Well of course: but there's a huge fight to tackle the problem of all the other chemicals being thrown on the soil and our food. One small step. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

I was a little concerned for this Tern I saw down at West Bay this afternoon. It seems to have damage near its right leg, which it kept preening around. Sadly, there's not much I could do except hope. It seemed exhausted and only flew short distances. I fear the gulls will get it.

I've been really enjoying the Savoy and red cabbage sauerkraut I made at the beginning of September, so I thought I'd try 3 cabbage kraut: red, Savoy and January King. I'll let you know what it's like in a month or two. #SlowFood #FermentedFood #OldManMakesFood #FoodPreservation #HealthyGut

Swapped our usual Jurassic Coast for a few windy days in Cornwall. Nice view from our room.

And another step closer to oblivion www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’

The borlotti beans have dried beautifully, and beautiful they are. #GrowYourOwnFood #NoDig #organic #RealFood #NoPesticides

This is partly why we moved away from the "dark side" (as I call it) and stopped keeping bees www.theguardian.com/environment/...

WTF! Nuclear is not the solution. It's an expensive and dangerous distraction. Along with bonkers ideas about carbon capture and storage, Starmer's New Tory Zionist Party has really lost the plot. www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.bbc....

Well, it's a start. It's time to restore access to the land stolen from the people by the Enclosures and other lands grabs. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Our borlotti beans are drying nicely. They're not quite as big or bountiful as two years ago, but they are certainly as beautiful. I love the Dutch name of this variety, Stokkievitsboon, which means pole lapwing beans, named for the similarity of the patterns on the beans to lapwing eggs.

Somewhat concerning! www.theguardian.com/world/2025/s...

Homemade tomato soup. A scrummy lunch with some to go in the freezer. Heinz tomato soup has 14 ingredients, this has 4. The tinned stuff isn't too bad: no artificial colours or preservatives. Heinz is cream of tomato so it has milk products. Mine is tomato and basil, plus a little onion and EVOO.

Madly dehydrating tomatoes to preserve the taste of Summer's bounty through till we can eat fresh again. (We don't buy tomatoes any more.) Such beautiful and nutrient dense things. #tomatoes #preserving #dehydrating #GrowYourOwnFood #RealFood #organic #unsprayed #NoChemicals #NoPesticides #NoDig

Comprehensive evidence review on effects of grouse moor burning on biodiversity, carbon & water - a report the shooting industry doesn't seem keen to promote raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/09/08/c...

There’s a persistent myth that new solar farms don’t really help tackle climate change because panels are “made with coal” and “never pay back” their carbon debt. This is simply false. - UN: solar ~8x cleaner than gas, ~19x than coal per kWh - panels repay CO2 in 4 months; save 57x over life

It's nice to bring the sunshine inside. It's getting blowy outside and the Sunflowers are very tall this year, so I thought it necessary to harvest some. They do look great next to our beloved Carry Akroyd hare painting! #GrowYourOwnFlowers #sunflowers

Whose is this? I find it difficult not to pick up feathers. I'm not sure from whom this one comes that I found in the garden today.

It's that time again, time to save the sweetness and bounty of summer to take into winter. Dehydrating tomatoes: we like to call them sun-dried because we try to make sure our solar panels are producing the power to preserve them. #GrowYourOwnFood #dehydrating #HomePreserving #Organic #NoChemicals

Last night I was looking through my last sketchbook and found this little trio of tiny feathers taped in with Magic Tape. I had found them in the garden, I remember exactly where, and stopped what I was doing to carry this treasure of beauty to a safe space.

It's time that light pollution is recognised as a problem for humans, wildlife and plants. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Small Copper butterfly, Lycaena phlaeas, feeding on Common Ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris. Such bright and beautiful things that lift the soul. It's time Ragwort was freed from the prejudice placed on it by a vested minority: it's an important food plant for so many small lives #pollinators #WildFlowers

It's hard not to feel despair and anger www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🧵Our countryside is being ruined. Nothing works. Our rivers are poisoned. Our green spaces are vanishing. Our wildlife is being wiped out - species by species, tree by tree. All sacrificed to greed, corruption, and neglect.

Just spent a fun 10 mins watching this ichneumon #wasp on our bay tree. Looks like he/she was looking for something to eat, which surprised me as I thought the adults usually ate pollen & nectar Please can anyone tell me which #ichneumon species this is? Do you know, please @kitenet.bsky.social?

