Blue Kirkhope
@bluekirkhope.bsky.social
Writer. Trudging through the bog, always heading northwards.
Glasgow, Scotland | (she/they)
www.bluekirkhope.com
Glasgow, Scotland | (she/they)
www.bluekirkhope.com
Pinned
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.'
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
First essay in a very long while, on ecolinguistics and climate change. It's good to be back!
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
August 2, 2026 at 7:27 PM
I'm not sure folks have realized just how crazy the second half of 2026 and 2027 will be for global temperatures – on the back of a record-smashing El Niño event. Here is my latest estimate of where both years will end up compared to global temperatures since 1850.
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Blue Kirkhope advocating here for a new phrase to enter our vocabulary: climate fires.
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.'
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
July 31, 2026 at 7:42 PM
Blue Kirkhope advocating here for a new phrase to enter our vocabulary: climate fires.
First essay in a very long while, on ecolinguistics and climate change. It's good to be back!
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.'
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
August 2, 2026 at 9:01 PM
First essay in a very long while, on ecolinguistics and climate change. It's good to be back!
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.'
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
July 31, 2026 at 3:25 PM
'We need to talk about how we talk about nature and climate [...] How the misuse of tongue, teeth, mouth and throat can be as violent as a naked flame in an open, dry moorland.'
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Blue Kirkhope unpicks how the English language can catalyse the climate crisis www.caughtbytheriver.net/2026/07/word...
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Today, on the BBC's World Service, Vibeke Venema interviews Annie Ernaux: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
BBC World Service - Outlook, Annie Ernaux: ‘My mum burned my teenage diaries’
The shopkeeper’s daughter who won the Nobel for her fearless, taboo-breaking writing
www.bbc.co.uk
December 4, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Today, on the BBC's World Service, Vibeke Venema interviews Annie Ernaux: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w...
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Oidhche Shamhna – a South Uist #Halloween
Ethnomusicologist, photographer, folklorist, & scholar Margaret Fay Shaw (1903–2004) recorded a traditional Hebridean Halloween on South Uist in the 1930s, in photographs & on film
—via the National Trust for Scotland
#Gaelic
www.nts.org.uk/stories/oidh...
Ethnomusicologist, photographer, folklorist, & scholar Margaret Fay Shaw (1903–2004) recorded a traditional Hebridean Halloween on South Uist in the 1930s, in photographs & on film
—via the National Trust for Scotland
#Gaelic
www.nts.org.uk/stories/oidh...
October 31, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Oidhche Shamhna – a South Uist #Halloween
Ethnomusicologist, photographer, folklorist, & scholar Margaret Fay Shaw (1903–2004) recorded a traditional Hebridean Halloween on South Uist in the 1930s, in photographs & on film
—via the National Trust for Scotland
#Gaelic
www.nts.org.uk/stories/oidh...
Ethnomusicologist, photographer, folklorist, & scholar Margaret Fay Shaw (1903–2004) recorded a traditional Hebridean Halloween on South Uist in the 1930s, in photographs & on film
—via the National Trust for Scotland
#Gaelic
www.nts.org.uk/stories/oidh...
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Following the discovery of mosquitoes in Iceland, Dr Andrew Jennings, @thinkuhi.bsky.social Associate Professor in Island Studies, discusses the need to build resilience #islands in the face of rapid climate change.
@adammarkham.bsky.social #climatechange
open.substack.com/pub/resilien...
@adammarkham.bsky.social #climatechange
open.substack.com/pub/resilien...
Climate’s New Invaders: Iceland and Shetland’s First Mosquitoes and the Warning for Northern Islands
As an academic living in the windswept Shetland Isles, I’ve always been fascinated by how climate shapes the fragile ecosystems and cultures of remote islands.
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Following the discovery of mosquitoes in Iceland, Dr Andrew Jennings, @thinkuhi.bsky.social Associate Professor in Island Studies, discusses the need to build resilience #islands in the face of rapid climate change.
@adammarkham.bsky.social #climatechange
open.substack.com/pub/resilien...
@adammarkham.bsky.social #climatechange
open.substack.com/pub/resilien...
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Shaetlan has finally been recognised as a language in its own right.
The recognition comes after the local language was given its own ISO code by SIL Global, the organisation that handles the international Ethnologue database has been tasked with the handling of international language ISO codes.
The recognition comes after the local language was given its own ISO code by SIL Global, the organisation that handles the international Ethnologue database has been tasked with the handling of international language ISO codes.
