Springwatch is Frank’s favourite programme 🖤🐈‍⬛🐦‍⬛

*Special Curator Tour: How to Read a Church* Why do churches look the way they do? Why are they east-west? What’s a piscina? Why is there a ladder in the big window? On Wed 3 June at 2pm the curator will lead a tour looking at the symbolism of features found in a church. £15.60, no need to book.

It’s the Feast of St Bede, revered for his writing & scholarship. The word bede/bead means ‘prayer’ or ‘request’ or ‘supplication’. It shares a linguistic root with ‘bid’ & the German ‘bitte’. Rosaries, with their ceramic or glass spheres, aid devotion, with each sphere being a prayer, or bead.

Today is the start of @cwgc.bsky.social War Graves Week. I researched & delivered a tour of the war graves in @stmagnuscathedral.bsky.social & those commemorated but buried elsewhere. Thanks to all who came - it’s important to tell these stories. Thanks to @nessbattery.bsky.social for the photos.

For War Graves Week (16-24 May) we are offering a FREE tour of the cathedral graveyard to tell the stories of the @cwgc.bsky.social graves, the local war memorial, and those mentioned on family gravestones but buried elsewhere. Saturday 16 May 12.30pm Starts Kirkwall war memorial No need to book.

Well, this is beautiful.

#Thefolkloreofscottishsaints Currently wrestling with Mungo, founder and patron saint of Glasgow! 🐦‍⬛🌳🔔🐟

I think it's really underappreciated that a large chunk of people across the world are everyday being served images of the world's worst atrocities, essentially live as they happen, in ways previously only experienced by people on the frontline, who have historically had years of trauma as a result.

A few weeks ago it was dark at 4pm…now look at it! 9.15pm 🌅 #orkney

🌟😇 The Folklore of Scottish Saints 😇🌟 I’m writing this little book for The History Press, and I’m delighted to reveal the gorgeous cover art, by artist and illustrator Paul Dews. Put St Columba and a squirrel on the front - everyone will buy it, right?

Lovely to read and hear these words, Peter! Thank you for mentioning GMB and St Magnus too.

Many years ago I used to write a blog...and here it is again! I went down a bit of a rabbit hole about the Crown of Thorns, encompassing one of my favourite novels, and a much-missed Tweeting nun. stromnessdragon.wordpress.com/2026/04/18/t...

Great piece of work here 👏🏻

Having people for dinner, you say? I’ll just sit here. #caturday

Doing some reading on artwork featuring the four Evangelists. Found this one of Mark with his lion breaking the fourth wall 🦁 😆

I’m researching saints for a book I’m writing. Found this gem 🙏😇

In Scotland we've had wildlife on some of our money since 2016 and the country doesn't seem to have fallen

Yeah just finished the Christmas cake

Yes, hello, is that God? Yeah, hi. I have a complaint. You gave me this brain that’s designed for finding berries and avoiding lions and now people are ‘just circling back’ to see if we can ‘move the needle’ on ‘key initiatives’? NONE of those things are berries.

Superstar 🥰

Pleased to announce that my good friend Fran Flett Hollinrake will be speaking at this years Symbols of Mortality Conference. Fran will be sharing the story of HMS Royal Oak, sunk by a German U-boat in 1939, and the memorial to those who were lost. @storytellerfran.bsky.social

After weeks of rain we have some sunshine and a sprinkling of snow 💒❄️☀️

A Special Theme Curator Tour with Fran Flett Hollinrake will take place in the cathedral on Sat 7 Feb at 1000: 'The Legacy of War from the Middle Ages to Modern Times'. The tour lasts one hour, costs £15 per person and there is no need to book.

So, @nessbattery.bsky.social. You gave me Reggae Shark; I give you…whatever this is.

Awww, nice one @dannyrobins.bsky.social! A Mastermind champion! You cut it a bit fine but many congratulations 🙌😅

We made it to February! Blessings of Imbolc/Candlemas/St Brigid to everyone 🙌🌞

A very happy Burns night, wherever you are. Slàinte mhath! Please excuse the lack of neeps - red cabbage will have to do. I don’t think RB would mind.

Frank likes a bit of Winterwatch

More aurora from Orkney!

Got some very red aurora happening in Orkney right now

Great edition of one of my favourite podcasts - featuring the amazing @judithjesch.bsky.social talking about her new translation of the Orkney saga. @stmagnuscathedral.bsky.social gets a few mentions! podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...

Back-to-back Viking goodness. I loved @judithjesch.bsky.social’s new reworking of the Orkneyinga Saga - a great Introduction, excellent references, and very readable! Then @catjarman.bsky.social’s amazing River Kings - what a ride, what a journey! That little carnelian bead has my heart. 🥰

My cat is an absence of light

Here we go again! #orkney #uksnow KW16 5/10

To quote my cousin Paula (who’s a north east quine), it’s fair dingin’ it doon. #orkney #uksnow KW16 7/10

It’s very bonny in Orkney if you don’t have to go anywhere… #uksnow 2/10 KW16

More snow pictures from Orkney. Not currently snowing but more forecast…. #uksnow KW16 0/10

A lovely piece from @peteralanross.bsky.social about the cemeteries of Paris. As a teenager in the mid 1980s I made the pilgrimage to Pere Lachaise for Jim and Oscar ❤️❤️

It’s hard to know what is new snow and what is drifting, but I’m going with 4/10 KW16 #uksnow This is the view from our window looking west!

Well, @peteralanross.bsky.social you have done it again. I loved Upon a White Horse as much as I loved Tomb With a View and Steeple Chasing. The mixture of memory, archaeology, folklore, poetry and art is beautiful and very moving. Thank you! 🥰🥲

A snowy story in Orkney’s West Mainland this morning ❄️🌨️☃️

#uksnow KW16 8/10 quite blizzard-like in Orkney’s West Mainland, very strong winds and a lot of drifting. Here’s @nessbattery.bsky.social off on a mission of mercy! ❄️😳

Yay! Currently 4/10 in KW16 #uksnow

Remembering the lovely Twitter #uksnow thing when you posted your postcode and a mark out of ten for how hard it was snowing, and someone made a map so you could see snowfall all over the UK in real time. Is there a Bluesky equivalent? KW16 6/10

Woody Guthrie’s ‘New Year Rulin’s’ of 1942 take some beating. Happy 2026 to you all when it comes. 🎉

Christmas wish come true! Thank you to @bendorgrosvenor.bsky.social for writing it, and thank you to @nessbattery.bsky.social for buying it for me ❤️✨

2.15pm at the Point of Buckquoy on the shortest day. #sunset #orkney #solstice

I’m ready for the 80s Day Clubbing event at Rapture later - check out my Old Lady outfit!

Frank has made a little cave under the Christmas twigs 🤩🎄