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John Walker

@earthfgardener.bsky.social
142 followers 124 following 40 posts

Earth-friendly gardener, writer, author of beautiful books, walker, ponderer, questioner, citizen rewilder, raiser of treelings. www.earthfriendlygardener.net

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Reposted by John Walker
Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 15h
Right to the top!
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 1h
Sheep densities across Europe. Native to southwest Asia, these domesticates are possibly the most effective means of killing off forests and other natural ecosystems ever devised.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 21h
There was a time when the Tories, however hypocritically, claimed to want to protect our natural heritage. Now they're just a party of vandals, ripping down the few protections the living world has for the sake of their rich chums. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
theguardian.com
Tories to pledge to scrap Environment Agency and Natural England
Shadow chancellor will also promise to scrap affordable homes regulations as part of strategy to refocus on growth
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 05/12/2023
Irish state radio RTE 1 currently running Coillte ads almost nonstop, telling us they're planting forests for nature, climate, and people. They're *complete* spoofers and, what's more, they know it. Otherwise there'd be no need for the relentless, but futile, propaganda.
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Elon Gates @strawdogs.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
www.waterstones.com/book/the-arr...
waterstones.com
The Arrogant Ape by Christine Webb | Waterstones
Buy The Arrogant Ape by Christine Webb from Waterstones today! Click and Collect from your local Waterstones or get FREE UK delivery on orders over £25.
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Revealed: Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires I discovered via an FOI request that DEFRA’s commitment in the National Adaptation Programme to run a “wildfire risk programme” since 2023 “was not brought into effect”. #ClimateCrisis www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
Revealed: Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires
FOI request shows wildfire risk scheme scrapped, as data highlights many fire services lack proper protective gear
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ditto here in north Wales, where the ‘strimmers’ are primarily woolly i.e. sheep. This sessile oak/birch woodland is typical - a stalled ecology with maturing trees, lots of moss, but little else, including any younger trees, which don’t stand a chance🌳
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Vera Kober Art @vera-kober-art.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Inside the September letter 💌 Archive 09/2026 ✨ October letters are on their way! ✨ Don't miss the November letter 💌 Once a month I send a signed A5 print from one of my seasonal paintings and a short note from my studio. 🌼
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Flying is officially on course to account for *almost all* the UK's carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Heathrow expansion alone would cause more carbon emissions by 2054 than *any other sector of the economy*. So why is it being contemplated? My column. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
The expansion of Heathrow would be an expensive disaster for Britain and the world. Burnham needs to block it | George Monbiot
A third runway would fly in the face of reason. If we are to prioritise human life over short-term ‘growth’, we need to use planes less, not more, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Trees for Life @treesforlife.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Our spring 2027 #RewildingWeeks are here! 🎉 Get hands-on with #rewilding alongside our team and a small group of like-minded #volunteers. 🌳 Every week is a chance to make a real contribution to the recovery of Scotland’s wild #forests 👉 treesforlife.org.uk/support/volu...
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Ditto here in north Wales, where the ‘strimmers’ are primarily woolly i.e. sheep. This sessile oak/birch woodland is typical - a stalled ecology with maturing trees, lots of moss, but little else, including any younger trees, which don’t stand a chance🌳
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Natasha Devon @natashadevon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Shout out to all the other authors who have to exist in this godforsaken attention economy and who don’t get invited on GMB and Question Time to publicise their book because they aren’t a complete moral vacuum/desperate Pick Me.
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This year’s drought has devastated #lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. My new piece for Hartley Botanic magazine urges you to let that lawn go. #gardening #gardens #nature hartley-botanic.co.uk/magazine/the...
hartley-botanic.co.uk
The Lawn Goodbye - by John Walker
This year’s drought has devastated lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. This
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The sheer magic of an Irish Atlantic rainforest 🌍
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This year’s drought has devastated #lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. My new piece for Hartley Botanic magazine urges you to let that lawn go. #gardening #gardens #nature hartley-botanic.co.uk/magazine/the...
hartley-botanic.co.uk
The Lawn Goodbye - by John Walker
This year’s drought has devastated lawns and much else besides – but where once there was grass, there’s now the chance to do things differently. This
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Butterfly Conservation @savebutterflies.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In the last 120 years, we have lost over 50 species of native moths, and suspect many others are now at risk of extinction 🔴 This autumn, we're taking on a ‘moth-umental’ task to create the first-ever Red List for Britain’s macro-moths, and we need your help 👉 www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/moths-matter
A large orange-brown moth with leaf-shaped wings and a long snout, resting on a dead plant stem
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Wild Justice @wildjustice.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Defra is gathering evidence that could shape the future policy on gamebird shooting. Have your say! Have you experienced issues such as gamebird collisions, dumped dead birds, illegal traps, suspicious raptor deaths, disturbance, damage or loss of access to land? For info, visit buff.ly/TGjrkrK
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
George is quite right on this. I discovered via FOI requests that just 5% of all woodland creation grants go to support natural regeneration of trees, and 95% to tree planting. I’ll continue to push DEFRA to fix this. www.theguardian.com/environment/... bsky.app/profile/geor...
