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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · 13d

Yes!!!!

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · 23d

Being a lone woman in these landscapes is such a superpower. It’s so good to be back at it!!! Fuck yeah mountains!!!

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · 23d

It began with meadow pipits and ended with a rainbow over the Sloy dam. Raindrops like pearls cast by bright sunbeams, sparkling slabs of glistening granite, scrambling up the craggy scree slopes and hauling my body 3000 ft high to panoramic views of the Arrochar Alps, Loch Lomond and beyond.

A rainbow descending into a valley, surrounded by bright green mountains and scattered rock beneath a cloudy yet blue sky.

A shadow of a person holding walking sticks on a road leading into a beautiful valley, Ben Vane towering overhead.

The peak of Ben Vane, in a luminescent green and featuring jagged rocks under an ominous grey sky.

3000 ft at the top of Ben Vane, with panoramic views of Loch Lomond.

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Ross Greer (he/him) @ross-greer.bsky.social · 25d

Gaelic is on the verge of extinction. The rural housing crisis caused by an explosion of second homes & buy-to-lets is one of the major driving forces.

Next week MSPs will vote on my proposal to increase the tax rate on those buying second homes in communities where Gaelic is still widely spoken.

Greens to force vote on tax for second homes in Gaelic-speaking communities

THE Scottish Greens are set to force a vote on increasing taxes on holiday homes and short-term lets in Gaelic-speaking communities.

www.thenational.scot

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Shetland News @shetnews.co.uk · 27d

Summer is not quite over yet:

A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Sep 8

Glad you think so! And thankfully I am very organised, tracklist here:

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Sep 8

My latest Clyde Built Radio show is now up, where I rediscover my love for Kim Gordon and quite clearly forget to iron my trousers.

Fragments w/ Blue (23/8/25)

Stream Fragments w/ Blue (23/8/25) by Clyde Built Radio on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.

m.soundcloud.com

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Sep 7

Omg

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Len Lukowski @lenski666.bsky.social · Sep 3

My poetry collection, Bodily Fluids, is now available to preorder from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social 💦💘

www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...

Len Lukowski - Bodily Fluids | Broken Sleep Books

Len Lukowski’s Bodily Fluids is a charged, unflinching examination of desire, transgression, and the shifting boundaries of selfhood. Moving through sex, memory, digital detritus, and fleeting intimac...

www.brokensleepbooks.com

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Sep 3

Please excuse my absence, I have been staring at the floor.

Sunlight spilling over a living room with cheap, dark wooden flooring and white wooden Glasgow tenement windows.

Renovations begin. The cheap, wooden flooring is pulled up and door removed to reveal the original timber and an old bookcase.

The transformation: the old dirty timber floors are now shining bright under the sun in their pale hues.

Me showing off with my new floors. I’m a professional floor renovator now.

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Association for Scottish Literature @asls.org.uk · Aug 29

Whan du telt me hoo du thowt o ‘luck’
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat…

—Roseanne Watt, “Lukkie”
#poem #poetry #Shetland
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/lukkie/

Lukkie
Roseanne Watt

Whan du telt me hoo du thowt o ‘luck’
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat. Inbi, luck wis acht an lenned lik coins,
hot fae de löf. Dere wis wyes aboot it:
a sixpence fir de scratchcairds; tree skoilts
o a gingernut wid gie dee a wish; a dram
onnly ivvir gied sungaets roond de room.
Ee time, ower supper, shö telt me hoo shö won
an aamos fae a haafman; a beaded bag
fir a skurtfoo o her luck at sea. I browt him
tae de dance dat week, but someen took him
fae de cloakroom. Less. Dere’s joost some tings
dat du canna keep a haad o. Dat’s true enoff.
It seems tae me wir luck his aye been wattir
cupped by hands at prayer, in a langwich
at his mair wirds fir ill-luckit tings as fair.
Nivir leet, shö says. De lotto’s demoarn.
Can I git dee a gingernut?

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Aug 8

A big day ✨

The sun spills through the windows of a Glasgow tenement flat on to the wooden floor, an arm outstretched and holding a set of keys in the foreground.

