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Ysella

@ysella.bsky.social
619 followers 463 following 84 posts

Based near Exeter, Devon in the UK. Writer, mostly about connection, to each other and the natural world, and always on the lookout for reasons for optimism amongst *all this* Join me at ysella.substack.com

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Jon Woolcott @jonwoolcott.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Really looking forward to this, and talking to @ysella.bsky.social all about England's chalky strangeness.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Can't wait to begin my journey of chalky weirdness across the tattooed hills with @jonwoolcott.bsky.social I'm super excited too, to be in conversation with Jon at @thebookery.bsky.social on May 7th and for the chance to ask the questions that crop up as I read. Devon friends, join us?
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 15/07/2025
Scientists have released the closest images ever taken near the sun, captured by NASA’s Parker Solar Probe flying 3.8 million miles above the solar surface. See more images of solar eruptions on the sun: wapo.st/3Irm3P3
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
June is Pride Month. Let's call out companies who show support for LGBTQ+ people while also advertising on GB News, a channel that pumps out LGBTQ+ hate. Tell these companies to pick a side - hate or Pride: action.goodlawproject.org/pick-side-ha...
action.goodlawproject.org
Pick a side – hate or Pride
June is Pride month. So our social feeds will be awash with corporate rainbow logos performatively signalling their support for the LGBTQ+ community. But some of the same companies celebrating Pride a...
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Armando Iannucci @aiannucci.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
The best boss and mentor you could ever hope to have. The best of the BBC. BBC arts broadcaster Alan Yentob dies aged 78 www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Alan Yentob: BBC arts broadcaster dies aged 78
He interviewed a raft of important cultural and creative figures over a lengthy career at the BBC.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
🧵 1/Listening to writers ‪‪@sophiepavs.bsky.social, Poppy Okotcha + climate activist and creative educator @emmadesaram.bsky.social at Bookbag Exeter's latest Writing Nature event it was easy to feel that we still have hope.
Sophie Pavelle, Poppy Okotcha and Emma de Saram in conversation and seated on stools in McCoys arcade, ExeterAn image of Poppy Okotcha's book A Wilder Way: How Gardens Grow UsAn image of Sophie Pavelle's book, To Have or to Hold: Nature's hidden relationships
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
And @righttoroam.bsky.social has won!! The Supreme Court has upheld the right to wild camping on Dartmoor 🎉👏. Huge congratulations to all involved! Now Government must step up & pass a comprehensive Right to Roam Act, to protect & extend public rights of access to nature across England
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Jack Wallington @jackwallington.com · 12/05/2025
Gardening in drought - emergency tips for the continued dry spell www.wildway.info/p/gardening-...
wildway.info
Gardening in drought
Emergency tips for the continued dry spell
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Road Song Books @roadsongbooks.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
Road Song Books (UK) is looking for novellas and narrative non-fiction (between 10,000 -12,000 words). Visit roadsongbooks.com/contact-us/
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Pleasing lines on my #dailywalk in mid Devon this morning.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
The cow parsley is in full froth and looks so beautiful with the afternoon sun filtering through it. The blackbird song is joyful too. 🐦‍⬛ 🎶 #gardening #wildgarden #nature
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Ian Denton @iand777.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
More Nightingale song from yesterday evening - 5.30pm. #nightingales #ukwildlife #ornithology
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Nine Arches Press @ninearchespress.bsky.social · 30/04/2025
"An exotic zoo of poems... they come at you with arms flung open and invite you in." Thanks Alchemy Spoon for your great review of Mingle by @calebparkinpoet.bsky.social in the new Issue 15 www.alchemyspoon.org Dive into Mingle at a delicious sale price of £7.99 ninearchespress.com/publications...
