John Johnston

Misty scene at Jaw Reservoir with a pier over calm water and a foggy shoreline.

#SilentSunday

A collage of four images showing a deer jumping over a wire fence

A lot of deer around today, lots of bellowing from stags.

A jay in the branches of a hawthorn bush

A little Egret in a field

A dull afternoon, breezy with the threat of drizzle. Walked round the short loop on the Kilpatrick braes. As I came back on the road by the cattle grid I heard a harsh call from the ‘hawthorn field’ next to the gate. It kept going and Merli... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/the-braes-a-jay-an-egret/

On 30 October MSPs will debate the Natural Environment Bill - a vital opportunity to ensure that Scotland sets legally binding nature recovery targets.

Help inspire MSPs to support meaningful action for nature by sharing these 40 powerful messages: www.scotlandlovesnature.scot/dear-msp-nat...

If you can point any folk interested in Scottish Education to this post I'd be grateful id you pass it on. Looking to expand the gather & reach of ScotEduBlogs

#scotedusky
#eduscot
#scotedu
#scoted

ScotsEduBlogs Update: https://johnjohnston.info/blog/scotsedublogs-update/

High-contrast black and white image of a forest with tall trees and dappled sunlight.

I’ve been messing about with the simplest ImageMagick scripts again.


magick "$file" -threshold 25% -fill white +opaque black "${file%.*}bw25.gif"



Sort of thing. Changing the threshold repeatedly. A few more on Flickr. I am not sure why I like these but I do.

Likes Do you remember the books you read? • (Venkatram Harish Belvadi) by V.H. Belvadi .

I do not ‘remember’ most of the books I have read. I can recall which ones I liked and roughly why I liked them, but I cannot recount the plot minutely or repeat all... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/21298-2/

Red Admiral resting on a rock

After Storm Amy it brightened up a little this morning. This Red Admiral to the chance of a bit of sunlight. !wonder how many more we will see this year. A bit later I saw a white flying around too, despite the wind. #butterfly

I've now hear the longer version & just on pick of the week. I love the reclaiming of the downy stuffing, wobbly flight & unclipped wind-riders.
Over the years I've searched your blog for outdoor ideas more times than I can count. All the very best.

Liked: Exploring WordPress, Textcasting, and Open Web Standards: https://johnjohnston.info/blog/liked-exploring-wordpress-textcasting-and-open-web-standards/

Likes blocktober.fun.

Idea: Create a block every day for October using Telex as the creation tool."



I had a quick try with Telex last month. This is something else!

Only just listened to the excerpt in the Saturday program so far. This next in my podcast queue. 💙

The free press fights back... Introducing the Nerve. From the wreckage of my old newspaper, comes a new all-women, journalist-owned, independent publication. Join us!

Right. A bit more about what we’re up to.

Would love feedback, do stick a comment at the end. And do please consider signing up to find out more www.thenerve.news

open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

A woodland path with sunlight filtering through the trees and lush vegetation.

#SilentSunday

Read: Ripeness by Sarah Moss ★★★★ 📚Edith in her 70s in 2023 and 17 in the 70s in alternative chapters, the echos of the holocaust, family, belonging to a place, refugees & friendship. Excursions into Irishness & ballet.


Mike’s fri... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/ripeness-by-sarah-moss/

Read: Now We Shall Be Entirely Free by Andrew Miller


After The Land in Winter, this turned out to be quite different. Reminded me of Kidnapped! An atrocity in Spain, an English solider, running from another sent to kill him, heads fo... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/now-we-shall-be-entirely-free/

Red Admiral wings closed on pink flowers

Red Admiral on pink flowers

A red admiral In the pink. As I took the wings closed image a bee flew very close, wings snapped open.

I'm up for that - it had crossed my mind but then term began again. And the to do list unrolled 😆

Four red deer hinds stading in a tight group

milkwort flower

Photos, notes & map from a walk on Tuesday: walkmap

Block Vibes I saw a link to Telex – AI-Assisted Authoring Environment for WordPress Blocks this week and thought I would give it a try. A few (eek, 10) years ago I tried to make a plug-in for WordPress that wo…

johnjohnston.info/blog/block-v...

Might be the weirdest think on the internet today, post hosted on a vape.

Channel 4 to mark Trump’s UK visit with ‘longest uninterrupted reel of untruths’ Broadcaster to dedicate Wednesday night schedule to unpicking US president’s false or misleading statements

Fabulous @channel4.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Likes Learning WordPress All Over Again – And He Blogs by Andy Rush.

I’m finding that the simpler approach of FSE and the block editor is better. It may have had a bad start, but it has noticeably improved over the last few ... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/likes-learning-wordpress-all-over-again/

English food What do you see in the picture, when do you think it was taken, what is happening, what's the story behind the picture? This picture was s...

I couldn't resist a cheeky little assembly for secondary school pupils using this photo that went viral today. Schools may want to use it with older pupils to discuss diversity in the UK today #NoOutsiders #belonging #diversity #refugeeswelcome no-outsiders-secondary.blogspot.com/2025/09/engl...

Spider web with water droplets on dried hogweed branches against an overcast landscape.

#silentsunday

Auto-generated description: A side mirror on a vehicle reflects a colorful sign saying ALWAYS BE YOURSELF along a street scene.

Each of us is part of an interpretive community that gives us a particular way of reading a text: https://thoughtshrapnel.com/2025/09/13/each-of-us-is-part.html

From @walesonline.bsky.social 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

flickr-summer-2025 photos I took and uploaded to flickr in Summer 2025

A quick video of photos I've uploaded to flickr this summer.

vimeo.com/1118174431

Likes It’s really simple by Dave Winer.

The name Really Simple Syndication is supposed to make you smile, while most techie formats make you want to pull your hair out. RSS reads pretty well even if you know nothing about feeds and XML. I w... https://johnjohnston.info/blog/likes-its-really-simple/