A few year ago I spun and wove my own nature and writing “course”. These are the posts from that, as well as more recent related posts. Whilst I am no longer approaching it in a semi-formal manner, I still write about nature and nature writing and the year I spent on my “course” was fantastic for kickstarting what I think will be a lifelong interest.
In addition to the posts below, I have lots of information on individual species in my Animal Spirit series.
Contents:
- Introduction
- September, What is Nature Writing?
- October, Humans and Animals
- November, Humans and Plants
- December, Weather
- January, Humans and Birds
- February, no posts due to illness
- March and April, The Sea, Rivers and Lakes
- May, Insects
- June and July, Place
- Later posts
- Random
- Animals, sex and parenting
- Bestiality
- Animals and death
- Nature and disability
Introduction
- Writing and nature
- Writing and nature, part 2
- Nature and writing, the prep
- Nature and writing, the start
September
What is nature writing?
- Nature and writing, September
- What is nature and why care?
- What is nature writing?
- The history of nature writing
- Why do we read and write nature writing?
- The limitations of nature writing
- Nature and writing: September resources
September courses
- William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place week one
- William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place (Week 2)
- William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place (week 3)
- William Wordsworth: Poetry, People and Place (week 4)
- Learn About Weather
September activities
- Nature and writing; September day trip
- Pen-y-ghent, place in poetry
- September’s Poems
- Tipping the balance
- September Poems: My poetry
October
Humans and animals
- Humans and animals: Are humans animals?
- Does it matter if humans are animals or not?
- Animals and the Human Law
- Putting cats on trial: animals in the law court
- Animals and the law in the 21st Century
- Exotic pets
- Hunting in the UK
- Canned hunting and motivations
- Sharing space: Living alongside wild animals
- Sharing space: Inviting animals into our homes
- Sharing space: Cats
- Sharing space: Cats and dogs
- Sharing space: Dogs
- Animals in Literature
- Animals in children’s literature
- Cats in literature
- Animals as scapegoats: Badgers, Dodos and Thylacines
- Scapegoats: Werewolves and Vampires
- Animals of the past
- Humans and animals: Resources
Octobers activities
November
Humans and plants
- From animals to plants?
- Plants, a one way relationship?
- Plants, a potted history
- Gardening
- Plants fight back!
- Attack of the plants!
- The plant world as a pharmacy
- From tiny seeds…
- Plants which changed the world
- Plants which changed the world; opium poppies
- Plants that changed the world – tea
- Plants of the gods
- Plants as metaphors
- Plants in literature
- A plant’s eye vdeciew
- What are humans doing to plants?
- Trees
- Tree relationships
- What is a forest?
- A history of forests
- Fairytale Forests
- What do trees see?
- Beyond the fairytale forest
- Who speaks for the trees?
- The holly and the ivy
- November’s resources
Novembers activities
December
Weather
- December: A pre-introduction – coping with the weather
- December – a month of weather
- The what, where and whys of weather
- The language of weather
- The art of weather prediction, part 1
- The art of weather prediction, part two
- The science of weather prediction
- Snow, and the kindness of strangers
- Weather and literature
- Winter and me
- It’s raining, it’s pouring…
- It’s raining, it’s pouring: Further afield
- Surviving the winter: Plants and animals
- “You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella…”
- Get your head in the clouds
- December’s reading
January
Humans and birds
- Humans and Birds
- A history of birds and humans
- Bird song; who, why, when (part 1)
- The UK’s favourite nature book: shortlistThe UK’s favourite nature book: shortlist
- Bird song; copycats (part two)
- Bird song; Music and Literature (Part three)
- Bird song, or lack thereof; Other forms of audible communication (part 4)
- The Trumpet of the Swan
- Martha, possibly the most famous pigeon in the world
- Birds in Old Norse Culture
- Birds names and symbolism
- Life and Death: Birds and folklore part one
- Good luck, bad luck and omens: Birds and folklore part two
- Migration: Birds and folklore part three
- A little birdie told me: Birds and folklore part four
- Bird brained: The intelligence of birds
- Bird of the year, bird of the country and so on
- January’s reading
- My birds
February
No posts due to illness
March and April
The sea
- The spirit of the sea
- Sea Birds – The Albatross
- British Sea Birds
- From sea birds to the sea
- What lies beneath…
- The Polluted Seas
- Under the sea…
- When did you last thank the phytoplankton?
