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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 4h

Misunderstood Nature - on talking monkeys, badgers and the complexity of peace... Listen or read online now Also, some submissions from the #DailyNature call this week #NatureWriting #Nature #Rewilding #Peace #Environment jenratcliffe.substack.com/p/misunderst...

jenratcliffe.substack.com

Misunderstood Nature: October Nature Roundup Week 2

On talking-monkeys, badger culling and the complexity of peace. Plus this weeks creative nature submissions.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 14h

Yesterday was World Mental Health Day, which was the theme of the #DailyNature creative prompt. I'm sorry for the delay, but I was wrestling with my internet like mad and wanted to go explore the forest. So, here it is anyway - How is everyone? #MentalHealth #Nature #NatureWriting

October 10th World Mental Health Day
How do you feel today?
If you can, go iutside.

Write alternating sentences describing:
Your emotions/ the natural world.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 14h

Haha cute, but wow on that colour!

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Sorry this is a little late but if the clouds aren't covering your world perhaps it's perfectly timed? Today's #DailyNature Writing Prompt

October 9th
Star
It's an excellent night to see the Milky Way, depending on the weather.

Describe the sky as though you can touch it.

What does a star smell like?

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I'm not jealous, your jealous, but seriously how can I get my own fox fren?

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Erica McAlister @flygirlnhm.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

20 years ago today was my first day at the @nhm-london.bsky.social. It’s been packed with learning, travelling, listening, curating, researching and shouting about the wonder of flies & the collection Thanks to everyone who made my double-decades amazing 🤘🪰🦟🤓

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Do chains come in glass? Brown aspec water wobbles. Leaves curly in chrysalis: peridot swept to cherry, Blue bullet blows jiggling canal. I let glass wilt rectangular, black, empty without attention. Kingfisher glides back over khaki reflected lush phone click: screen off #DailyNature #MobilePhone

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EveryHeron 𓅣 @everyheron.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Have you ever wondered how Heron feel, as they float away from their body? Is it like a continuous out-of-body experience? #HeronMindfulness 💭

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Online nature writing workshop is just £1 focusing on hybrid-haiku Haiku gives us form and focus on nature, its hybrid sibling gives us movement, freedom and the human. Join me online on 20th October 7pm [BST] / 11am [PST] tinyurl.com/HTHybridHaiku #NatureWriting #WritingWorkshop #Poetry

eventbrite.co.uk

Writing Workshop: How To Hybrid Haiku

An All-Level Writing Workshop exploring the haiku & its hybrid form where nature and humanity unite to bend the rules.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Today's prompt is inspired by the Draconid Meteor shower that should hopefully be seen over the next few nights, cloud willing Write about something in nature dismantled: Peel a (non-toxic) mushroom and observe its wavy layers? Get your microscopes out? #DailyNature #NatureWriting #WritingPrompt

October 8th Meteor
The Draconid Meteor Shower takes place over the next two days.
Dismantle something in nature - create a flash fiction story where this element flies through the sky instead of a meteor.

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Terri Windling @terriwindling.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Thank you to everyone posting about Brian & Wendy Froud's new book, containing 72 new paintings with literary responses by 37 women writers of diverse backgrounds, landscapes & mythic traditions. Having worked on the project for the last two years, we've all been moved by the enthusiastic response.

Image: The front and back cover for "Brian Froud's Green Women" (Abrams Books, New York). Release date: October 6, 2026.

Image: One of Brian Froud's paintings for the book, called Grandmother Wood. Brian's mythic Green Women come in a wide range of guises, ages, and moods from light to dark. The response to this image was written by American novelist Delia Sherman.

Image: The contents page of the book, listing the writers in the volume and the titles of their pieces.

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Nighttime on Still Waters @noswpod.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

What do you see? You, who are gazing Into the water so earnestly? Do you see the summer skies Of your youth, when life was green And the air sweet with your scent? For meeting you now That is what I see too; The summer you still Bring into my autumn. #DailyNature #ukcanals #poetry #autumn #time

A drifting drizzle fall soft on shoulders and grasses. Along the bankside, summer growth, now brown and crisp, hangs low over the water, gazing into the deep infinities of the canal. Reach out and touch the frail wetness of old leaf. Smell the water scent. There are stories here and lessons to be learnt

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The summer you still bring into my autumn - what a last line Richard! ❤️🦋

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Nighttime on Still Waters @noswpod.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Tiny wings in drizzling rain. A moorhen pushes herself Away from the bank with a flash Of white petticoat. A golden star on a red bottle top Stamped into the towpath. The canal moves to a wind That I cannot feel. #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

#DailyNature Do seeds let go? Do they clutch their mothers fearing the fall of independence Do they jump? Lusting for soil act of propitiation madness in their roots Do they embrace fates ghost? Salmon of the air spinning their tails with visions of spring, determined towards hope.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Today's writing prompt is inspired by the anniversary of the International Space Treaty Write a treaty for nature What can we do together? #DailyNature #NatureWriting

October 7th Space

World Space Week marks the anniversary of the International Space Treaty.

