Ian Banks
@atolluk.bsky.social
"...all good things-trout as well as eternal salvation-come by grace and grace comes by art and art does not come easy": Norman Maclean
Storm Claudia may have caused havoc with Avanti West Coast trains getting home on Friday, but I did still make most of The Riverfly Partnership Conference at Flett Theatre, Natural History Museum, including Joshua Cohen’s fascinating talk on River Kinship www.tickettailor.com/events/theri...
November 15, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Storm Claudia may have caused havoc with Avanti West Coast trains getting home on Friday, but I did still make most of The Riverfly Partnership Conference at Flett Theatre, Natural History Museum, including Joshua Cohen’s fascinating talk on River Kinship www.tickettailor.com/events/theri...
Busy last day in a rainy London on Friday started with a visit to Imperial War Museum Research Rooms to view our families donated WWII RAF pilot logbook from my maternal grandfather Reg Worth.
November 15, 2025 at 7:37 AM
Busy last day in a rainy London on Friday started with a visit to Imperial War Museum Research Rooms to view our families donated WWII RAF pilot logbook from my maternal grandfather Reg Worth.
Great time today mudlarking the Thames with Steve Brooker the self styled “Mud God”. Fabulous day!
November 13, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Great time today mudlarking the Thames with Steve Brooker the self styled “Mud God”. Fabulous day!
Wonderful afternoon yesterday getting to know the beautiful Cutty Sark in Greenwich, followed by a lovely pint in the Gypsy Moth.
November 13, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Wonderful afternoon yesterday getting to know the beautiful Cutty Sark in Greenwich, followed by a lovely pint in the Gypsy Moth.
Probably the most cozy, intimate live music venue ever gor me in Cafe#9 Sheffield. Lookin forward to seeing Holly Carter and Joe Wilkins play tonight www.hollycartermusic.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
Probably the most cozy, intimate live music venue ever gor me in Cafe#9 Sheffield. Lookin forward to seeing Holly Carter and Joe Wilkins play tonight www.hollycartermusic.com
Prospect of Invertebrate monitoring yesterday at River Wharfe Addingham promised a lot, given the look of the water - but actual ‘Riverfly Monitoring Initiative’ (RMI) test results proved my lowest in 4 years monitoring the Wharfe with a score almost below the lowest Trigger Level. Looks deceive.
October 19, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Prospect of Invertebrate monitoring yesterday at River Wharfe Addingham promised a lot, given the look of the water - but actual ‘Riverfly Monitoring Initiative’ (RMI) test results proved my lowest in 4 years monitoring the Wharfe with a score almost below the lowest Trigger Level. Looks deceive.
The red plaque commemorating the October 1945 Pan African Congress at Chorlton on Medlock and a RAF cluster map of the blitz bombing of the same area December 1940 that destroyed St Augustine’s just five years earlier.
October 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
The red plaque commemorating the October 1945 Pan African Congress at Chorlton on Medlock and a RAF cluster map of the blitz bombing of the same area December 1940 that destroyed St Augustine’s just five years earlier.
Any mushroom foragers out there? This is growing in long lawn grass in our back garden in Cheshire UK and never seen in 30 odd years living here. A free fungi app gave me three different species. is it edible, inedible, toxic or deadly. Presuming not the first one but curious as there are a few.
October 16, 2025 at 1:36 PM
Any mushroom foragers out there? This is growing in long lawn grass in our back garden in Cheshire UK and never seen in 30 odd years living here. A free fungi app gave me three different species. is it edible, inedible, toxic or deadly. Presuming not the first one but curious as there are a few.
…I needed not fear a shortage of Sloes in Anglesey today: A veritable bounty is still left on the blackthorn there, and we have more than enough for 1 litre of Xmas Sloe Gin as well as gifts of surplus Sloe fruit for all our friends.
October 12, 2025 at 3:54 PM
…I needed not fear a shortage of Sloes in Anglesey today: A veritable bounty is still left on the blackthorn there, and we have more than enough for 1 litre of Xmas Sloe Gin as well as gifts of surplus Sloe fruit for all our friends.
Halloween fast approaching, and nice to see a farmers field with pumpkins actually growing there and not just falsely scattered as a tourist gimic.
September 24, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Halloween fast approaching, and nice to see a farmers field with pumpkins actually growing there and not just falsely scattered as a tourist gimic.
Wild hops seen growing in many hedgerows just off the route of the old Roman London Road in our circular walk around Stretton, Appleton and Lower Stretton in Warrington yesterday. Seeing it started a thirst and craving that only a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord could quell.
September 24, 2025 at 6:33 AM
Wild hops seen growing in many hedgerows just off the route of the old Roman London Road in our circular walk around Stretton, Appleton and Lower Stretton in Warrington yesterday. Seeing it started a thirst and craving that only a pint of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord could quell.
“I am the ressurection and the life” says the carving on the beautifully crafted oak Lychgate at St Matthew’s Church in Stretton seen yesterday. It forms a fitting gateway into our hoped-for afterlife, but shouldnt the strategically placed wheelie bin also be for 100% recyclebles?
