Kizzia Mildmay
LightNews LightNews
banner
kizzia.bsky.social
Kizzia Mildmay
@kizzia.bsky.social
1.1K followers 870 following 8.5K posts
Word Herder ✍️ Yarn Wrangler 🧶 HoH 🦻 Queer 🏳️‍🌈 Witch 🧙 Arthurian 🗡️ Sherlockian 🔎 Pratchettian 🐢 Tolkienite 🧝‍♀️ Myth 🐉 Folklore 🍀 Fantasy 🧌 History 👑 Walker 🏞️ Absolutely no AI 📷 She/her

www.kizziamildmay.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
kizzia.bsky.social
Autumn colours today for #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy all taken at Attingham Park. #Autumn #Birds 🪶
A path through the woods, completely carpeted in brown fallen leaves and overhung with trees with a mixture of yellow and green leaves. Close up of a dwarf orange flower, which looks rather like an orange poppy, with the rest of Attingham’s walled garden, out of focus, in the background. A wooden bench underneath a tree covered in vivid yellow leaves. The ground around the bench is thickly carpeted in orange fallen leaves and beyond both bench and tree are more yellowing trees with several still green shrubs. A crow sitting on a branch of an oak tree, head lifted and turned to meards the left side of the photo. The leaves behind the crow are still green whilst the ones in front of and below him are yellow-orange.
November 10, 2025 at 6:10 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
I take a soft toy with me whenever I go away. Meet Honey, who lives in the top of my handbag and has had many adventures. She recommends making sure you have lip balm, hand cream, and a comfort read for when you need to reset your brain.
A tiny beige Labrador plushie is sitting in a brown leather handbag, face sticking out of the zip opening next to the handle. Plushie and bag are on a train seat table, next to a window through which you can see train tracks, a tree, and a brightening morning sky.
November 9, 2025 at 8:35 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
I spent last weekend in Hereford for the celebration of Phil Rickman’s life and the posthumous release of his final book, The Echo of Crows, which is out today. Thus #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy are all photos taken whilst I was there:
Western facade of Hereford Cathedral, the stones all shades of beiges and reds, with a clear blue sky above. The black and white timbered gatehouse over the entrance to the Bishop’s palace in Hereford. It is framed by trees with leaves in shades of green, yellow and russet and a clear blue sky overhead. The statue of Elgar and his bike (who he named Mr Phoebus) in the courtyard of Hereford Cathedral. A very small yellow Labrador plushie (called Honey) is sitting on the seat of the bike. There are several old buildings in the background, a leafless tree and a clear blue sky above. View of Hereford Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace, surrounded by trees, from across the River Wye. The sky is Mediterranean blue with a few bright white clouds and both buildings, river bank and sky are reflected clearly in the river water.
November 6, 2025 at 10:33 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
I also wish to share my Samhain table decorations and my altar this evening, both of which please me greatly. #AllHallowsEve #Samhain #Halloween
The end of dining table, with a pale brown table cloth on it. Atop the cloth are fabric placemats in an autumn leaf design. On top of them are a lazy susan with a willow wreath covering in fairy lights containing a vase full of orange roses. Either side of the lazy susan are two church candles on cream ceramic holders. Velour pumpkins are arranged in half circles between the candles and the lazy susan and at the front is a large fabric pumpkin, covered in sequins and surrounded by foraged conkers, chestnuts and acorns. A wooden desk with a green leather top is covered in candles, feathers, greenery, tarot cards, oracle cards and various other totems and crystals.
October 31, 2025 at 9:30 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Sending All Hallow’s Eve blessings to all who celebrate. May your evening be filled with joy, warmth, and comforting memories.
#AllHallowsEve #Samhain #Halloween
A view of the fireplace in my living room from behind the coffee table. Both table and hearth are decorated with lights, candles, pumpkins, conkers, pinecones and other autumnal items. The predominant colour is orange and everything is glowing.
October 31, 2025 at 11:30 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
an unexpected blue tit and part of my autumnal/All Hallow’s house decor. #Birds 🪶 #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy 2/2
A partially dead huge oak fills the picture. The ground in front of it is thickly carpeted with honey fungus. Close up of a Japanese maple tree, the reddening palmate leaves filling the photo. A blue tit, with a rather suspicious expression, perches on the windowsill and peers into my bedroom. There is a white ceramic bowl on the inside windowsill and he seems to be wondering if there’s anything in it. My living room, the coffee table and fireplace decorated for autumn and All Hallows Eve, with lights and pumpkins and conkers and felt autumn leaves and many other autumnal items.
