Nighttime on Still Waters

‪Welcome! I am Richard and I live aboard the narrowboat 'Erica' where I host a canal-based podcast that celebrates nature, life in a complicated world, the elements, and the night-time. Trying to create a small place of beauty and peace in a complicated world. www.noswpod.com

The storm has passed As we await another. The shook trees a little barer, The sheep on the leeward slope, And gulls wheeling above Horse Hill. The canal gathers torn leaves Not quite yet ready to fall, Orphaned by the wind. #naturewriting #ukcanals #storm #autumn

The gloaming drips Like neglected wet ironwork. Two ducks push through The unblinking eye Of the bridge hole. Bedside the towpath Brambles crouch Like pouncing panthers. The drizzle turns to rain. #naturepoetry #ukcanals #morning #DailyNature

Tonight, we walk through deep time. Ours is a generation who are the witnesses of the Great Unravelling, but we are also part of the Great Remembering. A handful of seeds. Ancient soil. We walk out of books and language to pick up something once thought lost. #podcast www.noswpod.com/listening/

Beside tangled brambles, an unexpected whisper of excitement or is it exhilaration. It burrows, unnamed, between my shoulders. Hearing has been bad these past few days, so birdsong is muted. Hips and haws are deep crimson. Archangel. Drizzle. Two ducks. Home. #DailyNature

What do you see? You, who are gazing Into the water so earnestly? Do you see the summer skies Of your youth, when life was green And the air sweet with your scent? For meeting you now That is what I see too; The summer you still Bring into my autumn. #DailyNature #ukcanals #poetry #autumn #time

Tiny wings in drizzling rain. A moorhen pushes herself Away from the bank with a flash Of white petticoat. A golden star on a red bottle top Stamped into the towpath. The canal moves to a wind That I cannot feel. #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry

Tonight’s episode is a little shorter than usual, but the pause feels serendipitous. Join us as we rediscover the impotance of the night within a tumulutuous noisy world. We also join boater @anamca.bsky.social for a view through her window. #podcast #ukcanals #wellbeing www.noswpod.com/hopscotch/

The thick darkness Of a mole-blind morning. Feet slip on gravel and tiredness. Racing clouds lower themselves To the earth in rain. No moon or stars, Just waterlogged sky And the wind among the alders. But that is alright, For I have Stars enough And windsong among alders. #naturepoetry #night

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

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

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

The slow drift into autumn is underway and can be felt not so much by changing colours but through the rhythms of those who live alongside us. Tonight, we celebrate this shift & enjoy a hot Missouri night with @jvanbooven.bsky.social. #podcast #ukcanals #autumn #nature www.noswpod.com/autumn-drift/

Thunderflies among lavender "I'm really excited, are you?" Three young female students Their smiles even brighter than The sunshine of their youths. #poetry #freshersweek #youths #joy #youngoncemore

A desultory grey day, Heron scolded and dripping. I float my anxieties on still waters But find it difficult to let them go. Sometimes, there are No burning bushes. Only the squabble of ducks And the miracle of sloe. The canal invites Me in to its silence. #naturepoetry #anxiety #ukcanals

Not looking forward To this day; Stomach in knots. But as I left for work, There were bats in the sky And a crescent moon. And now magpies scatter Unspoken assurance Of winds that will bear Mischievous wings. And a maple seed Lying on my office floor. #DailyNature #solace #poetry

*New episode* Great excitement last week as nine geese flew onto our moorings. Join us tonight on the 'Erica' and find out what happened and why geese might not be quite so different from us as we might think. Link in bio #podcast #nature #ukcanals #BoatLife #birds www.noswpod.com/uncertainties/

Ostracised and alone, She swims across the water Hopeful for evening scraps. The water shimmers around her; Leaving intricate patterns In her wake that are alive With light. Does she have any idea What beauty she leaves Behind her in the waters Where the fish make rings? #naturepoetry #ukcanals

Old summer light. With each gust of wind, The hiss of last night's rain Still falls from the oak's Gnarled fingers. The canal holds the sky close, Waiting for the moorhens to hatch. My legs are wet from the long grass. #DailyNature #ukcanals #poetry #nature #summer

You walked this path Through those long weeks Of parched heat, Shoulders burdened By the weight of grief and care. The land now drinks deep. Brittle flowerheads reach up. So, you lean forward And gently cup them in your hand. It's the only human thing to do. #DailyNature #poetry #climate #drought

I had forgotten How soft The ground Should feel Under my feet As I walk. The rain Has given My feet Winged smiles. #DailyNature #rain #poetry

We weren't born for For the 24hr news cycle, or To process endless tragedy And division on the eternal Scroll of doom. But you were made To encounter golden fells of gorse, The feel of the north wind, The thorn pierce of bramble, And the wing song Of returning winter geese. #DailyNature #poetry

Tonight the canal seems so quiet and sleepy, but have you ever wondered what it is like below the surface? Tonight, we listen in to that world and begin to explore strange soundscapes full of life and and wonder. #podcast #ukcanals #nature #fish www.noswpod.com/beneath-the-...

