Helen Baczkowska
@helenb92.bsky.social
My first book Twyford Rising, is a story of land and resistance. My second is on the many lives of Britain's common lands - the past and present lives, the tamed and the wild ones.
http://helenbaczkowska.com
http://helenbaczkowska.com
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
.@abrackenbury.bsky.social’s ‘Village’ & a re-issue of Mary Chamberlain’s ‘Fenwomen’ give voice to an otherwise largely silent corner of England, writes @nicolawriting.bsky.social, telling the evocative, hard-lived stories of rural working class women www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/11/vill...
November 26, 2025 at 4:11 PM
.@abrackenbury.bsky.social’s ‘Village’ & a re-issue of Mary Chamberlain’s ‘Fenwomen’ give voice to an otherwise largely silent corner of England, writes @nicolawriting.bsky.social, telling the evocative, hard-lived stories of rural working class women www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/11/vill...
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
Hoping to see @hammersmithandy.bsky.social there.
Open letter from over 1,000 UK scientists urging all MPs to attend the National Emergency Briefing. A huge list full of highly respected names.
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP #NEB2025
"Without much more urgent and decisive action, we risk seeing these impacts overwhelm our capacity to respond."
Please share with your MP #NEB2025
National Emergency Briefing
An unfiltered assessment of the latest threats to UK food supply, health and national security from eight leading experts to an invitation-only audience - also covering positive solutions. Westminster...
www.nebriefing.org
November 24, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Hoping to see @hammersmithandy.bsky.social there.
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
UK wildfires have devastated more nature areas, including moorland and forests, this year than at any time since records began, figures show
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
UK wildfires devastated more areas in 2025 than at any time since records began, figures show
Firefighters call for long-term investment and say UK is dangerously underprepared as climate crisis worsens
www.theguardian.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:58 PM
UK wildfires have devastated more nature areas, including moorland and forests, this year than at any time since records began, figures show
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
Winter dusk on the Dunwich marshes. This is what Suffolk has instead of mountains and brings me the same feeling of calm. I miss the hills less here.
November 24, 2025 at 9:41 PM
Winter dusk on the Dunwich marshes. This is what Suffolk has instead of mountains and brings me the same feeling of calm. I miss the hills less here.
Todays old pollard, an oak on the rise between Strumpshaw marshes and the old woods on the hill. It is one of a line through parkland, but maybe older than the park, the ghost of a common perhaps, once cut for fuel and small timber. It guarded its secrets in the dusk.
November 23, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Todays old pollard, an oak on the rise between Strumpshaw marshes and the old woods on the hill. It is one of a line through parkland, but maybe older than the park, the ghost of a common perhaps, once cut for fuel and small timber. It guarded its secrets in the dusk.
COP. You have to ask yourself what world 'leaders' are actually for these days. Certainly not making decisions for us, future generations or the more than human world.
"A roadmap to the halting of deforestation was dropped from the final deal, a bitter disappointment for nature advocates at this 'Rainforest COP'":
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff
Wealthy countries agree to triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final deal
www.theguardian.com
November 23, 2025 at 9:40 AM
COP. You have to ask yourself what world 'leaders' are actually for these days. Certainly not making decisions for us, future generations or the more than human world.
Always loved these Tunnicliffe illustrations in my first nature books. They were dated even in my childhood, little snapshots of a forgotten and not very distant past.
“Across this cloud-dappled sky skeins of wild geese are flying”
(What to Look for in Autumn, 1960)
Writer: EL Grant Watson
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(What to Look for in Autumn, 1960)
Writer: EL Grant Watson
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
November 23, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Always loved these Tunnicliffe illustrations in my first nature books. They were dated even in my childhood, little snapshots of a forgotten and not very distant past.
Copy of medieval stained glass depicting pollarding in #norwichcastle. Pollarding was crucial for small timber, and created gnarled old trees full of life. Few trees except willow pollarded now, but we should make new ones where we can.
