Michael J. Warren

Tree sparrows perched on a branch

Bird place-name of the day 113: SUGHAM FM (Lingfield, Surrey). OE sucga + ham. ‘Farm/estate frequented by sparrows’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting #oldenglish #placenames

Image of countryside with words reading: 'Let communities own rivers, woods & moors. Write to your MP about the upcoming Community Right to Buy laws'

Let communities own rivers, woods & moors!

Excellent to see @simonforstroud.bsky.social has tabled amendments 107 & 108 to the Devolution Bill to strengthen Community Right to Buy laws in this way.

We need more Labour MPs to support this - email yours:
www.reclaimourmoors.uk/write-to-you... 1/

This looks brill. Don’t suppose it will be recorded?

For the gorgeous indie edition, view stores here: linktr.ee/cuckoosleasp... But do check each store’s details carefully; they don’t all sell the indie edition online, just in store. Those that do will advertise it clearly. Anything bought via Bookshop.org will be the standard edition.

Was awesome! A packed out venue. A top event of 2025 for me. Thanks ever so to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and @thebookery.bsky.social. I’ll be finding the rooks of Lapford again this dusk at Bury Barton. #thecuckooslea #birdsandplace #authorevents

We're looking forward to this! 🤩⤵️

@nicolawriting.bsky.social, on my way to Crediton for my talk with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social tonight, and thinking of you as we stop at Hungerford. Sadly no time to jump off and pay you a flying visit!

If you haven’t got your ticket yet, you still can: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/cre...

Eurasian woodcock on ground

OS map showing Devon village of Cockwood.

Tonight’s the night— @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I are at @thebookery.bsky.social! Last one in my Devon series, making bird place-name of the day 112: COCKWOOD. OE cocc + wudu. ‘Wood where woodcock are seen’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

See you there. @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I will be taking birds, place and belonging, with, of course, a distinct Devon flavour! #WhatsOn #Crediton #AuthorTalks

Yes. I remember Adlestrop— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop—only the name And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, No whit less still and lonely fair Than the high cloudlets in the sky. And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and round him, mistier, Farther and farther, all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire.

The poem on my heart today: #Adlestrop, by Edward Thomas. A moment of stillness at a deserted railway station in the summer of 1914: written in early 1915, and published in spring 1917, just days after Second Lieutenant Edward Thomas, Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed at the Battle of Arras.

Our North West Local Group set out on a trespass walk along the River Bollin, rambling through town, woodland, water, and fields. Along the way, they visited a woodland microenclosure watched over by CCTV cameras, and later took to the river for a paddle.

There are still some tickets left for my event with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social. See you there! www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/cre... #Crediton #WhatsOn

Red kite in flight

OS map showing minor place-name, Kitley.

Continuing with the Devon series in the run up to my event on 13th @thebookery.bsky.social, bird place-name of the day 111 is: KITLEY. Old English: cyta + leah. ‘Kite woodland/clearing’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Greylag goose

OS map showing Devon village of Gosford.

Continuing with the Devon series in the run up to my event on 13th @thebookery.bsky.social, bird place-name of the day 110 is: GOSFORD. Straightforward this one and the name hasn’t changed at all from the Old English: gos + ford. ‘Ford where geese can cross’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

It’s all worrying isn’t it. I genuinely suffer from anxiety on these matters.

And if you already have books by @guyshrubsole.bsky.social, bring them along for signing!

Really looking forward to this, with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social, next Thursday (13th Nov). Come and join us for an evening of birds, place and belonging. #Crediton #naturewriting

🎫 Have you got your ticket yet?

🐦‍⬛ We can't wait to welcome @drmjwarren.bsky.social to The Bookery this coming Thursday to discuss his new book, The Cuckoo’s Lea: The Forgotten History of Birds and Place, in conversation with environmental campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole! 🧵 ⬇️

Oh please let these forecast temperatures be on the way later on this November. I can’t deal with this warmth. Literally very comfortable out in shorts and t-shirt today. 😔 #WarmNovember #RecordBreakingWeather

‘Giving up would be a betrayal’: Miliband says 1.5C target still alive before Cop30 Exclusive: Environment secretary says global tipping points are possible as he rejects far-right climate ‘defeatism’

"Giving up [on 1.5C] would be a total betrayal. Defeatism never took a single of a fraction of a degree of global warming. It never created a single job.”

Hear, hear, Ed Miliband.

(But also: some of those defeatists appear to be in the Treasury currently)

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Ramridge may no longer be there, but ravens sure are in the area. If you’re a Devon local, come and here me and @guyshrubsole.bsky.social talk about ravens and other birds in the places of Devon, @thebookery.bsky.social in Crediton, 13th November: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/cre...

Common raven

Bird place-name of the day 109: RAMRIDGE (lost place, somewhere in Devon parish of Holcombe Burnell: www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Resu... ). OE hremn + hrycg. ‘Ravens’ ridge’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

Jackdaw

OS map showing Devon village of KIGBEARE.

Still in Devon, bird place-name of the day 108 is KIGBEARE. OE ca + bearu. ‘Jackdaw wood’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting

European countries want Brazil to increase forest conservation (it certainly can). But some of the world's best opportunities to spare & restore carbon in native forests—while displacing the least food production—actually lie in Europe. Our analysis shows this: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William

This is absolutely appalling.

"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."

Absolutely pathetic.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

That’s directly cognate with Old English hremn, an alternative to hrefn.

😁👍

Thanks Chris. Great to hear you’re enjoying. Yes, I’m Dr Warren, fully paid up medievalist! Check out my website and book for more info on place-name study. Sources for my work are from, and supported by, the English Place-Name Society.

Dunnock on grass

OS map showing Devon village of DUNKESWELL.

Next in the Devon series, bird place-name of the day 107: DUNKESWELL. OE dunnoc + wella. ‘Dunnock’s spring’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting