Fiction
Summer Magic
By Joan Farnell With a whirring of wings the pigeon took to the air, startled by the crunching of my feet on the gravel path. It was quiet here underneath the trees in Foxes Forest. [… read more ]
nature
Memoir
Stream
S&C Community Reporter Andrew Larder muses on the state of nature in Portsmouth during lockdown. Sometimes I wish my neighbour Frank had never mentioned the underground stream that runs by my house. Frank and his [… read more ]
Culture
Hidden Places Around Portsmouth: Sturnus Vulgaris
Local resident and photographer John Callaway gives us a glimpse into Portsmouth’s hidden places with his stunning photography. This week, he heads down to The Hard and despite his best intentions, can’t help but find deeper meaning in [… read more ]
Culture
Hidden Places Around Portsmouth: Fox Territory
Local resident and photographer John Callaway gives us a glimpse into Portsmouth’s hidden places with his stunning photography. This week, John’s photos come from his own garden, as he turns his lens to the foxes that live there, [… read more ]
Fiction
The Cat Catches a Pheasant
By Christine Lawrence Standing on his hind legs, sure he’d heard a sound from the other end of the garden, he stretched his neck, sniffed the air and listened. His eyes were not his best [… read more ]
Poetry
The Fascination of Trees
Irene Strange. The Life in trees live on for ever Their gallant Spirit leaves them, never. In the trunk and boughs and roots Its inner Spirit endlessly shoots. Plundered and burned into the [… read more ]
Social Issues
Coronavirus Double Take: Wildlife Springs into Action
While out for a bike ride, Mariella Seek, age 11, came across a fox reclaiming the city during lockdown. This got her thinking about the abundance of animals reclaiming the city. With Earth Day happening [… read more ]
Fiction
Planting Nature – A Walk In The Woods
By Bruce Parry It’s when I went off track across a wild bit that I found a full size walnut tree…just on its own, not with others, just on its own…just there in the middle…on [… read more ]
Fiction
A Sliver of Life
By Sue Shipp We’d just sat down from our labours when Old Roy appeared on the grass path running between the allotments, eating a nectarine, the other hand hidden behind his back. He slopped along [… read more ]
Social Issues
Wilder Portsmouth
Inspired by the many fabulous environmental initiatives taking place in Portsmouth, Pens of the Earth was set up to encourage writers to celebrate existing projects, and to imagine what might be. This week Andy Ames reports on [… read more ]