The view from the top of Black Hill looking south across Salop Town, and a serene Alkmund Park Pool on a beautiful morning in the 'Shire #Shrewsbury #Shropshire 🌤️🚣

A cloudy Monday evening on the Cliffe, where the central heathland is now awash with the purple haze of common heather (and the calls of the chattering local Linnet population) 🎶 #Shropshire 💜💚

Bewdley to Bridgnorth by train in 1981 with Derek Jones (and his very groovy sky blue sports jacket 🕺) @frmo.bsky.social @shroppiemon.bsky.social #Shropshire 🏞️🚂

Thinking a lot about this song today 🥵 #TheTriffids #TooHotToMoveTooHotToThink

An interesting site. As the infographic says, loads of Greylag, Tufties and Mallard but I've also recorded Shoveller, Oystercatcher and a range of farmland birds, raptors and corvids here: #CottagePool #Shropshire 💦

New data on insect pollinators show a dramatic decline in hoverflies across Great Britain between 2017–2024. 📉 Around one third reduction in abundance & number of hoverfly species recorded as part of @pomscheme.bsky.social www.ceh.ac.uk/press/new-da... 1/ @jncc.bsky.social 🧪

Phew, WOT A SCORCHER! A blisteringly hot, typically tropical morning in WLN, but outside the trains DID run on time. #Wellington #Shropshire ☀️🌡️🥵

More evening sky shots from my Midsummer cycle ride around the Shire last night: #Shropshire #Midsummer 🌄🚴

Managed to drag myself away from the World Cup to watch the sun setting over the Cliffe and Cadair Berwyn this evening - and it was definitely worth it 😍 #Shropshire #Midsummer 🌄🚴

From staring in wonder at my Dad's copy of Beatles For Sale, to going into town with my Grandad to buy my first LP (McCartney 2), and all the way to his wondrous new record, it feels like this inspirational person has soundtracked my whole life - and always made it better. Happy Birthday, Paul! 🎂♥️

A couple of very heavy dudes: a Wyvern and Chimera at Moreton Corbet Castle from a few weeks ago: #Shropshire 🐲

The Daily Record: I've only listened to it four times today 💉 There are simply not enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe this masterful album. Stunning, sublime songcraft of the very highest order 🔥🔥🔥 #PaulMcCartney #TheBoysOfDungeonLane 🍄

The Daily Record: spinning a CLASSIC 🔥🔥🔥 #XTC #BlackSea 🎖️

Really good to be back in Os today for the first time in a while. Like most towns these days, it's a little careworn in places but Church Street still bustles as of old and I enjoyed revisiting the technical institute - where my Grandad studied in the 1920s! #Oswestry #Shropshire 🌇

Well, it's taken me over half a century but today I finally got to catch a train at Oswestry Station and it was an absolute thrill 🤯 #Shropshire #Railways 🚉

I'm a sucker for a sunset shot! 🙃 Dusk at Plex, with Pigeons Rough and the BT tower silhouetted against the evening sky. #Albrighton #Shropshire 🌄🚴

Sunset over Yorton Heath this evening (with Quail calling in the poppy field) #ShropshireBirding 🌄🚴🪶

Hey @jannerbirder.bsky.social - I think you'll enjoy this: a bit of olde Devonshire and Cornwallis (might want to gloss over the activities of the Shark Angling Club of Great Britain though! 🦈😬):

"The ducks swam through the drawing room windows... round the room they sailed, quacking their approval." Paying my respects to the genius Barbara Comyns at St Andrew's Stanton-Upon-Hine-Heath. #LiteraryShropshire 📚🦆

The north county church tour continued today at the twelfth century St Andrew's Stanton-Upon-Hine-Heath. Sadly, the door was 🔐 (a key is available from a local farm), but there is an interesting churchyard and an intriguing 17th century sundial just beyond the lych gate. #Shropshire #Churches 💒

Paul McCartney's new album is absolutely, effing BRILLIANT! 💯 End of post. 🔥🔥🔥 #PaulMcCartney #TheBoysOfDungeonLane

The Daily Record: the perfect rainy evening soundtrack 🌧️ #Neu75

Today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month post draws counter-intuitive inspiration from the unseasonal UK heatwave we are currently enjoying/enduring 🥵▶️🥶 To start us off, here are the mighty Skeptics with Pack Ice #Skeptics #PackIce 🛷🧊 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Sweet Gene Vincent! The weather is going HAM in SY1 - hail stones like golf balls! ☄️ #Shropshire #Weather