Photos of old & new to follow.
#pollarding
Photos of old & new to follow.
#pollarding
November 17, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Copy of medieval stained glass depicting pollarding in #norwichcastle. Pollarding was crucial for small timber, and created gnarled old trees full of life. Few trees except willow pollarded now, but we should make new ones where we can.
Photos of old & new to follow.
#pollarding
Photos of old & new to follow.
#pollarding
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
My film Fires and Fascism at Norwich (Cinema City) on Wed 19 Nov with a great panel to discuss the far right afterwards:
@rupertread.bsky.social @helenb92.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social
Get your tickets from Picturehouse: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Trailer: fires-and-fascism.co.uk
@rupertread.bsky.social @helenb92.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social
Get your tickets from Picturehouse: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Trailer: fires-and-fascism.co.uk
November 14, 2025 at 10:24 AM
My film Fires and Fascism at Norwich (Cinema City) on Wed 19 Nov with a great panel to discuss the far right afterwards:
@rupertread.bsky.social @helenb92.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social
Get your tickets from Picturehouse: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Trailer: fires-and-fascism.co.uk
@rupertread.bsky.social @helenb92.bsky.social @bridgetmck.bsky.social
Get your tickets from Picturehouse: www.picturehouses.com/movie-detail...
Trailer: fires-and-fascism.co.uk
Join Kate Wilson and I discussing her incredible book Disclosure.
Undercover police spied on our private lives for years and tricked her into a relationship that left lasting scars.
Our crimes? Speaking up for wild spaces and about climate change.
#spycops
www.fatsoma.com/e/mwg165fu/d...
Undercover police spied on our private lives for years and tricked her into a relationship that left lasting scars.
Our crimes? Speaking up for wild spaces and about climate change.
#spycops
www.fatsoma.com/e/mwg165fu/d...
Disclosure: Unravelling the Spycops Files (w. author Kate Wilson) at Chantry Hall, Norwich on 13th Dec 2025
Disclosure: Unravelling the Spycops Files (w. author Kate Wilson) at Chantry Hall, Norwich on 13th Dec 2025. Buy tickets in just 2-clicks with our super-fast checkout
www.fatsoma.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Join Kate Wilson and I discussing her incredible book Disclosure.
Undercover police spied on our private lives for years and tricked her into a relationship that left lasting scars.
Our crimes? Speaking up for wild spaces and about climate change.
#spycops
www.fatsoma.com/e/mwg165fu/d...
Undercover police spied on our private lives for years and tricked her into a relationship that left lasting scars.
Our crimes? Speaking up for wild spaces and about climate change.
#spycops
www.fatsoma.com/e/mwg165fu/d...
My heart beats fast today. What hope left for our wildlife and wild spaces if this Bill becomes an Act without amendments?
30 years ago, as a young eco-activist, a lawyer called Starmer represented us. His betrayal now is unforgivable.
30 years ago, as a young eco-activist, a lawyer called Starmer represented us. His betrayal now is unforgivable.
They’ll be voting on this in the Commons *tomorrow* (Thur 13th Nov) so if you still haven’t contacted your MP please do so ASAP today! And confusingly Amendment 130 is now Amendment 40 😵💫 - so that needs clarifying too. @bengoldsborough.bsky.social
@batconservation.bsky.social
@batconservation.bsky.social
This is URGENT and so important. Please do email your MP this weekend 👇🙏
November 13, 2025 at 7:35 AM
My heart beats fast today. What hope left for our wildlife and wild spaces if this Bill becomes an Act without amendments?
30 years ago, as a young eco-activist, a lawyer called Starmer represented us. His betrayal now is unforgivable.
30 years ago, as a young eco-activist, a lawyer called Starmer represented us. His betrayal now is unforgivable.
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
26 years ago, I visited the old growth forests these trees come from. I was the guest of a First Nations people, supporting their anti-logging campaigns. And still it goes on.
