Michael Wilson

“We cannot efface anything from the web that bind us all without wider consequence. Ecosystems unravel, societies falter, imaginations become bland. Yet it is easier to imagine resurrecting mammoths than changing how we live.” ~ Adam Weymouth.

Fabulous book!

November bitch tree. #trees

Autumn sun on the River Tweed at Berwick. #NatureConnection

Week 2: The Way of the Birch, continues a yearlong #NatureConnection journey in my book Portals into Deep Imagination: Celtic Mythology, Nature’s Year, and the Quest for Soul: linktr.ee/mikewilsonuk #resilence and new beginnings.

James Paterson’s ‘Autumn in Glencairn, Moniaive’ always makes me pause longer than when in front of any other paintings in the National Gallery, Edinburgh. It’s the way the landscape pulls me in to connect with nature, and with the season.

Alan Garner’s living tapestry The novelist’s creative life was woven from a childhood in northern England’s mythic landscape.

Kathleen Jamie’s review of Alan Garner’s Powsels and Thrums: A Tapestry of a Creative Life, has prompted me to read this book again. www.newstatesman.com/culture/book...

Should this tree have the same rights as you? Around the world, a movement is gaining momentum that grants legal rights to natural phenomena, including rivers, lakes and mountains. Robert Macfarlane investigates the rise of the new animism

Should this tree have the same rights as you?’ Reading again this article by Robert Macfarlane, published on 2 November 2019, to revisit his reflections on the ‘new animism’ and make a note of some of the exciting book titles I missed. www.theguardian.com/books/2019/n...

Britain one of least ‘nature-connected’ nations in world – with Nepal the most Others languishing near bottom of 61-country study include Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan and Spain

Britain is one of least ‘nature-connected’ nations in world, listed 55th out of 61 countries. The study suggests ‘strongest indicator for a close relationship with nature was high levels of "spirituality" in a society’. #NatureConnection www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Week 1: Deepening into Darkness at Samhain, begins a yearlong journey in my book Portals into Deep Imagination: Celtic Mythology, Nature’s Year, and the Quest for Soul. linktr.ee/mikewilsonuk #Samhain #Halloween

Can anyone please identify this astonishingly beautiful #fungi which measures about 10cm at its widest point and sits about 11cm above the ground?

Archive of John le Carré to go on display for the first time in major exhibition

www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/media/...

On 10 October 2025, the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris) was officially declared extinct. This is the first known global extinction of a formerly widespread migratory bird species, and “is a wake-up call for us to take action for its Eurasian cousin”.

Saving Wildcats | Scottish wildcat conservation and recovery Wildcats are on the brink of extinction in Scotland and this is their last hope. Together we can secure the future of the Highland tiger by breeding and releasing wildcats into the wild.

The Edinburgh premiere of ‘Clinging by a Claw’ about bringing wildcats back from the brink of extinction was amazing, as was the Q&A introduced and chaired by the wonderful Chris Packham. #SavingWildcats www.savingwildcats.org.uk

The Prize announces 2025 shortlist The Baillie Gifford Prize rewards excellence in non-fiction writing, bringing the best in intelligent reflection on the world to new readers.

Baillie Gifford Prize 2025 shortlist. I’m intrigued by Adam Weymouth’s Lone Wolf: Walking the Faultlines of Europe, so have just ordered my copy.
www.thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk/inside-the-c...

#NatureConnection early in life may reduce onset of depression in later life, but nature connection may alleviate this. But we’re losing nature at an alarming rate which gives rise to eco-anxiety. Depression may ride on the back of this. When we protect nature, we protect ourselves. #MentalHealth

Tom Johnson · Supereffable: Mysteries of the Pearl Manuscript Any book made by hand is unique, but the Pearl Manuscript’s claim to uniqueness is unparalleled: the manuscript...

‘Though it was recognised as “old” and accordingly valuable, its vernacular strangeness was cause for disregard rather than inquiry. The librarians, with their precious Greek Bibles, just weren’t that interested.’

@tomlukejohnson.bsky.social on the Pearl Manuscript: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Delighted to read a review of my book, Portals into Deep Imagination, in the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids Touchstone magazine.

Delighted to read a review of my book, Portals into Deep Imagination, in the Scientific and Medical Network’s Paradigm Explorer Magazine.

#AutumnEquinox (pic. Loch Morlich, Cairngorms).

I stood for a long while beneath the long arms of this birch tree. It felt like praying in a temple. I mean, aren’t all uplifting thoughts and feelings prayers? #NatureConnection #spirituality #trees

Morning walk through Abernethy Forest via Forest Lodge, #Cairngorms, which is RSPB’s HQ for Abernethy Forest Nature Reserve. Picture of Lodge dog kennels used during WW2 as a detention building. Couldn’t resist picking a few chanterelles on my way back to Nethy Bridge.

Angel’s wings fungus in Abernethy Forest, #Cairngorms, today. Toxic. Details: www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-exp...

Back in the Cairngorms; Cairngorms back into me. #trees #NatureConnection #Cairngorms

There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique, and if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium; and be lost. ~ Martha Graham

Thought I’d meet #RiverTill, #Northumberland, before sunrise and follow Public Footpath upstream from #TwizelBridge. But as path was obstructed, dangerous, and not maintained after Twizel Mill, I followed the woodland edge, but was forced to turn back after this view as there was no way forward.

Looking down at the #RiverTill , #Northumberland, from Mill Hill nr. Twizel Bridge. The Till is the only tributary of the Tweed in Northumberland.

Came across this gorgeous wasp nest (also called a byke or bike) at the River Till, Northumberland, today.

Andy Goldsworthy | Fifty Years | National Galleries of Scotland ★★★★★'...a stunning retrospective of ceaselessly inventive work.'The Telegraph ★★★★★'Monumental in every sense'The Herald ★★★★★'...plunges viewers into the raw sadness and beauty of rural life.'The Gu...

I’m so looking forward to experiencing the ‘Andy Goldsworthy | Fifty Years’ exhibition in Edinburgh, after the festival. Meanwhile, the video in this Gallaries of Scotland piece is a great introduction to his work and thinking. www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/a...

Great walk along the River Till today, from Etal to Castle Heaton and back. The Till is the only tributary of the Tweed in Northumberland. Thriving with wildlife, plenty of native trees (eg., willow, alder, oak, hazel), and rich in #biodiversity. #Riverwood #NatureConnection

Robert Macfarlane: ‘Sometimes I felt as if the river was writing me’ The writer and poet on reimagining rivers as living beings, the ecological crisis near and far and why copyright laws should protect nature

I’m enjoying this book, not only for its subject but because of the writing, though reading about the dreadful fate of rivers is distressing. www.theguardian.com/environment/...