September 24, 2025 at 6:26 AM
“I am the ressurection and the life” says the carving on the beautifully crafted oak Lychgate at St Matthew’s Church in Stretton seen yesterday. It forms a fitting gateway into our hoped-for afterlife, but shouldnt the strategically placed wheelie bin also be for 100% recyclebles?
Thanks Wright Landscapes for the very kind invitation to your external living garden party today. Sorry I had to dash but your hospitality, gardens and everything was wonderful (and those tomahawk steaks wow!) wrightlandscapes.co.uk/contact/
September 18, 2025 at 2:59 PM
Thanks Wright Landscapes for the very kind invitation to your external living garden party today. Sorry I had to dash but your hospitality, gardens and everything was wonderful (and those tomahawk steaks wow!) wrightlandscapes.co.uk/contact/
Lovely but long coastal ‘detour’ drive back home to Cheshire from Foulsham, Norfolk via places like Cromer & Cley. Beautiful vernacular architecture all over, but Cley smokehouse appealed to all my senses: Hot smoked kippers, haddock and crevettes all in the fridge at home now.
September 11, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Lovely but long coastal ‘detour’ drive back home to Cheshire from Foulsham, Norfolk via places like Cromer & Cley. Beautiful vernacular architecture all over, but Cley smokehouse appealed to all my senses: Hot smoked kippers, haddock and crevettes all in the fridge at home now.
A sad blank dry fly fishing Norfolk’s River Wensum at Bintry Mill - one of our beloved chalksreams - today. So choked with weed & sediment causing low flow & so few invertebrates. Depressing reading after of Special Area of Conservation Evidence Pack & Review of EA Macroinvertebrate Monitoring
September 10, 2025 at 7:43 PM
A sad blank dry fly fishing Norfolk’s River Wensum at Bintry Mill - one of our beloved chalksreams - today. So choked with weed & sediment causing low flow & so few invertebrates. Depressing reading after of Special Area of Conservation Evidence Pack & Review of EA Macroinvertebrate Monitoring
‘Scots Guardsman’ needs stoking #TheGreatestGathering
August 1, 2025 at 11:21 AM
‘Scots Guardsman’ needs stoking #TheGreatestGathering
“Not to be moved” the sign says of ‘The Flying Scotsman’ at #TheGreatestGatthering
August 1, 2025 at 11:10 AM
“Not to be moved” the sign says of ‘The Flying Scotsman’ at #TheGreatestGatthering
Longest queue ever to catch a train, getting into ‘The Greatest Gathering’ ! Here now.
August 1, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Longest queue ever to catch a train, getting into ‘The Greatest Gathering’ ! Here now.
So happy to see daughter Jadine make it into August’s Trout & Salmon magazine in the ‘Fish of the Month’ Gallery with her 7lb 6oz Rainbow caught on a size 20 perdigon nymph at Danebridge Fisheries, Winckle on Fathers Day!
July 25, 2025 at 7:59 AM
So happy to see daughter Jadine make it into August’s Trout & Salmon magazine in the ‘Fish of the Month’ Gallery with her 7lb 6oz Rainbow caught on a size 20 perdigon nymph at Danebridge Fisheries, Winckle on Fathers Day!
#TheHerds ‘Tune into the Wild’ tonight in Manchester: Auto-edit video contains music from Shutterstock, licensed by Splice video editing app. Soundtrack is ‘African Safari’ by Zane Dickinson. www.theherds.org/event/cathed...
July 3, 2025 at 9:15 PM
#TheHerds ‘Tune into the Wild’ tonight in Manchester: Auto-edit video contains music from Shutterstock, licensed by Splice video editing app. Soundtrack is ‘African Safari’ by Zane Dickinson. www.theherds.org/event/cathed...
Enjoying a beautiful meal at #10TibLane tonight but #TheHerd earlier made our evening in Manchester tonight….
July 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Enjoying a beautiful meal at #10TibLane tonight but #TheHerd earlier made our evening in Manchester tonight….
Bringing up the rear….tired old elephant playing catch up tonight in Manchester Cathedral Gardens as wonderful #TheHerds hit Mancunia www.theherds.org
July 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Bringing up the rear….tired old elephant playing catch up tonight in Manchester Cathedral Gardens as wonderful #TheHerds hit Mancunia www.theherds.org
Of course, I would never make it as a naturalist filmmaker, but great to see today (at a distance) some Yorkshire Red Kites soaring in the thermals over the River Wharfe in Addingham www.yorkshireredkites.net/misc/sightin...
June 30, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Of course, I would never make it as a naturalist filmmaker, but great to see today (at a distance) some Yorkshire Red Kites soaring in the thermals over the River Wharfe in Addingham www.yorkshireredkites.net/misc/sightin...
#Flyfishing #DanebridgeFishery Wincle and a lovely Fathers Day treat with daughter Jadine. But did she realy have to catch the only trout and a 7lb 6oz Rainbow at that?
June 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM
#Flyfishing #DanebridgeFishery Wincle and a lovely Fathers Day treat with daughter Jadine. But did she realy have to catch the only trout and a 7lb 6oz Rainbow at that?
River Wharfe Bolton Abbey. Mayfly Dry Emerger. Trout #3
June 2, 2025 at 5:13 PM
River Wharfe Bolton Abbey. Mayfly Dry Emerger. Trout #3