Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #TheLostWords

Most recents (13)

I’m back. (I know. You didn’t know I’d gone. It’s OK).

Had an unplanned adventure yesterday. It went meanderingly well. Looked for fungi first, for BBC radio.

Overheard one of this trio reading aloud. They told of the local ‘Grumbletrog’. I knew exactly what they meant.

THREAD ImageImageImageImage
I once read a story aloud outdoors about the Raven of Eycott Hill. Bit intimidating as the writer and her family turned up.
And she is very tall and beautiful. I am neither.

She writes & draws story maps for nature reserves.
They enjoyed their Grumbletrog tale trail.
Then this ImageImage
It felt like the government asking for donations to run their nature reserves? Well, I’d heard schools had been doing the same for ages. Natural England is ‘independent of government’ and skint?

I’d missed a nearby village’s exhibition but this cheered me up after that thought. Image
Read 11 tweets
Team effort behind this week’s absolute beauty.

Whilst discussing #TheLostWords and #AnimalsInChurches with amphibian champion @corriebruemmer she told me “there’s a newt in a church near Sedbergh!”.

I couldn’t quite pinpoint where as there’s lots of chapels in those Dales... Image
I mentioned it to @LakesStiles & craftsman Ginty @glassbasics said “leave it with me”. He tracked it down on the glass grapevine. (You should follow them both).

Stiles went fell running in awful weather & found the church.
His camera was a bit misted up & just missed the newt... ImageImageImage
But because people can share and make Twitter worthwhile, I went by on Sunday and found it...

#AnimalsInChurches
Newt & more.

The church was ‘designed to be ugly’ until her sister came and made it quite the opposite.

Morris & Co got a look in too. Included here for the Dove. ImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
This week, everything lined up perfectly.
Spent a day in the Lakes national park without seeing a soul.
Found no litter. Not even a balloon.
Parked for free.

This has never happened, in a decade of living here.
It started with Mark, a young man (seen here in an old book). THREAD Image
As I packed my kit, an annoyed suit arrived and spoke to two roadside employees at double-espresso-for-breakfast speed. But they'd gone before I set off, so they don't count.

Fell pony views from a northern red-brick path.
A ladder 'hidden in plain sight'? Or an invitation? ImageImageImage
Something odd on the map...looked like a hideout for a felltop Bond villain.

Imagine having built the cairn. 50 years ago.
Still looked good. Surprised me, and I the spider.

Lousewort in bloom. Not sure where its name came from.
Sympathetic medicine or a lousy time for beasts? ImageImageImageImage
Read 8 tweets
On a whim, I went looking for wildlife crimes today.

It was an excellent day out.
Starred a few of #thelostwords too.

THREAD

@RuthTingay @ChrisGPackham @DtrCathleen @BerzinsBob @AmyJaneBeer @naturalistdara @MarkAvery @guyshrubsole @RSPBbirders

Heather by @JackieMorrisArt Image
On Wednesday, grouse moors begin shooting.
Last week, I got an old Wainwright fell guide. I'd noticed this comment today, written back in 1974 when I was a toddler. Image
I met teachers from Yorkshire waiting for their small bubble to complete their @DofE - complimented them on getting them out on the moors.
They knew about the unsustainable mess 'driven grouse shooting' had got itself into back home. Met their student explorers 10 minutes later. Image
Read 11 tweets
Scary THREAD.

I wasn't sure at first, but this beautiful bird is a young starling. One of #thelostwords

Starlings have declined by 66% since I was born. They're now red-listed as 'high conservation concern'.
I sat under 250,000 of them once.
But I loved seeing this new one. Image
They were back this morning, two of them.
I can't see so well now, so wasn't sure what I was looking at here. Nor was my camera it seems.
Then that sinking feeling. ImageImage
As well as photography, I'm also useless at DIY.
Although I have some tools, that I bought optimistically (from Woolworths) when we got first married.
Some are still in their packaging. Image
Read 7 tweets
(2/2)

Leaving aside the obvious (who builds a cairn on a cliff edge - aaargh)...

The poem sat where moments earlier a pair of raven had. They'd rescued my gloomy mood.
Heard from afar (zoomed in to be sure).
What a place to sit and survey.
To be a raven. ImageImage
PS I liked looking back for them, from somewhere I could safely rest, best. Image
Read 3 tweets
#wildflowerhour from dripping mountaintops this week...

Alpine lady’s mantle among the thyme
Yellow mountain saxifrage
Goldenrod

And elderflower along the river with juniper...Cocktail hour?

@wildflower_hour @BSBIbotany @leeinthelakes ImageImageImageImage
...then enjoyed a ‘Purple Patch’ along the Tees too...

Betony, Scabious (soon), Wild Pansy, Orchids

@wildflower_hour @BSBIbotany @LeifBersweden ImageImageImageImage
...and a white one for #wildflowerID , nipplewort (I think)... then confidence regained with definitely honeysuckle & bramble (one of #thelostwords ) now in bloom.

