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.
Pinned
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
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 naturewriting@nicwilson.net & I'll pop a copy in the post.
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social #nearbynature
Just drop me an email at naturewriting@nicwilson.net & 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
Beeches are just the best in autumn.
October 28, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Beeches are just the best in autumn.
So near the target to help curlews...🙏
A crowdfunder to raise funds to save the last curlews in Oxfordshire is just 11% off its £25,000 target. The birds breed in Upper Thames wetlands, which are suffering from climate change. Local charity Wild Oxfordshire is working with farmers to restore their habitats.
October 21, 2025 at 9:20 PM
So near the target to help curlews...🙏
October: cider-makimg. From Claire Leighton's The Farmer's Year, 1933.
October 16, 2025 at 9:18 PM
October: cider-makimg. From Claire Leighton's The Farmer's Year, 1933.
Reposted by Laura Parker
If you live rurally, this is well worth doing! Covers questions on housing, healthcare, transport, digital connectivity, planning & net zero, all areas that affect everyday rural life! Really quick, too ... @rsnonline.bsky.social
🗣️ Have your say on rural life! RSN has launched a new survey to capture rural voices across
England.
📝 8–10 mins | Anonymous | Real impact
👇 http://bit.ly/3VlVq1i
@rsnonline.bsky.social
England.
📝 8–10 mins | Anonymous | Real impact
👇 http://bit.ly/3VlVq1i
@rsnonline.bsky.social
Delivering for All
Take this survey powered by surveymonkey.com. Create your own surveys for free.
bit.ly
October 15, 2025 at 11:26 AM
If you live rurally, this is well worth doing! Covers questions on housing, healthcare, transport, digital connectivity, planning & net zero, all areas that affect everyday rural life! Really quick, too ... @rsnonline.bsky.social
Reposted by Laura Parker
Land Beneath the Waves paperback has been chosen for Waterstones pre-order promotion!! Pre-orders make such a difference & if you could support & share, I'd be so grateful.
Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout for 25% off RRP.
www.waterstones.com/campaign/oct...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
#WPreorder
Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout for 25% off RRP.
www.waterstones.com/campaign/oct...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
#WPreorder
October 14, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Land Beneath the Waves paperback has been chosen for Waterstones pre-order promotion!! Pre-orders make such a difference & if you could support & share, I'd be so grateful.
Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout for 25% off RRP.
www.waterstones.com/campaign/oct...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
#WPreorder
Enter “OCTOBER25” at checkout for 25% off RRP.
www.waterstones.com/campaign/oct...
@summersdalebooks.bsky.social
#WPreorder
"Not actually very funny". An original way of reviewing a satire show. But maybe not very helpful for ticket sales. Radcliffe Square, Oxford. @oxfordclarion.bsky.social
October 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
"Not actually very funny". An original way of reviewing a satire show. But maybe not very helpful for ticket sales. Radcliffe Square, Oxford. @oxfordclarion.bsky.social
Time to get over to Bewdley and help out with hot cake/book event sales!
Tickets for my event at the Bewdley Festival on Saturday are selling like hot cakes.*
*(During the notorious hot cake slump of 1857.)
*(During the notorious hot cake slump of 1857.)
Bewdley Festival Ticket Booking | Bewdley Festival Ticket Booking,
events.bewdleyfestival.org.uk
October 7, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Time to get over to Bewdley and help out with hot cake/book event sales!
Reposted by Laura Parker
Calling young people aged 14 and under! The Guardian is looking for your 250-word pieces of writing about nature and landscape for the Young Country Diary. Entry here (and published diaries will be paid): www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Nature boys and girls – here’s your chance to get published in the Guardian
Our wildlife series Young Country Diary is looking for articles written by children, about their autumn encounters with nature
www.theguardian.com
October 6, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Calling young people aged 14 and under! The Guardian is looking for your 250-word pieces of writing about nature and landscape for the Young Country Diary. Entry here (and published diaries will be paid): www.theguardian.com/environment/...
'...slathers of custard-yellow paint, white icing that casts shadows like Arctic snow: his painting is as calorific as cream, as smoothly spread as lemon curd.' @lauracummingart.bsky.social 's delicious piece will make you want to go see these cake paintings.
October 5, 2025 at 2:44 PM
'...slathers of custard-yellow paint, white icing that casts shadows like Arctic snow: his painting is as calorific as cream, as smoothly spread as lemon curd.' @lauracummingart.bsky.social 's delicious piece will make you want to go see these cake paintings.
Rooks doing the same round here: uproarious gangs raking through the sheep field and leaving big patches of uprooted moss. Never seen it before.
October 5, 2025 at 10:42 AM
Rooks doing the same round here: uproarious gangs raking through the sheep field and leaving big patches of uprooted moss. Never seen it before.
Reposted by Laura Parker
Our friends at the brilliant @littletollerbooks.bsky.social have just launched a new crowdfunding project for 'Looking for Mr Schwitters' — an innovative and finely illustrated book about the émigré artist Kurt Schwitters’ final years in the Lake District www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/09/look...
September 30, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Our friends at the brilliant @littletollerbooks.bsky.social have just launched a new crowdfunding project for 'Looking for Mr Schwitters' — an innovative and finely illustrated book about the émigré artist Kurt Schwitters’ final years in the Lake District www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/09/look...