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Hannah Booth

@hannahbooth.bsky.social
1.2K followers 1.5K following 417 posts

Northumbrian in the Netherlands | Writes about connections between Britain & its North Sea neighbours | Historical linguist turned writer & editor Writing: northseanexus.substack.com Website: hannahmarybooth.com

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Reposted by Hannah Booth
Alison Stenning @alisonstenning.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The nurdles on our Tyneside coast are back with a vengeance today, both depressing in and of itself but also a clear indication of what will happen periodically over the coming months and years and tides and winds bring some of the many millions of plastic pellets still swirling around in our seas.
Thousands of white nurdles (plastic pellets) strewn across Whitley Bay beach, amidst seaweed and sand. Thousands of white nurdles (plastic pellets) strewn across North Shields Fish Quay beach, amidst seaweed and sand. Thousands of white nurdles (plastic pellets) strewn across a beach, amidst seaweed and sand.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 19h
As September comes to a close and autumn takes gentle hold it's time for the latest North Sea dispatches. This round takes in the regal, the forbidden and the unexpected. All testament to just how much the North Sea still matters.
northseanexus.substack.com
Royal yachts, a coveted Rembrandt and drama under the mudflats
North Sea Dispatches #12
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Dr Beccy Scott @beccyscottuk.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It always slightly frustrates me that I can never find a comprehensive, georeferenced map showing the toponymy of seabed features, but this snippet from the BGS memoir captures some of the best ones north-east of Norfolk. webapps.bgs.ac.uk/memoirs/docs... (Figure 121, Cameron et al. 1992)
A chart of the Norfolk Banks running sub-parallel to the coast, showing the names given to them by people navigating those waters; from north-east inwards towards the coast, these are:
Indefatigable Banks
Swarte Bank
Broken Bank
Well Bank
Inner Bank
Ower Bank
Leman Bank, with Haddock Bank to it's north-west
Smith's Knoll
Winteron Ridge
Hammond Knoll
Haisborough Sand
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Nice story from the other coast
bbc.com
Lost oyster beds rediscovered thanks to Gaelic and Scots language
Scientists searched for the inclusion of the Gaelic and Scots words for oyster or oysters in place-names around Scotland's coast.
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
In Skagen (Denmark) Peder Severin Krøyer focused on the landscape, local life, and community festivities. He was also captivated by the ‘blue hour’ and the effects of moonlight on Skagen beach or as here (1885) from the moors just north of the then village.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
From my recent trip to the edge of a former sea here in the Netherlands
northseanexus.substack.com
Between the damns
A journey to the edge of a former sea
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ednl🇪🇺 @ee1.nl · 12/09/2026
I visited the Haringvliet Dam & Sluices today, built between 1958 and 1970 after the disastrous North Sea Flood of 1953. 70% of all Rhine and Meuse water flows into the sea here.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Latest piece from me: some thoughts on my recent trip to the edge of a former sea
northseanexus.substack.com
Between the damns
A journey to the edge of a former sea
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Vincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Remarkable: due to the fires in the High Fens in Belgium, a road, probably built between the late 6th c. and early 8th c., that connected Liège with Aachen has resurfaced. Photo: HBVL
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Simon Knott @simonknott.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Hartlepool Headland with Hartlepool town centre beyond. 'One of those unforgettable places,' thought Pevsner, 'a finger of land surrounded on three sides by the sea, with buildings magnificent and drab.'
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Preserved as a working steam vessel, Lydia Eva is one of the finest smelling museums I've ever visited, with the intoxicating mixture of oil, smoke, wood and sea permeating the whole ship.
Lydia Eva's bell, shining brightly despite dozens of grubby fingers giving it a good rattle all morning
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British Geological Survey @bgs.ac.uk · 28/08/2026
Scientists have found evidence of a long-hidden link between an ancient buried ash layer in Scandinavia and a concealed supervolcano in eastern England, changing our understanding of England’s geological past. 🌋 www.bgs.ac.uk/news/secrets...