Prompts: Create a poem for an international treaty for nature.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Today's prompt is in honour of Brocctober 🧡 Considering the misunderstood in nature 🦡 #DailyNature #NatureWriting #JournalPrompt

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

I recently pointed out some issues in a new gendered zone of a gym including funnel necked / no safety exits... The response was it was not 'ladies' but 'womens' only... Well colour me scum and send me on my way 😂 Clear exit lines & fire safety is not for working class women! #funny #feminism

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Ditto, I commented yesterday that I'm starting to feel like an unpaid bin lady lately.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Oh, & since I’m here, awkwardly doing this thing, lovely words from Rural & Rustic over on Insta …

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Emma @emmasartworks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Young Gannets practicing their fishing skills at Seaton Carew yesterday (NE England.) I only saw one catch a fish, and it was immediately mugged by a young gull - which was subsequently mugged by an adult gull, who was then assaulted by crows…😕 🪶 @teesbirds.bsky.social

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Persiflage @persiflage.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

The accidental alignment of thick ground fog and blazing sunshine above, with three bonus horses grazing in Port Meadow on Sunday (October 4th) morning at 8.15am. I've never before seen such thick intense ground fog before, so it stopped me in my tracks. #DailyNature #JournalPrompts

Port Meadow, Oxford experiencing blazing sunshine above and a thick group fog. There are three horses grazing the lush green grass.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Todays #DailyNature prompt on the calendar is 'the accidentally aligned' Look up tonight and during tomorrows predawn to see if you can see the crescent oon backed by Mars Consider what else in nature accidentally alligns to make something beautiful #NatureWriting #WritingPrompt #WordGames

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I love felt animation and red squirrels so this is doubly cute

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George The Station Cat @george-station-cat.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Apparently it’s Do Something Nice Day. So today, do one small kind thing. Send a message. Make a cuppa. Make someone laugh. Check on someone who’s quiet. You may never know how much it meant. And feed a ginger cat. Obviously.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Currently there are national protests around boating license fees No license ≠ vagrant There's also been drought advice Little movement ≠ vagrant Nomadism is part of the lifestyle for many No fixed mooring ≠ vagrant or vacant & with laws changing what exactly is a 'vagrant' anyway? #UKCanals

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My neighbour had been gone a lot this summer due to severe family illness - it was not an abandoned boat... I don't know the sunk boater, but not much is known about the person... I hope they haven't come to harm (so did the officer at btw, they were only relaying info) #Abandonned

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

This year the government redacted vagrancy laws & I'm so glad as the ingrained notion of this has such bad bearings I've met all sorts of 'vagrants' these past years on the canal, some bad, many good, caring for their community Let me say a little on 'vagrancy' & 'abandoned boats' #Vagrant

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Having a sad month on the canal... At the tail of last week our neighbours boat had an attempted robbery in broad daylight... Now another boat has been set on fire and they aren't certain if the person was inside/ has sunk below... On asking they said they were likely 'a vagrant'... #UKCanals

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Persiflage @persiflage.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

In the trees are all around, are sleeping Corvids and songbirds, in roosts and nests out of sight, while flittermouse enjoys the twilight. 3/3 #DailyNature #NatureWriting #JournalPrompts

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Day 4 of #DailyNature #JournalPrompts It's #NationalBatMonth There is so much to be said about taking better care of our bats in the UK! Write below about your walk as a bat... + Check out the roundup of contributions so far / get the whole calendar on the blog tinyurl.com/3jpxutkk #Nature

4th October - Writing Prompt: Bats
It's National Bat Month in the UK
There are over 1,500 species worldwide.
Go for a walk and imagine the experience from a bat's perspective. Choose any species you'd like.

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

yes, such a lovely way of putting it, winter gives us some secret mornings away from wings as well

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I have not watched Leaving yet... Is this a fictitious town name does anyone know? Or is Netflix having a 'we don't need English copywriters we've got AI, geography be damned' sort of moment? Asking for a friend... #Cheshire #Leaving #Netflix #AI #Geography

In the English town if Cheshire, a married wedding planner falls for a younger man, leading to a passionate affair that threatens to upend her life. 2012 Leaving, No3 in Series Netflix, Starring Helen McCroy, Callum Turner, Sean Gallagher...

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Oh my, I half expect a unicorn to prancing through - how beautiful! 🦄

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Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Anyway, October #dailynature

Réd Admiral butterfly feeding from pale pink strawflower

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Persiflage @persiflage.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

contrasting sharply with green apples, the sky above is a blazing blue with sun fending off the chill in the air; its light through the trees dapples 'gainst scattered leaves below, slanting through the branches above, calling forth memories warm with love, brightening up every last shadow. 2/2

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It doesn't crunch the sunset. Teeth draw softly down vanilla glistening flesh cheeks cloaked in femme-fatal kiss. My body replies with knowing, 'ah, hunger' It tastes of rain. I twist another - pop rub roundling against chest, a ritual for consumption... I forget who grew these apples #DailyNature

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Day 3 of #DailyNature #JournalPrompts An ode to the harvest and abundance of autumn. Today's writing prompt is about writing taste, the sensations, the journey and the change within you from it. Write your harvest below... #ciderapple #applepie #naturewriting #wordgames

3rd October - Writing Prompt
Apple Harvest
Taste nature. Write about each stage of eating something harvestable. Think about texture, colour, flavour, shape - how does it grow? Did you pluck it from its stem?
How does it change you?

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Michael Jones @mixaeljones.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This Wall Lizard is living up to its name by being a lizard on a wall! 🦎 I saw many of these fab reptiles on a visit to Durlston Country Park. #DailyNature #lizard #reptile

A close up of the head of a Wall Lizard. The lizard is gripping onto a grey wall and looking directly at the camera

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Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

😂 that has made me chuckle - it's like when they same the name of the film during the film right? 🧡

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Joanne Hall @hierath77.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Bore da from Nantymeillion, where the dew is clinging to the cobwebs and the mist is just starting to lift. I have misplaced my socks. I am mostly piloting the farm solo today so consider this an all-day AMA - kettle going on now! #dailynature

Early morning view of the polytunnel from the porch

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