Michael J. Warren
banner
drmjwarren.bsky.social
Michael J. Warren
@drmjwarren.bsky.social
Writer, naturalist, medievalist, teacher. Trustee of Curlew Action. The Cuckoo’s Lea, Bloomsbury, out now: birds in our ancient and modern senses of place. Marshes. Winter. Whisky.
https://linktr.ee/cuckooslea
www.birdsandplace.co.uk
Pinned
Well, here it is. My copy arrived. Out 5th June. This is the beautiful indie-exclusive edition with it’s gorgeous sprayed edges. Thanks ever so @amyjanebeer.bsky.social, Mary Colwell and @jon-moses.bsky.social for your generous cover quotes. @chiffchat.bsky.social #naturewriting
Bird place-name of the day 115: SNITTON (Shrops). OE snite + tun. Possibly ‘snipe frequented estate/settlement’. #birdsandplace #placenames #naturewriting
November 22, 2025 at 6:09 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
🚨 BLACK FRIDAY DEAL!

Join @drmjwarren.bsky.social on an lyrical journey around Britain in search of the birds that haunt our place names.

The Cuckoo's Lea is on offer from Amazon for a limited time! Don't miss out!
November 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
People of Norfolk, come and spend a cosy winter evening with me, @themarshtit.bsky.social and @timholtwilson.bsky.social as we talk birds, landscape and history at NWT’s Cley reserve on 5th Dec. Tickets here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tales-of-b.... #NorfolkWildlifeTrust #NorfolkNature #naturewriting
November 20, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
I expect you know @robyaxley.bsky.social that you are part cuckoo?

(Source @drmjwarren.bsky.social’s, so far, excellent “The Cuckoo’s Lea”)
November 20, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
Birds in Medieval English Poetry, by Michael J. Warren, is a study of birds and their metamorphoses as treated in a wide range of medieval poetry, from the Anglo-Saxons to Chaucer and Gower. Use BB050 at the checkout to save 50%. Ends 30 Nov 2025. buff.ly/sxiRZDM #medievalsky @drmjwarren.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Bird place-name of the day 114: HARPENDEN (Herts). OE hearp + denu. Possibly ‘nightingale’s valley’. Carole Hough (Edinburgh Uni) suggested that PNs with hearp (literally ‘harp’) could metaphorically refer to nightingales, not human harpers. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 20, 2025 at 6:24 AM
Bird place-name of the day 113: SUGHAM FM (Lingfield, Surrey). OE sucga + ham. ‘Farm/estate frequented by sparrows’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting #oldenglish #placenames
November 16, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
Let communities own rivers, woods & moors!

Excellent to see @simonforstroud.bsky.social has tabled amendments 107 & 108 to the Devolution Bill to strengthen Community Right to Buy laws in this way.

We need more Labour MPs to support this - email yours:
www.reclaimourmoors.uk/write-to-you... 1/
November 15, 2025 at 10:14 AM
Was awesome! A packed out venue. A top event of 2025 for me. Thanks ever so to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and @thebookery.bsky.social. I’ll be finding the rooks of Lapford again this dusk at Bury Barton. #thecuckooslea #birdsandplace #authorevents
November 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
We're looking forward to this! 🤩⤵️
Tonight’s the night— @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I are at @thebookery.bsky.social! Last one in my Devon series, making bird place-name of the day 112: COCKWOOD. OE cocc + wudu. ‘Wood where woodcock are seen’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 13, 2025 at 1:27 PM
@nicolawriting.bsky.social, on my way to Crediton for my talk with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social tonight, and thinking of you as we stop at Hungerford. Sadly no time to jump off and pay you a flying visit!
November 13, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Tonight’s the night— @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I are at @thebookery.bsky.social! Last one in my Devon series, making bird place-name of the day 112: COCKWOOD. OE cocc + wudu. ‘Wood where woodcock are seen’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 13, 2025 at 11:11 AM
See you there. @guyshrubsole.bsky.social and I will be taking birds, place and belonging, with, of course, a distinct Devon flavour! #WhatsOn #Crediton #AuthorTalks
It's tomorrow!

🐦‍⬛ We can't wait to welcome @drmjwarren.bsky.social to The Bookery to discuss his new book, The Cuckoo’s Lea: The Forgotten History of Birds & Place, in conversation with environmental campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole! Ticket £5, book & ticket £20 at www.thebookery.org.uk/events
November 12, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
The poem on my heart today: #Adlestrop, by Edward Thomas. A moment of stillness at a deserted railway station in the summer of 1914: written in early 1915, and published in spring 1917, just days after Second Lieutenant Edward Thomas, Royal Garrison Artillery, was killed at the Battle of Arras.
November 11, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
Our North West Local Group set out on a trespass walk along the River Bollin, rambling through town, woodland, water, and fields. Along the way, they visited a woodland microenclosure watched over by CCTV cameras, and later took to the river for a paddle.
November 11, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Continuing with the Devon series in the run up to my event on 13th @thebookery.bsky.social, bird place-name of the day 111 is: KITLEY. Old English: cyta + leah. ‘Kite woodland/clearing’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 11, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Continuing with the Devon series in the run up to my event on 13th @thebookery.bsky.social, bird place-name of the day 110 is: GOSFORD. Straightforward this one and the name hasn’t changed at all from the Old English: gos + ford. ‘Ford where geese can cross’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 9, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Really looking forward to this, with @guyshrubsole.bsky.social, next Thursday (13th Nov). Come and join us for an evening of birds, place and belonging. #Crediton #naturewriting
🎫 Have you got your ticket yet?

🐦‍⬛ We can't wait to welcome @drmjwarren.bsky.social to The Bookery this coming Thursday to discuss his new book, The Cuckoo’s Lea: The Forgotten History of Birds and Place, in conversation with environmental campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole! 🧵 ⬇️
November 8, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
🎫 Have you got your ticket yet?

🐦‍⬛ We can't wait to welcome @drmjwarren.bsky.social to The Bookery this coming Thursday to discuss his new book, The Cuckoo’s Lea: The Forgotten History of Birds and Place, in conversation with environmental campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole! 🧵 ⬇️
November 8, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Oh please let these forecast temperatures be on the way later on this November. I can’t deal with this warmth. Literally very comfortable out in shorts and t-shirt today. 😔 #WarmNovember #RecordBreakingWeather
November 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
"Giving up [on 1.5C] would be a total betrayal. Defeatism never took a single of a fraction of a degree of global warming. It never created a single job.”

Hear, hear, Ed Miliband.

(But also: some of those defeatists appear to be in the Treasury currently)

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘Giving up would be a betrayal’: Miliband says 1.5C target still alive before Cop30
Exclusive: Environment secretary says global tipping points are possible as he rejects far-right climate ‘defeatism’
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Bird place-name of the day 109: RAMRIDGE (lost place, somewhere in Devon parish of Holcombe Burnell: www.heritagegateway.org.uk/gateway/Resu... ). OE hremn + hrycg. ‘Ravens’ ridge’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 7, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Still in Devon, bird place-name of the day 108 is KIGBEARE. OE ca + bearu. ‘Jackdaw wood’. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
November 6, 2025 at 7:07 AM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
European countries want Brazil to increase forest conservation (it certainly can). But some of the world's best opportunities to spare & restore carbon in native forests—while displacing the least food production—actually lie in Europe. Our analysis shows this: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
November 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Reposted by Michael J. Warren
This is absolutely appalling.

"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."

Absolutely pathetic.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests
Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM