Jen Ratcliffe

Yes, seems too big to be something else right? I'll take it!

Beautiful place to spend the first day of March, there's been a real hum of Spring along the towpath today. Multiple runners literally laughing as they flew past in the dawn sunshine

March sashay's into view,
comical yellow daffodils
pearly morning clouds,
rain that stretches colours
sun that stretches days,
mud,
sweat
country pubs
- hope

Working as a pair (the other to the right at the end)

Couldn't quite decide what bird it was though?

#DailyNature #NatureWriting #Spring

WOW! Look at this! This has filled me with absolute joy.

Buzzingly beautiful 💚 Spring was definitely all around today

What a fabulous first post. Thank you for sharing Charlie 😊

Here's a starter pack of inspirational regular nature contributers on BlueSky and some nature feeds too

go.bsky.app/RUhJfc6

It's that time again 💚🌲

Join us this equinox month in a challenge to celebrate Ostara! 🥚🌈🌸

🐇 1st - 31st March
🐤 1 Post each day
🐑 About a moment in nature
🦌Tag it #DailyNature

I'll select a few each week to go up on the Substack recap

Will you be joining in?

#NatureWriting #Challenge #QuietSky

Thanks so much for coming Margi, I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

I'll be posting the recording this weekend with full transcription 💙🌊📚

& thanks to @amyjanebeer.bsky.social for her inspirational words

Badger footprint(s) in soft mud.

A nice badger footprint — well, two footprints, as the smaller hind print overlaps the larger front one (claw marks visible). A shape like that of a little bear.

Live talk with @amyjanebeer.bsky.social tomorrow evening talking about words, water and wonder 🌊💙

via this link

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

#NatureWriting #Books #Substack #environment #rivers #water #wildness

British dual nationals risk imminent refusal of travel to UK, Home Office affirms Government ignores pleas for a grace period before new rules come into force on Wednesday British citizens with a second nationality risk being blocked from entering the UK from Wednesday, the Home Office has confirmed. The government has decided to ignore pleas from families, the Liberal Democrats and the former Conservative cabinet minister David Davies for a grace period to allow British dual nationals to adapt to the new rules they face. Continue reading...

British dual nationals risk imminent refusal of travel to UK, Home Office affirms

Two kinds of lichen, one intensely green, the other light green, both on a twig.

Soaking wet after yesterday’s rain, some lichen’s green is so intense & alive that I can’t help smiling broadly.
And I’m reminded that the natural world is an ORCHESTRA OF LIFE with every player contributing to the whole.

#lichen #mycology #fungifriends #photography #nature #orchestra #biodiversity

Very cute, I can totally hear it as well

YouTube video by KateBushMusic Kate Bush - Wuthering Heights - Official Music Video - Version 1

I've just found out that my partner as a child did not know that Kate Bush was saying Heathcliff & Cathy...

He believed she was saying

'He-He, It's me, I'm HAPPY'

I think, I might have to adopt this version forever now 😂💙✨

youtu.be/-1pMMIe4hb4?...

#WutheringHeights #Mondegreen
#KateBush
#music

slow, careful
old man with stick

I'm glad the Robin was there to sing and soothe, sorry the days are heavy for you at the moment - wishing you many choruses and winged wonders to see you through.

Distance is painted in soft slate and khaki trees, unknown wings blurring past. Holding nostalgia, for every moment I've looked but not seen, for faded fuzzing landscapes of 90s TV, for forest names- then recognition- of one old oak, urging me to wave, as though it will return the gesture.

#Nature

Reminder - Upcoming live author Event book with the lovely @amyjanebeer.bsky.social

Please RSVP below to receive a link to the session

Appreciate RT & share if you think others may enjoy 💙

#Nature #NatureWriting #UKCanals #GuardianCountryDiary #Water #Writing #AuthorEvent #BookClub #Environment

Good to be out but also suffering from illnesses 😅 alas - the sun has come out yesterday and a new virus has arrived.

Went to the Lake District which was lovely to get away - saw a red squirrel 🧡 highlight!

Well done on your chapters 💪 keep it up! 🎉

Water Book Club starting next week 🌊

No worries - how was your time away from the online world? I've also been dipping out

Country diary: Persistence and confusion – this is how magpies build their nest | Nic Wilson Hitchin, Hertfordshire: It’s not quick, it’s not graceful, but these early nesters are hard at work in preparation for egg-laying in a few weeks

This pair of magpies have been helping me hold onto the joy of life while I've not been so good recently. I hope you enjoy them too.

@theguardian.com #countrydiary #naturewriting

In a large glass stein stands multicoloured striped plastic straws

British Humour:

Going around a friend's house and finding the stash of discarded birthday party c1993 plastic straws and declaring them contraband/ illegal - 'I'm calling the police'

#VeryBritishProblems

Can I get a pack of bickies and a good book to go with my ban?

☕🍪📚

Farewell *said as though a ghost falling into another dimension*

a man sitting at a desk reading a book with the words visualise the ocean above him ALT: a man sitting at a desk reading a book with the words visualise the ocean above him

P.S. I'm totally fine and not at all traumatised that it took me 2hrs to upload 5 minutes of audio today, totally fine...

An accidental boat ‘birder’ How I became a fully fledged avian enthusiast after living afloat...

An article I originally published with Waterways World is now up on my Substack with audio 🔊

About how life on water accidentally led me into birding 🦢

open.substack.com/pub/jenratcl...

#NatureWriting #UKCanals #Birding

haha - they get so mischievous don't they? I'll never forget the stollen sausage of my first few months on the canal, and that is how I learned they eat anything and fain shyness 😂

A photo of majestic hills and the branch of a tree in the foreground has the following poem by Germaine Hypher typed in white over it: There are so many Bodies of water that have never Had the pleasure of touching my skin So many Views denied the shiver Of me breathing them in So many Riffs and beats that will never feel the Heat of me riding their backs So many Cracks in the world to Slip into

A wistful Valentine poem to the world, by me. ✍🏻

#Chronicillness #mecfs #ME/CFS #Chronicpain #chronicfatigue #invisibleillness #disability #housebound #poetry #poem #creativewriting #naturewriting

A Willow Tit, light brown body, white cheeks fading to grey and brown at the edges, a black cap and chin is perched on a branch.

A local Willow Tit to celebrate going past 15,000 reads of my blog. Small beans in the scheme of things, but a small joy to me. Thank you if you've read any of my nonsense. #birds #ukbirding #naturewriting

When I was a lad
Each week, Mum used to boil
Our hankies in a great iron pan.
Condensation would run
Down the window
And kitchen walls.
The house filled with
The smell of soap flakes
And steam, and what I now
Know is love.
Today, the sky is the colour
Of that water.
And I miss her terribly.
#poetry