October 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Ignoring the fact that I’ve missed two Mondays in a row I bring you #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy now because I do believe in better late than never. So we have my garden’s last rose of the year, many mushrooms, autumnal colours …
1/2
A baby pink rose, fully open with many frilly edged petals, against an out of focus background of green trees and shrubs A tree stump in a wood, surrounded by honey fungus mushrooms and partially covered with moss. Leaf strewn grass and other tree trunks fill the background. Close up of a quartet of the vivid red fruit in my ornamental crab apple tree. The background, out of focus, is full of red spots, clearly showing just how laden with fruit the tree is. A dead tree, with bare bone coloured trunk split to the sky, has large mushrooms and much moss growing on the part of the trunk closes to the ground. Grass and living trees fill the background.
October 30, 2025 at 1:53 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
This one:
Screenshot of a book cover; Laura Lockington’s Cupboard Love
October 24, 2025 at 12:17 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
My current view is deeply pleasing. As is having a Friday all to myself. #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy
A sun drenched view across the River Severn from a bench on the path in Shrewsbury quarry. The grass is scattered with golden leaves, the sky is blue with a few fluffy clouds and the trees are still mostly green.
October 24, 2025 at 9:34 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
Of course women don't like the Cybertruck.

Women only want one thing, and it's Mildred Hubble’s broom.
The front cover of The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy: a purple star splodged background with an illustration of Mildred, in her school uniform, riding a broomstick with Tabby, her cat, clinging onto the bristles for dear life.
October 18, 2025 at 12:28 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Joining #FirstBirdOfMyDay this morning as it was a tiny goldcrest in the ornamental crab apple tree by my bedroom window. Blurry proof included! #UKBirds #Birds 🪶
A picture that is mostly filled wirh tree leaves, branches and cherry sized bright red fruit. In the centre of the photo, fairly well camouflaged, is a tiny bird of mostly green-grey plumage with bright bars of yellow of the top of the head and ends of wings. In this picture the bird is facing the right of the frame. A picture that is mostly filled wirh tree leaves, branches and cherry sized bright red fruit. In the centre of the photo, fairly well camouflaged, is a tiny bird of mostly green-grey plumage with bright bars of yellow of the top of the head and ends of wings. In this picture the bird is facing the camera. A picture that is mostly filled wirh tree leaves, branches and cherry sized bright red fruit. In the centre of the photo, fairly well camouflaged, is a tiny bird of mostly green-grey plumage with bright bars of yellow of the top of the head and ends of wings. In this picture the bird is looking towards the front right corner of the photo. A picture that is mostly filled wirh tree leaves, branches and cherry sized bright red fruit. In the centre of the photo, fairly well camouflaged, is a tiny bird of mostly green-grey plumage with bright bars of yellow of the top of the head and ends of wings. In the picture the bird is facing the camera.
October 18, 2025 at 7:25 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
Post you from a different era

80’s “mittens-on-a-string” me at London Zoo was cute!
A small blonde child in a red winter coat, bobble hat, white tights, black patent shoes, and woolly mittens on strings dangling from the arms of the coat, rests one hand on a life sized statue of Guy the Gorilla (which the child is dwarfed by) and smiles widely at the camera.
October 13, 2025 at 10:25 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
Good morning my lovelies! Last week flew by in a whirl of walks in the Welsh borders. Walks that, happily, contained a significant number of #fungi which I find infinitely qualified to become #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy
A clump of what I think are sulphur tuft mushrooms - a small beige/yellow umbrella shaped fungus growing at the base of a tree, surrounded by sparse blades of grass. In the background is a fallen branch and a green field What I believe are Spectacular Rustgills; plate shaped muted orange mushrooms growing out of the dark brown-gray trunk of a tree. Hare’s foot inkcap - pale white flat topped fungi that look as delicate as lace and deliquesce into a black inky substance a few hours after they appear. A yellow fieldcap mushroom, looking very much like a tiny pale yellow umbrella, growing amongst the grass of a field.
October 13, 2025 at 8:10 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
Arrived home to find my copy of Old Songs, Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads by Amy Jeffs and Gwen Burns waiting for me. So that’s my weekend reading sorted!
Also tagging @alysdragon.bsky.social in case you didn’t know about it, since I think this is very much your wheelhouse.
