This is so sad. The chorus used to be better than an alarm clock. Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The Lammermuirs are one of Scotland’s most treasured rural landscapes. This morning, @benjaminmyers76.bsky.social wrote to us with news of plans to build an industrial data centre on them. Help 66 locals defeat a $2 billion project by signing the petition: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/06/save...

Another day, another library.

Stately home whimsy.

#skystorians Please sign and share. Petition to save the Humanities at University of Hertfordshire c.org/kK5v9MTdNr

200 years ago the handloom weavers of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire engaged in a 10-day rising, destroying over 1,100 power looms. To learn more check out our interactive StoryMap: storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a84... #19thCentury #skystorians @sslh.bsky.social @esriuk.bsky.social

A page from Eliot Stannard's screenplay for the lost 1920 adaptation of Wuthering Heights (image courtesy of @BronteParsonage) Watch this space as we explore the film in our travelling exhibition starting on June 6th as part of @leedslitfest.bsky.social

The fearless Ewa Partum at MOCAK - would love to see this exhibition in the UK.

Memorialising mansplaining?

We are dismayed by news regarding UG History, and other subjects, at Hertfordshire. This follows recent job losses at Essex and elsewhere, and makes clear the crisis in UK HE. The Society is in touch and working with historians at UoH. As ever, we invite contact from others affected #Skystorians

There is a way out of our political spiral, and it is thrilling and inspiring. We could have a very different country. This week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Vote! #DogsAtPollingStations #generalelection2024

Also worth noting are the very many specialist UK history societies which support researchers of differing backgrounds and career stages. We've a new listing of 100 such organisations and scholarly communities bit.ly/4uu1yUr, with further listings of record societies & BlueSky networks #Skystorians

Online violence against women in public life is silencing us: 41% of women self-censor on social media to avoid abuse and the number of women journalists who have reported online abuse to the police has doubled since 2020: new report www.unwomen.org/en/digital-l...

I sense writer's cramp kicking in.

Drifted away from my usual time period today at Sheffield City Archives. Signature of the Rev Charles Greenwood, a benefactor of Heptonstall, written from his bed.

Rare chance to see the Aids memorial quilt outside of London. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Cannot wait for this! I'll be at Dark Peak Books, Glossop, to launch the paperback of Wildly Different on 29 April, then Durham on the 30th. I'll be telling the amazing story of how Ethel Haythornthwaite secured National Park status for the Peak and also the other 4 inspirational women in the book.

Beautiful start to the day of action to protect our green spaces #NatureDayOfAction #VoteForNature

Who could resist this Jill McDonald vampire puffin? Not me, anyway

Another day, another library.

Caught this frivolous little beauty at Knaresborough earlier - a C17th silk purse.

Very touched to have been sent these wonderful photos of the Brothers in Arms memorial commemorating all brothers and sisters who died during the First World War.

Today I saw the Cromwell Textile Cloth - a representation of a list of textiles in Thomas Cromwell’s hand - hanging properly for the first time. In 22 years of quilting, I have made precisely two pieces I am completely happy with. This is one of them.

Having a good time at The Hive @worcesteruni.bsky.social with Stitching Cromwell.

📢 New book alert 📢 via @manchesterup.bsky.social. New insights into #womenshistory #Irishhistory via lens of leisure. My chapter argues how Irish Countrywomen's Association created opportunities for fun & leisure for rural women. Afterword by @clairelanghamer.bsky.social. @whaireland.bsky.social 🥳

My new book is out today! Aways a nervous thing..... FIVE EVIL WOMEN: Hindley, West, Wuornos, Homolka, Tucker. First interview: newbooksnetwork.com/five-evil-wo... Really enjoyed talking to the amazing Miranda Melcher about evil & femininity. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

You wait for one sign of Spring and three come along at once. Curlews, lapwings and now fog spawn.

Each year, around this time, we strain to hear our first curlew of spring. This afternoon, during a lull in the rain, it finally came. In the words of W.S. Graham, we are 'under the curlew's loveweep.'

Melvyn Bragg bids his farewell.

It’s lovely to see that Songs of Seven Dials is one of the @londonreviewbookshop.co.uk recommended Christmas gifts. Thank you for the kind words (in the alt-text): they have got me in the festive spirit now. www.londonreviewbookshop.co.uk/collections/... #London #history #20s30s

It's an honour to have written a foreword for a new edition of perhaps my favourite novel (or is it a novella?), A Month In The Country by JL Carr. It's published by Quince Tree Press, now run by the Carr family. Do investigate their other wonderful wares. www.quincetreepress.co.uk

Have a publication date for my new book, FIVE EVIL WOMEN; 1 March! Why do certain women become icons of evil? Explores Myra Hindley, Rosemary West, Aileen Wuornos, Karla Homolka and Karla Faye Tucker. Spread the news please because I need publicity 😅 reaktionbooks.co.uk/work/five-ev...

Farewell, Martin Parr. Hebden Bridge O.G. His 1975 photograph of Lord Savile’s gamekeepers is unbeatable.

Landmark British photographer Martin Parr dies aged 73

One of the most beautiful bits of english eccentricity and glorious design is coming back to Sotheby’s and should be bought by a musuem (or me) for THE NATION. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Amazing launch event for This is Slavery - by @rickardsisters.com at Queen's Mill in Burnley. A real celebration of Ethel Carnie Holdsworth

To be fair, this is my standard reaction to most things. m.youtube.com/watch?v=vuBO...

Hello America & Canada, it’s publication day for This Slavery! It’s the story of two sisters living in 1910s UK who work in cotton weaving factories. It’s about women’s place in industrial capitalism, and how marriage can be about power & control. It’s also an inch-thick comic with a dog in it

Best homecoming present. A community response to the threat to my beloved Walshaw Moor.

How has paperwork served as a tool of empowerment for people who often find power elusive? In our latest podcast, a group of historians, archivists, and activists met at the Raphael Samuel History Centre (@rshc.bsky.social) to discuss the hidden history of paperwork 🗃️🎙️

Book your place! 🔥 TROUBLE AT MILL 🔥 Saturday 8th November at Queen Street Mill textile museum - loudly celebrating Ethel Carnie Holdsworth’s This Slavery with riotous fun and steam engines and art and theatre and music and snacks RickardSisters.com/trouble

Microfilm Monday #archives #localhistory

One of the gems that turned up at our village history research group today #Heptonstall

Good morning. Together with @littletollerbooks.bsky.social we publish a very important book The destruction of our peat lands is of international concern. 40 nature writers incl. Rob Macfarlane - Amy Liptrot - Horatio Clare & music legend Patti Smith. You can order here: www.littletoller.co.uk

Chelsea pensioners evacuated to the West Country enjoying a cuppa with the VADs. #WW2

#Banksy retains its power at the RCJ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

One of those times when the exterior is more interesting than the interior.

I know, I know but still: Thank you to all our authors, readers, booksellers, librarians, bloggers and reviewers Nearly 20 years an Indie.

Martin Parr’s photos - a series of memory cues. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...