Still thinking of this!

1. A little addendum to the bureau story: The lady I bought the bureau from took all my finds to show her uncle (their original owner)in his care home. Though suffering from dementia he kept saying 'How lovely' as he was reunited with all his lost treasures,obviously delighted. But the photo...

The pumpkin display at Tyntesfield (National Trust) is stupendous! 🎃 🎃 🎃

Here’s fun: just bought this old painting from a charity shop as I liked the style & pensive expression. After I paid, the lady at the till told me the person who donated it said they think it’s is maybe of the guy those books by the door are about. As I left, I looked at the books: it’s John Buchan

Blackening Waxcaps at their orange stage 🧡🖤 Ashton Court, Bristol

A daisy's last hurrah under a lowering sky, before the clocks go back this weekend for winter.

Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.

There are different types of Amanita in a small space of this beech wood. The Blusher (Amanita rubescens) is clearest when it blushes, but they can be just brown & white so I'm guessing all of these are Blushers. Some are huge! There are also Fly Agarics (more Aminita types). #MushroomMonday

Amethyst Deceiver on a fallen beech leaf. The beauty in our woods right now💜🤎 #MushroomMonday

Beautiful Fly Agarics in vast numbers on Exmoor today. This birch grove led us astray as we wandered from one scarlet patch to another through the birch trees until we had lost the path. A peaceful, enchanted-feeling place.

I'm not used to seeing waxcaps in woods but Horner Wood on Exmoor had amazing fungi today. These Parrot Waxcaps were a treat!

Summer's over but my pots haven't got the memo. The one with white cosmos, vanilla-scented nemesia, magenta geraniums, trailing bacopa & a deep purple aeonium is at it's best ever! Except the cosmos, all the plants survived last winter outside! The other pot has purple salvia, verbena & petunia 💜🤍🩷💚

Buddy and Poppy ready for their walk. The pillow wasn't originally for them but they're enjoying the extra comfort 😄

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me. I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

Treasure hunting again on the magical Quantock Hills, a very good year for fungi 😀 #quantockhills #ukfungi

Continuing the theme of love for things that are looking a bit battered: this morning an end-of-season worse-for-wear Small Copper butterfly flew across my path & landed on a similarly coppery autumn leaf 🍂 copper & russet shades in perfect partnership. What more evocative symbol of the season?

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me. I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

Quinces in a blue bowl. I am planning a cottage garden & one of the trees I would love to grow is a quince.

'Reports of animals on the road' sign on the M4. A little further on a lane closure & two police cars on the hard shoulder. Two police officers out on the verge attempting to catch... a Swan! Very Hot Fuzz 😳

British media pumps out daily propaganda pieces for Farage, fails to offer *any scrutiny* and basically legitimises rampant racism, then puts on its ‘innocent face’ and clutches its pearls at the rise of the far right… What a grim betrayal of our democracy. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

First Hummingbird Hawk moth I've seen this year. They really are extraordinary little insects that look so much like a hummingbird. This one is feeding on hardy plumbago flowers growing outside the house. Those lovely orange underwings! Beautiful 💙 🤎

Yesterday I went blackberry picking. The sun shone despite promises of rain. Dragonflies hawked the hedgerows & house martins skimmed the fields where large grasshoppers jumped lazily. A blue butterfly basked in the warmth & a roe deer crept out of the woods to enjoy fresh grass in a field corner.

Psychologically, we're living in very hard times for all who care deeply about science, empathy, equity, nature, and rights for all citizens of the planet, human or otherwise. Find strength, solace, and community in like-minded others, positive action, and in Mother Earth 🌎

The berries this year! Hawthorn bushes are loaded with them & sloes are turning the hedges blue. Even holly berries are already scarlet.

We went out to pick blackberries before it was too late as they are definitely past their peak. Ended up picking more Field Mushrooms than blackberries but a good harvest overall. Mushrooms on toast for lunch, & blackberry & apple crumble for pudding tonight 😋

A bite-size News Eye explainer on how Nepal made history this week. Inspiration for Gen Z everywhere? Online here: 👇 vm.tiktok.com/ZNdboW2fU/

Nepal appoints its first female PM after historic week of deadly protests

It was the Ted Lasso star, Jason Sudeikis, he saw in the pub on Friday😄 Rather amusing, after his 'Ted Lasso' week beginning coaching rugby - in prisons.

