Summer encapsulated. Red River Croft home made blackcurrant jam 💜

Yesterday's pastel and priceless sunset. Also a serious midgefest requiring a high level of grit and determination and a large number of rude words.

Dear @itvnews.bsky.social @channel4news.bsky.social @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social Why is no-one talking about the shockingly poor #airquality in NW England due to Manchester fires? PM2.5 levels are dreadful. This WILL cause health emergencies, if not already doing so. Pollution+ heat = excess deaths.

This golden evening...

Beautiful film, fabulous music, words and voices. And the special view from a much-loved place... the sea-log-seat which features in Windswept. Thank you @skyebalou.bsky.social Haste ye back 🥰

At the end of June, the @theipaper.com published a list of the 'best books by destination' for holiday reading. And oh my goodness... there was #Windswept among some very famous writers and their utterly awesome books. How incredible is that! Thank you @annabonetesteve.bsky.social 🤗

Amongst the Sea Holly I spotted this quite rare white pyramidal orchid on yesterday’s Sefton Coast Walk between Hightown and Crosby, plenty of hedge brown butterflies in attendance Also @annieworsley.bsky.social, someone has built a log seat from driftwood and stones rescued from the Blitz beach!

"This remarkable, small place keeps on giving, teaching lessons and providing hope"

Moonwort and an orchid extravaganza. A short post about the latest goings on here on Red River Croft. Happy reading 🤗 notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2026/06/28/o...

Another new find on the croft! Moonwort (Botrychium lunaria), a fascinating plant which obtains all its nutrients from underground fungi, oh my.

For a few days here the official sunset is 22.28. Sunrise comes a few hours later. This short spell of night-not-night is beautiful, strange & magical. If you've not read Windswept, here’s a bit about the summer solstice. Last night, we walked out into pale gold & silver, moth wings & perfume.

A location familiar to you @annieworsley.bsky.social The rain ceased for a wee while for me today. I can see how it was not hard to become devoted to this spot. Windswept!

"A 5* instant classic of British nature writing. Windswept isn’t only enjoyable and enriching; it contains some of the most striking descriptions of nature I’ve ever read." Horatio Clare, The Telegraph. 📷 Windswept's old strainer post & sunset view to the Outer Hebrides.

On fire. 📷 just a few minutes apart (22.30, 22.33)

Here's a picture of Pseudorchis albida. Forgot to include it in the post below.

The croft is literally awash with orchids: purples & pinks in a great range of size, leaf/flower types & micro-habitat, dozens of nationally scarce pale cream Lesser Butterfly orchids & the first few spikes of rare tiny whites (Pseudorchis albida). I am very happy 🤗

After all the rain, this evening feels like Christmas 🥰

Yes, boo, it's pouring down today in the NW Highlands but LOOK at these meadow buttercups positively ROCKING it in the sun yesterday. EVERY single one is pointing his/her face to the golden orb in the sky 💛

What a beautiful, windswept day. Ah! Summer in the NW Highlands. Blue mountains, green moors, all garlanded with wildflowers and birdsong.

I love seeing the croft come to life, revealing stories from the past, full of hope for the future. On the high, very steep river terrace are dozens of pretty-in-pink heath spotted orchids, on the modern rapidly rewilding riverbank, bluebells -(memories of old woodland) & broad-leaved marsh orchid.

Chance meetings with Kiwis, a house martin's residence, wildflowers blooming, warm sunny days and beach games with the grandchildren. A new blog for the start of summer. notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2026/06/01/k...

Chance meetings with Kiwis, a house martin's residence, wildflowers blooming, warm sunny days and beach games with the grandchildren. A new blog for the start of summer. notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2026/06/01/k...

Two friends, each with their heart and sense alive to the world around them, words travelling in the air between them. Happy reading indeed.

Croft, Coast and Hill: From unfurling green tips to cuckoos and nightjars, Spring reasserts itself on Kirsteen Bell and @annieworsley.bsky.social’s respective crofts www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/05/crof...

The latest in the series of letters with Lochaber crofter Kirsteen Bell for @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social's Coast, Croft & Hill: letters from the NW Highlands. In April & May we talked about nightjars, spinning, cuckoos and wildflowers.  Happy reading 🤗 www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/05/crof...

Yesterday, almost sunset, mountains the colours of lavender and rosemary flowers and the first heath orchid seen on the croft. View to Beinn Alligin in the Torridon mountains at 21.58.

