It's a joy and a privilege to exchange letters with crofter/writer Kirsteen Bell. This month we chat about autumn in the Highlands, woodlands old and new, ghosts of the past and distant futures. Happy reading 😊 #naturewriting #writingcommunity

It's a joy and a privilege to exchange letters with crofter/writer Kirsteen Bell. This month we chat about autumn in the Highlands, woodlands old and new, ghosts of the past and distant futures. Happy reading 😊 #naturewriting #writingcommunity

A squall after sunset.

“We visited a museum with written accounts by people whose grandparents lived and worked here, in Finsbay, Quidinish, Manish, Geocrab and other townships. The way of life with all the hardships and traumas remembered. History within living memory. Their ghost voices were profoundly moving.”

A ghost post for Samhain. Happy Halloween 😊 notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2025/10/31/f...

Good morning. Red sky warning. Praying for peace everywhere. View from home to the Torridon mountains, Wester Ross.

"The North wind doth blow And we shall have snow..." First glimpse of winter on Beinn Alligin (Torridon mountains). View from South Erradale ❄️

Late afternoon, yesterday. I followed the sun. Oystercatchers called, a salted cold breeze riddled the meadows. From the top field I saw a swoop of starlings, a turquoise sea, a mother-of-pearl sky, islands of gauze. My heart was full. View across Red River Croft and Inner Sound to Skye

A quiet weather day the forecaster said. Ha! I was blown about and blasted with salt and grit and drenched in rainbows. But my shadow-self looks long and lithe 😉

Hello nature chums. Does anyone have any idea what this is? It is a white jelly substance so perhaps a fungus or mould of some sort? There are also smaller dollops of black goo with white nodules alongside the jellies and a few nodules in the white jelly. Thank you 😊

This is a lovely wee film from @clareshaw.bsky.social & Anna Chilvers. It captures the magic and profound beauty of bogs & moors really well. Enjoy! #TheBookofBogs ed by Clare & Anna, pub by @littletollerbooks.bsky.social is out now #naturewriting #peatbogs

To read a post like this is wonderful. To think my words have touched these hearts (& the hearts of many others who've written, emailed & posted over the past 2 yrs) is truly humbling. Thank you @mamafoo2000.bsky.social, thank you 😊 This is the real power of #naturewriting

Dug out two (old) watercolour paintings of two (very different) storms over the moors and blanket bogs of the Pennines. For interest... maybe to readers of The Book of Bogs and other peaty works. @littletollerbooks.bsky.social @clareshawpoet.bsky.social @jensoilandpen.bsky.social

It's the red dawn of a brand new day. So far it is cool, calm and collected. I hear stags roaring and geese honking, and the little river singing to the sea. Views to the Torridon mountains from home - Baosbheinn, Beinn Alligin and friends 🥰

Scarista, Isle of Harris. Wild, windswept and wonderful. With only a bevy of swans for company. Yellow sands, lavender sea, solace and peace.

If you can help Liz raise funds to support research into autism and help negate the bullsh*t coming from RFK jr in the US, it would be wonderful! Thank you. With huge thanks to everyone who has already donated 🥰 www.justgiving.com/page/elizabe...

Luskentyre. Naturally. Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides.

The stones of Calanais... brooding, magical, other-worldly... a remarkable place especially on a wild Hebridean day.

Families with autistic children need our help not RFKjr bleating on about paracetamol. My lass is raising funds in support of autism research so if you feel able to donate even a small amount, that would be wonderful. With humble thanks ❤️ www.justgiving.com/page/elizabe...

In the tail winds (gales) of a diminishing storm (Amy). A day when light, colour, sound and perspective play with the mind... Sgarasta beach, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides.

If you're keen on winds and being windswept, here's the livestream of global winds. You can roam the planet or zoom in to watch #StormAmy doing her thing. Enjoy 😊 earth.nullschool.net#current/wind...

Hmm... looking at the forecast for Storm Amy… she's a right b***h and makes Floris look like a real pussy. There's trouble coming.

I wrote an essay on high altitude peat bogs in New Guinea for "The Book of Bogs"(edited by Anna Chilvers & @clareshaw.bsky.social @littletollerbooks.bsky.social) Here are a few pictures recorded on a life-changing research visit to the New Guinea Highlands when I was very young 😊

Here's the story about blue pigment mentioned in my latest blog notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/a... And a link to the paper in @antiquity.ac.uk

An end-of-summer post about colour in our landscape 😊 notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2025/09/29/a...