theguardian.com
Government ‘failing to support natural regeneration of trees in England’
Campaigners say targets for woodland creation are unlikely to be met because 95% of grants are for planting
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Time to join the Pheasants’ Revolt… DEFRA have launched a Call for Evidence on the environmental & animal welfare impacts of the gamebird industry. If you care about this, PLEASE submit evidence - this @wildjustice.bsky.social blog tells you how: wildjustice.org.uk/defras-call-...
wildjustice.org.uk
Defra’s Call for Evidence on gamebird releases; what exactly is it asking for? – Wild Justice
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
This. Unfortunately for some, trees = £/€ and they’re useful for ticking PR boxes. Nature regenerating, with a helping hand, by itself, not so much🌳
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
In terms of messaging, this is very positive, and a big shift from the nature-hatefest of the Starmer administration. Mind you, most tree-planting is unnecessary: I'd like to see much more emphasis on natural regeneration. 🧵 www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Half a million trees to be planted in England in three years, says government
Exclusive: Environment secretary Angela Eagle to make pledge as part of efforts to protect against extreme weather
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Window through water and time-sculpted limestone caves to an Irish rainforest beyond.
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A big nod to autumn’s arrival. #gardening #gardens
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National Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 29/09/2026
This former golf course has been turned into a nature reserve 💚 Sandilands is designed to help nature thrive. The reserve is expected to provide important habitat for birds and forms part of the internationally important East Coast Flyway, one of Europe's major migration routes.
Two long-legged avocets with white chests and black heads and beaks at the edge of water, with four tiny white fluffy chicks following in their wakeAn aerial view of a former golf course at the edge of the coast, with a strip of beige sand on one side, and many ponds, pathways, wetland and marshes within it under a cloudy skyA view of long thistley grass under a hazy blue sky surrounding a vast pondAn adult avocet with long legs, a white body, black head and beak leading three fluffy grey chicks behind it along the water's edge with a scrubby bank rising behind them
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Make a difference! £42.6K-£46.6K Send your application by 19/10! South & Mid: swyddi.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/VacancyInfor... North & Mid: swyddi.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/VacancyInfor... 1 post requires Welsh speaking skills. @natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A big nod to autumn’s arrival. #gardening #gardens
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Anne Charnock @annecharnock.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Out in the world! Many, many thanks to the whole team at Goldsmiths Press/Gold SF. I’m so grateful to early endorsers. The starting point for this eco-fiction: see link in comments. @goldsmithspress.bsky.social @goldsf.bsky.social @unamccormack.bsky.social @sarahsuch.bsky.social
Cover and spine of Alston Moor with moorland ruin and curlew in yellow/grey against photo of moorland landscape. Endorsement below by Sandra Newman, "kept me spellbound, and the writing is just gorgeous".
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Both these images show native trees, which are actually side by side. Yet they look entirely different. Why? Those on the left grew naturally, the others are a plantation. Both officially count as 'native forest', but the first is SO much better as wildlife habitat. It's a diverse *ecosystem*.
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Gregory Norminton @gregorynorminton.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Three days to go for @northwildlife.bsky.social to raise £30M to buy the Rothbury Estate. Impressively, they've secured over £27M in donations & pledges. But that still leaves a shortfall. I can only hope they're given more time by the seller. Or that he waives the difference. You can chip in here:
wildlifetrusts.org
Donate to Secure The Rothbury Estate | The Wildlife Trusts
Stretching over 3,800 hectares, the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is abundant with opportunity. It’s the largest continuous area of land to appear on the market in 50 years. Its sale creates a uni...
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"It wasn't a book that made me want to be a writer, but the temperate rainforest I've been restoring for over 17 years now on our farm on the Beara Peninsula, West Cork, and the desire to communicate that story widely..." I was asked about my reading choices by the @irishexaminer.bsky.social.
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Vast areas of upland Wales are imprisoned by a deadly, dominant duo of commercial forestry conifer monoculture (dark green chunks), and sheep farming (top bit). Given a chance, this land would heal to become a rich mosaic of temperate rainforest, plus so much more 🌳 #rewilding #naturerecovery
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's great that the National Trust are pressuring the government to make climate resilience a national priority But the National trust have a gazillion members, and could/should be a powerful political force Is a petition really an adequate response to this emergency?
campaigns.nationaltrust.org.uk
I've signed. Will you? Add your name to help make wildfire prevention and climate resilience a national priority, and stand with the communities affected by wildfires.
