iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Onni Gust @onnigust.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

41% staffing cuts in the Faculty of Arts at UoN. We're entering a wilderness of creativity and critical thinking.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 7h

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

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 8h

Lovely stuff from Nature Bound Books! Ghosts of the Farm has been in the world a whole year. Highly Commended for @wainwrightprize.bsky.social for Nature Writing. natureboundbooks.co.uk

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Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

And through it all She offers me protection

A screenshot of the archive's catalogue showing 'Photograph and slide collection'.

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

"Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created a lot of value for shareholders"

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

This (alternatively) storied landscape… great piece from @patrickbarkham.bsky.social on Nick Hayes’ beautiful & fierce new book #TheMedicineTree. It’s a book that shares a few references with mine (I grew up here too) & I’m delighted to have a small cameo in it! It’s a really great book.

theguardian.com

‘We have been dispossessed’: Nick Hayes on land rights and a peaceful revolution at the real Toad Hall

The co-founder of the Right to Roam campaign and author of The Book of Trespass discusses the Oxfordshire riverside community he calls home and how Hardwick Hall has been taken back by the people

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Again, the view.. Rivars & Ham Hill. Lost in a wreathing mist this morning. Where (Dora) Carrington used to ride her grey mare ‘Belle’ for hours.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Weather Report: quiet. Utterly still. Some light rain earlier. A sunset dusk-into-dark walk. Testing my nerve in a ‘new’ place after dark. Hares up close, & carouselled by a herd of fallow deer, so close I could smell their warm, animal scent. Bats abroad. Emotional Weather: tranquil, inquiring.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“He appeared on the hill at first light. The scarp was dark against a greening sky & there was the bump of the barrow & then the figure, & it shocked. I thought perhaps the warrior buried there had stood up again to haunt us.” (Adam Thorpe, Ulverton) #BookWormSat #RuralLiterature

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

“there was a regular charm, thrushes & willow-wrens, 7-coloured linnets, canbottlins, finches, & writing-maisters. It was a weaving of many threads, with one maister-thread of clear gold.. I thought maybe love was like that” (Mary Webb, Precious Bane) Rowland Hilder #BookWormSat #RuralLiterature

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BookWormSat @bookwormsat.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

'He went, ever on the move, with the slow, shuffling step of wandering beggars who are nowhere at home.' -Stijn Streuvels Tomorrow #BookWormSat is travelling to the country with the theme Rural Literature. Do travel with us! :-)

Art by Emile Ballue. Artwork of a man walking in the woods

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Andrew Male @andrewmale.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Just saw a goshawk flying while listening to three woodlarks singing. IYKYK

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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Morning. Nero, Emily Brontë, 1841.

Painting of Emily Brontë’s pet Merlin, Nero, perched on a branch.
Dated 27 October 1841. She had rescued it from an abandoned nest on the moors.
The painting is held in the collection of the Brontë Parsonage Museum.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Over on Insta, the brilliant @maryannochota.bsky.social of @cprecountryside.bsky.social has absolutely nailed why the countryside matters to everyone, & why Jenny Riddell-Carpenter is right to warn us of the rural, far-right fantasy propaganda. On my feet, cheering www.instagram.com/reel/Dd5yaaw...

instagram.com

Instagram User on Instagram

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hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Goodnight from High-on-the-Hill Farm, where the Trigg family are enjoying a stubble-goose feast after having paid their quarter day tribute to Faery. Goodnight from Ralph Shenwood calling on the Archangels for strength to resist answering the Hoarse Hag’s call. Goodnight from Hookland.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Weather Report pt 2: contrails for comets at sunset. Words I’ve held dear since 1987: ‘A comet that was lost Should be visible at sunset, Those million tons of light Like a glimmer of haws & rose-hips’ Ravens homeward on taffeta wings. Blowing up sparks from embers of light. *Seamus Heaney

Sunset framed by trees, & a short vapour trail from an aeroplane lit brightly.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Weather Report, pt 1: not nearly as warm as expected. A blanket cloud, clearing. The washing still damp off the line & a day long chill on bare limbs. Out the gate to see the sun down; ivy scent, rooks clamouring. Mist gathering above the fields between the woods. Emotional Weather: emotional.

A series of sunsets above Weavers Field. Long sweeps of colour: peach, navy, pale blue.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Weather Report: still Septemberish. A heavy drizzle, afternoon. Bonfires. Pied & grey wagtails around the horses’ legs. The road, a ribbon. A stubble field machine-knitted & drilled into a fine, damp tweed. A nod to the tree with the healed lightning strike. Emotional Weather: bit weary (or lazy.)