Shaetlan receives full recognition as a language
SHAETLAN has finally been recognised as a language in its own right. The recognition comes after the local language was given its own ISO code by SIL Global,...
shet.news
October 15, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Shaetlan has finally been recognised as a language in its own right.
The recognition comes after the local language was given its own ISO code by SIL Global, the organisation that handles the international Ethnologue database has been tasked with the handling of international language ISO codes.
The recognition comes after the local language was given its own ISO code by SIL Global, the organisation that handles the international Ethnologue database has been tasked with the handling of international language ISO codes.
It began with meadow pipits and ended with a rainbow over the Sloy dam. Raindrops like pearls cast by bright sunbeams, sparkling slabs of glistening granite, scrambling up the craggy scree slopes and hauling my body 3000 ft high to panoramic views of the Arrochar Alps, Loch Lomond and beyond.
September 16, 2025 at 5:43 PM
It began with meadow pipits and ended with a rainbow over the Sloy dam. Raindrops like pearls cast by bright sunbeams, sparkling slabs of glistening granite, scrambling up the craggy scree slopes and hauling my body 3000 ft high to panoramic views of the Arrochar Alps, Loch Lomond and beyond.
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Gaelic is on the verge of extinction. The rural housing crisis caused by an explosion of second homes & buy-to-lets is one of the major driving forces.
Next week MSPs will vote on my proposal to increase the tax rate on those buying second homes in communities where Gaelic is still widely spoken.
Next week MSPs will vote on my proposal to increase the tax rate on those buying second homes in communities where Gaelic is still widely spoken.
Greens to force vote on tax for second homes in Gaelic-speaking communities
THE Scottish Greens are set to force a vote on increasing taxes on holiday homes and short-term lets in Gaelic-speaking communities.
www.thenational.scot
September 15, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Gaelic is on the verge of extinction. The rural housing crisis caused by an explosion of second homes & buy-to-lets is one of the major driving forces.
Next week MSPs will vote on my proposal to increase the tax rate on those buying second homes in communities where Gaelic is still widely spoken.
Next week MSPs will vote on my proposal to increase the tax rate on those buying second homes in communities where Gaelic is still widely spoken.
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Summer is not quite over yet:
A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.
A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.
September 13, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Summer is not quite over yet:
A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.
A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.
My latest Clyde Built Radio show is now up, where I rediscover my love for Kim Gordon and quite clearly forget to iron my trousers.
Fragments w/ Blue (23/8/25)
Stream Fragments w/ Blue (23/8/25) by Clyde Built Radio on desktop and mobile. Play over 320 million tracks for free on SoundCloud.
m.soundcloud.com
September 8, 2025 at 9:33 AM
My latest Clyde Built Radio show is now up, where I rediscover my love for Kim Gordon and quite clearly forget to iron my trousers.
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
My poetry collection, Bodily Fluids, is now available to preorder from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social 💦💘
www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
Len Lukowski - Bodily Fluids | Broken Sleep Books
Len Lukowski’s Bodily Fluids is a charged, unflinching examination of desire, transgression, and the shifting boundaries of selfhood. Moving through sex, memory, digital detritus, and fleeting intimac...
www.brokensleepbooks.com
September 3, 2025 at 9:32 AM
My poetry collection, Bodily Fluids, is now available to preorder from @brokensleepbooks.bsky.social 💦💘
www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
www.brokensleepbooks.com/product-page...
Please excuse my absence, I have been staring at the floor.
September 3, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Please excuse my absence, I have been staring at the floor.
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Whan du telt me hoo du thowt o ‘luck’
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat…
—Roseanne Watt, “Lukkie”
#poem #poetry #Shetland
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/lukkie/
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat…
—Roseanne Watt, “Lukkie”
#poem #poetry #Shetland
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/lukkie/
August 29, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Whan du telt me hoo du thowt o ‘luck’
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat…
—Roseanne Watt, “Lukkie”
#poem #poetry #Shetland
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/lukkie/
as nae mair as chance, de happy hubbelskju
o aentropie, I thowt onnly o de ben-end
o my grandmidder’s hoose an aa her talismans
o tat…
—Roseanne Watt, “Lukkie”
#poem #poetry #Shetland
www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/lukkie/
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
THREAD: 🚨 Leaked Israeli government documents just dropped. Here’s what they reveal:
Israeli media outlet Channel 13 published internal war cabinet transcripts from March 2025.
They confirm that the Israeli government knowingly pursued a strategy of starvation in Gaza.
Israeli media outlet Channel 13 published internal war cabinet transcripts from March 2025.
They confirm that the Israeli government knowingly pursued a strategy of starvation in Gaza.
