My grandfather didn’t know he was a Taoist.
He had fished the river Awe for sixty years.
Life is sensed as a flowing movement,
a power like wind or water. When he cast,
it was the bank that moved, not the river…
—Lorn Macintyre, “Satori”
published in The Bridport Prize Anthology 2013 (Redcliffe Press, 2013)
2025 Shortlists for The Wainwright Prize announced
The 2025 shortlists for The Wainwright Prize dropped today. There are several categories so you may want to go there e explore the full lists.
I have been reading more nature writing in recent years, I find it grounds me and helps with anxiety. It’s also a way of understand nature, being close to it in some way, even if you live in a city that doesn’t value nature.
I have The Accidental Garden in my ToBuy/TBR lists, but I’m also curious about other titles.
My essay "The Silent Madness of Whales" is the contribution of the month over at Zoetic Press. https://www.zoeticpress.com/contributorofthemonth/2025/8/1/the-silent-madness-of-whales
"When I was a little girl, I liked to walk down to the landwash to see the bodies of pothead whales. In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, they often beached themselves on the shoreline of my home in Musgrave Harbour, Newfoundland. My family had to keep the dogs on leashes, otherwise they would tunnel inside rotting whales and roll around. The dogs loved the smell, but we did not."
The hill is tossing high, frail wisps of
rosy cloud to glide in steady gale
along a turquoise sky, around, above the
perpendicular and slightly askew columns,
above the triangular gap
between crown and crag…
—Tessa Ransford, “August 3rd”
published in Shadows from the Greater Hill (Ramsay Head Press, 1987)
“It’s impossible not to love the world more when reading Burnside, and impossible not to be more scared and saddened while doing so. He was the ideal laureate of our age, painfully alive to the glory of what we’re losing.”
—Sarah Crown reviews John Burnside’s posthumously published final poetry collection THE EMPIRE OF FORGETTING
A post about #water & #rivers: From the history of the #Danube to the #Wutach in the #BlackForest – one of the last wild rivers in Germany. With reflections by Alexander von Humboldt, one of the first ecologists, and a #readingtip: the new book by #RobertMacfarlane. Bonus track: a #photo exhibition.
The grey roots circle thee, who never knew
At any hour within thy travels lone
A human shape but mine…
—Olive Fraser, “The Adder of Quinag”
First published in The Pure Account (Aberdeen University Press, 1981), & included in The Wrong Music (@canongatebooks 1989)
A poem for #WorldSnakeDay 
“I was born in 1962. There’s been an environmental crisis for as long as I’ve lived. To step outside that constant culpability was one of the many delights of RING OF BRIGHT WATER.”
—Kathleen Jamie in the London Review of Books on Gavin Maxwell (1914–1969) – born #OTD, 15 July
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n14/kathleen-jamie/diary
The creator has an inordinate fondness for beetles. --J.B.S. Haldane (common quote version)
different known types of
beetles: 300,000
birds: 9,000
mammals: 10,000
J.B.S.H. was a brilliant biology scientist, speechifier, and raconteur.
#Biology #Genetics #PublicSpeaking #NatureWriting
Ein Beitrag über #Wasser & #Flüsse: Von der Geschichte der #Donau bis zur #Wutach im #Schwarzwald – einer der letzten wilden Flüsse Deutschlands. Mit Gedanken von Alexander von Humboldt, einem der ersten Ökologen, & einem #Lesetipp: das neue Buch von #RobertMacfarlane. Bonustrack: eine Fotoausstellung...
Someone just shared this on Bluesky and I laughed out loud. Perfectly captures a certain type of Nature writing.
New review: Is a River Alive? is a hydrological odyssey into three river systems that sees Macfarlane wrestle with this question and examine its relevance to the nascent Rights of Nature movement.
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2025/07/04/book-review-is-a-river-alive/
#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Rivers #Hydrology #RightsOfNature #NatureWriting #EnvironmentalLaw #Scicomm @bookstodon
Currently cooking: Is a River Alive? Review coming soon to https://inquisitivebiologist.com
This is a very beautiful & moving read Diary of a Young Naturalist by @naturalistdara.bsky.social #booksky #bookrecommendation #naturewriting #conservationist #activist #wildlife #escape #speirgorm
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon 
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon
#Naturebook challenge. A book per day, in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature, environment and conservation books. No explanations, no reviews, just covers!
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #conservation #Permaculture #Organicgardening #naturebookchallenge #bookMastodon #bookstodon
