I wrote a Christmas gift guide! Who am I? Anyway, there’s lots of crap out there so get the best deal for the wildlife gardener in your life. Merry Christmas 🎄 open.substack.com/pub/katebrad...

I’m sure you’ll all be pleased to know that Twiglet is eating well, demolishing a bowl of kitten biscuits most nights, & adding a variety of garden gleanings to her nest. I’m hoping she’ll do a bit of hibernating at some point. Sending love & strength to those who need it 💙 #pwME

Available to buy now: One Red Leaf at a Time Greetings Cards. All proceeds go to our #MEcfs research @uoe-igc.bsky.social. Thank you @drjogreer.bsky.social & Dr Clare Raynor! theredtreeandme.substack.com/p/one-red-le... #oneredleafatatime

A slightly different edit to the one I put on Twitter. L➡️R: Robin, LongBoy, the growing hoglet & Honeysuckle. Robin ends up eating the floor biscuits scattered by Honeysuckle, lol. Hoglet leaves, then Honeysuckle, who does a big nervous 💩 & no-one else wants to go in there afterwards 🙈!

Filling the kettle for my afternoon cuppa & I spotted a little orange butterfly fluttering about the mown meadow. Turned out to be an egg laying Small Copper, making the most of the Common Sorrel. She'd also brought a friend, a female Common Blue. 🧡☕️💙 #Gardening4Wildlife @bcwarwickshire.bsky.social

The Irish health service has initiated a process to develop a clinical guideline for ME (#MyalgicEncephalomyelitis). I am honoured to be part of its Steering Group The process so far has been extremely progressive I am hugely optimistic that a world-leading guideline will be produced #pwME #MECFS

Thinking of Savannah and hoping all clinicians and advocates can work together “at pace” (as government likes to say) for her best interests in accordance with needs of someone with severe ME. 💙

In my wildest dreams, I don’t think I could ever have imagined that my garden would host a Sedge Warbler for an afternoon. Caught initially on the RING camera whilst I was curled up in bed. It hung around until the evening & I got to see/film it. More garden magic 💚 #WarksBirds

Thanks to Emily Dugan and the Sunday Times for exposing this aspect of how Maeve died from ME. A Devon County Council cover up. Maeve was taking them to judical review, dying in the attempt. Devon County Council may have learnt nothing from the inquest. I have learnt a lot about them. 1/4

Full Article - The Times As my daughter died of ME, the state met in secret to blame me Maeve Boothby O’Neill’s mother had no idea she was being accused in private of causing or fabricating the illness that would take her life aged 27 archive.ph/2025.08.09-2...

Huge thank you to Chris Ponting and the @decodemestudy.bsky.social team for all their work on this project, and the work still to come. These results are a great foundation and provide a lot of validation for patients across the world 🩵

Our initial DNA results! DecodeME have discovered that people with an ME/CFS diagnosis have significant genetic differences compared to the general population. - Summary of our results: shorturl.at/pgsjk Check out our full preprint paper: shorturl.at/VwN3s

A selection of disability focused designs available in my Redbubble shop. I rarely see bedridden people represented in iconography and illustration around disability. www.redbubble.com/i/t-shirt/Va... #Disability #DisabledArtists #illustration #TeeDesign

Someone recently asked me to do a short piece on my experience of #MEcfs #c4news

When I became housebound, I kinda thought I'd never see another Small Blue butterfly. They rely on Kidney Vetch &, although I scattered seed, it never germinated. I cannot describe how gobsmacked I am that one has just turned up in my garden. The thrill is going to kill me 🤪

Even if you don’t usually like poetry, I think that you might find something here to enjoy. Plus it’s raising money for urgently needed surgery. Win win!