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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · Aug 6

THREAD: 🚨 Leaked Israeli government documents just dropped. Here’s what they reveal:

Israeli media outlet Channel 13 published internal war cabinet transcripts from March 2025.
They confirm that the Israeli government knowingly pursued a strategy of starvation in Gaza.

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Aug 1

Front page! It was a real pleasure to work on this story with @craig-nisbet.bsky.social @stkildawhs.bsky.social @ellingbry.bsky.social on the first drone census of the gannet population at St Kilda, which has determined that it is once again the world’s largest colony #NTSSeabirds

shorturl.at/PQxSg

‘Gannets milestone for St Kilda’ story on the front page of the Herald

‘St Kilda now has largest colony of gannets in the world’ story on page 7 of The Herald

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St Kilda World Heritage Site NTS @stkildawhs.bsky.social · Jul 31

Results from the 2023 #StKilda Gannet census are to be published in the December issue of #ScottishBirds, revealing relative stability in what is once again the world's largest colony, despite fears that #HPAI may have had a greater impact on the population
#NTSSeabirds
@scottishbirding.bsky.social

A bird’s-eye view of the gannet colony at St Kilda

The first drone census at St Kilda has revealed the islands are now home to the world’s largest gannet colony.

www.nts.org.uk

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Reposted by Blue Kirkhope

RSPB Scotland @rspbscotland.bsky.social · Jul 31

A dark day for Scotland’s seabirds.

We're incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, which could catapult some of our most vulnerable species toward extinction 🚨

We will carefully scrutinise the details and consider our next steps.

“This is a very dark day for seabirds.
Berwick Bank would be catastrophic for Scotland’s globally important seabirds which are already facing alarming declines. Its impacts are so damaging it will make it very difficult for other, less-harmful windfarms to come forward. We are incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for a project which could catapult some of Scotland’s most-loved seabird species towards extinction.”

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Jul 30

We love to see it!

Heritage coalition saves Scottish modernist ‘jewel’ in fiercely fought auction

Derelict studio built for textile designer Bernat Klein in 1972 goes for £279,000 after starting price of £18,000

www.theguardian.com

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Laura Webster @lauraewebster.bsky.social · Jul 23

NEW: The Scottish community-owned island of Eigg has announced a boycott of Israel

The island of 120 people has backed BDS and its sole shop will stop stocking goods from Israeli firms

www.thenational.scot/news/2533509...

Scottish community-owned island announces full boycott of Israel

The Isle of Eigg has announced a full boycott of Israel amid its genocide in Gaza ...

www.thenational.scot

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Mondoweiss @mondoweiss.net · Jul 21

Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Jul 20

Hi! We’re all learning and unlearning. Hope you’re well, friend ❣️

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Jul 20

LOVED Daisy LaFarge’s Lovebug. Ironically I have been too lovesick and heartbroken to ~consume~ anything related to love of late, but this both joyfully and horrifically demonstrates the destined symbiotic nature of all living things, the network, as opposed to the hierarchy, of it all.

Lovebug by Daisy LaFarge, a yellow cover with a microscopic image in pink.

“The now-ubiquitous genre of nature writing and its healing, revelatory encounters with an enchanting natural world wouldn't cut it. It is not always easy to be on the side of life; some relationships on earth remain irreducibly violent for one party involved.”

“All beings circulate through each other - Denis Diderot”

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Ashley Lynch ✂️🎞️ @ashleylynch.bsky.social · Jul 14

WeTransfer just changed their TOS giving themselves permission to train AI on any content you transfer and produce derivative works based on content you transfer that they are allowed to monetize and you are not allowed payment for.

Stop using WeTransfer.

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Blue Kirkhope @bluekirkhope.bsky.social · Jul 14

How beautiful, thank you for sharing. My Great Grandfather was Ukrainian, so to see these glimmers means a lot.

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Natalie Berry @natalie-berry.com · Jul 14

At climbing sessions near Lviv in west Ukraine, the Mountain Seed Foundation gives children and families impacted by Russia's war an opportunity for respite on the rock, helping them to cope with trauma.

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