Dave Borthwick
@borthwickdave.bsky.social
Lecturer in Environmental Literature at the University of Glasgow's School of Social & Environmental Sustainability: ecopoetry, walking, place - environmental humanities
& though you only find space as light slips & rots it seems you work on avian time & it is noisy at purple hour as cloking pheasants alarm & blackbirds winterdink, corvids hold quorum & the robin repeats dawnsong - headlights on nearfarms swing: all prepare for dark
November 10, 2025 at 6:06 PM
& though you only find space as light slips & rots it seems you work on avian time & it is noisy at purple hour as cloking pheasants alarm & blackbirds winterdink, corvids hold quorum & the robin repeats dawnsong - headlights on nearfarms swing: all prepare for dark
& aching brood of afternoon lightens late & the youngwood rings tinny with voices of coaltit & goldcrest a line of starlings passes messages up & down itself black smoke issues behind the ridge & a diesel engine deepens sound & fades
November 9, 2025 at 5:48 PM
& aching brood of afternoon lightens late & the youngwood rings tinny with voices of coaltit & goldcrest a line of starlings passes messages up & down itself black smoke issues behind the ridge & a diesel engine deepens sound & fades
& the sun inconstant, coming & going in patternless interludes - rainbows blaze & fade above patrols of grey heron - & as it steadies to leave picks out corvids wheeling to roost
November 8, 2025 at 5:41 PM
& the sun inconstant, coming & going in patternless interludes - rainbows blaze & fade above patrols of grey heron - & as it steadies to leave picks out corvids wheeling to roost
smokestained, 2 nights after full, unmoved by friday night fireworks
November 7, 2025 at 10:59 PM
smokestained, 2 nights after full, unmoved by friday night fireworks
Screwed up the photo reel @nicolawriting.bsky.social @samreadbookseller.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Screwed up the photo reel @nicolawriting.bsky.social @samreadbookseller.bsky.social
Grasmere today on student field trip - dwelling perpectives & 'taskscapes' - & managed to disappear for 10 to buy Ghosts of the Farm @nicolawriting.bsky.social from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social - winding back towards M6 & the weekend...
November 7, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Grasmere today on student field trip - dwelling perpectives & 'taskscapes' - & managed to disappear for 10 to buy Ghosts of the Farm @nicolawriting.bsky.social from @samreadbookseller.bsky.social - winding back towards M6 & the weekend...
& everything post-storm is strange: marbled skies & milky floodgrounds: a great white egret (so rare here) apppears & is gone, landmarks mirror & seabirds crowd submerged pasture - grey herons everywhere so long as you tilt your head
November 6, 2025 at 5:37 PM
& everything post-storm is strange: marbled skies & milky floodgrounds: a great white egret (so rare here) apppears & is gone, landmarks mirror & seabirds crowd submerged pasture - grey herons everywhere so long as you tilt your head
afternoon meeting online - sudden whistling call & you turn off your camera to grab a camera: ked kite looking right in at you
November 5, 2025 at 5:35 PM
afternoon meeting online - sudden whistling call & you turn off your camera to grab a camera: ked kite looking right in at you
& no moon only the rare strata of light pollution - conditions need to be exact for the ghost of a small town to churn as breath on the horizon
November 4, 2025 at 6:29 PM
& no moon only the rare strata of light pollution - conditions need to be exact for the ghost of a small town to churn as breath on the horizon
& lash of rain rising in the seams of soil all day (everything shivers in a warm wind): 'depleted airmass', a weatherapp says, scraps & tatters of hurricane Melissa
November 3, 2025 at 5:43 PM
& lash of rain rising in the seams of soil all day (everything shivers in a warm wind): 'depleted airmass', a weatherapp says, scraps & tatters of hurricane Melissa
All Souls. birchleaves roll in the breeze animate as mice, corvids standing sentinel to ensure the darktime does its work thoroughly (everything glows & recedes at once). you leave the woods to blackbirds & tawny owls, take the lane south towards a white & moonless sky
November 2, 2025 at 5:38 PM
All Souls. birchleaves roll in the breeze animate as mice, corvids standing sentinel to ensure the darktime does its work thoroughly (everything glows & recedes at once). you leave the woods to blackbirds & tawny owls, take the lane south towards a white & moonless sky
November. Between a star & a satellite a red kite quarters, & so do you. Golden hour filters through the lane. Burnished chaffinches dot the silo as sun sets & the air chills.
