The shortlist for the 25th TS Eliot Prize has been announced, and it's heartening to see a book from Nine Arches Press, Jacqueline Saphra's excellent All My Mad Mothers, in there.O… Read More

The Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition 2018, run by poetry magazine The Rialto, in partnership with the RSPB, BirdLife International and the Cambridge Conservation Initiative, is ope… Read More

What's the wader in the foreground? I'll give you a clue – it's a species that causes beginner birders quite a lot of trouble, being very variable in appearance Read More

It's time for a birdy ID challenge or two. On September 22nd, Bird Watching Magazine staged a readers' day at Frampton Marsh RSPB, near Boston, Lincolnshire. The weather was fantastic, and b… Read More

So, the whole Ben Stokes business has rather overshadowed the announcement of the actual Ashes squad, but reaction to it generally was pretty negative. Several pundits, including Jonathan Ag… Read More

This year at Bird Watching Magazine, we've been running a campaign called #my200birdyear – the idea being that you get out and try to see 200 species in the year. You can set your own… Read More

There's a terrific post here from Leicestershire poet Mark Goodwin, about his children hand-rearing a Swallow. It's interesting from an ornithological point of view, but it's also full of lo… Read More

The paperback edition of A Sky Full Of Birds was reviewed in the latest issue of NFU Countryside magazine – you can see it above. And of course, you can buy it by following this link Read More

This rather splendid volume arrived in the post the other day. I've been following Matthew Stewart's poetry for several years now, ever since he was highly placed in the Plough Prize, so its… Read More

Over at And Other Poems, there are now two index pages listing every poem published on the site since 2012 (and of course, you can click through to the poems themselves, too). I'm not even g… Read More

This was at Carlton Marshes, Suffolk, when I was there the other week. Determined to brush up on my dragonfly and damselfly watching this year Read More

These were at Bedford Purlieus NR when we were there for a photoshoot the other day, among maybe 10 or 11 other species Read More

It was impossible to resist the urge to go and see the Bee-eaters that have turned up at a quarry at East Leake, between Loughborough and Nottingham, earlier this week. There were five showi… Read More

This review of the paperback edition of A Sky Full Of Birds appeared in the Daily Mail last Friday. I'm really delighted that it's continuing to get a good reception Read More

...are Four-spotted Chasers called that? They've got eight spots Read More

Little Owls are always a delight to see, not only because of their air of comical irritation (this one was glaring at me for intruding upon his evening's beetle-hunting), but because they al… Read More

Just another quick reminder that I'll be at this event tomorrow (June 17th). I'll be selling copies of A Sky Full Of Birds, but I'd also love to talk to anyone about birds generally or… Read More

This review of A Sky Full Of Birds has appeared at Nudge – thanks very much to Paul Cheney for his kind appreciation of the book Read More

Just a reminder that tomorrow, Tuesday, June 13th, I'll be at Waterstones in Oxford talking about A Sky Full Of Birds and reading from the book. There are full details, including o… Read More

I'm going to be at this event a week on Saturday (June 17th), back on my old patch close to Leicester. As you can see there are all sorts of activities going on, and Bradgate Park is just a… Read More

Next Tuesday, June 13th, I'll be at Waterstones in Oxford talking about A Sky Full Of Birds and reading from the book. There are full details, including of how to book tickets, here.I'll als… Read More

This arrived from Rider Books yesterday, ahead of publication on June 1st – the paperback edition of my book A Sky Full Of Birds.You can find out more about it and how to buy it here… Read More

On November 6th, 2017, the 800th anniversary of the 1217 Charter of the Forest, the Charter for Trees, Woods and People will be launched. It will recognise, celebrate and protect the right o… Read More

In idle moments (and there haven't been too many of them lately), I got to wondering which 10 books I'd take to a hypothetical desert island. I've started compiling mental lists of the candi… Read More

Calling all birders, birdwatchers and birdlovers!Fair Acre Press is running an Arts Council England-funded project called DIVERSIFLY – it's all about people's everyday encounters with… Read More

Along with artist Amanda Drage and co-ordinator Ros Stoddart, I'm involved in Corby and Migration, which forms part of the wider Deep Roots, Tall Trees project.You can read a lot more about… Read More

