Laura Parker
@lauraparker.bsky.social
Countryside writer, sheep keeper, drystone wall lover. Features for Country Life mag on the fun and the fascinating. Lives in Cotswolds, from Scottish Borders. Late of ChipLitFest, which is now sadly an ex-LitFest.
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Laura Parker
@lauraparker.bsky.social
· Nov 16
Dummy eyes, faking death and and the whiff of rotting flesh: The great deceptions of Nature's most cunning creatures - Country Life
A whiff of rotting flesh, the flash of a painted eye, a dead-faint to the floor: Nature is full of cunning survival tricks, says Laura Parker, as she explores the greatest mimics and frauds you'll fin...
shorturl.at
Hi #naturewriting. Here's the kind of thing I write: fascinating facts and some fun along the way!
shorturl.at/EsNNJ
shorturl.at/EsNNJ
New field path made by sheep.
November 26, 2025 at 8:58 PM
New field path made by sheep.
Reposted by Laura Parker
God tried hard to make feet that would suit
And for waterfowl ones that looked cute
But his large stock of webbing
Very soon began ebbing
And ran out when he got to the coot
And for waterfowl ones that looked cute
But his large stock of webbing
Very soon began ebbing
And ran out when he got to the coot
November 23, 2025 at 5:27 PM
God tried hard to make feet that would suit
And for waterfowl ones that looked cute
But his large stock of webbing
Very soon began ebbing
And ran out when he got to the coot
And for waterfowl ones that looked cute
But his large stock of webbing
Very soon began ebbing
And ran out when he got to the coot
Reposted by Laura Parker
November 21, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Oh yess, Flynn and du Maurier. I'd listen to that!
WF Howes is set to publish audiobooks of 17 works by Daphne du Maurier, with 23 actors attached to voice the novels, memoirs and short stories 👇 #BookSky
WF Howes to publish Daphne du Maurier audiobook collection
ebx.sh
November 21, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Oh yess, Flynn and du Maurier. I'd listen to that!
Reposted by Laura Parker
ICYMI 😺
Walter de Staplecat, Simpkin IV, Teabag, Balthasar and Benny D Cat take the stage as we meet the college cats of Oxford. And, of course, Magdalen’s Ozymandias. Read on for our photo special. (Includes a cat map.) oxfordclarion.uk/college-cats...
College cats of Oxford
Once upon a time, we featured an image of Magdalen's kitten, Ozymandias, in our newsletter. We figured it might be a gentle contrast to our regular diet of planning and local politics.
The grey ball ...
oxfordclarion.uk
November 21, 2025 at 6:53 AM
ICYMI 😺
Eels should be as much a conservation symbol as a butterfly, says a passionate advocate for the world's most trafficked creature, whose numbers have fallen by 90% in 25 years. Fascinating to find out all about eels for this week's Country Life.
📷 Alamy, Getty
📷 Alamy, Getty
November 19, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Eels should be as much a conservation symbol as a butterfly, says a passionate advocate for the world's most trafficked creature, whose numbers have fallen by 90% in 25 years. Fascinating to find out all about eels for this week's Country Life.
📷 Alamy, Getty
📷 Alamy, Getty
Cowslip in November. #wildflowerhour
November 16, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Cowslip in November. #wildflowerhour
This little sycamore looks like it has had the Andy Goldsworthy treatment! Just a few bright carefully-placed leaves remaining.
November 16, 2025 at 12:07 PM
This little sycamore looks like it has had the Andy Goldsworthy treatment! Just a few bright carefully-placed leaves remaining.
Read this and enjoy, for some excellent sheep and the best use of alt texts. 🐏🐑
THREAD. A collection of photographs of excellent sheep I have met on walks.
You will find the captions to each photo in the alt text.
You will find the captions to each photo in the alt text.
November 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Read this and enjoy, for some excellent sheep and the best use of alt texts. 🐏🐑
"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day"...Jane Eyre obviously didnt have a dog.
November 14, 2025 at 4:19 PM
"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day"...Jane Eyre obviously didnt have a dog.
November, Ploughing. From Clare Leighton's The Farmer's Year, 1933.