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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

'Landscape with a Geoglyph ll' by contemporary painter Sarah Lees #WomensArt

Painting of a stylised landscape with rolling hills with fields in browns and creams and bare trees

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The size of *one* of the AI data centre buildings proposed for Great Torrington in north Devon, versus Exeter cathedral 🤯 From this useful piece profiling the local campaigns against it: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

A diagram comparing the size of one of the AI data centre buildings proposed for Great Torrington in north Devon, with Exeter cathedral. Source: Guardian piece linked to in post.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Vintage of the village hall tea towels. Drying up after so many dos, meetings & events. A ‘Newbury Coat’ commemorative (1991, I was there) a Tetley Tea man (early 1980s) a precious @themerl.bsky.social design (I realise this is one I left behind!) & a possibly 1940s one, that’s dried a few teacups.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Weather Report: mare’s tail skies & mackerel, gulls going over in Vs. Low, speeding swallows, hedge hopping south at sunset. The vaulted heavens a scrabbled, painterly fresco of plough, ridge, furrow & harrow. So absorbed a badger snuck behind me. Emotional Weather: almost serene.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

The village pond & the lake at the Big House are still completely dry. Before we wander into the autumn in our climatical fugue state, let’s not forget this summer of 2026. An Ecology of Love & Ruin. (Blog & Substack /2.) nicolachester.com/2026/09/13/a...

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Here, here they come… all the pretty horses, cantering over the field to claim their herd member back, & welcome us home.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Kentish barn, eyerolling at yet another walker cooing at the oast house at its shoulder. Hop cones on the vines in the hedgerows at Ightham Mote Farm, & hoppers huts on the field edges. Hop-picking holiday country, somewhere hereabouts, that Grandad knew as a boy.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Here, here they come… all the pretty horses, cantering over the field to claim their herd member back, & welcome us home.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Something about the end of September … add a whiff of good, grassy cow muck, a horsey, slightly damp tweed… an old waxed jacket creased in lines like a map…

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Trying to be a proper grown up professional at the start of a new term. But these are, & have ever been, my stapling stationery tools. None of which work. Although, Dad’s reliable (Fire Station stationery cupboard) 1960s Rapid 17 does, the box of staples are for the Rapid 14. I’ll keep them anyway.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Weather Report: a dry clouded morning, then skeins of folding rain. Blue September skies today. Farming & rural showtime: engagement, outreach, pride. A forage harvester display, horses, cattle, vintage & high tech machinery, lunch on strawbales, the old yearning. Emotional Weather: agri cultural

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

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Chelsea Green Publishing @chelseagreenbooks.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

We are absolutely delighted to share that Ghosts of the Farm by @nicolawriting.bsky.social was awarded a Highly Commended recognition for Nature Writing at last night's 2026 Wainwright Prize @wainwrightprize.bsky.social #Booksky #Nonfiction Congratulations, Nicola! 🎉

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Fantastic afternoon & evening @wainwrightprize.bsky.social at the stunning Elmley Nature Reserve. Thrilled to bits to be Highly Commended & receive such wonderful support & comments on Ghosts of the Farm. Forgot to take any photos!

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It’s @wainwrightprize.bsky.social eve, & just to say how lucky I know I am for this book to have made it into being, & got this far. It comes from a place where everything changed for nature & people, & has so many resonances with now. Younger me can't quite believe it.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Here’s a nice minute of our chickens & dog (Tansy Beetle) entertaining themselves. Chicken luxuriating in the very deep dust bath they made for themselves, & Tansy playing her endless sniff-then-swing-rope game… woof if you wanna go faster…

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richard mortimer @richardmortimer.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Reality of Archaeology an occasional series: Leveret on the spoil heap

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The Past and other Places @pastandotherplaces.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Event: Tue 15 Sep - 19:30 - 21:00 FarmED, Honeydale Farm, Station Rd, Chipping Norton.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

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Rachel Malik @rachelmalik.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is brilliant. We have to keep writing about what is happening ‘Any longer grass – on headlands and verges - turned a lurid shade of climate fiction. I became unsettled and fascinated by the weird colour, trying, in everything I wrote, to define this new, ill colour on the land’

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Tomorrow! A handful of tickets left!

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Shelly Dennison @dennisonshelly.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

This is very good indeed.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Weather Report: muggy, steamy; soft, intermittent, warm rain. A carousel of house martins winding south & west, swallows hawking insects low, then lower over the fields. A brief, wild, painterly sunset. Rooks gathering. Emotional Weather: unsourced Sunday wobbles, allayed with comfort pudding.

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Nicola Chester @nicolawriting.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Before we get lost in new weather, I wanted to set it all down, this summer of 2026. New piece for An Ecology of Love & Ruin. nicolawriting.substack.com/p/an-ecology...

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