I've been very tardy at posting on Polyolbion of late – snowed under with work, and one or two other things that have been occupying my time.Looking at the visitor stats, I see that th… Read More

For a month now, this beauty, a first-winter male Bluethroat, has been delighting birdwatchers and photographers at Willow Tree Fen, a Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust reserve between Bourne and… Read More

Marilyn Ricci and Maxine Linnell, two Leicester-based poets, have new collections coming out from Soundswrite Press, and they'll be launching them in Leicester on April 1st.Marilyn's debut c… Read More

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Tomorrow night (Wednesday, March 1st), at 6.30pm, I'll be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at Stourbridge Library.As always I'll have copies of the book available for a reduced price of &pou&hell…Read More

Birds of Britain, you really need to up your game in the courtship stakes. If you think the Great Crested Grebe's admittedly elegant 'weed dance' (showing now at a reservoir near you) is som… Read More

Nine Arches Press has launched a crowdfunding campaign for a forthcoming anthology, Stairs and Whispers: D/deaf and Disabled Poets Write Back.Edited and led by Sandra Alland, Khair… Read More

Tonight, I'm reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the Coronation Park Pavilion, Cottingham Road, Corby NN17 1SZ, as part of the Our Woods project. The event starts at 7pm… Read More

I was delighted to get an email yesterday to say that A Sky Full Of Birds has been shortlisted for the Richard Jefferies Society and White Horse Bookshop Literary Prize, awarded for outstand… Read More

This year's TS Eliot Prize has been won by Cumbrian poet Jacob Polley, for his collection Jackself (Picador). He beat a strong shortlist, including Alice Oswald, Denise Riley, Vahni Capildeo… Read More

I'm not sure how I'd missed this, but a batch of previously undiscovered RS Thomas poems have been published by Bloodaxe as Too Brave To Dream – encounters with modern art.I'm always a… Read More

A week on Thursday (January 26th), I'll be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the Coronation Park Pavilion, Cottingham Road, Corby NN17 1SZ, as part of the Our Woods project. The event star… Read More

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Today is celebrated as St Knut's Day in Sweden and Finland – you can find out more about it here.When I was reading about it earlier today, it struck me that the bits of the celebratio… Read More

The Morning Star is notable for having a regular column that publishes new poetry – Well Versed, edited by Jody Porter.Yesterday's, wonder/ful, by Daniel Sluman, is, well, wonderful Read More

Sphinx, HappenStance Press's website that reviews pamphlets and chapbooks, as well as gathering together information about poetry pamphlet publishing, has some new reviews, including this on… Read More

You've got until the end of this month to enter Open House 2017, The Interpreter's House's Poetry Competition. It's judged by Bloodaxe poet Niall Campbell, and entry is £4 for a single… Read More

The winter issue (No.17) of Blackbox Manifold is out now, with work by Linda Anderson, Tom Betteridge, Adam Burbage, Stephen Burt, James Byrne, Sophie Collins, Joey Connolly, Adam Flint, Jan… Read More

On Facebook the other day, Rob Mackenzie posted a link to this poem, which I like a lot. I bought Dean Young's New and Selected Poems on my iPad a couple of years back, and dip in and o… Read More

Just came across this article by Stewart Lee in which he mentions that the Blue Aeroplanes have a new album coming out. I'm not sure about his description of them as being like "Philip Larki… Read More

I came across this rather intriguing article earlier today, and it started me thinking about the whole way that memory works. This phenomenon of large numbers of people vividly (and honestly… Read More

I was asked to pick a few books of the year for Big Issue North, and here they are – needless to say, it was a pretty hard decision picking my favourites, but I tried to include a bit… Read More

I have a vested interest, it's true, but if you're still looking to buy poetry presents for your loved ones and friends, then have a good look at the Nine Arches Press website.There are sing… Read More

Come on then, what are they? I saw half an hour of a programme last night in which they were doing a rundown of the 100 best Christmas songs ever, and it set me thinking.In no particular ord… Read More

Shauna Robertson of Town Hall Poets writes here about Candlestick Press's pamphlets, which make absolutely ideal Christmas presents for the poetically-inclined person in your life (they sugg… Read More

