While visiting Orkney this summer with my partner Richard @richard013.bsky.social I was so excited to be on the Hoy ferry with the @orkneylibrary.bsky.social van which I think is called "Booky McBookface"! I love to follow Orkney Library on social media so to see this superstar was a real treat!

Beautiful though very hot day at Radley Lake near Abingdon, Oxfordshire 2/2 with @richard013.bsky.social #UKBirding

Scenes from a visit to Batsford Arboretum with @jd2711.bsky.social on a glorious spring day. The blossoming cherry trees combined with emerging foliage to beautiful effect

Wayland's Smithy is an early neolithic chambered long barrow, which has sat on the Ridgeway for more than 5000 years. It still retains a unique atmosphere and magic up to the present day. The name comes from a more recent legend that it was associated with Wayland, the Saxon god of metalworking.

Images from an evening viewing the planetary parade. Venus, Jupiter and Mars were bright and easily seen. Mercury was able to peek out of the twilight glow and Uranus could be picked up in binoculars or by camera. Neptune and Saturn were lost in the twilight however. #astronomy #astrophotography

Buzzard, College Lake Nature Reserve Saturday 22 Feb. With @richard013.bsky.social #UKBirding @bbowt.bsky.social

Some small signs of spring from last weekend. With @richard013.bsky.social 2/2

A view of the waxing crescent Moon seen from Oxfordshire. An ideal subject for testing a new camera lens #astronomy #astrophotography

A view of the crescent Moon (with some nice earthshine) and the planet Venus seen on Friday evening.

@bot.astronomy.blue signup

There's something special about cold, clear winter nights where the sky sparkles. Here Jupiter shines by the Hyades and Pleiades star clusters. #astronomy

Some atmospheric views from a walk around ##Oxford today.

Good morning, #Denmark! A beautiful sunrise seen from a train crossing the Great Belt Link between the islands of Zealand and Funen.

Grey wagtail (much brighter than their name suggests!) Combe Mill, Oxfordshire, yesterday. With @richard013.bsky.social

Amazing what local history you can stumble upon. Here in Islip near #Oxford, this plaque marks the home of William Buckland. He was the first to scientically describe a fossil dinosaur.

The recent heavy rain has filled up the flood plains across Oxfordshire. Here, the clouds and trees are subtly reflected in the waters. Seen with @jd2711.bsky.social

Stargazing really is time travelling. I’ll never really know what Restoration London looked like, but I can see the light of a nebula as it shone 1500 years ago… I’m a geek, so I’ve marked the light years for notable stars and Jupiter on my photograph below (according to NASA).

Until very recently I had no idea what 'anticyclonic gloom' was, but it has dominated the British weather for the last two weeks. Here at Farmoor, we see leaden, grey skies, and hardly a ripple on the water, which created a quite eerie, otherwordly effect when @jd2711.bsky.social and I visited.

Still quite a few mushrooms about in Bernwood Forest. A Blusher has provided a meal for the local insect life, while there were Redleg Toughshanks in the moss and a very tidy looking Wood Mushroom #fungifriends #fungusfriday

Some wildlife from the weekend, with @richard013.bsky.social

After many cloudy nights I was finally able to spot comet A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS. It has faded over the last week but a clear tail and nucleus are still visible and just about managing to compete against the local streetlights!

Its #fungifriday from Bernwood Forest. Puffball, Yellow Stagshorn, Wood Mushroom and Sulphur Tuft.

A beautiful display of wild flowers at Rushbeds Meadow, seen on a lovely visit with @jd2711.bsky.social

Oxfordshire was treated to stunning display of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) last night thanks to a coronal mass ejection from the sun. The biggest CME since 2003 and the strongest aurora over the UK since 1932!

Views from a walk along the trackbed of the former Hayling Island Railway. It closed in 1963 so the signal won't have been set to the 'go' position for a while. A interesting place to visit with @jd2711.bsky.social

Scenes from a beautiful day on a visit to Hayling Island with @jd2711.bsky.social Some spectacular views across Langstone Harbour towards Portsmouth and lots of wildlife to see in the old oyster beds.

Lovely day with @richard013.bsky.social yesterday at West Hayling Nature Reserve, Hayling Island. Great to see all the Mediterranean Gulls and some Brent Geese as well as plenty Turnstones, Oystercatchers, black headed gulls, redshank and more!

Sunset illuminates the clouds over southern Scotland from a viewpoint provided by Loganair. The 'UFO' in the zoomed in photo is actually the island of Ailsa Craig set against the reflection of the golden sunlight in the surrounding sea.

Views of the V&A and Caird Hall in #Dundee. One of Scotland's less visited cities but worth a look!

It is pretty astonishing that we can now see individual planets in other solar systems around distant stars! What else is out there I wonder....

It was a beautiful day at Farmoor near Oxford. Really felt like spring on an enjoyable walk with @jd2711.bsky.social.

Crescent moon over Lake Tahoe. 🌙📸🔭🌕

Reservoir Cormorants, Farmoor Reservoir, Oxfordshire.

Some very welcome garden brightness

The JWST Discovery Tracker has been updated with Webb's latest discovery, that somehow got a bit missed: Webb finds dwarf galaxies reionised the Universe. jwstfeed.com/Tracker 🔭 🧪

This was peak #winter in the lane behind my house. Atmospheric and starkly beautiful. Thank goodness spring is here 😂🥶

Reprocessing an image of M45 with the new version of PixInsight and Gradient Correction. It does a good job, though it might have been better if I'd taken flats as well! 🔭 #astrophotography

Delighted to discover near to where I live, on the Northants-Cambs border, this fabulous & pleasing line of elm trees. Rather pretty, “finely” winter silhouettes. These trees have attained a good age & height, some perhaps 50-60 years old & up to c.20m tall.

Something good came of all that rain this evening - rainy ☔️ #daffodils 🌼💛

This towering stone above Todmorden in Yorkshire hides a mystery. It doesn’t seem to be ancient - not in its current position in any case. It appeared between 1912 and 1921 and no one really knows where it came from. #StandingStoneSunday More 1/ 🏺

This winter has seen extensive flooding around Oxfordshire but it has also created some spectacular scenes, as seen here at Somerton on the River Cherwell

The amazing Avebury Stone Circle in Wiltshire, where history is written throughout the landscape

Beautiful autumnal scenes in the woods at Snelsmore Common - they took on an almost magical quality

Just joined Bluesky so here are a few posts to show the type of content I plan to share. First up here is a picture of the stunning Northern Lights seen on trip to Iceland - a wondrous experience!