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@RobGMacfarlane
This Giant Sequoia, the largest tree by volume in the world, now threatened by wildfire, was prob. alive when the Giant Pyramid at Giza was completed.
I dislike referring to it as "General Sherman"; can people tell me if it has any other names?
theguardian.com/us-news/2021/s…
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@RobGMacfarlane
"Big old trees are the keystone structures of forests on which many species depend...forked, twisted, lightning-struck, rotten [they] harbour the most life"
@GeorgeMonbiot on valuing "slow ecologies".
Send images/stories of gnarled old trees & their lives.
theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Hello -- just to say that, in case you'd be interested to listen in, I'll be the castaway on Desert Island Discs this coming Sunday.
Guesses at the 8 tracks, book & luxury welcome (but I can neither confirm nor deny, etc...).
@laurenlaverne was the best!
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Xavi Buo's astonishing 'Ornithography' photographs use collage-imagery to track the flight-paths of different birds (Raven, Alpine Swift & Starling below).
Swoops, loops, braids & scribbles: what dreamwork!
More here in this @lottielimb interview with him.
euronews.com/green/2022/08/…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Nan Shepherd was born OTD 130 yrs ago.
In case of interest, The Living Mountain—a 30-min radio love-letter to the Cairngorms & Nan’s writing I made in 2013––is back up on @BBCSounds.
Some extraordinary things happened up in the hills as we recorded this…
bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b0…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Please make time to read/share this vital, brilliant piece by @OliverBullough abt the tragic, slow, dirty death of our rivers, after decades of improvement: what we know, why it’s happening, who’s fighting it, & why criminality is being so richly rewarded.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Hello — just to say that I’m @laurenlaverne’s Castaway on today’s edition of Desert Island Discs, going out 11am, @BBCRadio4.
I think I prefer rocky islands to sandy ones.
Islands of light are pretty cool too.
View from the Pembrokeshire cliffs last night.
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Jaw-dropping discovery:
Iraqi & British archaeologists find 4500yo Sumerian palace in Girsu, one of the oldest known cities.
Palace thought to contain shrine to Gilgamesh & cuneiform tablets which cd fill gaps in the Epic itself.
Thrilling work.
Details: theguardian.com/science/2023/f…
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@RobGMacfarlane
“It is not the swimmer who poisons our rivers, nor the rambler who burns the moorland; when they took away our right to access the land, they took away our ability to protect it.”
The Trespasser’s Companion, out today.
More on the English access campaign:
righttoroam.org.uk twitter.com/nickhayesillus…
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@RobGMacfarlane
In case of interest, "The Living Mountain"––a 1/2-hour radio love-letter to the Cairngorms & the writing of Nan Shepherd that I made in 2013––is back up on @BBCSounds.
Some extraordinary things happened up in the hills while we were recording this.
Here: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03…
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@RobGMacfarlane
.@Kings_College has decided to ban swimming & water access at Grantchester Meadow on the River Cam & enforce with patrols.
Terrible decision.
The river here has been used by the community for centuries.
There has to be a better solution.
Petition 👇
change.org/p/king-s-colle…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Striding Edge on Helvellyn was a weather-blade today, dividing light & shadow, white & green, snow & grass.
Crossed it with my son.
Summit plateau was polar, with blue landskeins of receding ridge-lines out towards the Irish Sea.
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@RobGMacfarlane
A quiet avian flu catastrophe is unfolding among wild birds.
Details & advice here:
“Anyone who finds a dead or dying wild bird, which they suspect might have the disease, should not touch it. Immediately report to Defra’s helpline – 03459 335577.” theguardian.com/environment/20…
89
@RobGMacfarlane
...The Dark Is Rising begins on Midwinter Eve, 20 December, and then unfolds over the following days, at roughly a chapter a day.
The first episode of our adaptation will be broadcast on 20 December, and go out for 12 days, so you'll listen in the 'real time' of the novel...
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@RobGMacfarlane
Calling walkers, ramblers, path-followers...!
The inspiring @SlowWaysUK project is looking for volunteers to help walk/grade the thousands of walking routes they're presently mapping.
Pls RT/find out more/volunteer in the thread below.
Help weave a webwork of walking ways! twitter.com/SlowWaysUK/sta…
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@RobGMacfarlane
On the far point of the Pembrokeshire headland you can see here, someone had left a purple plastic bag of dog-shit.
Why wd you both be drawn to walk to that place...& content to leave that behind?
I carried it away, wished I hadn't had to.
How best to solve the shit-bag problem?
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@RobGMacfarlane
If you’re under a clear sky in the UK right now, step outside & look westwards — Jupiter & Venus are glimmering in near-perfect alignment with the centre-point of the outer curve of a crescent moon.
Bright & wondrous & rare.
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@RobGMacfarlane
“The resilience of aquatic seed banks is phenomenal. Given the right conditions, seeds that have been underground for decades can germinate."
Great story on how re-wetting of dried-up "ghost ponds" can lead to return of rare plant species, buried in mud.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
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@RobGMacfarlane
.@WildFishCons is legally challenging government’s new & woefully inadequate Storm Overflow Reduction Strategy, which will allow water companies to continue dumping raw sewage in rivers & seas for the next…28 years.
Pls follow & RT/support their challenge.
Cc @WildJustice_org twitter.com/WildFishCons/s…
95
@RobGMacfarlane
Writing about House Sparrows today; our convivial, cheery, cheeky, chattering & disappearing neighbours.
Sparrow: from Old English spearwa.
AKA spuggie, spadger, cuddy, roo-doo.
Do you know other folk/common names for them (plus region of use)?
Painting by @JackieMorrisArt
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@RobGMacfarlane
The near-future of many of the world’s forests will be decided in the next 48 hrs by MEPs.
It’s utter madness to think of forest biomass burning as carbon-zero.
Forest biomass must be removed from the renewable energy directive.
👇👇👇
theguardian.com/world/commenti…
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@RobGMacfarlane
A month now until our 12-part audio-drama adaptation of Susan Cooper’s great novel The Dark Is Rising begins on @bbcworldservice…
Short film & link to Ep 0 are out today 👇
Can you complete these lines from the novel?
“Tonight will be bad, and…”
“When the Dark comes rising…” twitter.com/bbcworldservic…
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@RobGMacfarlane
Good news is hard to find rn.
Here’s some: the Elk, Beaver, Wolf, Brown Bear, Bearded Vulture & even Humpback Whale are making strong comebacks across Europe’s land/seas.
Meanwhile, our new gov. plans further devastation of our shattered biodiversity.
theguardian.com/environment/20…
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@RobGMacfarlane
The amazing indy publishers @LittleToller & @Ofmooseandmen have just launched this initiative to help the displaced children of Ukraine.
They're sending 10,000 backpacks filled w/ books, torches, gloves, hats, games...
Pls spread the word, donate, support.
justgiving.com/crowdfunding/p… twitter.com/LittleToller/s…
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@RobGMacfarlane
My friend the writer Roger Deakin (1943-2006)––author of Waterlog, Wildwood & Notes from Walnut Tree Farm––died 15 years ago today, far too young.
His work still branches & ripples on in the world.
Returned today to what I wrote not long after his death: theguardian.com/books/2006/sep…
@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