Afternoon light. My wee home, Red River Croft and the Torridon mountains 😊

This lovely book is out now. The Book of Bogs edited by Anna Chilvers & @clareshawpoet.bsky.social published by @littletollerbooks.bsky.social Among the UK-based essays from an array of wonderful writers, there's a bit on New Guinea peat bogs by me 😂 #booksky

This will be wonderful 😊 @nicolawriting.bsky.social's new book out next week. #booksky

Sorry, but book is out next week & promo I must. You know - 3 yrs work & all that, & through some big stuff. And the wonderfully kind @joannacdobson.bsky.social has said this about it; & I’m utterly made up: “there’s a universality about it …I’ve never read anything quite like it.’ #booksky

For those who might like a copy! 😉 www.littletoller.co.uk/shop/books/l... #BookSky

Such an important book. Pubd by @littletollerbooks.bsky.social edited by Anna Chilvers & Clare Shaw. I'm thrilled to be alongside a bevvy of wonderful writers & poets. My New Guinea bit is a far cry from Walshaw but highlights bog significance globally. We must fight to protect them all. #BookofBogs

A 💯 fake-uncertain response, 💯 aimed at making people question and then lose trust in scientific expertise & authority. Farage and Reform telling everyone exactly who they are, perfectly OK with the prospect of dead children bc that's what happens when you make parents distrust safe medicines

What a morning! Red River Croft and the Torridon mountains 😊

Riverdance.....

After a mostly grey day, colour suddenly floods back. View from the front door over the peat bog. And yes, the scent of myrtle is heavenly 😍

Happy autumn equinox! I was hoping for clear skies but it's cloudy. So here's the sun setting at its equinoctial position on the northern tip of the Trotternish peninsula on Skye. View from the old wooden post on the clifftop near home over the sea to Skye in 2019 😊

Oo hello. It's that time of year. Oh yes 😊

Back country, between coast and high summits. A place of bogs and lochs, fairy hills and whispers of hidden magic. Autumn sweep in to change the palette of colours. View of "The Miniatures" from the wee road home.

I love how Annie can find beauty no matter the weather.

Cascades of light, sharp showers, lively gusts. Threaded through them all, geese, flying south to find the sun. View across the Inner Sound to Isle Rona and Skye.

Some astonishing images in here 😲 naturallandscapeawards.com/2025-competi...

A long, chewy Sunday read. Reviews are powerful. This essay looks at literary criticism: what it elevates, what it dismisses, and how those choices quietly shape which voices and stories are valued in our culture. kristiedegaris.substack.com/p/literary-c... #Reading #Writing #Books #Scotland #UK

A week away from the autumn equinox and we're blessed with this... Layers of gold, a whisper of cool wind, moth wings and a soothing peace. I hope you can find solace wherever you are. Sunset views across the croft and sea to Skye.

A week away from the autumn equinox and we're blessed with this... Layers of gold, a whisper of cool wind, moth wings and a soothing peace. I hope you can find solace wherever you are. Sunset views across the croft and sea to Skye.

Warm your cockles on this by @ebenmyrddin.bsky.social . A glimpse of something so reasonable and so possible, because this is how people really are when they give each other a chance: mutual respect and common interest for and with each other & the land. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Happy cloud appreciation day! @stormhour.com

One of our beautiful Highland helpers on Red River Croft, snoozing in the early morning sun and warm wind. Here for a few weeks, he'll be busy trimming the margins, patches and ditches left uncut after the hay harvest... once he's woken up 😊

Shreds of pumpkin pie clouds over the mountains, a cold hush in the valley... the first autumnal sunrise of the year. View upriver from home to Baosbheinn and Beinn Alligin.

A walk along the "Seaweed Road" (an old trail between South Erradale & Opinan, NWScotland) on a morning of gorgeous colours, warm winds & bright light. This quiet, beautiful route features in #Windswept: Life, Nature & Deep Time in the Scottish Highlands @wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social #naturewriting

The harvested hay meadows are green, a gang of Highland ponies graze the uncut remnants, insects savour the late blooming wildflowers, everything else basks in September's golden light. Autumn is coming to Red River Croft. And yes, we are #Windswept 😊