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Little Toller Books @littletollerbooks.bsky.social · 23/04/2025
SWIFTS NEED US! Join swift campaigner Hannah Bourne-Taylor in Bridport on the 9th May. Free and open to all. Scan the QR code for more info. @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social #BookSky
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 22/04/2025
🌍 Writing for Earth Day - what if keeping it all together isn’t the point? What if the point is delighting in discovery, in all life’s small moments, about living in noticing and with uncertainty? 📖 Read: open.substack.com/pub/ysella/p... #naturewriting #earthday #creativeessay #slowwriting
ysella.substack.com
Paper Chain
A reflection for Earth Day on our connection to each other and the natural world, with inspiration from writers on keeping faith, noticing, and living with uncertainty.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
🧵 1./ I've started exploring my Indian heritage and was excited but nervous to share what I've begun to discover at a live performance event, KARST x SOAK, featuring Bharatanatyam dance, historic sound archives, spoken word and music at KARST gallery in Plymouth.
Ysella Sims stands at a microphone, performing her work. Photo credit: https://tomkov-photo.com/A neon sign, part of the exhibition at the gallery bearing its title, 'Jalsaghar'. Dancer Sadhna Lakshmi Vantakesh performing. Photo credit: https://tomkov-photo.com/
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
It’s cold here this morning in mid Devon - yesterday there was ice on the hen’s water - but these forget me nots are bringing spring to the fringes of my veg plot. They’ve nested amongst velvety stachys, aquilegia, muscari and foxgloves. Sound up for the birdsong - such clarity. #gardening #nature
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Magnolias looking resplendent in the spring light at our little local arboretum yesterday. #nature #gardening
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Brigit Strawbridge @brigitstrawbridge.bsky.social · 25/03/2025
In case you missed it! #nature
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
This is the most beautiful way to spend 59 minutes. Irish Ornithologist Sean Ronyane is on a mission to record the birdsong of all Ireland’s bird species. The production, pacing and storytelling are spot on. Plus Sean is a bloody hero. #birdsong #nature #Ireland
bbc.co.uk
Birdsong
Film following Irish ornithologist Seán Ronayne’s mission to record the sound of every bird species in Ireland – that's nearly 200 birds.
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
The government’s Land Use consultation is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to intervene in this critical issue. Here’s my response to it. Please feel free to borrow / copy & paste as much as you want. It’s crucial that we engage. www.monbiot.com/2025/03/23/f... 1/3 🧵
monbiot.com
First Sight of Land
For the first time, the government is consulting on a Land Use Framework for England. It’s an important step, but there’s a long way to go.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
We’ve made it! I’m celebrating the #springequinox by putting my hands in the dirt and planting some seeds - cosmos and beans - and thinking of the days to come, moments of watching, growing and delighting 🌱 #gardening
A hand holding soilA hand holding bean seeds coloured brown, white and black Packets of seeds on a seed tray - climbing beans, coloured cosmos and white cosmos
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
🇮🇳🪷 These images are of my relatives from Tamilnadu in the early 1900s & I’d like to understand what the way they are dressed can tell me about them and their lives. Can anybody help or point me towards a resource that might be able to? Thanks! #India #tamilnadu #ancestry #HeritageAndProgress
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Greta keeps track of the earth’s hearbeat the same way that some people track weather patterns. But is the year the swallows won’t return? Is there time to bring nature back from the brink? 📻 An audio short story set in rural Devon from @exetercityoflit.bsky.social #fiction #nature #climate
soundcloud.com
The Last Swallow - a story of spring and uncertainty
The Last Swallow is a story about finding hope during the climate crisis. Set in mid Devon it centres on Greta who keeps track of the earth's heartbeat the same way that some people attempt to track w
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
Loved Astronomer Royal for Scotland Prof Catherine Heymans’ poetic explanation of this morning’s blood moon as a ‘reflection of light from all the sunrises and sunsets around the entire globe.’ How beautiful is that? 🌏 #weareallconnected #lunareclipse #bloodmoon Photo credit Luke Pinker
Image of a blood moon. Photo credit Luke Tinker.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
1./ Late Light, a short 🧵 I recently heard Michael Malay talk about Late Light, his 2024 @wainwrightprize.bsky.social winning book at @thebookery.bsky.social - a memoir laced with natural history, a rich exploration of belonging, migration + extinction. #naturewriting #booksky