PS Conker caskets now growing spikes too...
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@wildflower_hour @BSBIbotany ImageImageImageImage
Read 4 tweets
Glad I went out, as always (due to @DrAmirKhanGP advice).

Young birds learning the ropes.
Siskin acrobats.
Horse with a beard.
A tree that wanted to be a wood.

Look at this smart, young blue tit...and its harassed (homeschooling?) parent.

A little Sunday...THREAD ImageImage
Young tree sparrows, goldfinches, blackbirds and more. Grumpy?-looking Greenfinch, perhaps thinking "SISKINS!"

Blue tit joined in the upside-down acrobatics and eating contest.

Headed to lovely woods, (it was always really about the local icecream maker, nearby @kimisgelato ) ImageImageImage
I like a nice bit of beckmickling on a Sunday morning.

The tree that's become a wood of its own.
And a tree that's known hard times. ImageImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Today, a Raven came for tea. I wasn’t expecting that.

I’d promised myself three Wainwrights today. (Got four seasons).

Since last June’s walk, I’ve felt able to do more with my time.

And I’ve realised what doing more, can give you in return.

@JackieMorrisArt @RobGMacfarlane Image
It was sunny at home when I set off for the ghost village of Mardale. I needed to be out. Took the book.

Each of #thelostwords starts with its absence.

I chose this one, as I’d just heard, then saw two ravens soar.
And a posh aperitif. Plenty of ice...
Crisps in a dish. Image
The ravens had flown east, away and down.
I climbed to the next summit for my dinner. Which is when the raven came to see what on Earth I was playing at.
Landed a few feet away, like a town centre pigeon.
Look & you’ll see.

Phone pic. No zoom. ImageImage
Read 5 tweets
A map to #thelostwords schools in Cumbria, where books have been gifted, many school visits made, conkers played & even trees planted. More to do...

PS It appeared briefly in Cyrillic today..? (n.b. I am not a bot).

@JackieMorrisArt @RobGMacfarlane

drive.google.com/open?id=1oHPAX…
And if there’s any errors, please let me know.

eg there’s an Inglewood school in Western Australia...but they didn’t plant 100 trees for @UllswaterCic with me

And 18 heads had to miss my recent meetings (though 15 others turned up as a surprise). I should’ve taken a register...
Read 3 tweets
I love Cumbria but Northumberland always turns my head.
Yesterday was special.

1. Met 50 headteachers and got to talk about #thelostwords among other things.
2. Realised almost 180 copies of #thelostwords book now thrive in Cumbrian schools, libraries, a hospital, a farm &... Image
3. Visited #thelostwords garden created by Kate @cumbriawildlife next to @Susans_Farm in Carlisle
4. Crossed the border to @TheSillNland for #thelostwords exhibition, hear Northumbrian folk songs & spells read aloud (as they should be)
5. Told Taffy Thomas MBE a tale of aspens. Image
6. Loved the magpie manifesto reading by a volunteer from @HeadwayUK
Read 5 tweets
Another foggy day, another fab walk...

Started with some #thelostwords as always - listened to Willow @lwspellsongs & saw Ivy & Fern, as I sat on a perfect memorial bench in Ambleside wondering if this hopelessly tiny map might work...

My OS map showed no paths round there... ImageImageImageImage
Ten years on yet I’d never heard of, or been into Blue Hill Woods. They belong to us/the National Park. For now at least.
Being sold off by the looks of things.

Watched a woodpecker hide before testing its drum kits.
Found the ominous looking ‘observatory’ & some sneaky stiles. ImageImageImageImage
Thought I’d heard a distant hunting horn (and a drone!?)...oh no, not again! But thankfully, the local fox-killers weren’t out today.

It was a farmer herding sheep by chanting ‘ho-ho-ho-ho’ and driving a tiny tractor.
Got almost all of them too, before the fog descended... ImageImage
Read 6 tweets
Tomorrow, I’ll tell you the story behind this new photograph.
It’ll all be true. But you probably won’t believe any of it...

@JackieMorrisArt @rob_bushby @AmyJaneBeer
@RobGMacfarlane @PatchLimb @raringtoread @GorsebushMurals @dorsetandbeyond @lwspellsongs @IAMKP
Thread:
The fantastic fundraising community behind the @Worldconker championships, invited me to read ‘Conker’ by @RobGMacfarlane at their opening ceremony & talk about #thelostwords

Later, I helped to translate ‘Chelsea pensioner’ & ‘town crier’ for an Iranian TV crew (1/5)
(I don’t speak Persian but their camerawoman was Polish) and wanted to ring Roy’s ‘Wielki dzwon’ (big bell) which I helped arrange.

John Riley (2017 world champion, from Bolton) was on great form - now well into his eighth decade. I mention him at my school assemblies.

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Read 6 tweets

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