Mark Avery, writer, conservationist and one of the most influential environmental bloggers in the country, posted his round-up of books of the year, and I'm delighted that A Sky Full Of Bird… Read More

It's the time of end of year round-ups, and here, from The Guardian, is Kate Kellaway's choice of poetry books of 2016. I've only read a couple of them - the Denise Riley book and Alison Bra… Read More

Over at Rogue Strands, Matthew Stewart has supplied a rundown on his favourite poetry blogs of the year, and has very kindly included Polyolbion in it. I'm very grateful, although can't help… Read More

Busy, busy, busy, at the moment, mainly with the day job, so I haven't had a chance until now to blog about last week's reading at Ouse Muse, in Bedford.Compered by Caroline Davies, and run… Read More

This is the weekly poem at the Oxford Brookes University Poetry Centre website , and it also appears in Sidekick Books' 2012 anthology Birdbook II: Freshwater Habitats.The website's an excel… Read More

Two weeks today, on Wednesday, November 23rd, I'm the featured reader at Ouse Muse, in Bedford. It'll be my first purely poetry reading for quite a long while, so I'm looking forward to it a… Read More

You have until the end of this month to enter the Cafe Writers Poetry Competition, which this year is judged by the excellent Andrew McMillan.Entries cost £4, or £10 for 3 and &p&hell…Read More

This morning, I dashed over to Kineton, where a friend had reported seeing a Snow Bunting in the last few days. She took me to fields near her house, and we quickly bumped into two dog-walke… Read More

It's always a good time to discover something new to read from Simon Turner – this is over at Gists & Piths, and it's rather wonderful Read More

Very interesting piece here by Mark Halliday, responding to Ben Lerner's book (as he says, it's a pretty slim book), The Hatred of Poetry.I think I'd tend to come down more on Halliday's sid… Read More

I've been reading Jack Gilbert's Collected Poems on and off over the last few months, and have enjoyed it a great deal. One of the poems that had drawn my attention to the book was this. The… Read More

I found this in a secondhand bookshop for a couple of quid, and was intrigued enough to buy it. I'd come across Roger Garfitt's poetry once or twice previously – I remember enjoying a… Read More

Curlews might be just about my favourite birds, so I'll use any excuse to watch them, photograph them, write about them, read about them, talk about them, or all five. This one was picking c… Read More

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to be in northern Mallorca for work. It's a great place to go birding, because you've got a huge variety of habitat just a few minutes away from the towns of… Read More

The shortlist for the TS Eliot Prize has been announced, and there are full details here. Good to see Denise Riley, Ian Duhig and Bernard O'Donoghue on there (I've read and enjoyed all three… Read More

It's that time of year when birds are well and truly on the move. In fact, it's always that time of year, because migration is going pretty much 24/7, 365 days a year, but mid-October is jus… Read More

Tomorrow (Thursday, October 6th), I'm going to be chatting with Simon Barnes at Daunt Books, Marylebone, as part of their Book Festival.He, of course, is both a renowned sports writer and th… Read More

Bird photographer Jim Almond has reviewed A Sky Full Of Birds on his blog here - I'm very grateful to him for such a generous and full appraisal of the book. While you're at it, follow… Read More

Driving to work this morning, just a few miles from home, I saw two Ravens flying over the road at Napton-on-the-Hill.Their identity was obvious from the wedge-shaped tails, the long, narrow… Read More

Or has this blog had its day, more to the point? Visitor numbers have been showing a slow but steady decline over the last year or so. I've not been great at updating it in recent months, an… Read More

Back in my schooldays, the pre-internet information wasteland of the 1980s (Ceefax seemed impossibly hi-tech), I used to look forward to the announcement of the England cricket touring team… Read More

Well, if you do, the Poetry School wants to hear from you ASAP. You'll even get paid £60 a time. The full details are available here, and it'll be interesting to see what comes of it … Read More

Martin Stannard's poems for the young at heart (Leafe Press) is reviewed by Steve Spence for Stride here – you can also find out more about it and Leafe's other excellent publications… Read More

The submissions window at The Poet's Republic is open until the end of September, with issue 4 due out in November. Nell Nelson of HappenStance Press is guest editor this issue, which pretty… Read More

