1
@RobGMacfarlane
The English Oak (Quercus robur) supports an astonishing 2300 species, of which 326 depend on it for survival.
716 lichens, 108 fungi, 1178 invertebrates, owls, bats, wood warblers, butterflies...
I hold in my hand not a single tree, but a community-to-be, a world-in-waiting.
2
@RobGMacfarlane
This!
France bans 30 kinds of fruit & veg from having any plastic wrapping, inc. apples & cucumbers
‘The environment ministry said there must be curbs on the “outrageous amount of single-use plastic in our daily lives”’
RT if UK shd follow suit
@DefraGovUK theguardian.com/world/2021/dec…
3
@RobGMacfarlane
I met my own Brocken Spectre on the Fairfield Horseshoe today, haloed in concentric ice-refracted coronae.
An encounter I’ll never forget; a portal & a double that retreated in the measure I approached it.
4
@RobGMacfarlane
Happy Winter Solstice to all in the northern hemisphere, today 21st December.
The turn of the year's tide; a pivot-point; the day when the dark stops rising & the sun begins its slow climb back.
We need all the light we can get right now.
#TheLightIsRising
📷 Dominik Hofbauer
5
@RobGMacfarlane
Reasons not to mow verges unnecessarily No. 451:
Jaw-dropped, thrilled & astonished this evening to discover…a Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) flowering on the verge of the street I live on, a few doors up from me.
Just look at the mimicry of the flower that gives it its name!
6
@RobGMacfarlane
Happy Winter Solstice, one & all.
The turn of the year’s tide—& a day of hope.
We’ve made it round one more time, & from here the light spills slowly back, minute by minute.
I celebrate this day more than Christmas or New Year.
Fiat lux!
7
@RobGMacfarlane
Hello -- some news!
I've adapted Susan Cooper's cult-classic novel, The Dark Is Rising, for a 12-part audio drama/podcast on @bbcworldservice.
Dir. & co-adapted by @SimonMcBurney.
Starring Toby Jones, Harriet Walter.
Music by @JohnnyFlynnHQ & more.
#TheDarkIsRising
Brief 🧵
8
@RobGMacfarlane
This is “inosculation”, where two trees rub branches, roots or trunks together until they conjoin vascular systems, melting into one another.
Latin in+osculari, “to kiss inwards”
AKA: a long, slow, beautiful interspecies tree-snog, beech on birch & back again.
📷 @JohnnyFlynnHQ
9
@RobGMacfarlane
This is (l to r) Sam, Reuben & Denzel of @ElmhurstSchool in London.
They've learned the Jackdaw Spell from The Lost Spells by heart & here they are rocking it in the woods.
Poetry, outdoor learning, smiles, dance!
Will you give them a shout, tell them how awesome they are?
10
@RobGMacfarlane
Hello—as my followers tally hit 200k this morning, thought I’d send a note of thanks to you all for the generous, community-making conversations, sharing & debates that happen here.
Twitter doesn’t have to be a cesspit, even if our rivers are rn…
Here’s to kindness & long views.
11
@RobGMacfarlane
Hello there: River—a film I wrote about the lives & deaths of the world’s rivers, & how our future flows with theirs, dir. @jenpeedom, narrated by Willem Dafoe, w/ music by Radiohead & @JnnyG—has now gone up on @BBCiPlayer, in case you fancy it.
Here: bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod…
12
@RobGMacfarlane
The symbiosis between Jay & Oak is in full swing right now.
One Jay can hoard/bury 5000+ acorns each autumn; those they forget become saplings by spring.
Garrulus glandarius = Chattering acorn-gatherer.
Yes, Jays are bright-backed, blue-winged forest-makers.
Photo: Andy Morfeww
13
@RobGMacfarlane
I’m writing a new book.
It’s called Is A River Alive? & it’s about the Rights of Nature & the beinghood of rivers, forests & mountains; about animism & activism — & the new-old idea that the world is far more alive than is often allowed.
More here: davidhigham.co.uk/books-dh/is-a-…
14
@RobGMacfarlane
Word of the Day: "thole" -- as a noun, the ability to bear hardship. As a verb, to endure patiently, to slog through tough times; "to thole on" (Scots).
Compare "sisu" (Finnish) & "ganbaru/gambaru (頑張る)" (Japanese, lit. "stand firm").
📷 Ron Porter
15
@RobGMacfarlane
Turns out my Christmas present, like many people’s, is COVID.
Going to be a long & solitary Xmas period.
Would welcome recommendations to pass time/keep spirits up, esp podcasts: archaeology, geology, natural history, mystery, thriller & points beyond.
Go well & safely, all!
16
@RobGMacfarlane
Word of the #MayDay: "Maienschein" -- lit. "May-light", "May-shine"; the green glow of sunlight through spring leaves (also "Mayenschein"; German, poetic-archaic).
cf Japanese 木漏れ日, komorebi (lit. tree-passed-through-by-sunlight).
Send Maienschein...
📷Couleur
17
@RobGMacfarlane
Thinking today abt the “hunger stones” I discussed in Underland; carved marker stones along Central European rivers that are exposed at times of extreme drought.
The most famous, on the Elbe, reads
“Wenn du mich siehst, dann wiene”;
“If you see me, weep.”
cp.copernicus.org/articles/16/18…
18
@RobGMacfarlane
“There is a power that has been since all eternity, and that force and potentiality is ‘viriditas’, the greening.”
(Hildegard of Bingen, 1098-1179)
Send green…
19
@RobGMacfarlane
Question: what was the last novel you read which left you feeling grief when a character or characters died?
Still so strange to experience, this magic trick that fiction can pull of causing us to fall into love, friendship and hate with beings of ink & paper.
20
@RobGMacfarlane
Paths are the habits of a landscape.
21
@RobGMacfarlane
I wrote a film called River.
It's directed by @jenpeedom.
Narrated by Willem Dafoe.
Music by Radiohead, Jonny Greenwood/@JnnyG & the astonishing @didgefusion.
It's about the death & life of rivers––& how our future flows with theirs.
It's out this Friday: river.film
22
@RobGMacfarlane
Wandering a medieval churchyard today—& found the yew trees had performed their own form of brass-rubbing on weather-worn graves, picking out the engraved lines with their dropped needles.
A dog, a cross, a name & a life made visible again by this chance-made needle-work.
23
@RobGMacfarlane
Happy Midsummer Day.
Summer solstice; Latin “sol” & “stitium”—stilled sun.
Hinge of the year, turn of light’s tide; northern day of longest light & shortest shadow.
I always feel a slight slump in the spirit, knowing the darkness rises from here. You too?
📸 charloisporto
24
@RobGMacfarlane
This icicle-hung cave is the site of a Neolithic stone axe “factory”, where fine-grained greenstone was—from c. 6000 yrs ago—used to make tools of great beauty &value
It was a moving place to reach; where ancestors had climbed & worked for centuries, in deep human time.
25
@RobGMacfarlane
My Dad won the "Botanical" category of this year's Scottish Nature Photography Awards with this brilliant, defamiliarising image of a lichen-hung rowan tree near Glen Affric.
Like a medieval tapestry.
Coverage: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotla…
Fascinatingly, he's red-green colourblind.
@RobGMacfarlane
Books: Is A River Alive? (WIP) Underland, The Lost Words, The Old Ways, etc. | Films: River, Mountain, Upstream | Nature, climate, people | Prof @Cambridge_uni