Many talk about ecological complexity, but is the concept useful in practice? Our new paper shows complexity is measurable in the field & can be restored But it isn’t reducible to simple indicators - we must measure multiple ecosystem properties besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Drivers of complexity in ecosystem restoration

This study shows that ecological complexity is empirically measurable, and its development in restoration can be influenced by key variables, which have mechanistic underpinnings. The foundational ro...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

"It’s a bit of a sanctuary" This is Fallowlees Farm – a welcoming, safe space on the Wallington estate in Northumberland - is run by West End Women & Girls Centre. The farm gives 1300 women and girls from Newcastle’s West End space to grow, learn new skills and spend time outdoors.

‘Be happy! Life is too short.’ This women’s-only farm is changing lives in Newcastle

Have you and your mates ever dreamed of having a farm? Well, that’s exactly what these women did. Fallowlees Farm in Northumberland is full of laughs, but it’s also SO much more than that. Hufty,…

buff.ly

Another ghost common, this one from @oldmutter.bsky.social. i love that the landscape & habitat still echo the lost common.

John Moore@oldmutter.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This the former Wain Common labelled as Waun on the old 1840s map. No longer common land and now with ghost enclosure field boundaries. Designated Open Country and still nice habitat although heavily trampled by cattle in winter. You can see Redgate towards bottom left of old map.

Great film that looks at clear air, water, soils and more as global commons - to be protected and not enclosed and commodified. 200 years ago poet John Clare wrote 'when profit gets his clutches in, there's nothing he will spare'. Yep. #filmsforaction www.filmsforaction.org/watch/the-co...

The Commons: Reclaiming What Is Ours (2019) Full Documentary

110 minutes | The Commons is a documentary film about communities re-asserting sustainable futures using consensus, equity and shared resources – ancient Commons principles. The film explores increasi...

filmsforaction.org

There are ghosts of common land all over the English landscape - here are some I have encountered. Where are yours? #commonland #righttoroam #openspacessociety open.substack.com/pub/commonpl...

Lark Rise and other ghosts

A common land year, April

open.substack.com

A Land Use Framework for England: What do we need next? Our 2025 report ‘Share The Land’ found that the UK could produce the majority of its food at home through an agroecological land-sharing approach. Read more in the article below: tinyurl.com/2sbrk52a

I’ve just emailed energy secretary Ed Miliband asking him to send the frackers packing, for good. We need a full fracking ban in England and existing loopholes closed. There’s a short window to act – get involved! foe.uk/79uit @friends-earth.bsky.social

Ed Miliband: send the frackers packing for good

Fracking in England isn’t over − yet. Right now, there’s a temporary ban on fracking. But it’s not written into law, and loopholes mean so-called low-volume fracking could still go ahead. This leaves ...

foe.uk

Dusk, bird song and a touching encounter with a rescued pony.... open.substack.com/pub/commonpl...

The running man and the pony.

At New Year, I took on the care of two ponies.

open.substack.com

I don't know where the ravens near me are nesting, but just pass dawn they fly over, croaking a bass note to the treble of the song thrush.

Marburymoths@marburybirds.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Today is the 2 year anniversary of when I met the Ravens. They just checked me out from a distance then! Here is some of my fav footage: them courting, feeding each other, barrel rolling and some of their vocalisations. They are the most amazing birds and I am so lucky to have them!

Find out more and buy tickets here and please share: www.tickettailor.com/events/joele... @sarahsteinlubrano.bsky.social

The latest instalment of my year looking at Britain's common lands; this time a March trip across the Fens, and nature lost and found at John Clare's Swaddy Well. #commonland #JohnClare #TheFens substack.com/@commonplace...

A common land year, March

At Swaddy Well

substack.com

Really loving today's glut of flower photos - all that spring life and colour!

Fran Sinclair@notfrangible.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Spoilt for choice for #WildflowerHour Common Stork’s-bill, Bulbous Buttercup, Keeled Cornsalad, Common Wintercress and Grey Field-speedwell from Bradford-on-Avon then Oxford Ragwort, Poppy, Thale Cress and Common Mallow from Trowbridge.

Just opening their pale yellow loveliness on my local common too.

Ian Senior@ians4ad.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Cowslips @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

A whole frame full of wildflowers for #wildflowerhour: dandelions, red dead-nettle, speedwell, shepherd’s purse, common chickweed and hairy bittercress. Yesterday in a Gloucestershire field.

DucklingWatch The DucklingWatch citizen science project, led by Hannah Coburn at the University of Essex, returns for its second year. Submitting your records of Mallard ducklings will help improve understanding of duckling survival rates and drivers of population trends.

Just announced: our annual Day Out in Sussex, taking place on 2nd May. Now in its 5th year, it is a unique day of talks, music, food and beer spread across the Downland village of Kingston, a few miles from both Lewes and Brighton. Full details and tickets: www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/03/caug...