Son started work coaching rugby this week - to prison teams. Then on Friday, when out for a drink with the other coaches, he bumped into someone appropriate. Guess who?

#Fruits #Lancashire yesterday acorns & an oak 'apple' wasp gall, rosehips, middle row both sides dogwood I think, with sloes (Blackthorn) central, plus bramble flowers, gone over blackberries & fresh ones attracting #pollinators. #Wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Nine Nightshade family members from #Cambridge and #Suffolk: Woody, Black, Green, Small, Deadly & Tall Nightshades, …plus Thorn Apple, Henbane & Duke of Argyll's Tea Plant. Scientific names in ALT. #WildflowerHour #Fruits

Andrew Gifford ‘Light on Mossy Boulders, Wistman’s Wood I’, oil on canvas, 2024. Also available as part of the Andrew Gifford May, Moss and Frost Greetings Card Collection. www.rathergoodart.co.uk/product/andr... #andrewgifford #moss #woods #greetingscardsuk

The Owl Bookmark Collection. This collection comprises 'Owl on a Large Screen' by Jan Mankes, 'Hollow Lane' by Eric Ravilious, and 'The White Owl', by William James Webbe. £5.95. www.rathergoodart.co.uk/product/owl-... #owlbookmark #ericravilious #owlart

Absolutely this happens. Routine for decades near me until Keeper got greedy (or desperate) a while back & was found out; shoot shut down for 3yrs because disease was threatening other shoots. Can only imagine effects on wild bird population. @wildjustice.bsky.social @ruthtingay.bsky.social

Whilst looking for calendar photos I found these two similar photos, taken three weeks apart near Ingra tor above Sampford Spiney, look at the difference in spring growth between early and late April 🙂. Western #Dartmoor, #Devon #photography #spring

Very pleased to find this rather beautiful hedgehog poo 😄 all bejewelled with beetle cases, after spotting a little hedgehog in the holiday cottage garden two nights ago. The hedgehogs are obviously eating well. Near Bude.

Cornwall holiday treat - a little hedgehog in the garden. Once I knew it was there, I left dog kibble in a bowl of water, as this dry weather must be hard for hedgehogs.

Autumn Lady's Tresses orchids (Spiranthes spiralis) at dusk across the meadows at Ashton Court. Plenty of these dainty spikes through the grass, but hard to gauge how many as they're very inconspicuous. The 6th orchid species of the park.

Bristol Balloon Fiesta yesterday evening and their glorious mass ascent of about 70 hit air balloons. I didn't take many pictures as I took hundreds last year, so this time I just enjoyed the spectacle. The Pixar UP balloon was new to me though & a great design.

Unsolicited writing advice, no: 235 As soon as you get a publishing deal, writing ceases to be just fun. It becomes a responsibility - to your readers, your publisher, all the people whose livelihoods now depend partly on you. Make sure you understand what this means. Make sure it's what you want.

Close-up of central Bristol based on a map from 1480. Interesting street name making clear the activity that happened there! That street is now Quay Street leading to Nelson Street, & the river Frome is built over. Bridewell is still close to the police station. Only parts of the city wall survive.

Last night, talking about Allan Ahlberg dying, my husband started to recite Each Peach, Pear, Plum - & managed every word from start to finish - which gives you an idea of how often we read this book to our kids, & gives a measure of how memorable his stories are. Our youngest child is 22 😂

Raindrops on Harebells. Sounds like a missing line from 'These are a few of my favourite Things' 😄 A flush of green appearing across the Ashton Court Meadows after the rain.

'A swoop of swallows' by UK textile artist Rachel Wright, machine embroidered on calico with various fabrics #UnravellingWomensArt

This makes me so sad. I read Peepo to Travers, my oldest son, every night for two years. He had other stories, but the last one before a kiss goodnight always had to be Peepo. I loved his books…Each Peach, Pear, Plum…oh don’t get me started I’ll cry. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/j...

25% off pre-order offer ends today! @waterstones.bsky.social

1. I was curious to see #TheSaltPath as we were at Sandymouth during the filming of the shelter scene. My family was asked to move out of shot - as amongst the many unbelievable things in the story, you'll notice all the Devon and Cornwall beaches are virtually deserted in mid-August 😄

Evening reflections at Abbots Pool, near Bristol.