Front cover of the book “Old Songs, Stories of Love and Death from Traditional Ballads” by Amy Jeffs and Gwen Burns. The illustration is of a woman in a white dress with petticoats dancing in a graveyard. Contents page of Old Songs. The text reads: Contents Foreword ix Chapter One Tam Lin; or, Janet, Who Won Chapter Two Willie's Lady; or, Evil Knots and Golden Horseshoes 29 Chapter Three Alison Gross; or, Worm and his Sister 51 Chapter Four Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight; or, The Pools of the Dead 75 Chapter Five The Twa Sisters; or, The Murderer Revealed 95 Second contents page for Old Songs. The text reads: Chapter Six The Maid and the Palmer; or, The Sinful Woman II3 Chapter Seven The Demon Lover; or, The Ship with Taffeta Sails 133 Chapter Eight The Trees So High; or, Marriage to One Too Young I51 Chapter Nine The Brown Girl; or, Fantasy's Revenge 169 Chapter Ten Thomas the Rhymer; or, The Fairy Queen's Revolt 189 Epilogue 215 The Ballads 219 Acknowledgements 261 Further Resources 263 Index 269
October 10, 2025 at 7:04 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Belated #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy because I spent a long weekend in Wales for my bestie’s 40th birthday and it completely slipped my mind. Have views galore and a - fairly impressive for a phone camera - shot of one of many Red Kites I’ve seen about the place #birds 🪶
Trig point on Twyn y Gaer in Bannau Brycheiniog in wildly changeable weather. The trig point is a white flat topped pyramid with a Welsh Dragon painted on each side, surrounded by a muddy puddle. The hills beyond are a patchwork quilt of fields and the sky is a whorl of clouds and hints of blue. Llangors Lake at dawn with the crannog just left of centre and the start of Bannau Brycheiniog in the background. The sky is steaks of grey white cloud and china blue, reflecting in the lake surface which is also tinted gold by the rising sun on the ripples made by the ducks. The top of the viewing hut for the crannog behind a swathe of bulrushes and other reeds, with Bannau Brycheiniog in the background, Cefn Cyff glowing in the dawn light. The sky looks like watercolour paint swirling in water, shades of grey and blue and purple and gold dripping through each other. A red kite in flight against a blue sky hazy with faint grey cloud. The kite has their wings fully lifted so their red body, white head and underwing markings - red to black with a white patch on the top half - are clearly visible.
October 8, 2025 at 7:01 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
My copy of The Book of Bogs - edited by Anna Chilvers and @clareshawpoet.bsky.social - has arrived from @littletollerbooks.bsky.social and look how lovely this important book looks! And it’s full of wonderful work from fantastic authors, too.
Front cover of The Book of Bogs, featuring the stunning artwork called Autumn Comes To Walshaw Dean by Angie Rogers. I am holding the book in my left hand and the nail varnish on my thumbnail, a russet brown colour, matches the colourway of the bog depicted.
October 2, 2025 at 10:16 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
‘Tis a grey day and I am full of cold but I have very seasonal and atmospheric #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy to share so that’s something!
Attingham mansion in the mist, doing an excellent impression of the sort of house you’d expect to hold things that go bump in the night. Devil’s Coach Horse beetle. A large black beetle with eight legs, antenna, and pincher jaws. It’s doing a threat display, with its tail raised like a scorpion. This beetle has somehow managed to get a tiny straight twig stuck to its tail, making it look very strange indeed. A cock’s foot grass, bent with the weight of the dew covered spiders web woven between the seed heads, so it looks like a lacrosse stick. Ini the background, the path through the meadowland is vivid green and the rest of the space is obscured by mist. An oak tree, half covered in leaves, half dead, in silhouette in front of the river and the mist covered fields beyond. The sun is a hazy ball, only partially breaking through the mist to light up the river and tree.
September 29, 2025 at 3:25 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
If anyone else is suffering from the #cold that turns your nose into a leaking snot faucet, then may I offer, literally, a balm for your poor raw-from-wiping-it snooter. Namely Paula’s Choice lip and body treatment balm. A little goes a long way and it works like magic. No pain, barely any redness!
A hand, only thumb and fingers visible, holds a small white pot with the words “PAULA'S CHOICE Lip & Body Treatment Balm” written on it in a plain black font. The visible thumb nail is painted a rich conker brown and in the background a cream tray with herbs painted on.
September 27, 2025 at 2:16 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Today is the #AutumnEquinox so this week #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy I've picked to share are all especially autumnal: two types of fungi, a plethora of nuts, and some bright berries. Bright blessings to you all!
A fallen tree trunk, black with age, covered in brilliantly green moss and a carpet of umbrella shaped, brioche bun coloured, funghi. Behind the log is a tangle of green plants and bare twigs. A cluster of pinkish umbrella shaped mushrooms growing out of a patch of sunlit moss, with ivy and fallen leaves to the left and right of them respectively. In the background are nettles and trees and small patches of bright blue sky. The path, covered in acorns, acorn cups, oak leaves, twigs, branch ends with lichen, with grass and other small green sprouts pushing through the gaps. A cluster of bright red holly berries in the centre of the photo, with ivy flowers and berries behind, and other holly berries behind those, all growing up a brick wall, a patch of which is visible in the background.