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Alison Stenning @alisonstenning.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
A nurdle update from one of the community volunteers on North Shields Fish Quay beach this morning. As the volunteer explains, this is 50 days after the nurdle spill, when the Wind Orca collided with container ship BG Orange in the Port of Tyne, spilling at least 17 tonnes of plastic pellets.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
On this day 7th Sept 1838 Grace Darling and her father rescued sailors from from the shipwrecked Forfarshire Artist: John Berry
Grace and her father handle their small boat as it’s tossed in rough seas while we see the wrecked ship in the background, beneath stormy skies 
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
North to Enkhuizen today, and a strange wander along the shore of the former Zuiderzee — now sealed off from the North Sea for nearly a century. A fresh breeze and a distinct lack of saltiness to the air!
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
"Northumberland is a rough county; that is its great attraction." — Pevsner, 1957
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John Fielding Aerial Images @john-fielding.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
29 July 2026: wildfire swept from @RSPBMinsmere into Dunwich Heath. Around 370 acres (150ha) of heath/woodland were affected, including c.30ha of Minsmere heath. Firefighting continued for 23 days, ending 21 Aug. The RSPB has launched a restoration appeal. @rspbengland.bsky.social #Suffolk #Aerial
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
It's the end of the month again, and time for the latest North Sea Dispatches. As a long, hot summer comes to an end, this round takes in the dramatic, the cinematic and a stunning return. All testament to just how much the North Sea still matters.
northseanexus.substack.com
Yorkshire tuna, rebel monks and Hollywood on the Moray Firth
North Sea Dispatches #11
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
And born in Kirkharle, Northumberland
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Alison Stenning @alisonstenning.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
An evening nurdling, weeks after the spill, still thousands and thousands on the Fish Quay beach each day. Lots of folk, of all ages, spending a few hours with home- and community-made kit (one woman with a teaspoon on the end of a pole, to save her bending). And the beautiful mouth of the Tyne.
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Laine Thompson @marlinhoister.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Two of my favourite railway posters advertising the Yorkshire Coastline and the free Alice in Holidayland booklet .
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Crikey — the River Waal at Nijmegen earlier this month compared to August 2025: eu-space.europa.eu/components/e... (European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)
Low water levels on the River Waal in the Netherlands. These two images, acquired by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 11 August 2025 and 14 August 2026, show the Waal River near Nijmegen. Compared with the same period in 2025, the 2026 image shows wider exposed riverbanks along several river sections.
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Dr Kathryn Ferry @seasideferry.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Have you voted in this year's #bucketandspadelist yet? The list is always a quirky mixture of places and attractions nominated by the public and compiled by @seasidenetwork.bsky.social Voting is a great way to support some of our lesser-known seaside treasures seasideheritage.org.uk/bucket-spade...
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John Fielding Aerial Images @john-fielding.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
The River Yare once reached the North Sea around 5 miles further south. Today's harbour entrance exists because over 400 years ago, our ancestors redirected the river to the sea. The first attempt was in 1346 and the current 'Seventh Haven' was established in 1613. #Gorleston
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
From this week’s piece on old pilot books, and what it means to know a place:
northseanexus.substack.com
What it means to know a place
A journey through old pilot books of the North Sea
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
This week's piece from me — on a journey through old pilot books of the North Sea and what it means to know a place
northseanexus.substack.com
What it means to know a place
A journey through old pilot books of the North Sea
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
North Sea Friday Folk #15 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep Today’s the turn of Margaret, Maid of Norway (1281-90) who became heir presumptive to the Scottish crown age 3, when her grandfather Alexander III died in a freak accident on the Fife coast. 📷 Colin Smith (CC BY-SA 2.0)
“Margaret, Queen of Scotland and daughter of Norway” depicted in stained glass at Lerwick Town Hall, Shetland (Colin Smith / The Maid of Norway / CC BY-SA 2.0).
