I went on the Uncanny Landscapes podcast to discuss the complex natural and social history of Epping Forest, the problems of rewilding and nature cure orthodoxy, sex, and instinctual fear of woodland at night. Images from Epping Forest, earlier. uncannylandscapes.podbean.com

🌊 Learning from ecologists, farmers, policymakers, communities, activists and ecosystems across Europe 🗺️ @robsaintjohn.bsky.social on what four years of making the @merlin-project.bsky.social podcast taught him about why the stories we tell about water matter freshwaterblog.net/2026/04/21/t...

The stories we tell about water: reflections on science, policy and restoration in Europe

Image: Emir Anik | Pexels Creative Commons By Freshwater Blog editor Rob St John. /// Sit beside a river and it is hard not to be moved. Water flows, light flickers, birdsong echoes. The problem is…

freshwaterblog.net

There is a viral video going around on X and Facebook which has been seized on by the far-right. It claims to show a young British Asian destroying a dry stone wall. But as so often with such ragebait, the video isn't what it seems. Here is my, probably forlorn, attempt to correct the record.

The far-right and a dry stone wall

a viral video promoted by racists is not what it seems

open.substack.com

Great to see Bowland as one of the proposed reintroduction sites.

Raptor Persecution UK@raptorpersuk.bsky.social · 4mo ago

£1 Million Government funding to explore re-establishment of Golden Eagles in England. Govt press release and my commentary ⬇️ #RaptorResearch #Ornithology #BirdingLinks #BirdingEngland raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/04/12/1...

'Archives are themselves landscapes: joining up threads of time and space; always open to being remade.’ @robsaintjohn.bsky.social considers how archival material informed his 2025 series of film, sound and textile installations across the Forest of Bowland www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/01/shad...

The full film from @robsaintjohn.bsky.social and Kate O’Farrell’s Are You Lost? project — exploring the diverse voices, histories and ecologies around the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire — is now available to watch online www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/10/are-...

Tomorrow at the National Gallery @robsaintjohn.bsky.social is performing field recordings, drones, spoken word by the good people of Lancashire & live viola d’amore played by Scott King. Landscape w people. I'll be interviewing Rob, free in, come along: www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/frida...

This Friday at the National Gallery in London www.nationalgallery.org.uk/events/frida...

Two weeks until KRANKENHAUS opens w a @thequietus.com double bill of moving image & words: Me & @robsaintjohn.bsky.social on the fragile body in militarised landscapes from Örö to the Cumbrian coast. @jahduran.bsky.social & Sapphire Goss on death & subterranean Liverpool. krankenhausfestival.com

It's not town vs country, whatever the culture warriors might tell you. It's money and power vs people. This week's column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

An entire village in Dorset is facing eviction – proof that private money holds all the power in rural England | George Monbiot

This scandalous story gives lie to the claim that the biggest threat to country life comes from city dwellers, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

theguardian.com

New Uncanny Landscapes podcast episode - an interview with Rob St John about his work listening to landscapes and communities. uncannylandscapes.substack.com/p/listening-...

Listening with Rob St John: Uncanny Landscapes podcast S2E5

Artist, musician and writer Rob St John discusses his new projects listening to the landscapes and communities of NW England - and what it means to listen and be listened to.

uncannylandscapes.substack.com

A new book by a former Shooting Times editor argues that large landowners are given a hard time, and that campaigns to increase public access to the countryside are wrong. Surprisingly enough, the establishment loves it.

Solidarity of the Ruling Class

A new book by a former <i>Shooting Times</i> editor argues that large landowners are given a hard time, and that campaigns to increase public access to the countryside are wrong. Surprisingly enough,…

tribunemag.co.uk

News of the Are You Lost? installations across Bowland this summer. Film, sound, textiles made with people and place. www.robstjohn.co.uk/portfolio/ar...

My good pal @robsaintjohn.bsky.social was on Countryfile last night - sharing the joys of the Forest of Bowland, from 19 mins 30 secs: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Countryfile

The people, places and stories making news in the British countryside.

bbc.co.uk

The new Are You Lost? podcast is out today, featuring amazing young people from Yes Hub in Nelson talking about access to Bowland and Pendle, connections to nature, and their everyday lives. Tune in! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Ep.5 – Pendle’s Hidden Gems — a Yes Hub podcast

Podcast Episode · Are You Lost? · 19/04/2025 · 45m

podcasts.apple.com

‘Listening is slow, careful work. Generational work. Epochal work.’ Director & choreographer Ruth Allen introduces ‘Everything Happens for a Season’ — a film made with @robsaintjohn.bsky.social which asks: What does it mean to listen to the world? www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/04/ever...

The government’s Land Use consultation is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to intervene in this critical issue. Here’s my response to it. Please feel free to borrow / copy & paste as much as you want. It’s crucial that we engage. www.monbiot.com/2025/03/23/f... 1/3 🧵

First Sight of Land

For the first time, the government is consulting on a Land Use Framework for England. It’s an important step, but there’s a long way to go.

monbiot.com

The new Are You Lost? podcast features chats with walking guide and historian Nick Burton on the Nick of Pendle and archaeologist Dr Rick Peterson at the Fairy Holes Cave above Whitewell in the Forest of Bowland. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/e...

Ep.4 – Bowland’s radical histories and prehistoric archaeologies

Podcast Episode · Are You Lost? · 19/03/2025 · 39m

podcasts.apple.com

'A symbol in the sky – a moon, star or cloud formation – acts as an anchor ...They are illusions of balance and peace formed through temporary stillings of a world made increasingly strange.' @robsaintjohn.bsky.social considers Richard J. Butler’s micro-topographies https://buff.ly/3EMNlNW

Enjoyed chatting with Benjamin Tassie for his Future Classical show on Resonance FM. Strange and enjoyable to look back on a decade of destroying sounds and putting them back together again. www.mixcloud.com/Resonance/fu...

New sound installation opening at the weekend in York, alongside an exhibition of Rose Ferraby’s new work. Geophone drones, pipe organs, bells, hydrophones in the flooded river etc etc Free, and on until late 2024.

Friday! Morecambe! @robsaintjohn.bsky.social & I are performing a live collaboration in response to his work on the Finnish island of Örö: Rob's films & sonics, me reading about the universal in military ecologies & the human body & desire set against it. Free in. jwllrs.eventcube.io/events/53488...

Looking forward to this. Collab with @luketurner.bsky.social at Lancashire's best new art space on 1st Dec. Words, films, sounds on islands, military, sexuality, new naturez etc. And its free! j-e-w-e-l-l-e-r-s.net