Fabulously well done Tir Natur, spreading nature far and wide 👏👏👏

Helen Peatfield@helenpeatfield.bsky.social · 6mo ago

TIMELINE CLEANSER A Welsh conservation charity, Tir Natur, has purchased over 480 hectares in Cwm Doethie, Ceredigion. The largest rewilding area in Wales to date. #GoodNews #Rewilding #Nature #Conservation #Community Charity buys £2.2m tract of land for Wales’ biggest rewilding project.

Been away from social media awhile, travelling Welsh lanes the slow, old way. Sunshine and wind, kite call and raven, gorse flowers and the first white flowers of greater stitchwort in the clawdd (banks). The horses are Roger on the right and Gwen of the fine backside on the left. And breathe.

The landmark IPBES Business and Biodiversity Report found that global economic growth occurs at the expense of biodiversity, the loss of which poses a critical, systemic risk to the economy & human wellbeing. 🎥 Watch this short video to learn more. 🔗 https://www.ipbes.net/bba-report/media-release

Yesterday, I stood silently with Norwich Women in Black - part of a global movement opposing war and promoting justice. I was distracted by goldfinches singing in a city centre tree, prompting me to write about the ecological impacts of war. open.substack.com/pub/commonpl... #WomenInBlack

The nature of war

Saturday was one of those spring days when the sunshine is warm, but the shadows are still winter cold.

open.substack.com

Good to find this on my thread....my 2 years of fatigue after a fairly mild bout of covid are easing. But still no real sense of smell or of taste, which is more distressing that it sounds! It has robbed me of much interest in food and changing gas bottles is more dangerous than ever!

ME Association@meassociation.org.uk · 5mo ago

Today is Long Covid Awareness Day! Did you know that as many as 40-60% of people with Long Covid could meet the diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS? That's approximately 950,000 adults and children in the UK (read more: https://meassociation.org.uk/x7bi) #LongCovid #LongCovidAwarenessDay2026

My letter in the Guardian countering an article by a pro-growth lobbyist from Britain Remade attacking environmental legislation “Ecologists & conservationists would be surprised by his claim that the UK doesn’t & never will build enough to drive nature loss” 1/2 www.theguardian.com/environment/...

We must protect our natural habitats before they disappear | Letters

Letters: Readers respond to Sam Dumitriu’s article on protecting Britain’s environment

theguardian.com

I am interested in creating a genetically engineered mammoth - I just want us to spend our efforts on a world where the primrose and cowslip can thrive; where bats are cherished and safe, where toads call from their ancestral ponds and old woods slumber on without threat.

James Bullock@jmbecologist.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Most in conservation don’t buy the de-extinction hype of Colossal BS (or whatever they’re called) But de-extinction thinking is not that far removed from the idea we can achieve nature recovery simply by (re)introducing charismatic species using terms like keystone species & ecosystem engineers

A great but undervalued collection of nature poems by Ted Hughes was reissued by Faber this week (illustrated by Leonard Baskin). Tim Dee thinks it contains some of the best of Hughes 🦗 www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/03/flow... Image: Leonard Baskin, Grasshopper © Leonard Baskin Art Trust, 1985

Bats play vital roles in the ecosystem we all rely on, beyond that it's worth remembering Sir David Attenborough's powerful words about the natural world: "It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” www.bats.org.uk/about-bats/w...

Why bats matter - About Bats - Bat Conservation Trust

Bats matter across the UK and around the world. Bat species play a vital role in ecosystems, from agricultural land to tropical forests. They pollinate ...

bats.org.uk

UN Environment Programme@unep.org · 5mo ago

We rely on nature for our survival. Yet, over one million species are at risk of extinction due to human activity. The #GlobalGoals offer solutions to address the decline in biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/biodiversity/

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wild mums out there! 💚🙌 ~ Jack 📷 Jo Hackman Photography

#GoodNews: Slowly we are starting to get a handle on agroecological management of #biodiversity www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Why have longhorn cows been spotted at seaside on Sefton Coast?

A herd of English longhorn cows have moved to pastures new along the coast on Merseyside.

bbc.co.uk

We are watching climate change accelerate in real time: Wars Deforestation Pollution And our leaders? They wage full-scale war on the very environment that keeps us alive — with zero remorse. The house is on fire and they’re busy arguing about the curtains.

I love posts like this, giving me a little insight into a place and its lives. Send me more! Here in the flatlands, fieldfare and redwing are still moving north, but small waves of chiffchaffs are arriving in their wake.

@wordsanddeeds.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Wasn't keen on the early start to beat the road closures for the half marathon, but had a nice walk around the farm fields before the heavy rain came. Then I was on indoor duties 😁Kestrel, reed bunting, skylark, lapwing, large flock of fieldfare, goldfinch, robin, wren, RNPs, etc.

I had an interesting discussion in Wales last year, with someone who told me that the land there was especially sacred, as signified by all the standing stones. But, I said, was not all land sacred once, and in places without rocks (like the Fens), other signifiers were used? Feel free to discuss!

hookland.bsky.social@hookland.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Each stretch of land gifted with stones is at some level enchanted. For the the Long Neolithic leaks impossible narratives, disrupts our sense of the now. It makes claim to the imagination. The stones are storytellers. The stones make us storytellers. – Dr. K Brophy #StandingStoneSunday