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NL Times @nltimes.nl · 20/08/2026
dlvr.it
North Sea reaches warmest temperature ever recorded in Dutch waters
The North Sea reached a record-high average temperature of 21.5 degrees over the weekend, according to the KNMI. Records dating back to 1984 show that the water has never been this warm.
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Laine Thompson @marlinhoister.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Lone oystercatcher wandering a tideline bringing in a layer of coal dust. Between late 1800s-1993, an estimated 100 million tonnes of spoil was tipped onto beaches & into the sea creating the infamous 'Black Beaches of Durham'- a landscape film location used for Alien3 and climax of Get Carter.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Agathe Lasch (1879-1942), first female professor at the University of Hamburg & also trailblazer in the field of Middle Low German linguistics. Her Middle Low German Grammar remains a standard reference work & was a daily go-to for me in a previous life. Always a sobering date, the 18th of August.
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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
If you were living in Europe in the 1580s and 90s, you would likely have heard a few herring prophecies from Norway. Fishes with words about evil, fighting knights symbolizing the Ottoman conflicts of the Habsburg monarchy etc. appeared, and they all predicted something about the state of the world.
a German broadside with a wondrous fish caught off Norway. Source: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1880-0710-3466 fishes with words from a small print of 1598 ("Prophetia halieutica nova et admiranda...", Source: https://www.e-rara.ch/zuz/content/titleinfo/1489626A broadside from 1587 showing a fish with wondrous inscriptions which reads 'Vici Malum' caught off Norway. Source: https://sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/freytag/content/pageview/8433201
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
The 1783 Great Meteor was a massive, brilliant fireball procession witnessed across the British Isles and Western Europe on 18th August 1783. Travelling a path from the North Sea across eastern Scotland and England and and the English Channel, the spectacular meteor broke up over
The 1783 Great Meteor, as seen from the East Angle of the North Terrace, Windsor Castle, Paul Sandby's original watercolour. The hazy environment of the image is associated with the Laki volcano eruption in that year. Image: Paul Sanby, Yale Center for British Art.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Winner of the Whitley Bay sandcastle competition, 19th August 1908.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Rain!
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
North Sea Friday Folk #14 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep Today’s the turn of Margaret of Scotland (1261-83), eldest child of Alexander III of Scotland. On 15th August 1281 she sailed into Bergen to marry King Erik II and be crowned Queen of Norway. 📍Approaches to Bergen (UKHO)
Nautical chart of the approaches to Bergen, at a scale of 1:49,999, from 1894 (not current!). United Kingdom Hydrographic Office.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Some thoughts ahead of tonight’s solar eclipse:
northseanexus.substack.com
Reasons to look up
On watching sky over sea
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UHI Archaeology Institute @uhiarchaeology.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the  North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.
archaeologyorkney.com
Two Orkney-led PhDs available as part of North Sea Heritage project
Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the  North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Latest piece from me — on the many reasons to look up as we head into a bumper week for watchers of the skies
northseanexus.substack.com
Reasons to look up
On watching sky over sea
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The Guardian once described the Holderness coast as 'where Britain runs out. The land descends from the Wolds, a great, elegantly curved coastal line that shrivels into the impossible thread of land at Spurn Head.'
This satellite image shows the Humber Estuary on the east coast of England, where the brown, silt-laden river water meets the deeper blue North Sea. The tip of land extending into the estuary is Spurn Point, a narrow spit formed of glacial moraine that is relatively resistant to the erosion affecting the coast further north. The surrounding green areas, particularly to the north, represent Holderness, a fertile, low-lying agricultural region in the East Riding of Yorkshire. The intertidal areas within the estuary support significant bird populations, wintering wildfowl, and local seagrass beds Image: The Humber Estuary, Harkey Lodger/NASA
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
North Sea Friday Folk #13 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep Today’s the turn of painter Adam Willaerts (1577-1664), known for his seascapes. Although associated with Utrecht, Adam was in fact born in London to a Protestant family, who had fled the Southern Netherlands like so many.
