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dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Richard Bradford
@dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
310 followers 330 following 77 posts
Muddlings from the banks of the Dorset Frome and its water meadows. Rusty botanist.
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dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Wonderful veteran Sweet Chestnut by the Pony Path at Ty Nant, below Cadair Idris. A celebration of this week's #thicktrunktuesday from Gwynedd.
Veteran Sweet Chestnut coming into leaf by the edge of a stony path heading up Cadair Idris in north Wales. A large branch from the tree lies behind it. Blue sky, with April clouds.
April 22, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
favcolourgreen.bsky.social
Thank you @phoebeweston.bsky.social for such a wonderful and optimistic article on Hedgerows!

It's great to celebrate the wonders we have, appreciate the legacy, and use that to inform our combined future
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Like the Ritz for wildlife: the joy of recreating England’s ancient hedges
Up and down the country, volunteers are coming together to plant more of these nature-rich reserves
www.theguardian.com
April 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
britgardhistory.bsky.social
Blossom is so often overlooked when we choose a new apple tree, but as this wonderful montage from @thepackingshedtamar on IG shows, some varieties have especially beautiful flowers. Scent also varies greatly from variety to variety.
April 14, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
richardkbroughton.bsky.social
It's been a hell of a spring for Blackthorn. Anyone doing aerial remote sensing (drone or plane) of woodland, hedgerow or rewilding habitats in past 10 days would have a bonus of easily mapping this pollen/nectar resource. Hawthorn might do the same favour when it flowers later this/next month.
April 9, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
iand777.bsky.social
The Orange-tips were seeking out the Cuckoo flowers, (Cardamine pratensis) in the River Frome water meadows today.
#butterflies #botany
@dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
April 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social
I'm currently reading Michael McCarthy's wonderful book 'Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo', so over the moon that he's coming to speak on 24th April in #Shaftesbury, #Dorset.

A perfect excuse to visit friends.

Tickets available, but limited, so book soon: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/fol... #birds
April 1, 2025 at 1:50 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Glorious twisted oak by the Dorset Frome at Stinsford to celebrate this week's #thicktrunktuesday.
View up the twisted trunk of an old oak tree, first bend to the right and then to the left. Some of the trunk is moss- covered. Blue sky above.
April 1, 2025 at 4:40 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Blackthorn spring in Dorchester this week. The Cherry Plum blossom is beginning to fade leaving its confetti on the ground.

The path by Ten Hatches, today.
A gravel path winds between flowering Blackthorn under a blue sky. Thin clouds at a high level, with a soft wind from the east behind you.
March 31, 2025 at 5:00 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
A Plane in Dunster Park to celebrate this week's #thicktrunktuesday.
Looking up the trunk of a Plane tree in early spring. Warm brown bark, branches curled and twisted for some reason. No leaves emerged yet. Blue sky with high clouds beyond.
March 11, 2025 at 5:06 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Meanwhile, 2km downstream, this.
📷 One of several courses of the Dorset Frome at Kingston Maurward.
The river flows from the midground across all the foreground, its flow partly interrupted by the trunk of a tree fallen from the bank on the right. Pale winter sun, blue sky with some cloud. Fresh green amongst last year's brown- green. Trees still with now leaves.
March 1, 2025 at 8:35 AM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Friday morning at Hangman's Weir on the Dorset Frome, 400m from Dorchester's High Street.
Early morning sun behind willow trees on the bank of the Dorset Frome brings gold to the river. Trees darkly silhouetted against the blue sky. Mist rises from the river. Cold, ground frosted.
February 28, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social
'Another Old Chestnut' - etching by Kent based artist and printmaker, Claire Longley

More of this artist's stunning work, here: clairelongley.com

#art #landscape #trees #treeart #nature
Etching of an ancient Chestnut tree in autumn/winter field with 4 sheep
February 27, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
annieworsley.bsky.social
A gentle alternative to all the mayhem? Look to nature... and #naturewriting

It's a joy to work with Kirsteen Bell & share stories of our Scottish Highland homes.