#axedrax
#axedrax
One thing to say: #AxeDrax
No. Cutting down trees, grinding them up, shipping them across the Atlantic and then burning them is NOT "green".
#ClimateEmergency #NatureCrisis
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
No. Cutting down trees, grinding them up, shipping them across the Atlantic and then burning them is NOT "green".
#ClimateEmergency #NatureCrisis
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
Drax still burning 250-year-old trees sourced from forests in Canada, experts say
Exclusive: report by Stand.earth says subsidiary of power plant received truckloads of whole logs at biomass pellet sites
www.theguardian.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:30 AM
26 years ago, I visited the old growth forests these trees come from. I was the guest of a First Nations people, supporting their anti-logging campaigns. And still it goes on.
#axedrax
#axedrax
100% agree with @hedgehoghugh.bsky.social. Low level of literacy and low level of willingness to learn or listen. The notion that nature can jog on somewhere else, or thrive in just-planted woods is either stupidity or wilful fantasy and lies.
#planningandinfrastructurebill
#planningandinfrastructurebill
“There is a very low level of ecological literacy being displayed by ministers,” I have written about his,
@magdalenoxford.bsky.social
#RemembranceDay
@philippullmanreal.bsky.social
@pricklesandpaws.bsky.social
#hedgehogs and much more!
hughwarwick.substack.com/p/planning-a...
@magdalenoxford.bsky.social
#RemembranceDay
@philippullmanreal.bsky.social
@pricklesandpaws.bsky.social
#hedgehogs and much more!
hughwarwick.substack.com/p/planning-a...
Planning ... a disaster?
“There is a very low level of ecological literacy being displayed by ministers,” said Sally Hayns, CEO of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management, in the Guardian yesterday.
hughwarwick.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 9:27 AM
100% agree with @hedgehoghugh.bsky.social. Low level of literacy and low level of willingness to learn or listen. The notion that nature can jog on somewhere else, or thrive in just-planted woods is either stupidity or wilful fantasy and lies.
#planningandinfrastructurebill
#planningandinfrastructurebill
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
“Nothing I have seen or heard gives me comfort that Rachel Reeves understands the importance of nature to economic and social wellbeing, nothing,”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out
Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes
www.theguardian.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:29 PM
“Nothing I have seen or heard gives me comfort that Rachel Reeves understands the importance of nature to economic and social wellbeing, nothing,”
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
This is deeply disappointing from Starmer.
The UK *helped design* this 'TFFF' fund, designed to stop deforestation, and supposedly 'continues to back the fund' (in theory). But now isn't putting any money into it 🤯
How embarrassing for the UK.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The UK *helped design* this 'TFFF' fund, designed to stop deforestation, and supposedly 'continues to back the fund' (in theory). But now isn't putting any money into it 🤯
How embarrassing for the UK.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
November 5, 2025 at 7:40 PM
This is deeply disappointing from Starmer.
The UK *helped design* this 'TFFF' fund, designed to stop deforestation, and supposedly 'continues to back the fund' (in theory). But now isn't putting any money into it 🤯
How embarrassing for the UK.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The UK *helped design* this 'TFFF' fund, designed to stop deforestation, and supposedly 'continues to back the fund' (in theory). But now isn't putting any money into it 🤯
How embarrassing for the UK.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
The dark months are back and I can walk at night without having to stay up late. Here's another night walk on my Substack, featuring Dolly and little Daisy her foal.
#commonland
#gypsyponies
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk-2
#commonland
#gypsyponies
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk-2
Night walk 2
I sought out the comfort of the horses on the common tonight, the warmth of their breath and their whiskery noses, curious on my palms.
commonplace92.substack.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:42 PM
The dark months are back and I can walk at night without having to stay up late. Here's another night walk on my Substack, featuring Dolly and little Daisy her foal.
#commonland
#gypsyponies
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk-2
#commonland
#gypsyponies
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk-2
I am living in such fear of what the Planning & Infrastructure Bill will mean if passes unamended into law.
