The world contains Gaza, Iran, a global economic meltdown on the horizon, the double insanity of Trump & Netanyahu and, and, and.... But the BBC News leads with the story that some bloke called Scott Mills has been sacked... FFS

& burn shifts the weekend's rain, frothing under hawthorn bud. nuthatch wheeting into dusk but heading NNW isobars of fieldfares. elder deep into leaf, everything a stretch.

@richardmortimer.bsky.social You’ve inspired me to go out for a pint. Cheers m8

This is the male Little Owl, looking alert and on top-form. He has a new female companion whom I have seen but not properly photographed yet. Here's 🤞🤞🤞 for a productive spring. #Owls #UKBirds #UKWildlife

For 11 years my job was to make sure my college passed the next OFSTED inspection. It hurts me to admit it but pleasing OFSTED & improving education were rarely the same thing. Not really OFSTED’s fault. We all had to jump through the latest govt hoops which constantly changed. Abolish OFSTED NOW

Abolish Ofsted. www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: End Israeli State and Settler Impunity in the West Bank. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/end-...

I just wrote a @theactionnetwork.bsky.social letter: End Israeli State and Settler Impunity in the West Bank. Write one here: actionnetwork.org/letters/end-...

This.

All fields tell you stories of what happened there before you time. You just have to wait, open your heart, and listen to the ghosts.

Reader, I drew it. That's twelve...

Hire us! We're better and even with a really long shower don't use anything like as much water.

A perfect start to Owlish Monday from Maria Strutz

#GritSaltBinMonday Castle Pitch, Stroud @marcpetty.bsky.social please employ your extensive expertise to identify this item of street furniture.

Brown is the Owl, Valerie Greeley. #OwlishMonday

Ministers are reportedly exploring how to cancel dangerous spy-tech firm Palantir's contract to handle NHS data after over 150k people joined me in calling on them to break the contract. Join us - together we can kick out Palantir out of our NHS: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/st...

Still not sure why we're putting Daily Mail *and* journalist in the same sentence? They protect power and wealth of their owner at all costs. That's all. Media reform to stop a tiny amount of people owning the vast majority of our media urgently needed. www.thenational.scot/news/2597765...

“Behind the spray of the male sallow-willow, shadows from the further bank of the pool - and from overhanging branches - are reflected on the still surface of the water” What to Look for in Spring Writer: EL Grant Watson Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

I used to have the 7” of this sung in German. The Banshees introduced me to the work of Heartfield.

Great cuckoo news.

If there's one thing that will be guaranteed to cause people who protect the wealth and power of the super rich - it's people having a great time. I present to you Trafalgar Square today which was beautiful and alive and buzzing with just that. 💚😍

I’ve woken up at 3.05, or is it 2.O5? Or perhaps 1.05? If you are not sure what time it is, always take the advice of Charles Baudelaire and ask the “wind, wave, star, bird, clock” and they will tell you it is time to get drunk… but I might just have a nice cup of horlicks, instead.

@johnnynicepainter.bsky.social Drugs are a terrible thing Johnny. You end up drinking strange murky perry & eating pickled eggs. No slippers & I can’t remember the way home. arg

Because my rheumatoid arthritis is behaving outrageously today (everything hurts more than everything else) I have dosed up on synthetic opiates and Diazepam & run’n coke and am about to venture out to a small town with a farmer’s market, lots of bookshops & many boozers. Wish me luck. 💊💊🍺📚🧀

Enchanting & wondrous colours Maria.

Goldfinches are nesting in the climbing rose by the window. Here's a poor photo of a bird gathering spider's webs in the log shed, (to the annoyance of the Wren). They have no use for fresh webs - they seek out the really old ones that have clagged together - like the ones on top of the wardrobe🧐.

Many thanks to Bob. Here's the link if that sounds like something up your sinister, suburban street. payhip.com/b/58paC

This is why Daily Mail journalists are going after my family now. The right wing propaganda machine will not work on the Green Party. We're ready to end Rip off Britain, end the cost of living crisis and make hope normal again.

Phengaris. Beautifully written. Melancholy & moving. Stays in your mind long after you have finished the last page.

Reform offered hate. We offered hope. Hope won. The police say his accusations of cheating are baseless. Farage is a bad loser.

spring fox surrounded by tulips 🦊🌿🌷 Rosehip ink, beetroot ink and watercolours #FoxFriday #FoxoftheDay

and good afternoon. This was actually cover art for a TTRPG campaign. A Plant from the Dreamlands is transported to Miskatonic University. I expect you can spot the plant.

Disgraceful

Why don’t Labour do something? Have they forgotten the manifesto “Labour’s Vision for a Modern and Transparent Publicly-Owned Water System”? * www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Useful reminder about watching out for ticks. Here are the main points from the poster: Tick bites are painless, so easy to miss. Ticks are tiny - the size of a pinhead. Prevent bites by tucking trousers into socks, wear long sleeves, avoid brushing into foliage. Remove ticks promptly and carefully

#fallfriday Sat in my comfortable armchair in my mock Tudor mansion my bed sit days are a distant memory. Certain songs take me back there however youtu.be/jFXNraX4uSg?...

"What!" The Tale of Beowulf Sometime King of the Folk of the Weder Geats, 1895 William Morris and A. J. Wyatt 🇬🇧

Now here’s a good song! The guitars need more Fall sound No ’80s reprobates Fall sound No laptop wankers overground With Fall sound #FallFriday youtu.be/LTJbD1DwYd4?...

"I incant this speeding charm and wield this wand triumphant, glib in tongue and task- It shall avail me- neither hinder or obstruct me nor can they vex me at all never cast my spirit into fear" from 'A Journey Charm' written in the margins of an Anglo Saxon ms #BookologyThursday #MedievalSky

Tall trees swaying in the wind.

Good morning especially to witches.

Would a thousand years be enough time to develop a taste for curried pheasant? Perhaps not…

🖼️ Nigel Artingstall

This is just the thing to get me through this night. Rain on leaves, lambs, owls.

#WyrdWednesday #Booksky "Green Noah, demon tree, Evil fingers can't catch me!" In 'The Children of Green Knowe' by Lucy M. Boston, in the gardens round the house is a tree possessed by a demonic entity called Green Noah. Artwork by Peter Boston

The Half Moon is on

In Ancient Greece, oregano was seen as a herb of happiness. Newly-weds were crowned with oregano wreaths. If oregano grew on a grave, it showed the deceased was happy in the afterlife. #wyrdwednesday #folklore #mythology #plants #weird

“Trefoil, vervain, John’s-wort, dill, Hinders witches of their will, Weel is them, that weel may Fast upon St Andrew’s day” —spoken by the (6-foot-tall) Meg Merrilies, in Walter Scott’s 1815 novel GUY MANNERING, or, THE ASTROLOGER #WyrdWednesday #romanticism www.britishmuseum.org/collection/o...

I welcome the findings of the independent Rycroft Review and the swift action taken by our government that will make elections safer and fairer. Cryptocurrency donations will be banned and British citizens abroad will face an annual cap on their donations. (1/2)

#WyrdWednesday Rudyard Kipling’s Tree Song sings the praises of oak, ash, thorn, beech & yew but it has one sinister verse about the Elm “Ellum she hateth mankind, & waiteth Till every gust be laid, To drop a limb on the head of him That anyway trusts her shade” Does Elm truly deserve this?