Here's our latest in the series 'Croft, Coast & Hill: letters from the NW Highlands'
www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/02/crof...
February 17, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
lbflyawayhome.bsky.social
Other work of the Ladybird artists
‘The riverbank’
Artist: Rowland Hilder
A stark, stylishly simple watercolour of a river edged with willow and celandine. The water is very smooth and reflective of the white sky and the whole picture is in very muted tones
February 13, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social
Chalk Ridge - etching, by contemporary British landscape painter and printmaker, Kathleen Caddick

#art #etching
Sepia colours, low winter sun through bare trees... alongside still river, or lake
February 12, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
lbflyawayhome.bsky.social
“Heavy rains that often fall in February have flooded the low-lying meadows in the broad valley.”
‘What to Look for in Winter’, 1959
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson
Watercolour illustration of a flooded field and path
February 9, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
nicwilson.bsky.social
Bridport in bud in today's @theguardian.com country diary by Sara Hudston.

#countrydiary #naturewriting
Country diary: The first, early stages of awakening as the Earth tilts towards the south | Sara Hudston
Bridport, Dorset: Dormant buds formed at the end of last summer are responding to an alchemy of hormones, stored sugars and the gradual lightening of days
www.theguardian.com
February 8, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
handle.invalid
The gaps in our knowledge about eels are fertile places for art and ideas to grow, writes Peter Rogers, as he releases a new eel-inspired EP https://buff.ly/40YbnhM
February 4, 2025 at 1:59 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
The Haydon Oak in Sherborne Deer Park. One of Dorset's ancients - in celebration of this week's #thicktrunktuesday.

📷 February 2023.
Massive trunk of an ancient pedunculate oak amongst younger trees. The trunk is gnarled, twisted with several big burrs. The oak is no longer alive but it now contains a myriad of other insects and fungi which are making good use of the timber. The tree is by a public footpath in Sherborne Deer Park, Dorset.
February 4, 2025 at 2:09 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Today we celebrate #WorldWetlandsDay2025 from the Dorset Frome and its floodplains.

Join us to explore the river, its braids, meanders and backwaters, ponds, scrapes and soggy margins, flood meadows and veteran trees.
View over West Ward Common upstream of Dorchester. The Dorset Frome meanders through the floodplains and old water meadows. The river is blue under the clear sky.
February 2, 2025 at 9:16 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social
Coastal Path (Inspired by breezy walks along the South West coast path) - by Dorset illustrator and graphic designer, Laurie King

More of this artist's work, here:

#landscapes #routes #art #Dorset
Large expanse of pale blue sky. Sea right, hills left and a winding path ahead.
January 31, 2025 at 6:14 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
Song Thrush calling nearby. A summoning, a reminder maybe.

📷 Old water meadows by the Dorset Frome this morning.
Sun rising on the horizon brings an early light to the old water meadows. Water in the foreground, with a stream taking water away, back to the Dorset Frome. Silhouettes of winter trees frame the foreground. Song Thrush calls nearby.
January 31, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
christinariley.bsky.social
A love letter to libraries, on the Nature Library’s first year in Irvine and being stunned (but not speechless, apparently) by the great people who walk through its doors. Another year of libraries facing cuts and also of them literally rising from the ashes. Thank you @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social!
handle.invalid Caught by the River @handle.invalid · Jan 10
As she looks back on the year her Nature Library found a permanent home, @christinariley.bsky.social celebrates libraries as places of limitless potential https://buff.ly/4ak2vWH
Hands hold a bird's nest donated to the Nature Library. A selection of other donations are nearby in open Tupperwares, including other bird nests and a wasp's nest.
January 10, 2025 at 8:17 PM
dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social
"If ever one examines the processes of nature then very few of them happen in a hurry."

Mark Cocker writing in 'Claxton'.

📷 The old water meadows to the north of Dorchester this morning.
A pool of water has formed in the foreground, draining towards the distant hedge. Mist rises from water to the right. January colours muted. Sky a mix of grey and pales shades of gold. Mallard calling nearby.
January 14, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Reposted by Richard Bradford
brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social
"As I sobbed in front of my computer screen during one of our online sessions, mumbling about turtle doves (the bird most likely to be the next extinction in the UK), he said: “Do something.” He gave me three rules: make it simple, immediate and collaborative...."

#volunteering #action #WorthaRead!
January 14, 2025 at 8:34 AM