I'm joining fabulous people for this year's WILD KEEP weekend at Hedingham Castle, 3-4 MAY. East Anglian people, join the May bank holiday fun--crafts, history, authors, music, nature, food! www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk/events/wild-... #CastleHedingham #naturewriting @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social

#naturewriting #AuthorTalk #ChippingCamden

David Attenborough takes on PHEASANTS!

“Native to Asia, but now released into our countryside on an industrial scale, over 30 million every year… eating vast numbers of insects, reptiles and amphibians every day.”

Time for the Government to regulate this out-of-control industry

#SecretGarden

I'm joining fabulous people for this year's WILD KEEP weekend at Hedingham Castle, 3-4 MAY. East Anglian people, join the May bank holiday fun--crafts, history, authors, music, nature, food! www.hedinghamcastle.co.uk/events/wild-... #CastleHedingham #naturewriting @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social

Common cuckoo eating a caterpillar

OS map showing area of historic settlement of Yagdon in Shropshire near the village of Leaton.

Well, head my first cuckoo of 2026 last weekend and hoping to see one this weekend … so place-name of the day 148 is lost YAGDON (Shrop). OE geac + dun. ‘Cuckoo hill’. #PlaceNames #naturewriting #birdsandplace

I’m all up for activism, but didn’t see myself ever being chained to railings. Still, since I am … join me at the Steyning Festival on 22nd May, in conversation with Henri Brocklebank from @sussexwildlife.bsky.social Tickets: www.steyningfestival.co.uk/events/micha... #AuthorTalk #naturewriting

See you there! Will be coming into London after teaching. 😁

@guyshrubsole.bsky.social @sophiepavs.bsky.social @stephenmossauthor.bsky.social @benhoare.bsky.social @curlewaction.bsky.social @amyjanebeer.bsky.social

So this is happening. I’m in conversation with acclaimed novelist and nature writer Melissa Harrison about her incredible new novel, The Given World. Come and join us Devon people! Tickets here: www.ticketsource.com/thebookery/m... @thebookery.bsky.social #naturewriting #AuthorTalk #Crediton

#Nature lovers in the #Cotswolds don't miss Thursday 7th May book events with @drmjwarren.bsky.social @chiffchat.bsky.social 🦉& @adamweymouth.bsky.social 🐾 Tickets on line: www.campdenmayfestivals.co.uk/literature/e...

Hawthorn in bloom

OS map showing Hatherleigh village in Devon

Place-name of the day 147. Because some of these are already in bloom. Hatherleigh (Dev). OE haguþorn + leah. ‘Hawthorn wood/clearing’. #PlaceNames #naturewriting

Hawthorn tree in bloom

My driveway hawthorn. Little early fella. We’ll have to rename this mainstay of hedgerows the April Tree in future years. #SpringIsHere #Hawthorn #ClimateChange

A perk of living in Essex Rebecca, as when I was in Kent. Sending you nightingale song!

It’s a special place. 😁

Yes indeed. 😁

Really looking forward to this talk at the brilliant Chipping Camden Lit Fest. Come join me! Cuckoos, owls and other birds—how do they shape our sense of place and how did they end up in so many of our place-names? #AuthorTalk #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Sorry, autocorrect; singing males, of course!

Nightingales are in. 28 singing makes at last count at @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social reserve at Fingringhoe, Essex. #Nightingales #SpringHasArrived #SpringBirds

Classic @dailymail.co.uk BS, with, no doubt, completely fabricated claims about voters. On the idea that drilling in the North Sea will reduce household bills (and like this would happen immediately anyway!) see here: www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/drill-b...
@guyshrubsole.bsky.social

Celandine and wood anemone

Signs of spring this Easter Day. 😁 #SpringFlowers #WhatToLookForInSpring #naturewriting

Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis)

Ragged robin (Silene flos-cuculi)

OS map shoring Boultham, Lincolnshire.

Break from the cranes to bring you place-name of the day 146. Because it’s Easter and spring. And it’s time we had some flower names. Boultham (Lincs). OE bulut + hamm. ‘Land hemmed in by marsh where ragged robin or cuckoo flower grows’. #PlaceNames #naturewriting

A Good Read - Patrick Grant and Mary-Ann Ochota - BBC Sounds More favourite books with Harriett Gilbert and guests.

So honoured to have the absolute legend that is @maryannochota.bsky.social choose #TheFlow as her pick on Radio 4 A Good Read today. Available to listen at leisure here www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Cranfield, Bedfordshire?

Common crane in grassy field

OS map showing old Crannaford next to very new Cranbrook, in Devon.

Bird place-name of the day 144, cont. crane series: CRANNAFORD (Dev). OE cran + ford. ‘Cranes’ ford’. Cranbrook, the more obvious of the two in the map, is a brand new town! The name was presumably borrowed from Crannaford. (Bonus rook place in there too!) #PlaceNames #birdsandplace #naturewriting

We have teamed up with the Lek It Be campaign to encourage us all to leave Capercaillie in peace (including so-called 'rogue' birds) during this breeding season.
#lekitbe 1/4

Congrats on the book Nick.

Country diary: These ‘mystery’ geese and I have a fond history | Nick Acheson Holkham, Norfolk: They’re noisy and boisterous and should by rights should be breeding in Siberia, not eastern England. But I’m delighted they’re here

In today's @theguardian.com country diary, @themarshtit.bsky.social meets some familiar geese.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

‘A national scandal’: trawlers scour seabeds of supposedly protected UK waters ‘Precious ocean life is being pushed to the brink’ say campaigners, arguing that overfished marine areas are ‘protected only on paper’

🚨🐟 +1 MILLION tonnes of fish were snatched by trawlers from UK marine "protected" areas in just four years, showing that our marine parks are currently little more than lines on a map 1/4 🔽 @greenpeaceuk.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

‘We didn’t want to be preachy’: David Attenborough’s unexpected new show – which might enrage cat lovers The great naturalist, who is about to turn 100, is still surprised by wildlife in his new series about British gardens. But not every pet owner will be happy with his top tips

“Every year, we unleash this scourge on the countryside. It’s messing with the ecology.”

Delighted to see David Attenborough’s new series will tackle pheasants, and how landowners release millions of them each year!

(The words are from Attenborough’s producer)

www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

Continuing my crane mini series … bird place-name of the day 143: CRANMOOR (Staffs). OE cran + mor. ‘Cranes’ marshy open land’ (sounds like great crane habitat!) #PlaceNames #birdsandplace #naturewriting