November 14, 2025 at 10:47 AM
November, Ploughing. From Clare Leighton's The Farmer's Year, 1933.
Reposted by Laura Parker
Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇
Housing secretary tells Labour MPs to vote down planning bill amendment
Amendment restricts protection for animals to allow faster house building
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇
Great personalised Xmas gift for a bookish nature lover- it's a lovely book.
From today until 17 Dec (last 2nd class post), I'll be selling signed & red kite stamped copies of my nature memoir, Land Beneath the Waves, for £15+P&P (RRP £18.99).
Just drop me an email at [email protected] & I'll pop a copy in the post.
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #nearbynature
Just drop me an email at [email protected] & I'll pop a copy in the post.
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #nearbynature
November 11, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Great personalised Xmas gift for a bookish nature lover- it's a lovely book.
Today I learned that one reason we like the smell of old books is that they give off the scent of vanillin, which is found in mother's milk.
November 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Today I learned that one reason we like the smell of old books is that they give off the scent of vanillin, which is found in mother's milk.
Like the sound of this book!
Very excited to share this! My new book, published by @pelagic.bsky.social is out June 2026 pelagicpublishing.com/products/tar...
Tarka Revisited - 100 Years of Rivers & Wildlife
@iancarter67.bsky.social @markbirdingpinoso.bsky.social @drtonygillie.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social
Tarka Revisited - 100 Years of Rivers & Wildlife
@iancarter67.bsky.social @markbirdingpinoso.bsky.social @drtonygillie.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Like the sound of this book!
One of my lambs has found some admirers 💘
November 8, 2025 at 9:10 PM
One of my lambs has found some admirers 💘
Reposted by Laura Parker
Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?
Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?
From night walks with children to switching off streetlights and rewilding areas, naturalists are working to save Europe’s dwindling populations
www.theguardian.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Lights out: can we stop glow-worms and fireflies fading away?
Prickles, thorns and spines - what's the difference? I tirelessly investigate for this week's Country Life.
📷 Alamy, Bridgewater images
📷 Alamy, Bridgewater images
November 6, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Prickles, thorns and spines - what's the difference? I tirelessly investigate for this week's Country Life.
📷 Alamy, Bridgewater images
📷 Alamy, Bridgewater images
Reposted by Laura Parker
Go and look at some masterful paintings of people looking. Joseph Wright of Derby at the National Gallery.
November 4, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Go and look at some masterful paintings of people looking. Joseph Wright of Derby at the National Gallery.
"So these stones have dismissed/All but all of evolution, unmoved by it." Reached for some MacDiarmid on meeting these sarsens at West Kennet longbarrow yesterday.
November 3, 2025 at 11:50 AM
"So these stones have dismissed/All but all of evolution, unmoved by it." Reached for some MacDiarmid on meeting these sarsens at West Kennet longbarrow yesterday.
Stonehenge 1 Nov. Sure the middle sarsen is trying a wee dance move.
November 1, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Stonehenge 1 Nov. Sure the middle sarsen is trying a wee dance move.
Only four more days to catch Andy Goldsworthy 50 Years at Nat Gallery of Scotland and it's selling out fast. Go if you can; you won't forget it.
October 29, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Only four more days to catch Andy Goldsworthy 50 Years at Nat Gallery of Scotland and it's selling out fast. Go if you can; you won't forget it.
Wonderful that this drystone sculpture, na Dorsan (the doors) commemorating the legacy of the Clearances on the Isle of Lewis, won the public vote for excellence in public sculpture. @pssatweets.bsky.social
In the 1840s the Galson estate on Lewis was cleared for sheep. Most people were put onto emigration ships to Canada. Finally in 2007 - a community buyout. This commemorative sculpture by Will Maclean & Marian Leven is shortlisted for Marsh Award. If it moves you pls vote. pssauk.org/2025-pssa-ma...
October 29, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Wonderful that this drystone sculpture, na Dorsan (the doors) commemorating the legacy of the Clearances on the Isle of Lewis, won the public vote for excellence in public sculpture. @pssatweets.bsky.social