Small developments ...

16 June

I have been writing the “Whilst Out Walking” Substack newsletter (WOW) for over three years , and in recent months I have been trialling the “OLD Bookshop” newsletter (OLDB) alongside it. WOW has a gratifyingly successful subscription readership and followers exceeding 1500, while the more recent OLDB has solid, but “fewer” numbers. There is evidently a good bit of overlap in interests between these two groups. Writing two posts a week is easy in winter, in the middle of a wildlife and gardening summer it becomes a little less so. as I get drawn outside for longer periods. That’s the background - after a couple of months of dithering, I am jumping in with both feet and merging the two under the original WOW headline. In brief - shorter, but slightly more frequent posts. WOWsers will find a couple of new topics that I hope will be of interest. All will remain free.

How this works:

In a few days, I will merge the mailing lists and then continue publication with a few amendments/additions to content. OLD Bookshops will join us here and bring their interests with them.

WOW will be the main edition for the expanded readership with photographs and text about wildlife encountered whilst out walking, plus news and ideas on wildlife gardening in suburbia and links to interesting conservation and nature articles from elsewhere. There will, as ever, be occasional one page ‘specials’ with photographs of some specific flower or insect or bird that I want to share - text on those will be short and primarily informative. Every couple of weeks or so I will continue the Noticing Nature editions in which I discuss specific individual species in more depth and include some basic biology for those interested.

Added to this, say every couple of weeks, there will be suggestions from The OLD Bookshop, of books on nature and gardening topics for those who might like to source copies and add them to their own libraries. Books I have personally enjoyed or found useful. Newcomers to this thread will be able to find previous titles at the OLDB website (link below) which will remain available to all.

Lastly, while composing the OLDB newsletter, I have had fun including whimsical tales from the impossible to find on a map, fenland village in which the OLD Bookshop Café resides. These do not seem to have scared away any subscribers. Indeed quite the opposite, so they will also appear here on a reasonably regular basis - follow the opening of Amy’s bread shop and the vicar’s campaign to persuade allotment holders to pay a tithe in carrots and onions to be donated to a local food bank.

My intention is to offer something for everyone with a green mind - noting that I am a biologist who thinks everyone should have a green mind.

Let’s see how things go. Feedback will be welcome.

Richard - June 2026

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For readers coming from the original WOW website, the OLD Bookshop archives with weekly book suggestions can be found at: