Nighttime on Still Waters
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noswpod.bsky.social
Nighttime on Still Waters
@noswpod.bsky.social
2.1K followers 2.2K following 960 posts
Hello, I am Richard. I live on the narrowboat Erica, seeking to create something beautiful in a conflicted & fragmented world.
Advocate of hedge-wisdom.

#naturewriting #canals #wonder #podcast #rain #night #rooks #myth #stormydays
https://www.noswpod.com/
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noswpod.bsky.social
Nighttime on Still Waters @noswpod.bsky.social · Nov 16

‪Welcome! I am Richard and I live aboard the narrowboat 'Erica' where I host a canal-based podcast that celebrates nature, life in a complicated world, the elements, and the night-time.
Trying to create a small place of beauty and peace in a complicated world.
www.noswpod.com
Nighttime on Still Waters
This is the Narrowboat 'Erica' narrowcasting into the night from somewhere on Britain's canals and waterways. A podcast that gently explores life afloat (and on la…
www.noswpod.com
noswpod.bsky.social
In our remembering, we must REMEMBER.
November 11, 2025 at 10:56 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Golden leaves that sheltered me during the summer heat now rest upon the same still waters that carry me.
Hawthorn leaves stream upon slow wind eddies that I am unable to feel.
A squirrel looks down at Maggie.
My boots slide on mud.
Towpath tales.

#ukcanals #naturewriting #DailyNature
A gloriously golden coloured ball tree blazes in the light of a low western sun. Rafts of leaves lie on the mirrored waters that reflect the blue sky. A muddy towpath follows the line of the canal to the left. Maggie (black and white dog) sniffs the narrow grass that lies between towpath and canal.
November 9, 2025 at 9:46 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
The joy of the prospect
Of a coffee with a friend.
Looking forward to talking
And
Looking forward to the silences Between the words.

#poetry #MentalHealthAwareness #friendship
November 8, 2025 at 9:35 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
A November 5th related podcast from a few years back.

#podcast #bonfirenight #fireworks #guyfawkes #memories #nostalgia

www.noswpod.com/guy-fawkes/
When Guy Fawkes wore my old dressing gown
I've always felt that there is something rather singular about the month of November. Tonight I try to find out what it is and end up recounting the time when Guy F…
www.noswpod.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:05 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
This is wonderful (please read the alt texts - it's beautiful).
nowaykgn.bsky.social Vanishing and Endangered Cultures @nowaykgn.bsky.social · 23d
Imagine it. No toys forged in distant factories, no screens glowing with borrowed dreams. Just 52 rectangles of faded cardboard, edges curled from a thousand shuffles by hands before his. In a life stripped to essentials, imagination is the ultimate wealth.
At nine years old, his world is a frayed jacket passed down from an uncle lost to the snows, boots mended with sinew, and that single, sacred treasure: a battered deck of playing cards, scavenged from a tourist's discard pile in Leh. No toys forged in distant factories, no screens glowing with borrowed dreams. Just 52 rectangles of faded cardboard, edges curled from a thousand shuffles by hands before his. The kings and queens stare back with imperial indifference, their crowns mocking the barren horizon. But in Tenzin's grip, they're alchemy. One card missing—the three of hearts, torn away in a storm. He doesn't mourn it; absence is a lesson too. In this vast emptiness, where possessions are burdens carried on weary backs, that deck is freedom. It fits in a pocket, weighs nothing, yet holds infinities: games to banish boredom, stories to trade with strangers, even fuel for the fire if winter turns cruel. Come dusk, as the family gathers around a dung fire, he transforms the deck into music. Pressing the stack to his lips, he blows gentle breaths through the gaps, coaxing a reedy hum that echoes the Himalayan winds. It's not a harmonica, but in his world, it sings lullabies of forgotten valleys. Changthang means Eastern Flat Land; it is the land of nomads located in the east of Leh on the Chinese border.
November 5, 2025 at 4:47 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
... and then there is this. Low among the scrubby grass and mud on the backside of Horse Hill, watched over by jackdaw chatter and the arc of kite.
Thin drizzle and this.
As close to prayer as you can get.
Thin drizzle...
... and this.

