'Ten messages for a man who thinks children should stay off the roads and stick to the park'. [From my Diagram Club newsletter. Subscribe for more like this: diagramclub.substack.com ]

Saw some good news in the @durhambirdclub.bsky.social Rare&Scarce WhatsApp group: the records in 2024 of Baikal Teal, Dark-eyed Junco and Indigo Bunting have all been accepted by BBRC 😃. Congrats & thanks to the finders! #NEbirding #RareBirdsUK 🪶

I don’t expect anyone to take out a paid subscription to my Substack (such a thing is a rare and special event, although one that helps keep a writer going during a tough time) but I welcome all subscribers, write a lot on there, and endeavour to keep most of it free: tomcox.substack.com

Even better when towing a horse trailer and you're trying to find a specific field in the middle of nowhere 😵‍💫

I see the government has - against scientific advice - given the go-ahead for 9 badger culls to start this weekend. Fuck them all to oblivion. They hate wildlife as well as us.

This is what is so, so baffling. It's not like it was a normal publisher which has to raise the finances from within to produce and market a book. WE DID IT ALL FOR THEM. Us, and our readers. Yet they STILL didn't pay us.

If you're not putting alt text and/or sub titles on your pics and videos for pride, you are not as inclusive as you think you are. FFS.

Day 1 of #30DaysWild: Growing an area of rapeseed in my tiny, urban garden specifically to be eaten by caterpillars. They're making their way through it nicely 🐛 #TeamWilder @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Obsessed with this. It's two stallions, something you'd NEVER normally keep next to each other but these two seem to be pals, one Friesian (on the left, often used as film horses) and one Hackney (they pull small carriages) being extremely a lot like all stallions. Amazing comic timing imo.

Thanks to all those who promoted this petition and to the 100,000+ who signed it, keeping this issue in the public & political eye. #RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime #ClimateCrisis raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/05/24/d...

And please use alt text when sharing images or posting flyers!

As much as I love woodland creation, my real passion for years has been ancient woodland restoration. My charity is hoping to acquire another 11 acres of PAWS directly next to an existing bit of land we own, so I ask you: help us sponsor a few square meters. shop.protect.earth/products/anc...

Fucking hell. I know nobody’s in greasy overalls for you to fetishise, Labour, but this is still an industry full of working people on marginal incomes that you are voluntarily destroying, you dumb tech-fetishising goons. You just sold us for corporate strip-mining. Up the workers.

Looks like a bumper year for our Maybugs (aka Cockchafer, Chwilen Y Bwm) Please help these adorable critters by turning external lights off and closing your curtains. They are fatally attracted to artificial lights 💡 They only get 4-6 weeks as adults to mate and lay eggs. Help them on their way 💚

Hey, who wants something nice? So I was on tour this month, and when I was doing my event for the Princeton University Library and the Princeton Public Library, I ended up at the graveyard, where I found this gravestone:

Moving Mountains is an anthology of nature writing by writers living with chronic illness and physical disability, ed by @louisekenward.bsky.social. It features a huge array of diverse writing & I'm not just enthusing about it because I'm a contributor! I learnt so much from reading it. #Hopefest

Animal rescue and rehab is so brutal. For all the joyful stories, there are all the times it breaks your heart 💔

Bluebells in the early morning light ✨ #Wildflowers #NaturePhotography #Spring

On a scale of 1-to-absolutely fucked, how burnt-out are you if your last resort is to eat two ice creams in the hope they give you enough energy to get upstairs to bed at 12pm, for what turns into a 4.5hr nap?

Tomorrow is #InternationalDawnChorusDay! Whether you crack the window open, or step out under the trees, take a moment to pause & listen. We’d love you to share your recordings, photos or dawn chorus moments with us. Set your alarms...who'll be up with the birds? 💚

Voting is open! 🎉Do you know an inspiring ornithologist or birder? Nominate them for a BTO or Marsh Award. 🐦 Check out the categories and nominate on our website ➡️ bit.ly/BTO_awards #Ornithology

Baffled by calls for more policing to make the Otley Run "safer", when actually it's the toxicity of the patriarchy that's killing women (and men).

