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Jen Ratcliffe

@jenratcliffe.bsky.social

2.6K followers 500 following 910 posts

Host of #DailyNature challenges, boating birder and travelling poet - enjoys potatoes in all forms 🥔🍠 🌿Nature 🚂Travel 🛶Canals 🌊Nomad WC Nature Writing Shortlist 24 Porthleven Finalist 23 IntrepidTimes WaterwaysWorld Telegraph #NatureWriting #UKCanals

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 15d

Another successful month of #DailyNature ends 🍁

Thanks to all participants! Love seeing community grow 🍄🍄

The next month challenge is December ❄️ to align with the solstice & the daily nature of winter

I've updated the starter pack to include new observers 💚

go.bsky.app/RUhJfc6

#NatureWriting

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · Aug 31

Up for an Autumnal Nature Challenge?!
🍁🍄🌰🌕🪶

How to join in:
- Sept 1st -30th
- Post a nature observation
- Include #DailyNature
- Make nature friends

Seasonal joys:
- Bird migrations
- Berries & shrooms
- 7/8th Blood moon eclipse
- 22nd Autumnal Equinox

#Nature #NatureWriting #Challenges #Autumn

Bursting from green grass are the dreadlocks of rosey and violet heather, at the centre a fern blazes rust, coral and buttercup - readying itself for a new season's fashion.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 4h

The Robin shakes silvers with a begging tongue, whilst crows curl theirs into cackling bite, this air is ready for darkness, these trees are ready to sleep.

#NatureWriting
#DailyNature
#NaturePoetry

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 5h

Well done! I'm convinced they like to tease photographers on purpose. This is a brilliant shot.

Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Michael Jones @mixaeljones.bsky.social · 1d

This Kingfisher perched on a post in front of me for about a millisecond - long enough for one mostly in-focus photo.

What an amazing bird, but a bit too whizzy for my slow reaction time!

#DailyNature #Bird #Kingfisher

Kingfisher - a bird with a blue feathered back and head and orange chest, with a long, pointed beak - perched near the top of a wooden branch. The background is a mixture of blurred greens

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Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you to everyone who has liked and reposted this week's Waterstones offer on pre-orders of the paperback of Land Beneath the Waves. I really appreciate it. It's made a totally shattered (what is it with October?) writer happy! 😊💚

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 1d

Land Beneath the Waves paperback has been chosen for Waterstones pre-order promotion!! Pre-orders make such a difference & if you could support & share, I'd be so grateful.

Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout for 25% off RRP.

www.waterstones.com/campaign/oct...

@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
#WPreorder

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 1d

🤣

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

35 and my parents have a landline so I still dial by number rather than name

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

Otherworldly!

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 2d

Eyes begin to close on summer, murky, swabbed with cotton veneer. Trees now blaze like beacons for birds out in perilous autumn. Offering berries and lanterns of leaf. Below the squirrels are fat and frantic, gorging on sweet chestnuts and mushrooms lips. I let myself be held by fog.

#NatureWriting

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

Ain't no rest for the wicked

- sorry couldn't resist! 😅

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Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Barbara J. King @bjking.bsky.social · 3d

Birders are "dealers in wonder and awe, masters of birds and ecosystems, and, despite the many stereotypes we can muster, one should never underestimate the power, joy and influence of the birdwatcher." YES! By Natalie Kyriacou. #birds #birding #nature #naturewriting

Here’s to the birdwatchers! Optimistic, slightly eccentric custodians of wonder and joy and passion and love

At its heart, birdwatching is an act of quiet rebellion, says Natalie Kyriacou. It is the gentle act of noticing – the willingness to see the world around you

www.theguardian.com

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 3d

Lovely

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Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Rachel H @rachelape.bsky.social · 5d

Delighted and excited to have work published in Bradt's latest anthology South America: an Anthology of Travel Writing. And alongside such incredible names! So grateful.

#writing #💙📚 #writingcommunity #booksky #books #travel

www.rachelhensonwriting.com/blog-posts/b...

Bradt’s New Travel Writing Anthology — Rachel Henson Writing

Rachel Henson in Bradt's new anthology of South American Travel Writing, edited by Celia Dillow

www.rachelhensonwriting.com

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 4d

Amazing Rachel! Well done how exciting 🎉

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 4d

An abundance of elf's wood - fly agaric mushrooms in threes, twenties. Deep vermilion and papaya, wonky white windows and long sturdy stems. My sister leads me onward, each specimen placed in her mind like a bookmark for my return. We are eight once more, looking for magic.

#NatureWriting

Three staggered burnt orange toadstools with square cream patterned dots poke through a brown leafy floor. Fly agaric.

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Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Tine Kerdraon《《inkArt》》 @tinekerdraon.bsky.social · 7d

Petit dessin rapide, petite participation pour #october 🥀

"Fleurs séchées / Undead flowers"
Encre de Chine & plume, A3.
8 octobre 2025

#drawing #dessin #art #inkArt #encre #artYear #bloomscrolling #flowers #fleurs #dailyNature #nature #MortVivant

Dessin à la plume et encre de Chine, ensemble de fleur et boutons. Grandes feuilles dentelées. Fond blanc.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

#DailyNature #NatureWriting

Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 6d

New term special offer. #ThumbnailNature journals for just the price of P&P. Offering ideas to get your #naturewriting underway and inspiring #ThumbnailNature pieces contributed by a cornucopia of talented workshop participants. Visit my shop to grab your copy. freelancenaturewriter.com/shop/

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

Cynicism is a choice, and hope is a better choice
- Barak Obama

#Quoteoftheday

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 6d

Perhaps a small contributing role, the increase in canal & river tourism? Whilst itinerant boaters are required or asked to remain still during drought risks & use other precautions, there is no plea on leisure boats. 'The boating season is now seemingly all seasons bar winter - ish.

#UKCanals

Rachel Salvidge @rachelsalvidge.bsky.social · Jun 22

Part two of my investigation into England's water resources.

In short, the system is outdated, under-monitored, economically skewed, and environmentally risky, with reforms needed to avoid long-term water shortages.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 7d

At what point does the tree discern the bend in its elbow and to rest permanently so, like a welcoming arm of a long lost friend?

#NatureWriting

Beneath a celeste blue sky and peridot wooded back drop, a dark tangerine bark of a Scots pine curves from centre to left slowly.

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Reposted by Jen Ratcliffe

Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 8d

Is there anything more evocative than the sea at night and a Hunter's Moon beckoning you walk into the light?

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 8d

But also very much 😂😂😂😂

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 8d

Omg! Well done - more like 🤎!

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 8d

Hello #fungifriends - could anyone help ID?

I thought it might be a young fly agaric but redlead Roundhead is also coming up. Merci!

#NatureWriting #Nature

An orange-red mushroom cap, wide and comical - lighter in the middle, pokes out from damp leafy woodland floor.

The same red capped mushroom from the side, showing a skinny white stem

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 8d

So great to see you - can't wait for your book! Xx