- Add your own seaweed pun here
- Plant, animal or other? Coral
- Plant, animal or other? Sea Anemones
- Sea Monsters: Jaws
- Animal Allies Oracle Cards – Crab
- Sea Monsters: Squid
- Sea Monsters: Octopus
- Sea Monsters: Whales
- Animal Allies: Jellyfish
- The Language of the Sea
- The song of the sea
- Message in a bottle
- She sells sea shells…
- The Sea in Literature
- Rachel Carson, beyond Silent Spring
- Learning from the writers of the sea
- The symbolic sea; life, death and the journey in between
- March Resources
- The sexuality of the sea
Rivers and lakes
- The River Singers
- Nature Writing Dissected: The Doe’s Song
- A little more water symbolism
- Silent Spring: A Legacy
- Animal Allies – Salmon
- Otter Country
- Simile and Metaphor: Figurative Language in Nature Writing
- If you like nature writing…
- A Natural History Guide To Poetry
- Watery words
- The sex lives of aquatic animals
- A walk: 15th April
- Women and water
- One Wednesday night…
- The Rivers Running Through Me
- 100 ways to write a book: The Helen method
- The Mekong
- One Wednesday Night, the Poem
- Canals
- Roses and Castles
- Animal Allies – Alligator
- How to write nature, from nature writers
- My Rivers: The Ouse
May
Insects
- Introducing insects
- The Sound of A Wild Snail Eating
- Insect mythology
- House Guests, House Pests
- Creative Non-Fiction
- Humans and insects
- The healing power of insects
- Almanac questionnaire
- The value of insects
- Q&A with Beatrice the Bee
- Animal Allies – Beetle
- Sacred Scarab
- Insects and war
- Insects in the bible
- Write your own insect myth
- Cultural Insects
June and July
Place
- What is place?
- Wilderness as a place
- What makes sense of place?
- Once upon a time, twelve millennia ago…
- Prelude to the dawn chorus
- Place in literature
- Building a relationship with place
- “You are here”: The controversial nature of mapping
- “You are here”
- Leaving and returning: Travel and place
- No One Is British
- Place in poetry
Other, later posts
Random
- Nature and writing project: An update
- If a mama bear gets angry, imagine the Mother of the Mountains…
- A recipe for life
- Animal divination
- Men, women and nature; a hierarchy
- Devilish creatures
- Nature’s Vampires
- Do names matter?
- A history of seeing animals, part one
- A history of seeing animals, part two
- New networks for nature: time for nature
- The Wind
- Poetry about paintings
- Wild Words: Place & Environment Writing
Animals, sex and parenting
- Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it…
- Let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel…
- Death by sex
- Animal parents: from self sacrifice to murder
- The Virgin Marys of the Animal Kingdom; they don’t need no man!
- “Mum, who do you love best?” – Parental favouritism in the animal kingdom
- Love is in the air!
- Animal masturbation
Bestiality
- Bestiality: the basics
- Bestiality in history
- Bestiality: the justifications
- Bestiality: the consequences
- Bestiality: the arguments against
- Bestiality and Masculinity
- Bestiality and the line between man and beast
- Bestiality in fairy tales
- Bestiality: Resources
Animals and death
- Animals in war
- Animals and death
- What happens to animals when other animals die?
- How we mourn (some) animals
- Pet obituaries
- Pet cemeteries
- The lifelike dead
- Is it dead? Or not?
Nature and disability
- New networks for nature: time for nature
- What we call nature and why it matters
- Connecting with nature when you’re stuck in the house
- Connecting with nature when you have limited mobility
- (in)accessibility and nature
- My interactions with nature
- The wilderness ideal, nature writing and disability
- Being environmentally friendly and disabled
- Being environmentally friendly and disabled, the more positive post
- Other people’s nature writing
- My outside space
Unlocking Words 