Dawn Chorus (I blame the great tit) a short story by Hannah Longmuir We’ve been in this house seven springs, now. And in seven springs I have intended to, and failed to, slip out into the woods, in May, while the rest of the household sleeps, to hear the dawn chorus in full voice. Small
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April & May 2026 Pages a lump, a dump even, of pages from the past two months And that’s spring run her showery, overall chilly, spectacularly blossomy, frilly-tuliped course. Wasn’t she a goddess? It was a bit more woolly hats and thermos-clutching than some springs, but the flowers seemed to crack on with their blooming
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The Coldingham Pages Our Village in Spring – a nature journaling project with Coldingham Primary School Last summer, I received an email out of the blue from a lovely woman named Crystal asking me if I would like to take a primary-school-full of children out on drawing expeditions. Crystal is the chair of the parent’s
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The Chaffinch & the Blossom-Cloud a short story by Hannah Longmuir On Tuesday, I was walking inside a cloud when I was scolded by a chaffinch. The cloud was formed of blossom, where the blackthorn grows on both sides of the river path, and only in April can you walk into the iridescent blossom-fog to
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March 2026 Pages spring, of sorts, gathers pace in my sketchbook March is a bit of a funny creature, really. I always build March up in my head as a glorious sweet-sun month of frolicking in daffodils, whereas in fact the wind whips and sometimes there’s hail. I quite enjoy the merging of winter and
May: intoxicating and slightly heavy May is a complicated month for me, with birthdays and anniversaries to navigate I wear a ring with a tiny emerald – the May birthstone – on my finger. It represents all my May loves. My mum and dad were both born in May; my Gran, too, and my husband
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April: Eyes to the Sky April feels like a series of nice surprises. Here’s my journal and sketchbook pages. Eyes to the sky, for me, in April. Will I recognise them? Of course I will! The first glimpse of that swirling, whirling flight, interweaving, drawing tiny threads of vapour trails across the sky.  The swallows are coming back! I saw my first swallow of 2025
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A Kiss From March Pale yellow sunshine, amorous frogs, and a delightful three-year-old Is this anything finer in the whole year than the first sunshine of March? It is pale yellow, sumptious, luxurious. It smiles on you and warms your insides. After a long winter of hunching and huddling, March sunshine allows you to open
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May 2024 Journal and Sketchbook a naturally celebratory month This summer will mark 6 years since we moved here to Drygrange. With the house came a decent sized garden. Ross & I were totally clueless about gardening. We also had a baby in the first year we lived here, so we’ve basically just been trying
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April Journal and Sketchbook I feel like my pages for this month do not represent how damp and chilly and runny-nosed April really was On the 1st of April we were in glorious sunshine on the Isle of Iona – but that’s all in this journal post here. Check it out to see all my
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