#naturewriting #plants #poetry
Tightly packed fists of pink petals. From far away, they look whiter, with just a hint of reddish wash. The closer you get, the pinker they appear. They have a name (a common name), but, right now, they are too beautiful, too profound, to be reduced to a name.
November 5, 2025 at 8:44 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Right now - this

"Bring on the wonder, we got it all wrong
We pushed you down deep in our souls, so hang on
Bring on the wonder, bring on the song
I pushed you down deep in my soul for too long."

youtube.com/watch?v=zt9-...
Susan Enan - Bring On The Wonder -Songs From The Shed
YouTube video by songsfromtheshed
youtube.com
November 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
Late sunshine. Boots scuffling through a fresh carpet of leaves. A busyness of ducks. The sound of a boat tying up for the night. November.

#autumnlight #autumncolours #ukcanals
A westering sun, heavy with gold, paints the eastern bank of the canals with rich honeyed ambers. A group of ducks swim and circle in the middle of the canal, their wakes shining silver. In the distance, the white painted ironwork of a footbridge crosses the water. .
November 1, 2025 at 4:27 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
Join us tonight for a very special bumper Halloween episode of Nighttime on Still Waters and find out what happened at Morton's Rise.

#podcast #halloween #ukcanals #folklore #ghosts
www.noswpod.com/mortons-rise/
Morton's Rise (A canal story for Halloween)
Welcome to Halloween on the canal. It’s a perfect night to turn down the lights, curl up in comfy chair with a warm mug, and listen to a spooky tale. Can anyone exp…
www.noswpod.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:50 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
Canal-side #plants

Hogweed

"Sticks and stones!"
Says the common hogweed,
"Look at me!
Your names for me
Cannot diminish the intricacies
Or wonders of my being.
I lift my petals
To the touch of insect wings
And coming winter.
Only you, blinded by names,
Will walk past, unseeing."

#ukcanals #nature
Delicate creamy white starfields of petals, flushed pink, against the rich greens of new growth leaves. The season may be well over along the canal-side, but the flowers still shoot and grow. The wintering insects are grateful.
October 29, 2025 at 8:27 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
What really did happen at Morton's Rise lock?
Be sure to tune into our special Halloween episode of Nighttime on Still Waters coming this Friday.

(Annual bout of 'fresher's flu' has delayed today's episode 🤧😪).

#ukcanals #folklore #Halloween
October 26, 2025 at 9:17 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
All it takes to transform
Brick, concrete, and metal
Into a place of wonder
Is just one tree.

#naturewriting #naturepoetry #trees
Morning sun breaks through a sky of bruised clouds. Light shines gold through the leaves of a tree flaming proudly among a chaos of metal railings and fences and brickwork.
October 21, 2025 at 7:10 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Young sheep caught in mud.
Waiting while magpies gather.
Lifted by strong arms.

#haiku #poetry #sheep #countryside
Young sheep trapped by deep mud (some cows had broken down the fence). Another sheep, also trapped, managed to scramble out by the time I had reached them. This little one had given up struggling. Others in the flock keep a distant vigil - their concern is what attracted my attention. Magpies and rooks are beginning to circle, so I wait alongside to keep them away as I wait for the farmer to come. We do not now have to wait long. He soon comes. Two strong arms lifts the exhausted little soul to safety.
October 19, 2025 at 8:43 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
"I’m not Buddhist or Taoist
not a Confucianist either
I’m a brownfaced white-haired
hard up old man.
people think I just prowl
the streets peddling tea,
I’ve got the whole universe
in this tea caddy of mine."

Baisao (The Old Tea Seller)

#poetry #zen

Image: "Baisao on Footbridge”
by Ito Jakuchu
"Baisao on Footbridge” by Ito Jakuchu. Baisao turned his back on life as a Zen monk at 60 and, in poverty, wandered the streets of 18th century Kyoto. He survived by making tea from a canteen carried in a wooden box on a pole. He favoured the most beautiful spots for his temporary teashops. He invited all to join him and pay him whatever they could afford. If they couldn't afford anything, he gave the tea freely. Although physically gruelling, these seemed to be his happiest and most fulfilling years. He was well loved and respected. All his long years of religious training were manifested in this wonderful 'ministry'.
October 17, 2025 at 8:39 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
University
Quad as students talk and vape
Six ducks fast asleep

#naturepoetry #haiku #ducks #campuslife #communities
October 15, 2025 at 7:44 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
In our new episode, come with us as we listen to the quiet rhythms of the unique world of mooring points along Britain's waterways and the shared experiences that connect them all. It's the perfect, calming listen for an autumnal Sunday.
#podcast #ukcanals #boatlife
www.noswpod.com/common-thread/
A Common Thread (Sunday at the moorings)
Have you ever wondered what it was like to visit a ‘moorings’ along one of Britain’s waterways and to stand and wath and listen as this small world flows to its own…
www.noswpod.com
October 12, 2025 at 1:55 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
Canal-side plants

Mallow (pink)

Amid the smouldering
Autumnal blaze
Pink mallow peeps out
And seems to say
"There are still days enough
For me to add
Spring and summer flame
To the towpath's fire of praise."

