Day 1 of the #DailyNature Journal Prompt calendar.

It's #NationalPoetryDay in the UK; how could I not talk about Mary Oliver?

'Don't you imagine the leaves dream now?'

Write below what you think the leaves were dreaming of...

#NatureWriting #Poetry #WordGames

Were I a leaf, my dream
would be to remain dangling
in the freshets of wind,
brushing the currents of the air,
remaining green and fresh, not fallen and golden.

-- A Reply to A Song for Autumn, Mary Oliver

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Fall(en) Finds

Soft green spiky Sweet Chestnuts,
Hard brown shiny Horse Chestnuts,
Tightly-closed brown Pinecones,
Black and white and grey Pigeon feathers,
Crunchy brown Beechmast,
And leaves of red and gold and brown.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

returning like comets prediction,

the ignited evaporate for sleeps conviction.

Those green, turn crimson, before they go black,

It comforts me, to know, we all grow back.

🪶 Verse 3/3

#Autumn #Fall #NaturePoetry #Nature #NatureWriting #DailyNature #Leaf #Hibernate

substack.com/@jenratcliff...

crunching like salted crisps,

disintegrating to dusted whisps,

supernova of the forest -

🪶 Verse 2/3

#Autumn #Fall #NaturePoetry #Nature #NatureWriting #DailyNature #Leaf #Hibernate

The cloths of wet fires litter the ground,

burning away summer with barely a sound

I hang them like shirts to dry in the wind

only to return and find their colours thinned;

🪶 Verse 1/3

#Autumn #Fall #NaturePoetry #Nature #NatureWriting #DailyNature #Leaf #Hibernate

A little autumn bulletin for your morning commute,

Read or listen 👂

#NatureWriting #autumn #writing #DailyNature #Writingchallenge

jenratcliffe.substack.com/p/as-the-woo...

For October I'll be hosting another #DailyNature challenge in honour of Samhain 🔥

Here's a little blog with a nature journal prompt calendar, details of an upcoming workshop & Water a book Club with Alpha Lo

jenratcliffe.substack.com/p/as-the-woo...

#naturewriting #autumn #journalprompt #poetry

Scritching, scrabbling Squirrels
chasing 'round and 'round
the Horse Chestnut tree,
and explosive popping sounds
of Horse Chestnuts
hitting the waters of the Mill Stream.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Canal-side plants

Black bryony

Chill of autumn mornings
Water mist rising
To non-committal skies.
Necklaces of fiery pearls,
Dew-polished and bright.
At the heart of each
Not a single piece of grit
But the miraculous fire of life.

#DailyNature #ukcanals #plants #naturepoetry

A gigantic goose gathering:
Canada and Greylag by the dozens,
preparing themselves for Winter
travels to colder climes.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

(At least 100 geese were gathered on Port Meadow this morning.)

They say
'Red sky at night, shepherd's delight,
Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning',
but sometimes the weather surprises you
and does it own thing anyway.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Out of the pitch dark
came a familiar sound
in an unfamiliar place:
a Barn Owl's screech,
seemingly hunting
Out along the canal.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Dew wet.
The ducks are all
Around the boats.
Robin song among old branches.
Mushrooms gently shoulder
Leaf mould and new growth green.
A heron lands and then
Fades out of sight
Into the autumnal landscape.

#DailyNature #naturepoetry #ukcanals #autumn

Endless chakk-chakk-chakk,
Jackdaws are up in arms
Frenziedly commenting on
The morning news.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Honk, honk, honk!
A skein of Canada Geese,
Passing o'erhead,
A reminder that Fall is here.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Walk softly,
Tiptoe past.
Don't stare,
Don't fill the air
With needless noise.
Your presence is enough.

#naturepoetry #ducks #ukcanals #DailyNature

Sunlight brightly blazes,
Chilly air sharply bites,
Beechmast crunches,
Horse Chestnut splits,
Plant matter decays,
Fall's arrival hastens.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Scattered split spiky cases,
yellow-green or brown, and
hard, shiny Horse Chestnuts
strewn across the footpath.

#DailyNature
#NatureWriting

Considering the equinox is upon us, I thought I'd better skidaddle with posting the last of our summer-filled daily nature notes!

This one's from Scotland & the selkies 🦭

Includes a survey for nature community events 💚

#NatureWriting #DailyNature

jenratcliffe.substack.com/p/becoming-s...