How then to speak for old trees, the bats who encircle it at night or the birds that live in this hedge?
www.wildlifetrusts.org/all-you-need...
How then to speak for old trees, the bats who encircle it at night or the birds that live in this hedge?
www.wildlifetrusts.org/all-you-need...
November 9, 2025 at 6:11 PM
I am living in such fear of what the Planning & Infrastructure Bill will mean if passes unamended into law.
How then to speak for old trees, the bats who encircle it at night or the birds that live in this hedge?
www.wildlifetrusts.org/all-you-need...
How then to speak for old trees, the bats who encircle it at night or the birds that live in this hedge?
www.wildlifetrusts.org/all-you-need...
Film showing in Norwich on Nov 19th - trailer is sobering, but I am looking forward to being on panel afterwards, weaving threads of ecological resistance and resilience and my one families stories of standing up to fascism in Europe. Come and join us!
Documentary 'Fires and Fascism' @ the Derby Quad.
Sun 9 Nov at 15:30.
Director Q&A.
Get tickets here:
www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/fires...
Trailers:
fires-and-fascism.co.uk
Sun 9 Nov at 15:30.
Director Q&A.
Get tickets here:
www.derbyquad.co.uk/events/fires...
Trailers:
fires-and-fascism.co.uk
Fires And Fascism + Director Q&A | Derby QUAD
View our latest event: Fires And Fascism + Director Q&A. See what the available times are for this event.
www.derbyquad.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Film showing in Norwich on Nov 19th - trailer is sobering, but I am looking forward to being on panel afterwards, weaving threads of ecological resistance and resilience and my one families stories of standing up to fascism in Europe. Come and join us!
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
Our Land, a new documentary, interrogates the connections between land, power and a sense of belonging following the Right to Roam movement in England and Wales. It captures the tension between public campaigners fighting for greater access to nature and landowners.
November 3, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Our Land, a new documentary, interrogates the connections between land, power and a sense of belonging following the Right to Roam movement in England and Wales. It captures the tension between public campaigners fighting for greater access to nature and landowners.
The Fens are autumn browns and greys today. A warm breeze rattling in the reeds. Never thought I would love these flatlands, but now I am drawn to them as winter approaches.
November 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM
The Fens are autumn browns and greys today. A warm breeze rattling in the reeds. Never thought I would love these flatlands, but now I am drawn to them as winter approaches.
Myddfai Common in autumn sun, an old track vanished beneath gorse, only the lichen covered signpost still shows the way. Local herbalists once gathered their plants here, their lore handed down from a faery. The golden light and disappearing path makes all this believable.
#commonland
#commonland
November 2, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Myddfai Common in autumn sun, an old track vanished beneath gorse, only the lichen covered signpost still shows the way. Local herbalists once gathered their plants here, their lore handed down from a faery. The golden light and disappearing path makes all this believable.
#commonland
#commonland
Finally set up Substack. My first post is a night walk on the common land where I live, the ghosts that followed me and rosemary burned for remembrance.
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk...
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk...
Night walk, October 31st 2025
Bramble followed me across the common, keeping to the shadows on silent paws and meowing occasionally, as if to check I knew she was there.
commonplace92.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Finally set up Substack. My first post is a night walk on the common land where I live, the ghosts that followed me and rosemary burned for remembrance.
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk...
commonplace92.substack.com/p/night-walk...
November 1, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Reposted by Helen Baczkowska
In case you missed the announcement in our newsletter, we are open for non-fiction submissions, both full-length and flash, until the end of October. You can read our submission guidelines and submit via hinterlandnonfiction.submittable.com Subscribers can submit for free as usual, any time!
October 16, 2025 at 2:21 PM
In case you missed the announcement in our newsletter, we are open for non-fiction submissions, both full-length and flash, until the end of October. You can read our submission guidelines and submit via hinterlandnonfiction.submittable.com Subscribers can submit for free as usual, any time!