Paul Leyland

I sometimes miss it when reminiscing about pub culture but then think in horror about smoking in the office or in non-smoking people's homes & cars. I still fear that it will get me in the end but so far so good.

Who can remember when cigarettes were really glamorous? What could beat a night in the pub with a few fags and pints of beer?

Country diary: The unlikely success of wildlife in lead country | Mark Cocker Bonsall, Derbyshire: It was, in fact, the poison in the ground that prevented this patch from becoming cattle country – then nature took care of itself

A landscape with a toxic past gives wildlife a chance to thrive in today's @theguardian.com country diary.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

The Pushkin job: unmasking the thieves behind an international rare books heist The long read: Between 2022 and 2023, as many as 170 rare and valuable editions of Russian classics were stolen from libraries across Europe. Were the thieves merely low-level opportunists, or were bi...

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/o...

A long read

Turtle Diary – Russell Hoban Even if it’s October, Turtle Diary by Russell Hoban is my entry for #SpinsterSeptember, and I’m so glad to have discovered this novel thanks to the lovely Nora (@pear_jelly on Insta and Bluesky), w…

My new blog post on Russell Hoban’s wonderfully unusual novel, TURTLE DIARY, about two lonely protagonists who partner up to rescue a trio of sea turtles from the zoo. Loved it and it's sure to feature in my year-end highlights.
readersretreat2017.wordpress.com/2025/10/06/t...

Country diary: Ragged butterflies, comatose bees – these are the last of the summer sights | Phil Gates Blanchland, Northumberland: Today’s perfect autumn day captures the dying embers of a memorable summer

An atmospheric @theguardian.com country diary today from the inimitable Phil Gates.

#countrydiary #naturewriting

They are both well worth reading. Brilliant, but in different ways.

Next Persephone book I plan to read is CROOKED CROSS by Sally Carson.

I've read three wonderful books by Persephone this year, and next up is Sally Carson's CROOKED CROSS.

Good choice

Oh, damn...what a body of work she has left us with. #RIP

This Sunday BBC Two 3.50pm BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID

Liverpool poet Brian Patten dies at 79 His poetry often explored love and relationships and he wrote books for children including Gargling With Jelly

RIP Liverpool poet Brian Patten, aged 79. I still have an original copy of the Penguin Mersey Sound paperback, which I bought as a teenager. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/s...

Sheila Kaye-Smith's All the Books of My Life came about 50 years too early today's wave of bibliomemoirs and puts them to shame. This is truly a lifetime’s account of reading, starting with the books her nanny read her and ending with the spiritual works that fed her faith.

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Madness. This is what the brilliant people at Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) are facing simply for trying to stop the illegal trapping and killing of birds in Cyprus.

Countless migrating songbirds are killed every year so they can be eaten as part of the traditional ‘ambelopoulia’ dish.

That looks a good one to watch

Bumblebee and tortoiseshell butterfly on a bright pink flower

Pesticides are harmful to all insects, including bumblebees, butterflies & other pollinators. Pesticide residues also move up through the food chain to harm birds & mammals, and they end up in rivers.
Four more things to avoid in nature-friendly spaces:
littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/what-…

Animals aren’t ‘pests’. They’re living beings trying to survive in the scraps of nature we’ve left them. Yet the first response from so many people and companies is always the same: kill them. Fox in the garden? Kill them. Birds near an airport? Kill them. It’s madness.

Lucy McRobert: shop 'til you drop Our columnist questions whether charities should be spending their limited resources on online advertising budgets, and suggests that conservation should come before consumerism.

Shop 'til you drop

Lucy McRobert columnist questions whether charities should be spending their limited resources on online advertising budgets, and suggests that conservation should come before consumerism:

Photo of page from Guardian Weekend magazine showing Patrick’s 13-year-old daughter Milly and the starting words of a long feature story about her battle with Lyme Disease which was missed by the NHS for years.

If you pick up the Guardian Weekend Magazine today, please read about my daughter Milly’s battle with Lyme disease. And if you’re feeling bold, drop your copy into your local GP. There are thousands of Millys out there. Most are currently not helped at all by the NHS or, worse, not believed.

Paperback of The Spring Begins on a yellow patterned background

A powerful read: I've called "The Spring Begins" by Katherine Dunning "brutal" here, and Simon Thomas calls it "amoral" in his Afterword! It's also lyrical, descriptive and a real page-turner! librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/09/24/b... @britishlibrary.bsky.social #booksky #SpinsterSeptember 📚💙

‘It’s resurrection’: 1,000-year-old seeds could grow ancient plants in England’s ice-age ghost ponds An expert team are resurrecting ice age ponds and finding rare species returning from a ‘perfect time capsule’

In case you missed it: lots of amazing and heartening pond restoration going on. Research is likely to confirm that seeds "lost" in the bottom of filled-in ponds can remain viable for 100s of years so ponds and their aquatic plants leap back to life. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Why saving the honeybee could be bad news for other bees In this week’s newsletter: a conservation success story has a sting in its tail as wild pollinators pay the price

PLEASE READ! No more #BeeWashing. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

'In the Pub.' (c1950) Robert Taylor Carson documented a well travelled life in paint, from his early years in Belfast to travelling Ireland and to Europe. His subject matter is wide-ranging but an interest in people and their way of life is a common thread throughout his career.

The Ice House by Nina Bawden While the English writer Nina Bawden is probably best known for her children’s books, especially Carrie’s War and The Witch’s Daughter, she also wrote many novels for adults, mostly focusing on the…

New on the blog today, I've written about THE ICE HOUSE by Nina Bawden.

A subtle, insightful story of the tangled nature of love, friendship, marriage and the deceptions we are sometimes too blinkered to see. #BookSky 💙📚

jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2025/09/23/t...

Celebration of The Incredible String Band at Queen Elizabeth Hall last night. An extraordinary experience, reliving the past yet taking a look at the ability of 83 yr old Mike Herron to unite with the present which included his daughter.

I use Kobo. Project Guttenberg is great.

A photograph of a Kindle device, with a coffee mug next to it.

Today is Read an eBook Day! Started in 2014 by OverDrive, one of the largest providers of ebooks to libraries, this day is a celebration of digital reading. Which titles have you read as ebooks, and how do you access them? #ReadAnEbookDay #ebooks #💙📚 #Booksky
www.librarything.com/tag/ebook

I had my annual flu jab yesterday. As expected, I feel a bit less than chipper today, which is both expected and fine. It tells me that my body is doing what it should do in response to the vaccine so that I'll be less likely to catch the flu later. Vaccines work. They're safe. Please get yours.

I know how you feel

The Year of 100 Birds, Week Ooh I Dunno The Thrill of New Birds

I wrote about birds. AGAIN.

This time, the thrill of New Bird.

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