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This 100%. We‘ve seen this kind of influence being deployed in the ‘blame #rewilding for everything’ ‘debate’ following the wildfires. Those paid to protect the shooting elite, whose land use holds #nature hostage (grouse moors), have lobbied hard to keep the ecologically dysfunctional status quo.
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Alick Simmons @parliamentarygoose.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Am I alone in thinking, with our native fauna & flora in freefall, efforts to regenerate and propagate a single invasive weed are ever so slightly bonkers? @markavery.bsky.social @richardbroughton.bsky.social @alasdaircameron.bsky.social @milesking.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Hadrian's Wall Sycamore Gap tree stump shows 'encouraging' signs
A thick layer of growth surrounds the stump three years after the landmark was illegally felled.
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Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Based in Ireland? Booked yet for this autumn's big event for all Irish plant- lovers? Taking place this Saturday 3 October in Enniskillen. Small registration fee includes lunch/tea/coffee & all workshops. Don't miss out, it will be a great day! www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...
bsbi.org
Irish Autumn Meeting & AGM
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Possibly the most invasive commercially grown #timber ‘weed’ #tree in all of Wales/Cymru, escaping from plantations and spreading out like mad across the landscape, seeds finding the most unlikely spots to take root. Sitka spruce. The Welsh uplands can’t heal until it’s tackled. #nature #rewilding
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wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
It’s Sunday & it’s 8pm so it’s time for #wildflowerhour!! Please share your pics of the wild & naturalised plants you’ve found blooming in the last week from across Britain & Ireland ☺️
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Possibly the most invasive commercially grown #timber ‘weed’ #tree in all of Wales/Cymru, escaping from plantations and spreading out like mad across the landscape, seeds finding the most unlikely spots to take root. Sitka spruce. The Welsh uplands can’t heal until it’s tackled. #nature #rewilding
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Vast areas of upland Wales are imprisoned by a deadly, dominant duo of commercial forestry conifer monoculture (dark green chunks), and sheep farming (top bit). Given a chance, this land would heal to become a rich mosaic of temperate rainforest, plus so much more 🌳 #rewilding #naturerecovery
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Spending time in the presence of one of Ireland's extremely rare ancient trees, like this hulking oak near Bandon with local man Dan Holland, are for me life highlights. But it's always bittersweet, tempered by the knowledge that such stupendous beings were once commonplace. We have lost SO much.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The magic of an Irish rainforest.
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
“Research analysing more than 26,000 wildfires in Spain found that native broadleaf woodland had the lowest ignition risk and was less prone to intense fires” Rewilding - the smart approach to preventing fires & floods: rewildingeurope.com/news/rewildi...
rewildingeurope.com
Rewilding: the smart approach to preventing fires and floods | Rewilding Europe
Working with nature is one of our greatest opportunities to build a more resilient and prosperous Europe. As climate change fuels more frequent and intense wildfires, floods and droughts…
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Patrick Barkham @patrickbarkham.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Gorgeous visit to the sunny Lincolnshire coast yesterday to see the latest golf course given back to nature. Credit to @nationaltrust.org.uk for being brave. This is nature as human regen too – fantastic new green infrastructure for Mablethorpe and Sutton-on-Sea. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Skylarks and sandwich terns among new birdies on reserve created from ‘boring old golf course’
National Trust has transformed Sandilands in Lincolnshire into a nature reserve with wetlands and wading pools
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A micro nature reserve on a Dublin street. Only the tree was planted, everything else seeded in naturally once the railing went up. Imagine all the invertebrate life going on in there. Above all, nature just needs space to do its thing.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In the rainforest, even a fallen dead twig brings life.
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Dr Charlie Gardner @charliejgardner.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
This year has been brutal, and like most people you probably want to do more about climate change. But what, and how? Great news – I’ve written just the book for you! It’s called What One Person Can Do and it’s a clear and simple how-to guide, a roadmap to help you make influential changes...
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Capitalism sees the natural world as nothing but 'resources' to exploit and profit from. When one is exhausted it moves on, inexorably, seeking out the next 'business opportunity' to wipe out. We won't arrest the murder of our living planet without recognising and acting on this basic premise.
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Eoghan Daltun 🌍 @irishrainforest.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Correction: windthrow is only the biggest threat to deadzone tree plantations. Windthrow is massively ecologically enhancing to actual Irish forest ecosystems. www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2...
rte.ie
How windthrow is the biggest threat to Irish forests
Windthrow can reduce the climate benefit of forestry by removing trees that would have kept growing and disturbing the carbon-rich soils beneath them
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Gosh, this looks unmissable - the title says it all🌳
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John Walker @earthfgardener.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Gosh, this looks unmissable - the title says it all🌳
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