Dave Borthwick
@borthwickdave.bsky.social
Lecturer in Environmental Literature at the University of Glasgow's School of Social & Environmental Sustainability: ecopoetry, walking, place - environmental humanities
& the lane all mud & rotting snow - fresh flurries higher up - but 6°c ambient & mallardtracks letterpress ice, all in movement & swirl as you try to find rhythm to day, to place, to season
February 16, 2026 at 6:45 PM
& the lane all mud & rotting snow - fresh flurries higher up - but 6°c ambient & mallardtracks letterpress ice, all in movement & swirl as you try to find rhythm to day, to place, to season
& that howling wind at 1am spread wet snow & left a foggy-headed morning of slump & thaw jackdaws in pairs convene & send slush tumbling down
February 15, 2026 at 9:48 AM
& that howling wind at 1am spread wet snow & left a foggy-headed morning of slump & thaw jackdaws in pairs convene & send slush tumbling down
@haggewoods.bsky.social @naturelark.bsky.social - if I said hart's tongue fern (clinging upper walls of broken brick-&-mortar field drain gully), what would you say?
February 14, 2026 at 6:46 PM
@haggewoods.bsky.social @naturelark.bsky.social - if I said hart's tongue fern (clinging upper walls of broken brick-&-mortar field drain gully), what would you say?
up a lane you have not explored - crusty footing & tangled woods, pheasants cloking & ticking wrens - field drain with hart's tongue fern (you think), arrive eventually at the lochan (as all uphill lanes here seem to), scabbed with ice after 1 hard frost, alder reflections glitching in the gaps
February 14, 2026 at 6:40 PM
up a lane you have not explored - crusty footing & tangled woods, pheasants cloking & ticking wrens - field drain with hart's tongue fern (you think), arrive eventually at the lochan (as all uphill lanes here seem to), scabbed with ice after 1 hard frost, alder reflections glitching in the gaps
halften at night a pyre of winterstricken branches still burning middle of an unploughed field
February 13, 2026 at 11:26 PM
halften at night a pyre of winterstricken branches still burning middle of an unploughed field
& the monthlong gloom breaks in a chill wind that smells clean - 2 greylags shift vantage on the lochan & a little grebe announces great metallic whorls of divewake - there are white mountains in the sky & fieldfares cross paths with a londonbound flight
February 13, 2026 at 6:19 PM
& the monthlong gloom breaks in a chill wind that smells clean - 2 greylags shift vantage on the lochan & a little grebe announces great metallic whorls of divewake - there are white mountains in the sky & fieldfares cross paths with a londonbound flight
winterlight the bare
trees gather
anyway
trees gather
anyway
February 9, 2026 at 7:55 PM
winterlight the bare
trees gather
anyway
trees gather
anyway
& the grey heron moves their fish-eye lens to scan & discard you as you pass, following a burn to see where it leads (a large alder is anchored in rashy ground), make a boat of rushes & let the wind take it, tip of its mast a small flame
February 8, 2026 at 5:55 PM
& the grey heron moves their fish-eye lens to scan & discard you as you pass, following a burn to see where it leads (a large alder is anchored in rashy ground), make a boat of rushes & let the wind take it, tip of its mast a small flame
key handover day & the last leaving, greylag standing to attention last eyes on you as you go
February 7, 2026 at 12:36 AM
key handover day & the last leaving, greylag standing to attention last eyes on you as you go
& deep blue time the jackdaws return to the shed across the way tilting wings to slate as they angle under & up
February 5, 2026 at 6:17 PM
& deep blue time the jackdaws return to the shed across the way tilting wings to slate as they angle under & up
up to the lochan to watch it work evening sky - 5 mallards dabble dark water (teal begins landing circle, then spirals back up), pause at spindly alder & fail to find the song thrush singing from thicket (mauve & fade then), bullcalves rumbling in yr blindspot, huffing the line of their field
February 4, 2026 at 6:25 PM
up to the lochan to watch it work evening sky - 5 mallards dabble dark water (teal begins landing circle, then spirals back up), pause at spindly alder & fail to find the song thrush singing from thicket (mauve & fade then), bullcalves rumbling in yr blindspot, huffing the line of their field
it might seem silly & I accept this but a gifted green man has come with us to rents 20 years & went today to retreive it & see the mark it left
February 2, 2026 at 6:19 PM
it might seem silly & I accept this but a gifted green man has come with us to rents 20 years & went today to retreive it & see the mark it left
& mid-afternoon a red kite bearing carrion feasts behind the broadband, monitored by a corvid calling in reinforcements; exit kite, still bearing load, pursued by kleptoparasites
February 2, 2026 at 5:53 PM
& mid-afternoon a red kite bearing carrion feasts behind the broadband, monitored by a corvid calling in reinforcements; exit kite, still bearing load, pursued by kleptoparasites
imbolc & soft light - the dark half into its slow waning - fieldfares foraging widely & mid-afternoon the strong, ink-black progress of a heron, issuing a raawrk to acknowledge being seen
February 1, 2026 at 6:02 PM
imbolc & soft light - the dark half into its slow waning - fieldfares foraging widely & mid-afternoon the strong, ink-black progress of a heron, issuing a raawrk to acknowledge being seen
last of january: redwing in headlights & heron sailing over the lanes (the roil & unsettle of sky), a month of rupture & upset, journalled & put by.
