Watching a cormorants At RSPB Leighton Moss this morning.

R4 March 27, 11am Food Programme.🐍

Ransome readers love a map! I heard a radio programme about eels last Friday. It was a bit sad really but I suppose people have always used what's around them, just like Harry!

📣⛵️ A reminder … in four weeks we will be convening via Zoom for our Coot Club book chat, and you are warmly invited!⛵️📣 So … settle down with your favourite rations and (re)read the book over the coming weeks. When? Sun 12th Apr, 7pm UK time Where? Zoom (info/link to follow) #SwallowsAndAmazons

I wonder what Harry Bangate from The Big Six would have to say about this… I imagine Daisy from Secret Water would approve though!

Lovely thread here! 🧵⛵️

Brantwood has a magnificent Display of daffodils this year 😊 @ruskinsociety.bsky.social

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade." - Charles Dickens

📣⛵️ A reminder … in four weeks we will be convening via Zoom for our Coot Club book chat, and you are warmly invited!⛵️📣 So … settle down with your favourite rations and (re)read the book over the coming weeks. When? Sun 12th Apr, 7pm UK time Where? Zoom (info/link to follow) #SwallowsAndAmazons

Never too old to row. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mrs. Dixon, quiet, kind and very organised. I love the way she manages Mr. Dixon.

For me, it’s *all* of them - the breadth and depth of Ransome’s female characters is part of what makes the books so rich, the many iterations of girl- and womanhood: bold, caring, cunning, imaginative, transgressive…

What about M. Braithewaite aka Cook?

The Ship's Baby changes from "fat Vicky" to Bridget. A girl who asserts herself, and knows her self well. "I knew I was old enough to be a human sacrifice" #SecretWater #SwallowsAndAmazons

Nancy was the first person who came to my mind, of course. She is the best. I also have a great fondness for Mary Swainson (A bonny lass, aye). I already mentioned it.

Bit of retail therapy this week! #Oxfamonline 3big green ones £15 +postage.

Mrs Barrable is a great person. When she found a capable crew, she decided to take the Teasel for a voyage so that the Ds could have some sailing. That the crew weren't adults didn't matter to her. It also gave Tom the option to get away. And she for Port & Starboard back in time for their race.

Captain Nancy Blackett of the Amazon pirates! And Peggy, whose frailties we see more often. Once or twice we see Peggy's care for her sister, too, with such poignancy. They were the heroes I needed as a youngster.

It’s #InternationalWomensDay so let’s celebrate Arthur Ransome’s strong female characters… Share some of your favourites below … they could be main or side characters, sympathetic (like Mother) or less so (like the GA!) #SwallowsAndAmazons

See 45 down… I think there’s an error with this crossword … neither ‘Swallows’ nor ‘Walkers’ fits 🤔 #SwallowsAndAmazons

This is fun for a Saturday morning…

It would have to be Nancy ... just to be gung ho like her for a day ...

"A wonderful off-grid development opportunity situated in the heart of The Lake District"

I was always partial to John, but it would be difficult to make a costume recognizable. I am also too old for that option anyway. I believe most people in the books wore ordinary clothes. They are placed in the 1920s and 1930s, which opens some opportunities. One can also try to find a squashy hat.

I'm probably best cast as Squashy Hat. Meanwhile, your image of The Dogs' Home is just like the reality - though it could well do with a petrol strimmer for half an hour.

Nancy. I did have a red bobble hat when I was tiny, but by the time I was reading S&A, it had disappeared.

It’s #WorldBookDay today, and thousands of children will be dressing up as their favourite characters. Which Arthur Ransome character would you choose to be? What would your costume be? Dot with her pigtails? Nancy or Peggy with their red caps? Dick with his pocket book? #SwallowsAndAmazons

Diolch yn fawr! Found these very seasonal daffs growing on the banks of the young Mersey on my afternoon walk. I feel Dick Callum would have appreciated the cormorants and great spotted woodpeckers in evidence.

Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Hapus (Happy St David’s Day) to Bluesky friends! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🌼 Hope you can find time today to ‘gwnewch y pethau bychain’ (do the little things), as St David said … a perfect day to spend outside in nature, or curl up with your favourite Ransome perhaps?? 📚 ⛵️

Hmmmm … what could this be?? #SwallowsAndAmazons

John and Susan did so well

Anyone else brave enough??

Anyone else had any luck with spotting the six planets? Good luck, and hopefully there won’t be too much Tennyson to get in the way … www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

So many options here! I'm torn between SD's "sleeping in the open on Kanchenjunga", SA's "the feast following the battle in houseboat bay" and PP's "the first night spent camping on the Beckfoot lawn". Any of those would do!

I just love Nancy's reaction, at a time of great stress, when they let Squashy Hat into the mine and she can't help a private gloat when she realizes he doesn't know about it!

I think I’d like to begin right at the beginning and join the Swallows on the peak in Darien just as Roger arrives with the telegram. As I don’t care for marmalade I shall be bringing a pot of homemade raspberry jam containing totally unsquashed berries.

The Death & Glories salvaging the Margoletta and making sure their claim was recognised by Old Bob. Being boat builders' children, their goal was saving the boat and claiming salvage before bothering about the people. And they got a nice upgrade and some cash out of their quick thinking.

Dot and Dick in the observatory watching as the Martians come up to meet them. That's the start of everything, for me -- Winter Holiday was the first Ransome I read.

When the Swallows are taking the Goblin to Holland after the blow on the North Sea. They see the lighthouse for the first time. Not just its light, but the tower itself. It means they have successfully managed the weather. The boat is well. I love many other scenes. This one came to my mind first.

⛵️Today you are able to join any scene, from any of the Arthur Ransome books.⛵️ Which would choose, and why? Making hats in the Fram? Sliding down the knickerbockerbreaker in Swallowdale? Sailing with Tom Dudgeon? Share your thoughts below! 👇 #SwallowsAndAmazons

A little girl once sent a drawing to artist John Leigh-Pemberton for his approval. He replied in this delightful picture-code letter - which she has treasured for over 50 years. Can you work out his reply?

The doors keep banging.

High levels of water in the lake, low light levels and a gusty wind. Just a normal winters day in Coniston.

Look what I found. I must have bought it for Pa for Christmas.

Roger would be fully behind this account…

Hah. 1845 emoticon, anyone? "Returned to ⚓️ge by 4 Pm."

Lovely collection of Ransomes spotted in the wild at the magical Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland. (Barter Books is a magical second hand bookshop inside an old station, with plentiful open fires, comfortable chairs, waiting room cafe, and a model train that chugs along the bookcases 🚂 📚)

Not Coots, but did think that Tom and the Death and Glories would have enjoyed seeing these Brent geese today #CootClub #SwallowsAndAmazons

A cold day in Coniston, but at least the snow stayed on the hills… for now.

Shades of Winter Holiday … 🛷 🐑