The future of Western forests depends on professional pinecone collectors. They’re slowly being starved out of existence.

👀 Excellent, funded PhD ... someone's going to be busy! "...combining archaeological excavation of targeted heritage features, palaeoecological studies to establish long-term ecological heritage & investigating intangible heritage of folk customs & traditions [+] Advanced digital visualisation..."

India getting it right.

Our new research shows that HPAI increased Northern Gannet mortality by a factor of ~6 and ~4 at two of the world’s largest colonies. We predict this impact will take almost two decades to recover from. #biologicalconservation #seabirds #hpai Full paper: doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2026.111887

An absolutely gorgeous Egyptian bird grasshopper in the marsh at the Vendicari reserve, Sicily. Imagine it with zitting cisticolas and the explosive songs of Cetti's warblers as soundtrack. And check-out the crazy (diagnostic) striped eyes on this chonky (5-6cm) chap.

🗣️ FOLKS! Here at #AwesomeBirds Inc., we don’t like to kid ourselves. Warblers put asses in seats and that’s just a fact. Here the team was swamped by warbs, but we focused in on a tinkly little guy ✨ who just flew in from Colombia! See if you can pick him out…

The gutting of USAID.

Eriskay, 2019 #otd

This elegant bald-faced hornet is starting a nest that could support up to 700 wasps on my garage.

Great news about a newly discovered Neolithic long barrow on the West Sussex coastal plain! 🤩👇

Native azaleas are looking spectacular in the woods today.

Huge news!!

Two weeks ago at Piazza Armerina, Sicily - an olive grove full of these beautiful man orchids.

My piece today in our local newspaper. Wondering how serious the various political parties are about addressing large #climatechange #risks like an #AMOC collapse on the day of thge #LocalElections.

‘Thanks, or just a voucher is fine’

Good morning America new #TheWaterboys protest song DON'T EVEN HAVE TO SAY HIS NAME (explicit version) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tvW...

Signed-up for this! Looks great.

Researchers Tracked the Journey of a 2,200-Year-Old #Roman Shipwreck By Analyzing Pollen #archaeology #science www.zmescience.com/science/arch...

Sad to see Ted Turner has passed on. Founder of CNN, which in the late 80s was all you saw on TVs in remote Global South locations. We brought him to Arctic Svalbard to see climate impacts in 2008 with Jimmy Carter, Madeline Albright & Chevy Chase! He was a media pioneer & conservation leader. RIP.

“Not for rinsing or washing,” they said. (Seen at Union Station.)

Swifts are back!

The floor of one of the owner's private apartments at Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily. The wreath in the centre of the large floor is interpreted to picture Psyche and Cupid, symbolizing love and immortality. The apse at the rear is where a bed would have been. #WorldHeritage

Water water everywhere...Hot on the heels of the new Ecozona special issue "Sea More Blue," our book The Sea in Nordic Literature is coming soon! #EnvHums #BlueHumanities #Ecocriticism 🌊📚 www.routledge.com/The-Sea-in-N...

🧪 FIRST STUDY to compare direct air capture of CO2 vs renewables: “An amount of money spent deploying wind or solar delivers more combined climate and public health benefit than if it is spent on DAC.” Releasing CO2 into air and then trying to suck it up is dumb. techxplore.com/news/2026-05...

Don McCullin’s war of conscience www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/art/...

🧵 With one week left to vote in the #EuropeanHeritageAwards🇪🇺 Public Choice Awards, here are three of the finalists with a special relevance to climate change & cultural heritage. Winners receive €10.000! Vote by 12 May (Note: anyone, anywhere can vote) #ClimateHeritage

www.getty.edu/publications... Did you know...The Getty Museum has a Virtual LIbrary with over 300 books and publications available FREE for reading and downloading (as pdf, epub)? Here is one of the latest on ancient glass published in 2025 1/2

We are delighted to announce that every research article accepted for publication in Antiquity after 1 June 2026 will be published completely #OpenAccess at no cost to the author or reader! More information here: www.cambridge.org/core/service... @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org 🏺 #Archaeology

Last week's UHI Joint Public & Islands Matter Online Seminar is now uploaded to our YouTube channel. 'Resistance to Improvement in the Highlands and Islands, 1750-1820' youtu.be/0wWRwUcXIVs

It really annoys me when I get one of the clues in the New York Times' Flashback quiz wrong - especially when it's pre-history. Today i guessed the discovery of insulin was 30 years later than it actually was. 😫

The beautiful terracotta "Head of Hades" from Morgantina, Sicily, affectionately known as "bluebeard" because of the beard pigment. Excavated illegally in the 1970s & eventually sold to the @gettymuseum.bsky.social. Voluntarily repatriated in 2016 & now in the Archaeological Museum of Aidona. 🏺

This is an absolutely stunning piece of research and visualisation! Tracking letters from one merchant’s company in the 14th-15th century. He was trading spices from the eastern med and importing English wool into Tuscany. Click on the link for an interactive map!

"A seventh-generation weaver, Frey's artworks preserve and reimagine the craft of Maine’s Passamaquoddy tribe." www.architecturaldigest.com/story/jeremy...

Former UK prime minister John Major on climate change: "Some people deny [it]. I don't know what planet they are living on…It's a cop out" via @bbcnewsnight.bsky.social

very important

I drove past 8 gas stations in Fairfield County, Connecticut today. The cheapest regular gas was $4.35 and the most expensive a stunning $5.19 (Shell). This is ridiculous.

We are excited to announce the Call for Papers for our new collaborative series with Written in the Waves, Soil and Sea: Environmental Histories of the Atlantic World Proposal deadline: June 30, 2026 Series publication beginning September 2026 niche-canada.org/2026/04/30/c... #envhist

I wil be your eyes. Said the Kraa. But do you want to see. What has become of the birds. Great Auk Memorial - Papay - Today. #Greatauk #Orkney #Papay #extinctionevent

An ex-peregrine falcon at the Yale Peabody Museum. Pining for the fjords.

Paywalled unfortunately.

At a time when good news is harder to find, UCS’s John Rogers brings us four examples of impressive progress in renewable energy, how they came about, and what to watch for next. 🌱⚡Read his blog:

Exclusive: President Trump’s expansion of the wall along the southern border with Mexico has damaged a rare Native American archaeological site in the Arizona desert, as the administration moves to rapidly build the $46.5 billion project.

VALLES CALDERA, NEW MEXICO: In Valles Caldera National Preserve, historic carvings on aspens—names, dates, drawings—are disappearing as wildfire and climate stress reshape the landscape. A new NPCA feature follows the small team documenting tree carvings before they’re lost.

Spring greenhouse in heavy use.

23 month Lectureship in Archaeology with UHI in Orkney. Lots of exciting things happening in Kirkwall at the moment with the AEONS facilities, MA in Contemporary Art and Archaeology, and loads of fun research projects. Come and join us! myjobscotland.gov.uk/councils/ork...

Column: A secretive push for a new #Florida slaughterhouse endangers Lake Okeechobee. My latest for @floridaphoenix.com also features shout-outs to John Wayne, "A Land Remembered" & Zora Neale Hurston. floridaphoenix.com/2026/04/30/s...

The next UHI Institute for Northern Studies Islands Matter Seminar titled 'Turning the Tide - Climate Change, Social Change, and Islandness' is now confirmed. ➕ 20th May 2026 1.00pm UK Time ➕ Free ➕ Online. Register through tinyurl.com/z4juxcw9 @adammarkham.bsky.social