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Robbie Rowe

@privateshufti

Healthcare scientist, naturalist, spotterish Omnivorous reader and book collector (modern firsts, nature writing, climate fiction) He / Him Fediverse presence: @privateshufti@mastodon.social No DMs

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18.10.2024
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Latest posts by Robbie Rowe @privateshufti

A yellow sign with black writing which reads Herefordshire rural watch with a pictogram of a black scarecrow with yellow eyes and a crow on its hat.
The sign is on a wooden fence with a churchyard and blue sky just visible behind it

A yellow sign with black writing which reads Herefordshire rural watch with a pictogram of a black scarecrow with yellow eyes and a crow on its hat. The sign is on a wooden fence with a churchyard and blue sky just visible behind it

Herefordshire rural watch is folk horror

06.03.2026 09:43 πŸ‘ 215 πŸ” 37 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 7

Tarka the otter : his joyful water-life and death in the country of the two rivers / with an introduction by The Hon. Sir John Fortescue, K.C.V.O. ; illustrated by C.F. Tunnicliffe - London; New York: 1932
#BookWormSat πŸ“š

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07.03.2026 08:59 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Frontispiece, otter and trout in river with bubbles rising.
The first illustrated edition by Charles F. Tunnicliffe was published by Putnam in 1932.
Source: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/frontispiece-15

Frontispiece, otter and trout in river with bubbles rising. The first illustrated edition by Charles F. Tunnicliffe was published by Putnam in 1932. Source: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/frontispiece-15

#BookWormSat
Already his mother had forgotten, and perhaps would never again remember, that she had loved a cub called Tarka. Tarka was alone, a young male of a ferocious and persecuted tribe whose only friends, except the Spirit that made it, were its enemies – the otter-hunters
Tarka the Otter 1/2

07.03.2026 08:57 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Are otters allowed? πŸ€”

07.03.2026 08:41 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I'm reading The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. Also got Domination by @profaliceroberts.bsky.social lined up
πŸ“š

02.03.2026 11:36 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Photo of a doorway created with twigs in a lush green forest

Photo of a doorway created with twigs in a lush green forest

β€œPassage”, 2007 by German installation artist Cornelia Konrads #womensart #Spring

02.03.2026 06:49 πŸ‘ 1191 πŸ” 208 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 17
Preview
Ken Kesey - Wikiquote

#BookWormSat

"We think we’re in the present, but we aren’t. The present we know is only a movie of the past"

Both quotes from Tom Wolfe's 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

πŸ“š

Link to Wikiquotes here
Ken Kesey - Wikiquote share.google/dYaRj0gqnGjX...

28.02.2026 08:55 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Further, the psychedelic schoolbus that the Merry Pranksters travelled in
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Further_(original_bus).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

Further, the psychedelic schoolbus that the Merry Pranksters travelled in https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Further_(original_bus).jpg#mw-jump-to-license

#BookWormSat
Quotes from Ken Kesey, the Merry Prankster and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest:

"Now, you're either on the bus or off the bus. If you're on the bus, and you get left behind, then you'll find it again"

1/2
πŸ“š

28.02.2026 08:50 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 3 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Ah, long way from me then sadly

25.02.2026 09:11 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Favorite film of mine actually

25.02.2026 08:11 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Wow, where is this?

25.02.2026 07:19 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Wokeliverance. 'Squeal like a pig!' 🐷

25.02.2026 05:39 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Poem: The Hero, Siegfried Sassoon

21.02.2026 11:54 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
The monument at Thiepval
Credit: Amanda Slater, Coventry (from Wikipedia, accessed 21/02/26)
Poem: The Hero, Siegfried Sassoon

The monument at Thiepval Credit: Amanda Slater, Coventry (from Wikipedia, accessed 21/02/26) Poem: The Hero, Siegfried Sassoon

#BookWormSat
C20th poetry

Quietly the Brother Officer went out.
He'd told the poor old dear some gallant lies
That she would nourish all her days, no doubt
For while he coughed and mumbled, her weak eyes
Had shone with gentle triumph, brimmed with joy,
Because he'd been so brave, her glorious boy

21.02.2026 11:53 πŸ‘ 17 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Covers of the 2 books mentioned, the Arthur Machen has an Art Nouveau illustration of Pan playing a pipe in the style of Aubrey Beardsley

Covers of the 2 books mentioned, the Arthur Machen has an Art Nouveau illustration of Pan playing a pipe in the style of Aubrey Beardsley

I'm reading Arthur Machen's horror short stories & Books: a Manifesto by Ian Patterson
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16.02.2026 10:12 πŸ‘ 7 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

The weekend of the #BigGardenBirdwatch I was counting birds coming to some feeders and recorded no siskins, despite their usual visits. Later in the day in the same locality I saw a huge flock of 50+ birds moving through woodland. Perhaps there was enough wild food available?