An old man Sitting beside the canal Watching the minnows Of his youth. Where does the time go? And yet, here, It hangs so motionless Above these waters. #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry #aging #growingold

Rain. A whisper against wood, a drop on the gravel. Drought cracks. Pebbles sing. Spiky leaves gulp down the sky. A sigh of petrichor. The fence drinks deep - dripping, dark, alive. The lifebuoy swings purpose remembered. Golden sunrise bleeds. Pots dance, heavy, soaking up the downpour. Joy!

And the canal says; "I will teach A fallen feather To fly again Anong the clouds and trees Of my endless skies." #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry #hope #nature

"Standing tall and alone, his head pulled back like a snail’s into the shell of his shoulders, the heron was silent, drawing his sense of himself from within, he never once needed to see his own face in the water.” John Moriarty -Nostos #johnmoriarty #solitude #heron #bird #nature #wisdom

Morning quiet. The canal lies silent. The cut and glide of moorhen, Silver and smooth. Large canopied wings Follows heron's side-eye. Two ravens greet a new day. Such are the canal's conversations. Blackberries form the fullstops. Nothing more needs saying. #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry

This is the common reed, otherwise known by the silk-soft sweep on your arm or leg as you pass by (who else greets you so gently on your walk through life?); or that unrepeatable play of sunlight through feathers of carmine and crimson; or the cool scent of shade in a burning world... #DailyNature

A breath of sanity from John Moriarty (because we all need it sometimes). #nature #johnmoriarty #reconnection #home

Week 1 of August Daily Nature - on steam & dreams Wonderful to see nature community blossoming on the web💚 Thanks to @noswpod.bsky.social , @persiflage.bsky.social, @mixaeljones.bsky.social &co. featured in this weeks post jenratcliffe.substack.com/p/steam-and-... #NatureWriting #DailyNature

It is a glorious summer night, but the canal is officially closed. Join us tonight, as we ponder over what this actually means for liveaboards and the fragile ecosystem left behind. Does the canal miss us when we are gone? #podcast #ukcanals #summer #nature #drought www.noswpod.com/remembered-l...

Like everywhere, At the moment, The talk all along The canal is the rain. The eager chatter of drips. Gentle whispering Sighs among alder. Reed and iris' High-pitched plinks, The oaks deep exhale. The slow celebration Of slug and snail. #DailyNature #ukcanals #naturepoetry

First day of canal closure. Heat plays across the water. The air feels close and heavy. A cat slants asleep across a cabin roof. A young lad with faraway eyes says 'There's a big pike here.' Then he says he could be wrong. I tell him I saw it last evening. He looks relieved. #DailyNature #ukcanals

Canal-side plants Angelica (Wild) The thrum and beat Of cyclists and joggers. Airliners razor between clouds. But the canal Sleeps easy and content. In its reflection, I can read Its dreams. And there Is Angelica by the wall. #DailyNature #ukcanals #plants #bloomscrolling #naturepoetry

The Prussian blue sky The scent of cut tomatoes Fields of calico #naturepoetry #haiku #summer

Canal-side plants Meadowsweet I came for the howl Of wilder winds, the Roll of storm clouds, Sunset fire, and the Blast and fury of life At its most essential. Instead, nature Sang to me With meadowsweet. #naturepoetry #plants #ukcanals #naturemusing

Canal-side plants Arrowhead Chaste bathing beauties Dip below the water As each boat goes past. #naturepoetry #ukcanals #plants #nature

Canal-side plants Teasel 'Come,' Says the teasel, 'Let me charm you With goldfinches And between my bristles The wild haze Of moorland heather. For we all have wilder hearts That beat to untamed winds' #naturepoetry #ukcanals #plants #wildness #nature

We walk through Drifts of loosestrife That dance with tiny wings. All the while, the canal Dreams in the syrup sweet Afternoon sun. #naturepoetry #ukcanals #plants #nature #summer #bees

Canal-side plants Marsh woundwort Soul friend You too love The shady places Of midnight greens And moorhen call. #DailyNature #naturepoetry #ukcanals #plants #flowers #summer

Canal-side plants Bindweed Strung along the towpath The great bells of bindweed Ring out their silent peels. The canal listens For the chimes We cannot hear. #naturepoetry #DailyNature #ukcanals #plants

"Every day, priests minutely Examine the Dharma And endlessly chant Complicated sutras. Before doing that, though, They should learn how to read the Love letters sent by The wind and rain, The snow and moon." Ikkyu (1394-1481) #zen #poetry #wisdom

And the path leads on to who knows where? Disoriented little souls, dry and exhausted. We all need aa helping hand sometimes; we all need a glimpse of clarity. Together, we find water. #life #frog #souls

*New Episode* It's a glorious July night with a welcome breeze playing among the reeds. Join us tonight at we think about how people viewed summer in the past and find some surprising similarities and differences. #pocast #ukcanals #summer #nature #history #mentalhealth www.noswpod.com/gentle-days/

"Living deep in the mountains I’ve grown fond of the Solitary sound of the pines; On days the wind does not blow How lonely it is!" Rengetsu (1791-1875) #poetry #Zen #windless