Ahh tis the season for my pettiness really stretch itself; you did not visit lake windermere. You wrnt to WinderMERE. A mere is a body of water. The only lake in the Lake District is Bassenthwaite. Stop getting water wrong.

Tomorrow will be my first run in a week... wish me luck #RunningPunks 💜

look, I don’t actually think it’s terrible to try to strike up a conversation with your plane neighbor. I ALSO don’t think it’s rude for someone to say, “I actually don’t want to chat right now” and to ignore you in favor of their book.

I have discovered smoked tofu, and I suspect it's my new food obsession.

It was always a risk listening to a podcast about Harper Lee; I'm pleased to report that TEN YEARS ON I have residual trauma from the launch of Go Set A Watchman.

This is why I call it a hallucination machine. It’s predictive text. It doesn’t know things.

Anyone else stressed that the dry weather means very little mud for birds building nests? Looking at the dry fields and increasing numbers of swallows returning from migration... and like HOW are they meant to make a home?

Found an article about vegan protein sources, so obvs I've just done an online shop to the tune of £70. This had better make me feel less broken when I run 4x a week.

Really need to post more here. Anyway, here's Salem

Found the first negative review of Self Esteem's residency over the weekend... on Radio4 Front Row. Cringe-inducing discussion by posh english people who don't get it 🤢

brb; just gonna send this to the DWP.

It’s Lesbian Visibility Week! 🏳️‍🌈 A great time to revisit our Sappho episode, with special guest @stellduffy.bsky.social, plus @edithmayhall.bsky.social and music from LiTTLe MACHiNe… www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

This article is so good Definitely read it, especially if you aren't British and want to understand what is going on www.thegist.ie/the-gist-tra...

Thats it? Only 70k to buy someone’s persecution god this country’s corruption is cheap

Absolute banger 🔥

Perioidic reminder that the reason you didn't see autistic people with intellectual disabilities on the street five decades ago was not because they didn't exist. It's because they were sent away to institutions and their parents were told to put away pictures of them.

Sharing this (and adding Alt Text) because despite being a country gal, I actually never knew. (or maybe as a kid I did, but it was so "normal" that I forgot?) I'm very aware of the shooting events, I hear them most years. I just never questioned the random rise and fall of pheasant sightings.

Too edgy for Private Eye? We recently ran the 1st of 3 ads in Private Eye magazine. But after our 1st they told us they wouldn't run any more. Did they give in to pressure from the shooting industry or another vested interest? Private Eye- too establishment for Wild Justice!

So... we have too many books Time for a spring clean. It's time to make some room for all of the new titles coming out in 2025. Get up to 50% off selected queer books, graphic novels and manga this spring - grab a bargain and help clear some shelf space. SALE: www.proud-geek.co.uk/sale #booksky

As my ex-publishers still will not pay me money owed since May 2024, Substack is currently how I earn a living. It's mostly free to read, though, including the pieces at the top of my homepage. If you hate them you'll probably hate the rest too. If you don't, you probably won't: tomcox.substack.com

Okay I'll allow this one 😂

OMG, brands, no one cares about your April fools emails 😴

DWP cuts are 'economic violence' against disabled people, as backlash against Labour grows A leading not-for-profit has said "This is not reform. It is state-sanctioned cruelty. It is economic violence against chronically ill and disabled people". Here, here. www.thecanary.co/uk/news/2025...

the advice is actually: "Household scraps like pastry, cooked rice and breadcrumbs should only be offered in small amounts occasionally. It's crucial to remember that rice must be cooked before offering it to birds, as uncooked rice can lead to digestive problems"

If you don't already follow @wildjustice.bsky.social , please have a look...they work hard at this and many other campaigns #nature #environment

How tone deaf can you be? To compare disabled people being deprived of the income they need for a dignified life to cutting his children's pocket money is crass and deeply disrespectful.

Spring doing its thing ✨ #Butterfly #WildlifePhotography #Photography #Leeds #Spring