Yet more NEW MUSIC for today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month post, this time from Fazed On A Pony (I will get back to wallowing in nostalgia soon!). Thanks @1imaginaryboy.bsky.social for the recommendation 👍🙂 #FazedOnAPony #WrongParty 🚲 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

🎶 I know 🎶

More BRAND NEW single action for today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month post from the sublime Jazmine Mary. If you enjoy this, I would highly recommend their mesmeric 2025 LP 'I Want To Rock And Roll.' ✅ #JazmineMary #DrunkAtTheGym 🤸‍♀️ #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

"You could never be sure you weren't going to see a disaster just looking for an audience to happen to, but on a good night (or either of their FN EPs) they were incomparable" (Bruce Russell). One of the all-time great Flying Nun records #ScorchedEarthPolicy #DustToDust 🚉 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

In my humble opinion, this is one of the great singles of the 1980s 🔥🔥🔥

What's this? A BRAND NEW single for today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month selection 😯 It's a good one, too: Reins by Office Dog #OfficeDog #Reins 📠 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Moreton Corbet Castle in the spring sunshine this afternoon: #MoretonCorbet #Shropshire 🏰

The north county church tour returned for 2026 with a trip to the twelfth century St Bartholomew's Moreton Corbet. The National Churches Trust describes the building as "deliciously decorated", and it is hard to disagree. It's stunning! 😍 #Shropshire #Churches 💒

I've been sleeping on Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month for the past few days, so here's a selection from the Don (McGlashan) - man's a musical genius! 🤯 #TheFrontLawn #ClaudeRains 🛫 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

I had one of my best ever afternoons on the #Cliffe yesterday. Every tree and bush on the heath and in the woodlands seemed to be alive with birdsong and, among the 29 species recorded, I saw my first Swifts of spring and a first ever Crossbill on the site. It was sublime 💚 #ShropshireBirding 🌦️🪶

One of the best stories you will see anywhere in European football this season 👇 Elversberg are in the Bundesliga! 🎉 #DieElv 🖤🤍

An extremely short horror story I wrote, set in the future.

And here's today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month post: it's the mighty Phoenix Foundation! #PhoenixFoundation #Buffalo 🦬 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Too busy digesting last night's SPL shenanigans to post a selection yesterday for Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month, so here's a song by the Bats, which seems strangely appropriate today! #TheBats #DancingAsTheBoatGoesDown 🚢 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

A new blog - this one discussing why the 255-metre Snedshill Tunnel of the C18th & C19th Shropshire Canal wasn't located where one of the newishly built housing estates in Telford might suggest rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/12/w...

Today's selection for Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month is my nomination for best Kiwi pop song in Hungarian (and you can file this album under 'essential', NZ music fans!) #BressaCreetingCake #Zenax 🇭🇺 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

It wouldn't be Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month without a selection from the mighty HDU... #HighDependencyUnit #Tunguska ☄️ #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Bright and breezy on the Heath this afternoon. A slightly underwhelming 22 species recorded but a very loud Cuckoo and my first Willow Warbler of the year more than made up for it! 🙂 #ShawburyHeath #ShropshireBirding 🌬️🌥️🪶

I'm bang up-to-date for a change (well, 2025!) with today's Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month selection 💥 Here's a song from Ringlets most recent LP: the memorably titled "The Lord Is My German Shepherd (Time For Walkies)!" #Ringlets #HeavenlyWheel ⚙️ #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Cuckoo Flower at Sweeney Fen, near Oswestry #WildflowerHour #Shropshire 🌸

Cowslips flowering in the sunshine at the remarkable Sweeney Fen, near Oswestry, last Wednesday lunchtime - I don't think I've ever seen so many in one place! #WildflowerHour #Shropshire 💛

A new blog about a section of the 18th Century tub-boat Shropshire Canal that can still be found - nearly 200-years after it closed - in front of the Cockshutt, Oakengates in Telford next to the Silkin Way. rowleyanth.wordpress.com/2026/05/10/t...

The Daily Record: listening to Solomans Ball takes about as long as writing this post but, in those eight minutes, Bill Direen weaves four unique sound worlds with atmosphere so thick you could chew it! Mindbending brilliance of the highest order 🔥 #Bilders #SolomansBall 🤴 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Whoops! Forgot to post Friday's selection for Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa New Zealand Music Month, so here it is a day later: Punk rock spirit from 1982 ✊ #NoTag #LegalisedDogs 🚨 #NZMusicMonth #Aotearoa 🥝

Friday afternoon around the hill: #Grinshill #Shropshire