January 31, 2026 at 6:25 PM
last of january: redwing in headlights & heron sailing over the lanes (the roil & unsettle of sky), a month of rupture & upset, journalled & put by.
& the wearing gears of a long month, sleet at dawn & thin hill snow - dead badger at the bridge & 1st hesitant movements of a thrush's early song
January 30, 2026 at 10:50 PM
& the wearing gears of a long month, sleet at dawn & thin hill snow - dead badger at the bridge & 1st hesitant movements of a thrush's early song
& out for elevation & distance from Microsoft white, a bold rook taking prospect when you stop to look back, & in the rashy field below the house the moon flicks over bogpools & western sky blanches - back by the yard's robin, singing in the boiler's warm kerosine fug
January 28, 2026 at 6:33 PM
& out for elevation & distance from Microsoft white, a bold rook taking prospect when you stop to look back, & in the rashy field below the house the moon flicks over bogpools & western sky blanches - back by the yard's robin, singing in the boiler's warm kerosine fug
& up through the tunnel of tangle with light still in the sky - storm breaking up or reforming, depending on which app you believe - tendrils swipe evergreen from the back step, a blue-light burns down the main drag, siren off
January 27, 2026 at 6:00 PM
& up through the tunnel of tangle with light still in the sky - storm breaking up or reforming, depending on which app you believe - tendrils swipe evergreen from the back step, a blue-light burns down the main drag, siren off
& twilight since 1st light, jackdaws in waves back & forth - woodpigeons bank coming the other way - & a dunnock trying voice along the margins of the field; ask a neighbour about barn owls & they tap the side of their nose & wink, & you are happy to take patience & time
January 26, 2026 at 6:09 PM
& twilight since 1st light, jackdaws in waves back & forth - woodpigeons bank coming the other way - & a dunnock trying voice along the margins of the field; ask a neighbour about barn owls & they tap the side of their nose & wink, & you are happy to take patience & time
pull up as a group of geese peel out of daylong gloom cambering to avoid cables you only notice by their turn
January 25, 2026 at 6:51 PM
pull up as a group of geese peel out of daylong gloom cambering to avoid cables you only notice by their turn
& 1st clear sky to peg washing, take it all in under setting moon
January 24, 2026 at 7:19 PM
& 1st clear sky to peg washing, take it all in under setting moon
back late, wind down the window to
smell the night: barn owl deathray screech close enough
yr hair stands on end
smell the night: barn owl deathray screech close enough
yr hair stands on end
January 23, 2026 at 11:50 PM
back late, wind down the window to
smell the night: barn owl deathray screech close enough
yr hair stands on end
smell the night: barn owl deathray screech close enough
yr hair stands on end
& 17.20 pick up mail at the backdoor (address still unfamiliar), find a fine line
January 21, 2026 at 6:04 PM
& 17.20 pick up mail at the backdoor (address still unfamiliar), find a fine line
& from higher up, glens & waterways filling with mist that will rise & falter. the air is full of small whirring birds, graphite in gloom (you hear coal tit, great tit, chaffinch, robin scribbling territory, blackbirds dinking & rummaging). a quadbike bubbles towards you & its rider stops to chat.
January 19, 2026 at 6:32 PM
& from higher up, glens & waterways filling with mist that will rise & falter. the air is full of small whirring birds, graphite in gloom (you hear coal tit, great tit, chaffinch, robin scribbling territory, blackbirds dinking & rummaging). a quadbike bubbles towards you & its rider stops to chat.
begin again. unfamiliar gradients & nooks that do not know you. the buzzard is a stranger & grey heron shows clean set of heels. a lochan floats rotting ice. hazel catkins figure given season: start there.
January 18, 2026 at 6:03 PM
begin again. unfamiliar gradients & nooks that do not know you. the buzzard is a stranger & grey heron shows clean set of heels. a lochan floats rotting ice. hazel catkins figure given season: start there.