16.02.2026 09:42 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
A two-tailed pasha butterfly perched on a fig tree in a garden in Dubrovnik

A two-tailed pasha butterfly perched on a fig tree in a garden in Dubrovnik

#BookWormSat #Love
"The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come...
The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away"

Song of Solomon, KJB

14.02.2026 18:58 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Unfortunately that shelf is now full so there will need to be another reshuffle. "There must be order!'

14.02.2026 13:43 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Microshelfie featuring 2 novels by Tom Cox (Villager and Everything Will Swallow You), The New Wilderness by Diane Cook, A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter, and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Microshelfie featuring 2 novels by Tom Cox (Villager and Everything Will Swallow You), The New Wilderness by Diane Cook, A Black Fox Running by Brian Carter, and Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Finished Everything Will Swallow You by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social - an utter delight! A marvelous caste of eccentric West Country characters and bountiful strangeness.
'All the bees!'

#Fiction #1stEdition
πŸ“š

14.02.2026 10:28 πŸ‘ 14 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 1

Oh wow! I read this book as a child but didn't realize it was by Judy Blume. We had recently moved back to the UK from the US & I think some American friends of my parents bought it as a gift for me one Christmas or birthday. This would have been about 1975-6.

13.02.2026 08:27 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I almost missed seeing David Attenborough on Skomer island as was too busy looking at puffins. More embarrassingly, I once got thrown out of a pub in Southampton for sharing a joint with Howard Marks

06.02.2026 08:20 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I also loved both book & film, planning to reread this year

02.02.2026 13:49 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Still reading The Revolutionists (almost finished!), also Everything Will Swallow You by @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social & thoroughly enjoying it

02.02.2026 13:46 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
VΓ€inΓ€mΓΆinen and his crew fighting against Louhi.

VΓ€inΓ€mΓΆinen and his crew fighting against Louhi.

The Kalevala (IPA: [ˈkΙ‘leΚ‹Ι‘lΙ‘]) is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias LΓΆnnrot from Finnish, Karelian and Ingrian folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth,

#BookWormSat 🧡

31.01.2026 12:05 πŸ‘ 25 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
✍🏻 Ian Serrallier's version of Beowulf 🎨 Mark Severin. The imaginative illustration depicts a warrior in a helmet topped by a tusked boar; the flaming colours echoic of the dragon that will kill Beowulf.

✍🏻 Ian Serrallier's version of Beowulf 🎨 Mark Severin. The imaginative illustration depicts a warrior in a helmet topped by a tusked boar; the flaming colours echoic of the dragon that will kill Beowulf.

"Þæt wæs god cyning" (that was a good king). The Anglo Saxon scop (bard) used stock phrases to help memorise epic poems of the oral tradition. Beowulf, eager for fame, was a brave warrior, but not necessarily a good king; his death left his people exposed to enclosing enemies #BookWormSat #medieval

31.01.2026 10:13 πŸ‘ 32 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
dots,dashes and lines arranged to form a landscape

dots,dashes and lines arranged to form a landscape

Rugged Lake
Arnold Shives

aggv.ca/emuseum/peop...

31.01.2026 09:49 πŸ‘ 54 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Tolkien's work was inspired by the Icelandic sagas and Norse mythology. This volume contains 2 fragments of verse from the Elder Days, edited by Tolkien's son Christopher as if passed down and recovered from an oral tradition

#BookWormSat #Tolkien πŸ“š

31.01.2026 08:41 πŸ‘ 9 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Cover of Del Rey paperback edition of JRR Tolkien's The Lays of Beleriand

Cover of Del Rey paperback edition of JRR Tolkien's The Lays of Beleriand

Lo! the golden dragon...the gloom of the woods of the world now gone, the woes of Men, and weeping of Elves fading faintly down forest pathways, is now to tell, and the name most tearful of Niniel the sorrowful, and the name most sad of Thalion's son Turin o'erthrown by fate

#BookWormSat πŸ“š
1/2

31.01.2026 08:35 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0
Post image

Yes, whatever happened to my fantasy Brexit where the all powerful UK simply swept away the superpowers, the global companies, anyone else's rules, geography, history, domestic politics, demographics, deindustrialisation, Trump, and things I don't like?

Oh yes, reality. And bad Brexiter governments

31.01.2026 07:59 πŸ‘ 386 πŸ” 97 πŸ’¬ 38 πŸ“Œ 3

Thanks, that's very helpful

29.01.2026 19:39 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0