This is a rather wonderful blog post by poet Mark Goodwin – make sure you watch the video at the end, too. Mark's books include a 2014 collection from Longbarrow Press, Steps, that exp… Read More

There are four poems by Peter Hughes, after Giacomo Leopardi, in the latest edition of Litter. Take a look – some other very interesting stuff there too, as always Read More

The 25th annual Forward Prize anthology is out on September 15th – it contains all the poems shortlisted for this year's prizes, plus a selection of those highly commended by the judge… Read More

Issue 65 of the always excellent Magma is out now - you can find further details here.Reviews include Kathryn Gray on Ian Duhig, Andy Willoughby and Claire Askew; Ian McEwen on Martin Stanna… Read More

There's a summer sale on at Nine Arches Press, with 50% off lots of their poetry books, others available for just £3, and free postage – the offer ends on September 1st, though… Read More

I'll be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds (and who knows, maybe a poem or two), at Bournemouth Natural Science Society and Museum this Saturday (August 27th), at 2.30pm.The talk takes place i… Read More

Very pleased to have been reviewed in the latest Times Literary Supplement, alongside Mike Dilger's Nightingales In November, and very grateful to Richard Smyth for his thoughtful and genero… Read More

I'll be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the British Birdwatching Fair, at the Egelton Reserve, Rutland Water, this Saturday at 9.30am. It takes place in the Author's Forum (next to the m… Read More

I'm going to be reading from A Sky Full Of Birds at the Wigtown Book Festival, Dumfries and Galloway, on Thursday September 29th. The event takes place at the Main hall of the County Buildin… Read More

It's not often I get the chance to say that a poem of mine is appearing in an anthology alongside poems and nature writing by the likes of Gilbert White, Richard Jefferies, Gerard Manley Hop… Read More

I've been reading David Belbin's superb Provenance: New and Collected Short Stories, which pulls together 18 stories dating back as far as the 1980s.There's a wide variety of subject ma… Read More

You probably know Helen Macdonald as the author of the best-selling H Is For Hawk, which was Costa Book of the Year 2014 and also won the Samuel Johnson Prize that year. It combined a moving… Read More

I'm off to lie around in the sun for 10 days, and I'm looking forward to catching up on some reading. In terms of poetry, that will be the new Bernard O'Donoghue collection, The Seasons of C… Read More

It's 20 years today since George Mackay Brown died – there's some interesting stuff on him here. He's one of those poets I go back to a lot, perhaps because he's really not a lot like… Read More

Issue 16 of Blackbox Manifold is out now, with work by Matthew Carbery, Imogen Cassels, Adam Hampton, Lewis Haubus, Tom Jenks, Kent MacCarter, Amy McCauley, James Midgley, Peter Mishler, Sim… Read More

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I just wanted to say a big thank-you to everyone who has bought a copy of A Sky Full Of Birds. On the release of any book, you're struck by a sudden fear that absolutely nobody, other than y… Read More

I'm very grateful to Ben Hoare, and Countryfile Magazine, for this very generous review of A Sky Full Of Birds. It's very pleasing, too, that the review is sandwiched between books from Step… Read More

Very sad to hear of the passing away of Geoffrey Hill yesterday. As I've noted on here a few times before, I can't pretend to know the bulk of his work very well, but Mercian Hymns was some… Read More

I've long been a fan of Bernard O'Donoghue's poetry - his The Nuthatch is one of my favourite bird poems ever - so I'm looking forward to getting stuck into this, his latest collec… Read More

I've enjoyed David Briggs' poetry a great deal in the past (his two Salt collections, The Method Men and Rain Rider, are well worth seeking out) so it was great to receive a copy of his new… Read More

I'll be reading from my book, A Sky Full Of Birds, at the Lowdham Book Festival this Saturday (June 25th), at 11am. It takes place at the Methodist Chapel on Main Street, and as well as the… Read More

This rather lovely book arrived at the Bird watching office this week - it's a collection of poetry, prose and reportage from Dunlin Press, following the migration routes of waders and shore… Read More

When I was at university in Newcastle, we frequently had history field trips, or history society drinking trips, to various castles and other sites along the Northumberland coast. Warkworth… Read More