November 1, 2025 at 5:38 PM
November. Between a star & a satellite a red kite quarters, & so do you. Golden hour filters through the lane. Burnished chaffinches dot the silo as sun sets & the air chills.
good halloween to you folks, whatever you do with it
October 31, 2025 at 6:38 PM
good halloween to you folks, whatever you do with it
& wave of lashing rain as light decays, blackbirds dinking & a wren tuts in the hawthorn (brief silhouette crosses the lamp that burns all night above the door of an empty house); on a night to be in it is good to be out, & return to a candle lit in the window
October 31, 2025 at 6:03 PM
& wave of lashing rain as light decays, blackbirds dinking & a wren tuts in the hawthorn (brief silhouette crosses the lamp that burns all night above the door of an empty house); on a night to be in it is good to be out, & return to a candle lit in the window
& morning glowers, as well it might
October 31, 2025 at 8:22 AM
& morning glowers, as well it might
& yr neighbour's fire sits in its nest of soft ashfeather & seems a day premature, pulsing its last at dusk to mark nothing - & 2 fields over the weak tealights of a quad make downhill under tartan trees
October 30, 2025 at 5:49 PM
& yr neighbour's fire sits in its nest of soft ashfeather & seems a day premature, pulsing its last at dusk to mark nothing - & 2 fields over the weak tealights of a quad make downhill under tartan trees
& escape the screen briefly towards sunset in the pouring rain but light pours too & skies are cloudpiled & blue due south moon sharp & high & clear
October 29, 2025 at 6:06 PM
& escape the screen briefly towards sunset in the pouring rain but light pours too & skies are cloudpiled & blue due south moon sharp & high & clear
& all the road home (slow slalom of greasy leaves & slick mud shed by tractors), moon on your right in full sail: sinking in troughs of hill & cresting piled cloud over fields, bruised sky of lastlight, night fully down in the woods
October 28, 2025 at 6:22 PM
& all the road home (slow slalom of greasy leaves & slick mud shed by tractors), moon on your right in full sail: sinking in troughs of hill & cresting piled cloud over fields, bruised sky of lastlight, night fully down in the woods
lateafternoon as the sun left - 10 minutes between brightsky & darkling thrush (30 mins of light will seep away this week), woodcock in headlights in the lane
October 27, 2025 at 6:33 PM
lateafternoon as the sun left - 10 minutes between brightsky & darkling thrush (30 mins of light will seep away this week), woodcock in headlights in the lane
& into the dark half - see off the sun behind hills before 17.00 & the cold wind ripping over, sweet smell of mulch & puddles collage work of the breeze
October 26, 2025 at 5:47 PM
& into the dark half - see off the sun behind hills before 17.00 & the cold wind ripping over, sweet smell of mulch & puddles collage work of the breeze
trip to the smoke & took in Andy Goldsworthy 50 year exhibition - so strange & provoking to find the familiar - barbed wire & fallen oak - indoors, & movements of sheep around salt-lick rendering winter sun
October 25, 2025 at 7:13 PM
trip to the smoke & took in Andy Goldsworthy 50 year exhibition - so strange & provoking to find the familiar - barbed wire & fallen oak - indoors, & movements of sheep around salt-lick rendering winter sun
& last night running on summer time, november's moon setting to save power
October 25, 2025 at 6:11 PM
& last night running on summer time, november's moon setting to save power
& all afternoon (sun clouded lunar) waves of fieldfares passing, clucking & loud & social, pause in the bare claws of the lowfield's ash, roost & rest & move on as a wave last light
October 24, 2025 at 5:41 PM
& all afternoon (sun clouded lunar) waves of fieldfares passing, clucking & loud & social, pause in the bare claws of the lowfield's ash, roost & rest & move on as a wave last light
& out at corvid hour (riverine, disciplined wavering) - dark rising where canopy is right-angled silagewagon height; turn back towards stub of chimney that is yours for now: over the river a tractor strikes sandstone, clanging in the flatcalm
October 23, 2025 at 6:42 PM
& out at corvid hour (riverine, disciplined wavering) - dark rising where canopy is right-angled silagewagon height; turn back towards stub of chimney that is yours for now: over the river a tractor strikes sandstone, clanging in the flatcalm
& grubby of greasy rain & sullen sky but deep decay has its own colour, & nourishment in the clucking of newly-arrived fieldfares: the day darkens, the day provides its own light
October 21, 2025 at 8:15 PM
& grubby of greasy rain & sullen sky but deep decay has its own colour, & nourishment in the clucking of newly-arrived fieldfares: the day darkens, the day provides its own light