Julian Hoffman

Montage showing pressed plant specimens from an 18th-century bound herbarium.

Lovely to be able to share this 18th-century bound herbarium for a workshop on botany and the book, funded by the Isaac Newton Trust and Trinity College, Cambridge. We’ve also digitised the volumes, so everyone can take a look!

cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-...

Thanks so much, Jez - so pleased you enjoyed them!

Thanks so much, Alberthe!

A sandbar splitting the reflective lake at sunset.

A dozen mute swans against a backdrop of mountains and lakes refracting the sun.

Sunset over a peninsula riding into Great Prespa Lake.

An expansive view of wetland, lake and mountains at dusk.

Sunlight sliding from the mountains and lakes of Prespa, a dozen mute swans floating out into deeper water and Dalmatian pelicans rowing through the cold, dimming air towards their reed-island nests. As I turn to leave a marsh glides past, its wings as still as the surface of the lake.

And some in return from the valley behind our house this afternoon!

I will never not adore "and allies" in a fieldguide title. Don't mess with the grasshoppers or the earwigs and crickets and cockroaches will fuck you up

A lot of incredible small presses in the US facing devastating funding cuts if you're able to support them with a purchase, including Milkweed Editions, Coffee House Press, Red Hen, BOA, Torrey House Press and many others.

‘The river won’: how campaigners in Brazilian Amazon stopped privatisation of waterway Local river defenders force U-turn by occupying grain terminal operated by one of US powerhouses of world trade

"The river won, the forest won, the memory of our ancestors won."

Terrific piece by @jonathan-watts.bsky.social on the courageous and against-the-odds activism of Indigenous river defenders in the Brazilian Amazon.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Matt Goodwin lost to a white woman and a party led by a Jewish man — and somehow he’s blaming Muslims?

No, mate. This one’s on you: your misogyny, your shallow, divisive tactics, and your empty obsession with “us vs them.”
Gorton & Denton saw right through it. Hopefully one day you will too.

Amid all the talk about why this or that party won or lost, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that Hannah Spencer was a great candidate - pretty nearly the perfect pick for this constituency.

What a result!! Huge congratulations to the amazing Hannah Spencer - everyone in Gorton and Denton has just made history. This result shows @greenparty.org.uk can win anywhere, that the politics of hope can win over the politics of hate & there is no longer any such thing as a Labour safe seat 💚

Macro photo of a brown stink bug in face view on a leaf, guarding a tightly-clustered bunch of eggs that are shaped and colored exactly like a full tray of dark beer with foam on top.

Finally, the bug is back with a round of the Guinness.

And neither do perspectives born of bare Ireland/UK map onto places with very different landscape histories, as in Greece. This is precisely what I was trying to point out yesterday. We have grazing AND some of the most extraordinary and biodiverse forests in the world. I think you would like them:)

The valley behind my house and its extraordinary meadows, hazel, willow and wild cherry copses is maintained as open mosaic habitat by low-impact grazing, making it ideal for nightingales, butterflies, hoopoes, ground beetles & orchids, all of which stop where the vast beech forest beside it begins.

And as for tree seedlings in general, there's never been a shortage in the forests I've explored over 25 years. Forest cover is certainly increasing because of gazing decline, but grazing still plays an important role in biodiversity maintenance in various habitats, especially for mosaic species.

LIFE JunEx - Society for the Protection of Prespa Mediterranean forests are under considerable pressure from a range of negative environmental trends. In the case of Grecian Juniper Woods...

Here's a good local example. Again, overgrazing is a serious issue, but low-impact traditional grazing over centuries has created this unique forest habitat (EU Priority) supporting 800 plant species in Prespa. But with the decline of grazing, that wealth at risk. share.google/l7KxhzD8KFQE...

You don't need to buy it, it's simply the reality here in many cases. If I had a Euro for each of the Western European conservationists that I've shown around these parts with similar ideas who've then said, Ah, it's not as I was expecting it, I could go out for a very nice dinner tonight!

Extensive mountain forests in Zagoria, northwest Greece.

The problems of grazing in one place don't necessarily map onto another, esp where unique habitats have emerged in response to traditional patterns over time. Here is a typical mountain forest scene from northern Greece, grazed by goats, sheep and cows. The key, as always, is density. 2/2

That figure excludes scrub, and only 3.6% is plantation. Yes, Greece has been negatively affected by overgrazing (islands esp.) but that's not the only story, as the importance of traditional grazing to the country's upland biodiversity is also well-known, to Greek conservationists at least. 1/2

For sure, but not a tiny fraction. And to say that Greece has no pine forests is just laughable! Greece, as a whole, has roughly 30% forest cover, with pines dominating at higher altitudes. Negative historic overgrazing, definitely. But also biodiversity gains through traditional grazing patterns.

Greece still has pine forests.

Evil in the West Bank | David Shulman As long as the daily horrors in the occupied territories continue and the extreme right remains in power, democracy in Israel will be sick at the core.

"As long as the occupation continues apace, and as long as the extreme Israeli right is in power, democracy in Israel will be sick at the core. It cannot be healed without our recognizing Palestinians as human beings with equal rights." @nybooks.com

www.nybooks.com/articles/202...

Completely agree. And at a time when we're watching so many parts of the world convulse for all kinds of reasons it's a stark reminder of what hangs over us all with still so little political attention paid to it in any real, meaningful sense.

So true, Jez - this fear and uncertainty. And how little our leaders seem to care about either.

You're very welcome, Alberthe. So dismaying to see denialism rising.

How the beaches, culture and people of Corfu hit me for six A cricket match kindled my love affair with the Greek island, inspiring both a literary festival and my new novel

Lovely tribute to the island of Corfu, its generous hospitality and its magical literary festival by @alexpreston.bsky.social. So looking forward to his new book, A Stranger in Corfu, that's out now!
www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/...

Under water, in denial: is Europe drowning out the climate crisis? Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential

"This is Europe’s new reality: under water in winter, withered in summer. Yet even as the weather extremes worsen, the voices of denial have grown louder and more influential."

Excellent piece on the distance between lived realities and ideological denial.

www.theguardian.com/news/ng-inte...

Thanks, G!

Yes, me too!

E&T paperbacks which will inspire you to get outside this Spring. All with 25% off @waterstones.bsky.social: bit.ly/4rlYNDA

☀️Lifelines by @julianhoffman.bsky.social
🪏This Allotment edited by Sarah Rigby
🪶Nature Needs You by @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social
🥾Pathfinding by @kerriandrewsuk.bsky.social