🚨 BBC 500 Words opens for submissions on Tuesday 29th September at 8am! 🚨 The UK’s biggest children’s story-writing competition is back - inviting young storytellers to write the kind of story they would love to read. 🕒 Entry deadline: Friday 6th November at 9pm

500 Words

BBC's 500 Words, the UK's largest children's writing competition for children aged 5-11.

bbc.co.uk

I've been adding to the photography section of my website. Landscapes, travel, wildlife and birds, from Namibia and Indonesia to Wales and Derby. Photography and writing increasingly seem to lead me to the same places. davideowen.uk/photography

Betty Cartwright is 85, wears pearls to breakfast and swears like a trooper. On Monday she's complaining about the toast. On Tuesday her flat is being emptied. And there was an ambulance outside Oakmere during the night. New Oakmere Lodge story: davideowen.uk/oakmere-lodge

Blue Tit photographed in Derby.

Colin Briggs is in a care home and doesn't need care, but is struggling to leave. The adventures of Colin, and the residents of Oakmere Lodge are available at: davideowen.uk/oakmere-lodge They're free to read and are updated regularly.

Meet Colin Briggs. He's 71 and has spent eighteen months in Oakmere Lodge despite not needing care. His wife recovered and moved out. Colin stayed. So he writes about the other residents. Unfortunately, they read it. My new darkly comic fiction series: davideowen.uk/oakmere-lodge

One of the pleasures of wildlife photography is never quite knowing what you're going to find. Sometimes you wait for hours and nothing happens. Occasionally, everything is already waiting for you when you arrive. Photographed in Namibia.

When the Stones Held In 18th-century Wales, William Edwards attempts the impossible: a single-span stone bridge across the River Taff. A story of ambition, love, failure and the ordinary lives history rarely records. Available now: davideowen.uk