The front cover of a book, titled Late Light by Michael malay. The image is of a pink sky and a silhouette of two people climbing up a hill towards an abandoned mine with a tall chimney or stack. In the four corners are images of a cricket, an eel, a moth and muscles - the natural history focus of the book.An image of the author of the post, Ysella Sims, holding the book in a shaft of sunlight. Behind her is tropical themed wallpaper in blues and greens.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
And now, following in the snowdrops’ wake come the wild daffodils. These are daintier and paler than the garden varieties and are very happy in this scrap of woodland carpeted with periwinkle next to the river Creedy in Devon. #nature #naturewriting #gardening
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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
Huge win! Government announces plans to open up the Land Registry. If delivered, will finally reveal more about who owns land in England and Wales. Read my blog post for more details & how you can write to the Minister to make sure this now happens: whoownsengland.org/2025/03/06/h... 🧵1/
whoownsengland.org
Huge win! Government announces plan to open up Land Registry
This post is by Guy Shrubsole. Today the UK Government has announced plans to open up the Land Registry – which, if delivered, will finally reveal more about who owns land in England and Wale…
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
What’s helping to keep you on track while the world feels like a bin fire? I’ve written about the simple things (planet-spotting, sun-worshipping, mowing) that are helping me at: ysella.substack.com/p/reasons-to... Tell me what's helping you? #naturewriting #gardening #reasonstobecheerful
Text: Winter has felt like a long push uphill in the dark, but for the last few days I’ve watched a pink light creep around the garden in the mornings. Day after day of mud-hardening frost, blue skies and birdsong have followed the end of dour February into March’s bright beginning.

Read the rest at ysella.substack.comA crowd of purple crocus growing amongst the grass. The sun is lighting their petals and we can see the gold of their stamen at the centre.A backyard collection of six hens, coloured black, white, bluey grey and speckled grey. The sun is casting their shadows on the short grass and the hens are looking alert.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
These are the little moments. The sun has come out, bringing the speedwell singing, along with the wren and the chaffinch, into the light. Coming from over the road, where men have been working in the sullen grey on a building site all winter, this morning, laughter. #naturewriting #spring
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Kate Bradbury @katebradbury.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
In light of the sad news from @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social today, I have removed the paywall from the Substack I wrote in autumn about extra things we can do to help bumblebees. One of them is growing crocuses undercover, which is working really well! open.substack.com/pub/katebrad...
open.substack.com
Stepping up for our pollinators: bumblebees
With climate change adding to habitat loss and pesticide woes, how can we step up for bumblebees in our gardens?
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Robert Macfarlane @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
"Daylighting" is the practice in urban design of restoring buried rivers to the surface. The River Sheaf been unburied in Sheffield city centre, after 100 yrs in the dark. Fabulous. A small light in the great gloom. “It is starting to make its own meandering path…” www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
River Sheaf opened up next to Sheffield Castle site - BBC News
The River Sheaf has been exposed at Castlegate for the first time in over 100 years
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Ian Denton @iand777.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
1/2 Wren Nest-Building It takes a while to get the camera set-up correctly - with an add-on lens the distance has to be millimetre perfect. The male has several entry points to the log shed - this is the one he's mainly using currently. He always pauses for a fraction of a sec to check for danger.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 22/02/2025
The sun is shining and so is our chinese witch hazel. There’s a buzz of insects around it, as relieved for the blue skies and scent as we are 🐝🌱 #gardening
A yellow flowered witch hazel, the flowers resembling spiders, against a blue sky.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
I was looking for reasons for hope in this grim February and Bernie Sanders provides one with a practical plan for change at grassroots level. Good to hear a positive, rational voice in the chaos of misinformation and disinformation Trump’s administration is pumping out.
