Caught by the River
@caughtbytheriver.bsky.social
Wading around at the confluence of arts / nature / culture since 2007 Regular posts at caughtbytheriver.net 🐟 Irregular printed matter, record releases & events via rivertones.bandcamp.com and our Friday newsletter
Bethan Hodges — 2x world nettle-eating champion, and proprietor of Hebden Bridge’s newest shop for old books, Gwydion's Garden — speaks to CBTR editor Diva Harris about alternative living, books for your third eye, and Biker Mice from Mars www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/gwyd...
A Thrill of Gratitude: Spurred on by Nabokov, Sue Brooks seeks the company of a favourite butterfly www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/a-th... Image: Silver-washed Fritillary by Gail Hampshire, photographed in WWT Grafton Woods, Worcs. Licensed via Creative Commons
'Beneath blackberries heavy as planets / a slug slopes among the nettles, / at the same aching pace as me, / where to?' '41 Weeks': a poem by Saskia McCracken www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/41-w...
#NowPlaying: 'Lighthouse' by Lau Ro www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/now-... Taken from the (totally beautiful) album 'Lau', out now on Mexican Summer, and on constant repeat on the riverbank
I'd missed this when it was published. Thanks to @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social for highlighting it. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
From 400 hives to 35: the Gaza beekeeper refusing to let war end his life’s work
Ibrahim al-Dabba continues to care for his colonies despite losing his home and most of his hives and equipment
theguardian.com
First essay in a very long while, on ecolinguistics and climate change. It's good to be back!
Caught by the River@caughtbytheriver.bsky.social · 2w ago'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.' Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
'The words my brain scanned through — tornado, twister — seemed too alien for a field in Kent.' Menace awaits Mark Hooper in a Kentish field: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/the-...
'Looking through itself at the stickleback / shadow play below the surface.' Ghost Egret: a poem by @troubledstriker.bsky.social www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/ghos...
#NowPlaying: 'Furlongs 1' by Gilroy Mere. Taken from the album 'Furlongs', inspired by the landscape of the Sussex Downs — out on @claypipemusic.bsky.social in September www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/now-...
In our latest author Q&A, @jennychambles.bsky.social speaks to Tallulah Brennan about feeling through tendrils of queerness, what compost can teach us about breaking down, & daffodils as symbols of the violent and the sublime. Read an extract: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/08/smal...
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.' Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Summer brings moonwort and sea thrift, rain and flame to the Highlands, as Kirsteen Bell & @annieworsley.bsky.social look for symbols of hope on their crofts www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/crof...
Opening this Saturday at The Burton, Bideford, 'A Photographic Friendship: James Ravilious and Chris Chapman' celebrates the remarkable artistic partnership of two of the UK’s most significant documentary photographers www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/a-ph... Image: James Ravilious © Beaford Arts
@jennychambles.bsky.social’s ‘Q is for Garden’ — our July Book of the Month — offers connections between queerness and the soil that @katebradbury.bsky.social didn’t know she needed: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/q-is...
Upland: Published earlier this month by Bodley Head, Ed Douglas’ big book of mountains breathes living history into immortal landscapes, writes @ebenmyrddin.bsky.social www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/ed-d...
Soon to be published by @anotherplacemag.bsky.social, Carl Bigmore's photo-and-music project 'Like a Snow Hill in the Air' is about whales — 'or more the stories we tell ourselves about whales' www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/like...
#NowPlaying: ‘Down To The River’ by Peter Rogers and @lauracannellmusic.bsky.social. Taken from the collaborative album 'The Given World', inspired by Melissa Harrison’s recent novel of the same name www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/pete...
Since we’re now (somehow) past the year’s half-way point, we thought we’d recap our first 6 Books of the Month of 2026. Need to buy a fellow nature-lover a birthday gift? Wondering what to read on the beach in the next couple of weeks? Look no further! www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/book...
New in the Shop: 'Lichen: A Beginner’s Guide to the Lichens of the World' by Rob Hodgson (£7). This handy A6 guide is printed on nice recycled paper in the UK and fits perfectly in your pocket for your next lichen hunt: rivertones.bandcamp.com/merch/lichen...
Written by the legendary A&R man for acts incl Elvis Costello, Paul Simon, K.D. Lang, Wilco, Nick Lowe & Queen Latifah, Joe McEwen's 'Tastykakes, Soul Songs & Shining Stars’ gives us 230 pages of reasons to remember why we love music, finds Jeb Loy Nichols www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/tast...
'He thought rock’n’roll was for idiots [...] & he thought it might be better if I turned at least some of my attention to Art Pepper and Johnny Griffin. He was probably right.' James Oldham pays his respects Brian Case www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/caug... Photo: @briandavidstevens.bsky.social
Recently published by TNC Books, @badwool9.bsky.social’s ‘Boomerang Process’ is full of the extraordinariness and unpredictability of human existence, writes @wednesdayerskin.bsky.social www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/boom...
#NowPlaying: ‘Rock Island Line’ by Jake Xerxes Fussell www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/now-... Taken from the album The Old Beloved Path, upcoming on Fat Possum Records.
What does The Animals of Farthing Wood’s displacement tale look like in the age of AI? Abi Andrews considers animal sentience, the data centre deluge, and the new “pay-to-destroy” approach to planning www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/data...
Re-Wilding and Re-Childing Time: Contributing editor Tallulah Brennan talks to @rebeccatamas.bsky.social about wild time, children as animists, what kinds of seasons we deserve, and England as Stonehenge www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/re-w... Author photo: Robin Silas Christian
As environmental crisis looms large — temperature ever increasing, rivers running drier, data centres getting thirstier and billionaires getting richer — help us keep publishing stories of community, resistance and hope, and gathering around them together: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/seek...
Beowulf “Wulfie” Mayfield's 'A Little Film About Little Libraries' follows reluctantly retired musician Billy Jenkins on a bike trip around the borough of Lewisham, SE London, to enjoy, tidy up and generally support an informal network of micro libraries www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/a-li...
'Queer ecology in a garden is about the untamed and unpruned.' Read an extract from @jennychambles.bsky.social’s ‘Q is for Garden’ (@manchesterup.bsky.social) — our July Book of the Month, which explores how queerness & nature entwine 🌿 www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/jenn...
#NowPlaying: ‘Move Your Body (Greater Horseshoe Bat)’ by Hanna Tuulikki & @surfacepressure.bsky.social 🦇 Taken from the collaborative album 'Echo in the Dark' — composed entirely from bat echolocation calls fused with the human voice — forthcoming on KIN-TU www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/hann...