"And the bush was not consumed by the fire."

#nature #poetry #ukcanals #plants
The cerise pink blush of mallow's trumpet flowers peeping through a tangle of grasses just below bridge 65.
October 11, 2025 at 7:37 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
"Amid a thousand clouds and streams
There's an idle person somewhere
Roaming the hills during the day
Sleeping below cliffs at night
Suddenly passing springs and autumns
At peace no earthly burdens
Happy clinging to nothing
Still like a river in fall."

Cold Mountain (Han shan)

#poetry #zen
October 7, 2025 at 10:50 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
As morning dawned,
I stood beneath the silver birch
And looked up into the its canopy
And said
"My soul is dry
And there is nothing left."
The silver birch
Looked down
And said
"Do not worry
Today, I have enough
Soul for two.
Today, let me be your soul."

#poetry #nature
Morning light shivers through the shimmer of silver birch leaves that blend from deep forest green to light lemon yellows.
October 7, 2025 at 6:53 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
The waxing moon is nearly at its full, so a great time to enjoy a mug of warming Waxing Moon tea. Lovely chatting to its creator @maid_miri at the #BanburyCanalFestival today. So pleased it could go ahead despite the closures and stoppages.
The next podcast episode will be next weekend.
#ukcanals
White mug with infuser/strainer standing on the counter next to a sachet titled Rootlet Rituals. The boat cabin smells warm with ginger and herbs.
October 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
noswpod.bsky.social
Coming upon 2 swans
Midway through their morning ablutions.
The cob glides over to me,
On edge, half-busk stance.
What a shame to break
Such a precious moment.

Turning my back, I walk away
And revel in the soft
Reassuring snorts
Of their contact calls.
Their world, once more restored.

#nature
Two swans mirrored in the ripples of morning water. Autumn colours shimmer at the sides. The swan closest now has his back to us and has adopted a semi busk stance (defence/aggression). I have moved away and he seems to be signalling the threat is going. His mate, also now mirroring his stance, swims over. They will briefly rub their faces and necks together while emitting soft shortlist and chucking sounds. As we move further away, the wings drop into relaxed position. The male scratches his head, they swim together back into centre stream.
October 5, 2025 at 8:00 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Sitting at my table
For our university Open Day.
I look across at the librarian
Sitting behind the service counter
Deeply absorbed in a book.
Relaxed and content
In the world between its covers.

Filled with such inexplicable joy
At seeing someone
In love with their job.

#universitylibrarian
October 4, 2025 at 10:54 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Love this insight...
drnereide.bsky.social Nereide @drnereide.bsky.social · Oct 1
🧵
Question: "If chimps are so much like us, why are they endangered while humans dominate the globe?"

Goodall: "Well, in some ways we're not successful at all. We're destroying our home. That's not a bit successful."

— #JaneGoodall, 3 Apr. 1934 - 1 Oct. 2025

#ForeverInspiring #LegacyOfHope 🧪
The photo features Jane Goodall and infant chimpanzee Flint reach out to touch each other's hands. Flint was the first infant born at Gombe (Tanzania) after Jane arrived. With him, she had a great opportunity to study chimp development. Photo source: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/jane-goodall/
October 2, 2025 at 9:49 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Saddened to hear of the death of Jane Goodall.
Thank you, Jane, for your courage, resilience, compassion, and wisdom.
We have desperately needed your voice & it will be missed. However, your inspiration ensures that many will continue your path. Your work is done. Rest well. Thank you.

#janegoodall
Image of Jane Goodall's book 'In the Shadow of Man'. I first read it in my early teens. It left an indelible mark on me. Only now am I beginning to see how courageous and radical it was. Jane has been a constant inspiration for wisdom and action to me ever since.
October 2, 2025 at 6:47 AM
noswpod.bsky.social
Beneath the hawthorn
A chaffinch has left
An empty space
Where once his song
Danced in the unfinished light.

#naturewriting #naturepoetry #birds
September 28, 2025 at 8:17 AM