I'm over the moon to share that on the new moon (last Friday) my latest essay was published by @humansandnature.bsky.social. Inspired by Heaney, I dug with my pen. Read 'Root Vegetable,' thoughts on the potato, my Irish heritage, and food security here: 🥔🍠✨🇮🇪 humansandnature.org/root-vegetab...

Great fly past by a (huge) female golden eagle on the croft this morning. Closest I've ever been to one, closest and lowest flyby I've ever experienced. Bit shocked tbh 😱 She was HUGE! Sadly, no pictures. Too slow. Dram (the dog) wasn't bothered. He just sighed as I got excited.

Winter is back. Happy weekend everyone. View upriver from the croft to Beinn Alligin, Torridon mountains, Wester Ross.

I was privileged to receive an early copy of this extraordinary book for review. It is exceptional, a brilliant exploration of landscapes, geographies & wildernesses both of the mind and of place. The Savage Landscape by @calflyn.bsky.social published by @wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social is simply superb

Oo hello. Incoming. View northeast over the bog just now.

A wild, cold, bright morning ... followed by squalls galore, oh yes 💙💛

No Mow May and hopes for Let it Bloom June in today's floriferous @theguardian.com country diary by @jensoilandpen.bsky.social. #naturewriting #countrydiary

Written in 2020, at the height of COVID confinement, a repost of a wee blog about one of the most colourful springs of recent years and the delightful determination of dandelions. notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/t... #naturewriting

Suggested by @holnicotenh.bsky.social that the cuckoos are "calling at night to attract a mate. When the female eventually lays her egg, it will likely be in a meadow pipit nest during daylight hours." Thanks Nigel. It's a cuckoo rave then... 😉

Good morning bluesky birders. We've cuckoos singing through the night here in our valley (South Erradale, coastal NW Highlands). Can anyone tell me which bird species they're hoping to make use of at night? Crofts+environs have plenty of small birds, eg meadow pipits, active during the day. Thanks 🤗

Late to the spring party as usual, at last the blooming of wildflowers has begun. A new post for early May: notesfromasmallcroftbythesea.wordpress.com/2026/05/05/a...

This is beautiful 🥰

Flower (almost) Full Moon, Beltane Eve, rising over Tom na Gruagaich, one of the summits of Beinn Alligin. View east from home, upriver to the Torridon mountains, at sunset, 21.10.

Sunset beyond the Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides.

So much peace, tranquility and solace in the profound and glorious blues of a spring day. Happy weekend from Wester Ross, Highlands of Scotland. #FridayFeeling #PrayingforPeace

118 angels soar aloft in the hammerbeam roof of a Fenland church—their carved feathers echoing the wings of the Marsh Harriers who once lived in this region in abundance. I made a Radio 4 programme about the entanglements of ornithology & theology, raptors & raptures. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

After sunset, and the vast dome of sky shimmers. There's a sliver of moon. Slowly, stars begin to pop open. In a small hollow on the cliff I find shelter from the cold east wind, watch the snakeskin sea flex, and soak up the scent of myrtle which has overwritten even the tang of salt and stone.

A beautiful but chilly evening. Bats flying, birds singing, the scent of bog myrtle … View 1: across the croft and over the sea to the Quiraing, Isle of Skye View 2: from the old post at the top of the Seaweed Road (as described in Windswept) over the sea to Skye

The wee road to a mighty mountain. Liathach, Torridon, Wester Ross, NW Highlands of Scotland.

The wee road to a mighty mountain. Liathach, Torridon, Wester Ross, NW Highlands of Scotland.

Yesterday, I was layered up because it was still winter. Today, I'm in my shirt sleeves. It was gorgeous on the beach this morning. Warm winds, rainbow-topped waves, happy meetings with lovely wanderers. View from the (original) sea-log-seat which is described in my wee book, #Windswept.

Happy Easter one and all. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are 🌞 "Daffodils", painted by granddaughter Alice, aged 2 and a half.

How lovely, and really quite astonishing. Book tourism in action. Recent visitors to my neighbour's BnB came to stay because they'd read Windswept! And others stopped her on the road to ask about it. Thank you to everyone who has bought, gifted, recommended & written about this wee book.

"Each birth tethered the next generation to the same land. Did you know there’s no word for hefting in Gaelic? Only a chur an eòlas an àite, sowing the knowledge of a place."