of journalist Anas al-Sharif and five colleagues in Gaza City. "He characterized Israel’s threats as 'Silence or Death,' and he vowed not to be silent." It ends with his final message. www.dropsitenews.com/p/anas-al-sh...

My wonderful parents-in-law. Married 60 years ago in Yorkshire ❤️

Sketched the lovely cool, still-damp seaweed today at #MorecambeBaySketchClub

We’re delighted that @deadinkbookshop.bsky.social is now stocking Nightjars. Little interview about it here deadinkbookshop.com/blogs/requir...

Early morning cloud train to Carlisle

According to a brilliant book I'm reading (The Lichen Museum by A.Laurie Palmer) these little wonders make up about 8% of the biomass of the world. Growing quietly everywhere and nearly always unnoticed.

- 400 jobs to go at Lancaster University - 1 in 4 people will be made redundant But where's the financial evidence for this extreme action? Please read 👇 Sign the petition 👇 chng.it/7F52bThYqn

Beach architecture by honeycomb worms

Books.

Out for my lunchbreak walk in Barrow, I found an abandoned shop that's very much alive.

I think it’s worth noting this piece generated the most unsubscribes I’ve seen in a while, and the newsletter version had the lowest open rate in many months. These horrors persist in part because too many people go to great pains to avoid them.

Classic Morecambe Bay weather at #MorecambeBaySketchClub today for our first birthday draw! Thanks for a fantastic year of sketching @debbieyare.bsky.social!

A Flash Gordon sky outside

Exploring Morecambe's sunken boat caves.

No council, or councillor, has the right to "ban" any books. The library service are the only body that makes decisions on stock selection. A councillor, as a member of the public, can *request* books are removed on a title-by-title basis, but the reply should come that under @cilip.bsky.social

“We want our publishers to stand with us.” An open letter against AI from some of your favorite writers to the people who publish them.

Stalactites forming on the ceiling in Carnforth train station

A sitting still #MorecambeBaySketchClub for me today after minor foot surgery earlier this week. It was beautifully bleak at the edge of Middleton Sands.

Gutted that our gov would rather enable tech bro thievery than support artists & the creative industries. There is no ethical way to use generative AI. It's made from stolen material. It's awful for the environment, unsecure & makes up crap! Its spread is not and never was inevitable. It's a choice.

Seriously, FUCK Boundless. Writers, do not publish with them. Agents, do not submit to them. Bookstores, do not carry their books. Any company that thinks torching this many authors will result in being able to “continue publishing and rebuild trust” is delusional and deserves to die.

The walk across the sands from Walney island to Piel island #MorecambeBay

Studio butterfly

Really looking forward to talking all things conservation at the Gregson in Lancaster on the 29th. Tickets available here: gregson.co.uk/event/expert...

Morecambe's magical Winter Gardens

Really looking forward to talking all things conservation at the Gregson in Lancaster on the 29th. Tickets available here: gregson.co.uk/event/expert...

A change from sketching the sea at today's #MorecambeBaySketchClub. We gathered in the shade outside the walls of Levens Hall. There was rhubarb & custard ice cream. It was too good. #sketching #trees

#IndiePressDay Some great short story collections by indie presses I have discovered via social media inc. Fauna by @davidhartley.bsky.social The Naming of Moths by @theliterarypig.bsky.social (@flyonthewallpress.bsky.social) The Museum of Shadows and Reflections by @clairedean.bsky.social

I love how this little stilt-legged hut often looks like it might wander off into the sea #Morecambe