Beach with Fishermen, Adam Willaerts, 1627 (Museo del Prado).
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
North Sea Friday Folk #12 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep Today’s the turn of geologist & palaeobotanist Clement Reid (1853-1916), one of the first to postulate a drowned land bridge across the southern North Sea 📷 Clement Reid (National Portrait Gallery, London: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0)
Photo portrait of Clement Reid by Elliott & Fry. Half-plate glass copy negative, 1910s. National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG x100343
(CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
As I wrote earlier Saturday is Lammas Day when traditionally the harvest would have started. The end of July/start of August would also have marked the the start of another harvest in Yorkshire, the herring season at Scarborough. As the fish moved further south the
A late Victorian black and white photograph by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe capturing a sharp contrast between working-class fisherwomen and upper-class onlookers on the quayside
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
This week's piece from me, on harbour views at the height of the North Sea herring fishery
northseanexus.substack.com
Those strange forests of spindly masts
Harbour views at the height of the North Sea herring fishery
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
🧵3 posts. The Dutch River is a man-made waterway in the East Riding of Yorkshire. In the 1620s, King Charles I commissioned Dutch civil engineer Cornelius Vermuyden to drain the Hatfield Chase marshes and divert the River Don directly into the River Ouse. The artificial cut, completed around 1628
The photo captures a view of the Dutch River, an artificial waterway located near the town of Goole in the East Riding of Yorkshire.  It is a 1620s re-engineered section of the River Don. King Charles I tasked the prominent Dutch civil engineer Cornelius Vermuyden with draining the marshlands of Hatfield Chase.  Vermuyden diverted the river by 10 miles to empty into the River Ouse at Goole rather than its original path to the River Trent. This project transformed the region's agricultural landscape and laid the groundwork for the modern port town, While historically utilized by small coal barges to carry fuel from the South Yorkshire Coalfield, the modern river is highly hazardous. It connects directly to the Ouse via Ocean Lock and experiences extreme, sudden tidal surges and volatile direction shifts. Image: Steven Ruffles CC BY 2,0
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
North Sea Friday Folk #11 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep Today’s the turn of Dolly Peel (1782-1857), legendary fishwife of South Shields A smuggler of brandy & tobacco, she also fiercely resisted the press gang, scuppering their efforts to seize local men 📷 jim field, CC BY 3.0
Statue of Dolly Peel by Billy Gofton (b.1945), on River Drive, South Shields, Tyne and Wear (jim field: CC BY 3.0)
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"Now, here's a new term for you: pod-casting. At the moment it's something enjoyed by a small but rapidly growing group of internet enthusiasts..." Throwback to 2004 and this feature on The Culture Show. It'll never catch on...
youtube.com
2004: What is Podcasting? | The Culture Show | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
"Now, here's a new term for you: pod-casting. At the moment it's something enjoyed by a small but rapidly growing group of internet enthusiasts..." Throwback to 2004 and this feature on The Culture Show. It'll never catch on...
youtube.com
2004: What is Podcasting? | The Culture Show | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...
theguardian.com
Why Scotland’s cinematic Moray coast made it a perfect location to shoot The Odyssey
‘Legends cling like barnacles to these shores,’ says our local writer, who reveals how the lore of these craggy cliffs and beaches resonates with the Homeric classic
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Hannah Booth @hannahbooth.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I find this satellite image of sea ice drifts off Greenland's east coast from earlier this month completely mesmerising: eu-space.europa.eu/components/e... (European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)
Satellite image of sea ice drifts along Greenland's east coast, acquired by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites on 14 July 2026. The image shows the pattern created by the interaction between sea ice, ocean currents and surface winds. Sea ice appears in bright white, while open water appears in dark blue to black. Fine grey streaks highlight thinner ice and surface features tracing the southward flow along Greenland's eastern coastline.
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