Lucky Richard, whose editorship of the village newsletter and valiant efforts to reach the local pub earned him his own handrail. Longborough, Glos.
Laura Parker
@lauraparker.bsky.social
Countryside writer, sheep keeper, drystone wall lover. Features for Country Life mag on the fun and the fascinating. Lives in Cotswolds, from Scottish Borders. Late of ChipLitFest, which is now sadly an ex-LitFest.
Foxglove is calling for basic rules for data centres: ⚡ 100% clean power 💧 Zero water waste 🗣️ Local community consent Sign their petition to stop data centres harming our communities and environment: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/ba...
Ban data centres that harm our communities and climate
Big Tech’s giant data centres swallow as much power as millions of homes, guzzle our water, and risk driving up our energy bills - all with zero limits. We need basic rules: ⚡ 100% clean power 💧 Ze...
you.38degrees.org.uk
Autumn alchemy. Rosehips => syrup. 20 times more vitamin C than oranges! (OK loads of sugar too but still delicious)
This is really great! www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Comedy wildlife photography award finalists 2026 – in pictures
A selection of the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Awards 2026 finalists – from a shortlist featuring a caiman wearing a wig, a leopard doing a handstand, a strutting white-tailed eagle and a polar bear appeari...
theguardian.com
Has AI ever 'felt the crack of the season's first acorns uner its boot...contemplated whether its handful of blackberries is full of heavy metals...cooked beetroot from its mother's allotment.' Some brilliant examples given by @divaeh.bsky.social on shunning AI and being a human in nature.
Caught by the River@caughtbytheriver.bsky.social · last mo.This [Ai]n’t the Way: AI-generated articles about nature are fundamentally at odds with what we’re doing here, writes a very tired @divaeh.bsky.social www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/09/diva...
Ever since a soft rush planted itself in an old tub last year I've become a bit fascinated by this common plant and its uses. Result: a piece in this week's Country Life (Sep 23)
No room at this inn in Stromness, Orkney, if you don't have scurvy or have been trapped in the ice for only a few weeks.
Luckyy to have a clear, still evening to meet the Ring of Brodgar for the first time.
Such an eye-rubbingly amazing sight in the parched Cotswolds. A truly successful restored water meadows and wetlands by the rewiggled river Evenlode. #rewilding
Flash fictioneers: two weeks left to enter this year's comp with £1,600 prize money. And they have just announced this prize will not be run next year.
Oxford Flash Fiction Prize@oxfordflashfiction.bsky.social · 5mo agoLithium. Cobalt. Helium. Rare earths. The materials shaping our future are also rich sources of stories. Our 2026 competition theme is inspired by @morethanadodo.bsky.social new exhibition 34: The Critical Raw Materials Shaping Our Future by Oxford EARTH. Find out: oxfordflashfictionprize.com
If your heart stirs for a bird - and you are in Oxford - pop into the cool, calm space that is @bodleian.ox.ac and see this kestrel by Jackie Morris striding high above Gerard Manley Hopkins' first draft of The Windhover. Wonder of Birds exhibition. Free, and on until January.
It's not @iand777.bsky.social levels of filming, but still delightful to see some wren joy in a watering station.
Tout est parfait: le temps, les gens, les paysages, le golf, les plages... tout sauf le "fudge."
A fantastic set of books on the @wainwrightprize.bsky.social longlist this year: including @nicolawriting.bsky.social's Ghosts of the Farm, @drmjwarren.bsky.social's The Cuckoo's Lea, @lucylapwing.bsky.social's Love Is A Toad, & Luke Barley's Ancient. Congrats! 💚 wainwrightprize.com/news/2026-lo...
2026 Longlist Announcement - Wainwright Prize
wainwrightprize.com
Guest Alice Jolly has won the Walter Scott prize for historical fiction with The Matchbox Girl - here she chooses 4 novels set in/after the Nazi regime in Germany and asks 'What would you have done?' reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com/2026/07/gues... @alicejolly.bsky.social #Nazism #SecondWorldWar
Guest feature by Alice Jolly: WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE? - a round-up
reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
The butterfly, the cabbage white, (His honest idiocy of flight) Will never now, it is too late, Master the art of flying straight. From Crooked Flight by Robert Graves. For @nicwilson.bsky.social
The older I get the more I understand why cats just walk away mid conversation.
Intriguing drop'pin gate latch. Very old, easy to use and effective. Footpath near Snowshill, Glos. Niche post for the likes of @lakesstiles.bsky.social
My book group for writers, ‘Reading Like a Writer’ will be running again from September to February - we’ll read 6 books (fiction/essays/memoir) over 6 months, discussing what we can learn from them as writers. More details on my website. Fee: £125. Do join us! victoriamackenzie.net/teaching/
Teaching
Experienced creative writing tutor offering mentoring and editing services. Also available for readings, Q&A sessions, workshops and residential courses.
victoriamackenzie.net
On the blog: guest Laura Parker finds much to intrigue & inform in THE TATTOOED HILLS by @jonwoolcott.bsky.social reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com/2026/06/gues.... #chalkfigures #downlands #chalk #landart
Guest review by Laura Parker: THE TATTOOED HILLS - JOURNEYS TO CHALK FIGURES, by Jon Woolcott
reviewsbywriters.blogspot.com
There's something special about supermarkets in southern Europe.
Copper and lithium: 2 of the 34 critical minerals to learn about - and admire - in their raw state at Oxford Uni's Museum of Natural History new exhibition. It's ore-some. @morethanadodo.bsky.social
Anyone else enjoy a bit of old gate furniture? And a metal top rail worn smooth with years of use.
Take Four Books is the best book prog.
Association for Scottish Literature@asls.org.uk · 4mo agoCurrently on BBC Sounds: Douglas Stuart speaks to Take Four Books about his latest novel, JOHN OF JOHN, and, together with presenter James Crawford, they explore its connections to three other works of fiction. 💙📚 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
This is a lovely book about forming a relationship with a local landscape.
Nic Wilson@nicwilson.bsky.social · 5mo agoSinging along to 'Paperback Writer' 40 years ago on holiday in the back of my grandparents' old VW camper van, I honestly never thought I'd become one. But today, I am! Get your copy of Land Beneath the Waves from the wonderful Word on the Water London Bookbarge: uk.bookshop.org/p/books/land...
Jo March Greetings Cards: ‘The Stone Steps’. Also available as part of the Stone Steps and Sand Paths Collection. Blank inside, so suitable for birthdays, anniversaries, and all occasions. Dimensions: 140mm by 140mm (square). www.rathergoodart.co.uk/product/jo-m... #jomarchart #fineartcards
AI isn't only destroying culture and emitting bazillion tonnes of carbon, it also has the potential to destroy our landscapes. Thanks @benjaminmyers76.bsky.social for sending this petition against a huge data centre in the Lammermuirs. Please do sign if of interest: c.org/P9KmWfwdCJ1
Sign the Petition
Save The Lammermuirs - Stop The Data Centre
c.org
These treeplanting schemes are such a scandal: a constant threat to the Borders landscape and biodiversity and blighting people's lives - all for a raft of incentives to help the wealthy and fund managers.
Guardian Environment@environment.theguardian.com · 5mo agoTax-break trees: how woodland became a store of wealth for the rich
On tree inosculation - great word - and epiphytic trees.
Guardian Environment@environment.theguardian.com · 5mo agoCountry diary: Trees growing out of trees – the more I look, the more I find them | Merryn Glover