theguardian.com
We are on the road for democracy and justice | Bernie Sanders
What we are fighting for is not ‘utopian’ or unachievable. Trumpism can and must be defeated
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
A Romany name for February is ‘bita kaulo munthos’ - little black month & in ‘February’ Margaret Atwood calls it, ‘month of despair, with a skewered heart in the centre’. This year, for all the obvious reasons, it’s feeling a bit darker, so I’ve written about it - tell me your reasons for hope? 🧡
A terracotta bowl on a table heaped with tangerines, some with green leaves. Text: February Foolhardiness. It’s February and I’m looking for reasons for optimism *I may need your help* At the foot is a link to my Substack ysella.substack.com
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 15/02/2025
I’m having a jangly, grief-filled day, but here amongst the peace of the snowdrops and the softly churning river it’s all starting to feel a bit better. #gardening #naturewriting
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Right to Roam @righttoroam.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Want to have your say? Tomorrow afternoon, we’re sending out our supporter survey to our mailing list. Sign up now using the link below to be able to share your thoughts and help shape the future of the campaign. www.righttoroam.org.uk
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Right to Roam @righttoroam.bsky.social · 20/12/2024
REVEALED: over 1/4 of England's ancient landmarks have no right of public access. Analysis from Right to Roam indicates over 5,500 scheduled monuments were off-limits, with trespass the only way to fully experience our heritage. Read more here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Ancient landmarks closed off to walkers, campaigners say
They include a neolithic burial mound in Wiltshire and an Iron Age hill fort on the edge of Dartmoor.
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
Small signs of hope amongst the existential angst and general February grim on my Devon #morningwalk. Snowdrops, catkins and pussy willow are doing their thing, there’s the first shoots of cuckoo pint and dog’s mercury in the undergrowth and the blue green of daffodils shooting under the trees 🌱
Snowdrops, white and green, flowing in a clump on a hedgebankCatkins flowering yellow on bare hazel branchesPussy willow catkins white and fluffy on red stems
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Kit de Waal @kitdewaal.com · 09/02/2025
The Hosking Houses Trust supports women writers, artists and creative practitioners, usually over the age of 40 to develop their work through short-term residencies at Church Cottage nr Stratford-upon-Avon. Details in link. Please share :) hoskinghouses.org.uk
18th century cottage in England, whitewashed, roses round the door
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Danica Priest @danicapriest.bsky.social · 07/02/2025
With the government trying to stoke division over environmental protections it’s more important than ever to follow ecological professionals and conservationists that know the real facts. This starter pack is a great place to start 🦇🦎🦇💚 go.bsky.app/UiaNNpD
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
Sharing for anyone looking for a shot of hope, of pragmatic optimism this morning. @georgemonbiot.bsky.social on top form on democracy, the nature of power and the power of commonality, on human nature, belonging, and village thinking 🌿 #naturewriting #hope #environment
open.spotify.com
#71 - George Monbiot - How we beat The Invisible Doctrine
The James Kennedy Podcast · Episode
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 06/02/2025
A frosty morning in mid Devon, the sheep resting in their crunchy field, nestling against each other, heads lowered as the sun climbs into the pink streaked sky. And after my walk a moment to look at the sparkle up close, the shadows on the grass, the silver shimmer on the succulents. #naturewriting
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George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Trump is capitalism in human form, stripped of its disguises. The violent seizure of other people's resources, the exploitation of other people's catastrophes, the predatory gleam in the psychopath's eye. #Gaza #Genocide
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Caught by the River @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
It’s back! The good folks of Black Lodge Press have printed a new run of 'A Radical Garden' — a lush risograph zine which collects posters and thoughts on the radical act of gardening and growing 🌱 In the shop now (£10) and never around for long buff.ly/3CDZ2G0
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 02/02/2025
Some epic bumperstickering around Bristol today. A nice egg, now there’s the thing 🐓
A bumper sticker showing a white egg with the text: can I offer you a nice egg in this trying time?A pink circular bumper sticker with an image of Tom Wambsgams and the text:Tom Wambsgams the people’s princess
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 29/01/2025
‘A bohemian life in a freezing garret only sounds attractive to those who have never lived it. In a country proud of its literary history, we’re at a tipping point when the number of books and plays written could soon collapse with the number of people who can afford to create them.’
theguardian.com
Impoverished authors are told they should do it for the love. Try saying that to a dentist | Gareth Rubin
The average income for a writer is now £7,000. For our sake and the country’s, we need financial assistance
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Ysella @ysella.bsky.social · 25/01/2025
‘… the oaks, once part of ancient hedgerows — wavy lines of hawthorn, oak and dog rose — have been set adrift again, floating islands on a furrowed sea.’ So happy ‘Even the Trees are Lonely’ is up on @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social today amidst all the glorious #naturewriting 🔗 tinyurl.com/22pddyb8
A ploughed field of red earth, deep furrows leading up to silhouetted winter oaks, isolated on the horizon
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