Wading through one of my home rivers this morning when I found myself eye to eye with a stunning European pond terrapin on the bank.

This is our bookshop, Westwood Books in Sedbergh, Cumbria. It’s a large building, on a main road at the edge of town, that has been a bookshop now for 18 years.

But we need your help. Even though the shop has been here for so long, we still get comments like…

🧵

After writing about the Egyptian vultures nesting on the extraordinary cliffs and stone pillars of Meteora in 'Irreplaceable' it's been increasingly heartbreaking to witness just a lone remaining bird returning each spring. But this year, there is hope for a new generation here.

Very excited to share this fab line up! Carlotta Gardner and I will be running an interactive workshop combining all things archaeology and science, as well as taking part in a discussion with Jennifer Lucy Allan ! Open to the public on 12th and 13th July. Free to attend!

This is the colour of the sky over Athens right now, no filters used. Hello Saharan dust. #σκονη

Come write some birdy poems with me!

Never have we seen something like this! The birds seems to have interrupted their activity. Just in 10 min everything turned into a Mad Max scenery! #African #dust , #αφρικανικη_σκονη #σκονη

On the day the #swifts have returned, a snapshot of Julian Hoffman's forthcoming #Lifelines :

'We rely on these rituals of return to steady our place in a shifting world. To shore up foundations gone wobbly in winter [...] It feels like a kickstart to the heart when they appear.'

Discovered a small slice of heaven in the mountain beech forests the other day. A valley of waterfalling light and reaching leaves, the crystal-clear stream carrying the memory of snowfields.

Delighted to be joining the brilliant Sofka Zinovieff at this year's Athens Literary Salon in Plaka on May 28th, followed by Josh Barley and Ian Collins for an evening of conservation, history, poetry and Greek folk music. Free entry but booking required.
athensinsider.com/join-our-speak…

In the cold grey light, cherry blossom falling like snow.

Light and leaf becoming the same thing.

As if we needed more reasons to love ravens

Scientists who use ecoacoustics to measure habitats and species say that quiet is falling across thousands of habitats, as the planet witnesses extraordinary losses in the density and variety of species. theguardian.com/environment/20…

Sometimes there’s good news, too. Tremendously glad to read this today. Curious and a bit skeptical, I must admit, about what it will actually look like in practice. Here’s hoping. Julian Hoffman

'When Krause listened through his archive, he realised a story was emerging: a subtle but noticeable loss in the density and variety of natural sounds.'

Vital piece on the silencing of what soundscape recordist Bernie Krause calls 'biophony.' Katherine Krause
theguardian.com/environment/20…

And what's so shocking about this devastating trend for rivers and lakes is its alarming speed, hastened by warmer winters, sporadic rains and declining snows. Not to mention springs like this one, in which parts of northern Greece recorded temperatures above 30C today, in April.

More hoopoes than you could shake a stick at in Prespa's lakeside forest this morning. Plus cuckoos, woodlarks, blackcaps, nightingales, black woodpeckers and wrynecks. A huge sonic feast laid out on a beautiful table of spring trees.

When evening lowers into gold.

Moment of sweet promise for the cherries (we hope!) to come.