September 22, 2025 at 4:48 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
If you see this, quote the energy you bring to BlueSky.
September 16, 2025 at 12:44 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Another week, another #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy offering from me to you. This time we have moons, berries, and one of the garden frogs just after it jumped out of concealment, scaring me silly.
Moon at dawn, the morning after full, just peeking above the trees in a pale blue sky streaked with pink cloud Morning moon, five days after full, high in a bright blue sky and framed on the left and bottom of the photo with fully leaved oak branches Bright red hawthorn berries covering the tree branches, with blue sky and leaves out of focus in the background. Close up of a common frog, muddy brown skin glistening with moisture, surrounded by grass and roots in the flower bed.
September 15, 2025 at 11:02 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
Another week, another selection of #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy photos from me; this time I bring the start of the autumnal colours from my garden and the woods behind my house.
The glorious autumnal view from my bedroom window thanks to the ripening of the fruit on my ornamental crab apple. The photo is filled with green leaves and miniature apple shaped fruit in shades from yellow to blush red. A patch of nettles (large ovate leaves with toothed edges) and cleavers (clumps of small spatulate leaves with smooth edges), all vivid greens and dotted with rain. A scarlet firethorn hedge absolutely heaving with tiny berries in both bright fire engine red and vibrant orange. A fallen tree at the side of a path in my local woods, being reclaimed by ivy and moss. The ground surrounding it is covered with leaves and the rest of the trees are still in full leaf but many of the leaves are yellowing.
September 8, 2025 at 11:49 AM
kizzia.bsky.social
The Sparrowhawk was a garden visitor last Thursday, the next six were taken in Attingham Park’s walled garden and the final “bonus” photo the result of me tidying my bedside table.
#TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy
2/2
A large vividly orange pumpkin growing clear of all leaves at the edge of one of several pumpkin and squash patches in the Attingham walled gardens. The top curve of another pumpkin is visible in the midst of the leaf cover and the sky above is brilliant blue with small patches of white and grey clouds. Foxtail barley and several types of white wildflowers growing in front of the bothy at the far edge of the Attingham Park walled gardens. In the background, out of focus, are trees growing behind the garden walls and patches of yellow and pinks flowers. A bunch of grapes on the vine, mostly green but with a few already black, surrounded by the vine leaves in varying shades of green and dark purple. This is growing not inside the walled garden but up the outside wall, at the end by the bothy. Bonus photo of my now delightfully tidy bedside table, which I organised on Saturday. This is mostly showcasing the clever extendable metal bookends that have tamed my bedroom to-be-read book pile and are helpfully the same colour as the wall paint. Also pictured are Toothfull the vampire cat plushie sitting on the books, Honey the Labrador plushie sitting on my pill holder (a reclaimed lemon tea box), my nature light wake up clock, and various other bits and bobs.
September 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Happy Month, lovely people! I’m using this auspicious feeling new-month-Monday to restart my #TheSmallThings #SpreadingJoy project.
From now on I’ll be postly weekly, not daily, but with a multitude of photos rather than just one. Enjoy!
(also #Birds 🪶)
1/2
Close up of a Eurasian sparrowhawk who had killed a pigeon on the decking in my garden. The predatory eyes, with dark round pupils surrounded by yellow irises are looking forward, not quite directly at the camera, and the sharp beak contains some grey pigeon feather fluff. The feathers on top of the hawk’s head lay in a way that looks almost like a victory laurel wreath and the distinctness of the cream and pale brown chest feathers from the dark brown and caramel back feathers is clear. A bench painted dark grey stands in front of a red brick wall that has a plum tree trained across it. The trees leaves are bright green and some of the boughs are clustered with dark purple plums. There is a plaque on the wall above the bench explaining that this is the east facing wall of the walled garden at Attingham Park, so it gets the morning sun, which the photo demonstrates vividly as the whole picture is in full sun, with a bright blue sky visible above the top of the wall. Close up of almost ripe figs growing on a tree that has been trained up the north wall of the walled gardens at Attingham Park. The figs are mostly shaded by the leaves of the tree but the bright sunlight is visible, as is the red brick of the wall behind. Close up of a quince tree in the Attingham walled garden, the boughs heavy with the large green fruits and the sun reflecting off the red bricks of the wall behind the tree.
September 1, 2025 at 1:10 PM
kizzia.bsky.social
Screenshot below. And I can’t actually pick a favourite because how!?!? but I will say that both Gawain and the Green Knight and Gawain and Lady Ragnelle are definitely in my top ten, along with Melusine and, of course, The Dream of Macsen Wledig
Screenshot of my Storygraph page showing I have The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman in my to-read pile.
August 27, 2025 at 1:04 PM