📰Al Fresco Naughtiness Goes Digital📰 (see what I did there?!). This Buff Tailed #Bumblebee pair were going at it on the pavement outside a school and the♀️looked exhausted. So I rescued them from being trampled by the kids, and moved them onto an echinacea. #ukwildlife

This is a short clip of the #leafcutterbee taken on my phone from one of her visits. #gardenwildlife #ukwildlife #insect #solitarybee #invertebrates #wildlifefrommywindow

Thank you @tessamunt.bsky.social! 💪 👏👏👏👏

Sunday vibes: the calm, soothing sight of 3 happy hogs 🥰

🎶 Sea Holly brings all the bees to the yard 🎶 I’ve been amazed at how popular the Sea Holly (Eryngium × zabelii 'Jos Eijking’) is with the bees. It’s been covered in them. And then, a smart Six Spot Burnet moth joined in this week. #Gardening4Wildlife #MothsMatter

Something beautiful to end the day 🩷. An Elephant Hawkmoth in my tiny little meadow area. I accidentally disturbed it when I went to fill up the birdbath just now. Beautiful creatures of the night... #Gardening4Wildlife #MothsMatter @bcwarwickshire.bsky.social

A very special book. If I’m ever lucky enough to see another hare, it will be through new eyes. Thank you so much for sharing Hare with us @chloedalton.bsky.social #NoSpoilers

Look who came to visit last night. First baby hedgehog of the year. I never take it for granted. They found the food and fresh water and had a good sniff around. #Gardening4Wildlife @warksmammalgroup.bsky.social

‘The largest ever biological study of #ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome) has identified consistent blood differences associated with chronic inflammation, insulin resistance, and liver disease.’ University of Edinburgh

Behold, the beautiful Sea Holly! Its first year in flower. It's even better than I hoped, with that striking blue colouring. I'm looking forward to seeing how to changes through summer and autumn. #Gardening4Wildlife

Had 11 hedgehogs to the feeder last night. The highest count this year. Holly is tucked up in the Patio House today. And, a couple of hogs had a bit of a barney inside the feeder and left me the gift of prickles 🥰 @warksmammalgroup.bsky.social

I was going to post some hedgehogs today but then when I went downstairs for my late lunch, the sparrows were having a party in the wildflowers. Thought you might like to see it. I think they’re finding aphids & other little insects 💚 #Gardening4Wildlife

It’s fledging day 🐦 & ‘I’m a bit hot in my nest & fancy a scratch’ day 🦔. Mrs blackbird built a nest on my garden wall, just above the Patio House, beautifully hidden/shaded by overhanging laurel. The chicks have fledged this morning. Bonus cameo at the end 🦔💚 @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social

It’s been five years since John Prine died of COVID-19. If you’re so inclined (and able — it’s long), here’s an essay I wrote about how his songs helped me accept a life with the debilitating, deeply marginalized chronic illness ME/CFS. 1/3

My piece in today's @thetimes.com. Here in North Shropshire alone many people are crying out for more support as they suffer from ME. The Government must do more.

This is deeply shocking and disturbing, the opposite of scientific good practice. As I see it, a group of diehards promoting a discredited treatment (exercise "therapy" for ME/CFS patients) are seeking to stifle medical progress - to protect their reputations. And Cochrane has kowtowed to them. 🧵

New Substack! On how to do winter jobs without harming wildlife: open.substack.com/pub/katebrad...

Please nominate ME Research First 50 winning charities announced on Friday 31st January, so please get your nominations in by midnight tomorrow. Nominate via tinyurl.com/4u4sbkbh or, alternatively, there is a QR code on our website - tinyurl.com/cmt8xaav Free and simple #mecfs

Wow! 1,000 followers have flocked here to #Winterwatch on Bluesky 🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛🐦‍⬛ Can we make it 3,000 before #Winterwatch2025 finishes on Friday? Share this & spread the word so our #murmuration grows like these #Starlings filmed by @DanFWildlife.bsky.social #wildlife #nature #birds bsky.app/profile/danf...

@karenlhargrave.bsky.social and I have written a blog on our hopes for the government’s Final Delivery Plan for ME and other Infection Associated Chronic Conditions like Long COVID ⬇️

I imagine there was a lot of pushing & shoving & huffing & puffing in the Penthouse last night 🦔🦔. Poor Heather was not up for sharing & has taken herself off to the Patio House. I feel so sorry for her. Wren can’t believe his luck & is making himself very much at home 🍂

Hello BlueSky friends, I'm gonna try to post here as well as X. To start with, some hedgehog news. Wren (a beautiful big boy hog) visited this morning & has joined Heather (who is hibernating) in the Penthouse nest box.