August 6, 2025 at 10:02 PM
THREAD: 🚨 Leaked Israeli government documents just dropped. Here’s what they reveal:
Israeli media outlet Channel 13 published internal war cabinet transcripts from March 2025.
They confirm that the Israeli government knowingly pursued a strategy of starvation in Gaza.
Israeli media outlet Channel 13 published internal war cabinet transcripts from March 2025.
They confirm that the Israeli government knowingly pursued a strategy of starvation in Gaza.
Front page! It was a real pleasure to work on this story with @craig-nisbet.bsky.social @stkildawhs.bsky.social @ellingbry.bsky.social on the first drone census of the gannet population at St Kilda, which has determined that it is once again the world’s largest colony #NTSSeabirds
shorturl.at/PQxSg
shorturl.at/PQxSg
August 1, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Front page! It was a real pleasure to work on this story with @craig-nisbet.bsky.social @stkildawhs.bsky.social @ellingbry.bsky.social on the first drone census of the gannet population at St Kilda, which has determined that it is once again the world’s largest colony #NTSSeabirds
shorturl.at/PQxSg
shorturl.at/PQxSg
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Results from the 2023 #StKilda Gannet census are to be published in the December issue of #ScottishBirds, revealing relative stability in what is once again the world's largest colony, despite fears that #HPAI may have had a greater impact on the population
#NTSSeabirds
@scottishbirding.bsky.social
#NTSSeabirds
@scottishbirding.bsky.social
A bird’s-eye view of the gannet colony at St Kilda
The first drone census at St Kilda has revealed the islands are now home to the world’s largest gannet colony.
www.nts.org.uk
July 31, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Results from the 2023 #StKilda Gannet census are to be published in the December issue of #ScottishBirds, revealing relative stability in what is once again the world's largest colony, despite fears that #HPAI may have had a greater impact on the population
#NTSSeabirds
@scottishbirding.bsky.social
#NTSSeabirds
@scottishbirding.bsky.social
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
A dark day for Scotland’s seabirds.
We're incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, which could catapult some of our most vulnerable species toward extinction 🚨
We will carefully scrutinise the details and consider our next steps.
We're incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, which could catapult some of our most vulnerable species toward extinction 🚨
We will carefully scrutinise the details and consider our next steps.
July 31, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A dark day for Scotland’s seabirds.
We're incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, which could catapult some of our most vulnerable species toward extinction 🚨
We will carefully scrutinise the details and consider our next steps.
We're incredibly concerned that Scottish Government have granted consent for the Berwick Bank offshore windfarm, which could catapult some of our most vulnerable species toward extinction 🚨
We will carefully scrutinise the details and consider our next steps.
We love to see it!
Heritage coalition saves Scottish modernist ‘jewel’ in fiercely fought auction
Derelict studio built for textile designer Bernat Klein in 1972 goes for £279,000 after starting price of £18,000
www.theguardian.com
July 30, 2025 at 3:23 PM
We love to see it!
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
NEW: The Scottish community-owned island of Eigg has announced a boycott of Israel
The island of 120 people has backed BDS and its sole shop will stop stocking goods from Israeli firms
www.thenational.scot/news/2533509...
The island of 120 people has backed BDS and its sole shop will stop stocking goods from Israeli firms
www.thenational.scot/news/2533509...
Scottish community-owned island announces full boycott of Israel
The Isle of Eigg has announced a full boycott of Israel amid its genocide in Gaza ...
www.thenational.scot
July 23, 2025 at 12:12 PM
NEW: The Scottish community-owned island of Eigg has announced a boycott of Israel
The island of 120 people has backed BDS and its sole shop will stop stocking goods from Israeli firms
www.thenational.scot/news/2533509...
The island of 120 people has backed BDS and its sole shop will stop stocking goods from Israeli firms
www.thenational.scot/news/2533509...
Reposted by Blue Kirkhope
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
July 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel is starving Palestinians in Gaza.
LOVED Daisy LaFarge’s Lovebug. Ironically I have been too lovesick and heartbroken to ~consume~ anything related to love of late, but this both joyfully and horrifically demonstrates the destined symbiotic nature of all living things, the network, as opposed to the hierarchy, of it all.
July 20, 2025 at 10:16 AM
LOVED Daisy LaFarge’s Lovebug. Ironically I have been too lovesick and heartbroken to ~consume~ anything related to love of late, but this both joyfully and horrifically demonstrates the destined symbiotic nature of all living things, the network, as opposed to the hierarchy, of it all.