"018" From #BlackSquares365 - Indian ink & acrylic on black Khadi paper I'm selling off the unsold work from this project. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and still is for those not sold) a very affordable £40 (DM for details).

"077" From #BlackSquares365 - metal foil on gessoed handmade Indian rag paper. I'm selling off the unsold work from this project. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and is for those still available) a very affordable £40 (DM for details).

"016" From #BlackSquares365 - ink on Stonehenge paper. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and for those not sold at the time still is) a very affordable £40 (DM for details).

"Hallos said food security must be a national priority and she called for the government to support farmers and growers to build resilience, stressing that investment was needed in climate adaptation and resilient crop varieties as well as water infrastructure." www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

These apples are a variety called Saturn, they normally should be ready for harvest at the beginning of October. I've just picked one from the tree: it was delicious. These need picking soon. No way this year will we get the succession of fruit we planted for!

The first of our fresh chillies. We have them through the year, dried or frozen, but it's always a delight to have them fresh. It's been a day of harvests: tomatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, French beans. #GrowYourOwnFood #NoDig

Important to note that the UK government's £22bn carbon capture scheme was the outcome of intense lobbying by the fossil fuel industry.

"Public transport in Helsinki is excellent, which reduces car use, and with it, the number of serious accidents," Utriainen noted. I wish the same could be said of the UK, especially in rural areas where basically there's no public transport at all.

The media saying Sizewell C deal is £38bn Why then is a £54bn subsidy allocated searchforuksubsidies.beis.gov.uk/scheme/?sche... and another £4bn subsidy scheme (related?) searchforuksubsidies.beis.gov.uk/scheme/?sche... - total £58bn @georgemonbiot.bsky.social @sayno2sizewellc.bsky.social

Our report on the catastrophic burning of the X-Press Pearl is on BBC News 24 today - working with @pulitzercenter.bsky.social journalist Saroj Pathirana, we've exposed the devastating impact from the wreck of the cargo ship - laden with chemicals, acid, heavy metals + epoxy resin.

It's a bumper-wasp year: here are my top tips on how to dine alongside wasps, without getting stung. GET INVOLVED! Tell us what wasps want at YOUR picnic: www.sumnerlab.co.uk/wasp-picnic-... theconversation.com/what-to-do-w... @uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social @uk.theconversation.com

Right on!

And why would you not go and pick some blackberries? At the supermarket they are £20/kg, these were free and didn't have the added chemical sprays or the plastic packaging. #FoodForFree #Foraging

Spotted in the garden today this Coelioxys conoidea, Large Sharp-tail Bee. It's a cleptoparasite of Megachile maritima, the Coast Leafcutter Bee, so I probably need to review my Megachile IDs. This is a female, and I saw a male a while back. #Coelioxys #SolitaryBees

Some of our lovely neighbours gave us a couple of cabbages, so I made some sauerkraut (with added beetroot fresh from the garden) and a big batch of coleslaw (with beetroot, beet tops and carrot), which we had with some of our first tomatoes.

I'm hoping that we might actually get some nectarines to eat this year! It's been some years since we had any. Usually slugs and snails get on the early fruits and moulds and other creatures finish them off. #GrowYourOwnFood #GrowYourOwnFruit

"011" From #BlackSquares365 - ink on black Khadi paper. I'm selling off the unsold work from this project. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and for those not sold at the time still is) a very affordable £40 (DM for details). #ArtProject

"008" From #BlackSquares365 - Signo pen ink on Canford black paper. I'm selling off the unsold work from this project. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and is for those still available) a very affordable £40 (DM for details).

"005" From #BlackSquares365 - fine liner pigment pen on Bristol board. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and for those not sold at the time still is) a very affordable £40 (DM for details).

"003" From #BlackSquares365 - acrylic on Bockingford paper. In 2018/19 I created an 8" square artwork from scratch every day for a year. Each piece was (and for those not sold at the time still is) a very affordable £40 (DM for details). #ArtProject

I find myself in the dusty, stale-air studio for the first time in many months, wondering about the way forward, the way ahead, the way to go. It's time to move on to new things and say goodbye to the past.

Red Soldier Beetles, Rhagonycha fulva, mating on the thistle flowers (Creeping Thistle?) #Insects #Coleoptera

It's well overdue that we consider the needs of all of Nature and the environment above the sometimes unfounded prejudice of small minority vested interests www.wildlifetrusts.org/blog/public-...

The Rowan berries are ripening on the tree we planted a few years ago. #WildlifeFriendlyGarden

Here's why we're in the High Court today.... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...