23-Sep: On this day in 1832, young Charles Darwin made an important discovery at Punta Alta, near Bahia Blanca in Argentina: the fossil remains of what he took to be a species of rhinoceros. It was actually an extinct species of giant ground sloth, or Megatherium… #histsci

Spent 40 minutes providing FaceTime tech support to my 90-year-old dad this afternoon. Whenever he tried to print a photo on his printer, it came out in black and white. It turned out he has a black and white printer.

Great night out!

17-Sep: On this day is 1842, Charles Darwin moved to his forever home, Down House, in Kent. Here’s the story… friendsofdarwin.com/darwin-comes... #HistSci

Very much looking forward to seeing Fran Lebowitz in Manchester this evening.

16-Sep: On this day in 1835, Charles Darwin first set foot on the Galápagos Islands… friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar...

Unscheduled Movie Night.

Last night, I dreamt I received some A1 writing advice from a famous author whose work I very much admire… #AmWriting

This new see-through menu bar on my Mac is doing my head in. How does this improve the quality of anything? Am I seriously going to have to resort to black wallpaper? (I’ve tweaked all the settings, including turning off the transparency, but they all look dreadful.)

15-Sep: On this day in 1832, Charles Darwin’s legendary powers of observation temporarily let him down while travelling with gauchos in Patagonia, when he failed to realise the people wearing chaps weren’t all chaps… #HistSci

Finally managed to visit the Ice Age Art exhibition at Cliffe Castle, Keighley (closes Sunday). Shown here, two reindeer swimming, carved on mammoth ivory 16,000 years ago by some unknown genius living in a rock-shelter in modernday France. These people shared their environment with living mammoths!

08-Sep: On this day in 1832, Charles Darwin observed gauchos using bolas. He later tried them out for himself, managing to ensnare his own horse in the process. #HistSci

@hotdogsladies.bsky.social For info (in case you didn’t know) according to my RSS reader, Ungainly has been down for a couple of days.

The start of our last day in Anglesey this year ☹️. As always, it’s been fab. This was the pre-breakfast brew-view from my favourite rock earlier.

Ooh! New Gilbert White biography by the excellent Jenny Uglow out soon. One to pre-order, I reckon. uk.bookshop.org/a/930/978057...

In our local bookshop earlier this week, I recognised a fellow customer’s voice from his podcast. He was: @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/t...

The covers of all the books I’ve read so far in 2025. For my reviews, see: richardcarter.com/books-2025/

@throwingmuses.bsky.social at @thetradesclub.bsky.social #HebdenBridge this evening.

24-Aug: On this day in 1831, Charles Darwin’s great friend and mentor John Stevens Henslow wrote what turned out to be one of the most important letters in the history of science… #HistSci friendsofdarwin.com/articles/hen...

A gift from the local goldfinches as a thank-you for all the sunflower hearts. Such stunning gilt-edged detail in a tiny feather. Darwinian sexual selection in action. There is grandeur in his view of life.

New book review: 'Bibliomaniac' by Robin Ince…

New book review: ‘The End of Enlightenment’ by Richard Whatmore…

Matthijs Van Mierlo of the YouTube channel ‘The Gaze’ has just released a video exploring the most important image in history. From an impressive shortlist, with which I mostly concur, he actually manages to arrive at the correct answer! (But I might be a little biased.)

They’re making hay while the sun shines in the field behind our house. They’re reached the ‘rowing-up’ phase. Bailing next.

Slightly diminish a band: Echo and the Puny Men

To mark the misnamed ‘Glorious Twelfth’—the start of the grouse-shooting season in the UK—some photos of red grouse (Lagopus lagopus) taken on my local Moor. You can read more about these birds in my book ‘On the Moor’. richardcarter.com/on-the-moor/

Three seconds after I photographed Hebden’s eponymous Bridge just now, a dipper flew through the middle arch. Any day with a dipper in it is a good day!

It gladdens the heart to see just how popular is Halifax Library… There’s hope for our species, yet!

Echo & the Bunnymen during a full Sturgeon/Killing Moon, this evening.

I know two people whose professional lives, over a decade ago, led to their each having to work briefly with Prince Andrew. They both independently used the same adjective to describe him: obnoxious. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Killer Fact that I’ve just made up: this gargoyle of a fearsome/fear-filled hound outside the doors of Carlisle Cathedral was the inspiration for William Hanna’s and Joseph Barbera’s Scooby-Doo.

07-Aug: On this day in 1838, Charles Darwin described his first ever railway journey. He was not overly impressed. #HistSci friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar...

Lacerated the flesh protecting the distal phalanx of my dominant index phalanges as I was washing an empty baked beanz can for the recycling. This is the thanks you get for trying to save the planet!

05-Aug: On this day in 1832, in what he described as ‘an eventful day’, Charles Darwin and his HMS Beagle shipmates helped put down an armed insurrection in Argentina. More here… #HistSci friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar...

Good morning The Book of Bogs - edited by Clare Shaw and Anna Chilvers Publishing September. Nature writing at its finest. With some brilliant words from the legendary Patti Smith too!! @thebookseller.com @theguardian.com @horatioclare.bsky.social

19 YEARS ago, some chap posted a photo on Flickr. I posted a response with a photo of my own… 24 DAYS ago, he posted a reply, saying ‘brilliant.’ He’s clearly been giving this a lot of thought. (This is how the Internet used to be and should be, BTW.) www.flickr.com/photos/dradn...

The covers of all the books I’ve read so far in 2025. For my reviews, see: richardcarter.com/books-2025/

New book review: ‘Map of a Nation’ by Rachel Hewitt. An account of the military survey of Scotland (1747–1755) and the subsequent first trigonometrical mapping of Great Britain and Ireland by what would become the Ordnance Survey. richardcarter.com/reviews/book...

New book review: 'Proto' by Laura Spinney. How Indo-European languages relate to each other through common descent, and how linguists, archaeologists and geneticists pieced together their relationships. A fascinating read! richardcarter.com/reviews/book...

Does nobody else see the irony of a person with the job-title of ‘Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster’ being put in charge of employment reform for the working class? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

01-Aug: Happy Yorkshire Day, ‘appen!

TFW you google a phrase you’ve read that you liked and there’s a single hit which takes you to your own website.

New book review: ‘Required Writing’ by Philip Larkin…

20-Jul: On this day in 1804, Charles Darwin’s future friend (and, later, future enemy) the brilliant anatomist and palaeontologist Richard Owen was born in Lancaster, England. Owen founded London’s Natural History Museum and coined the term dinosaur. #HistSci friendsofdarwin.com/articles/owen/

20-Jul: On this day in 1858, Charles Darwin began writing an ‘abstract’ of his planned (but never completed) ‘big book’ on species. That abstract was to grow in size, eventually becoming ‘On the Origin of Species’… #HistSci

Shame this didn't happen for the Brexit vote… a hideous mistake could have been avoided. www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9...

"People might think of their music as quite difficult or atonal, but I just think it’s really, really beautiful. Very melodic, full of tunes and incredible rhythms." Jack Barnett of #TheseNewPuritans on Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Doc At The Radar Station buff.ly/PErdO9v

Important Darwin-related artefact in danger of leaving the UK… #HistSci