I've got an assemblage with a lot of large cod to record today and, as always, when I bring out my modern cod skull for comparison I find it easy to imagine it's a dragon skull, found on a beach of Earthsea or some other classic fantasy land.

I'm absolutely prepared to believe that a horse would refuse to step over the grave of a vampire. They are indeed sensitive creatures who will also dance down the middle of the road to avoid a crisp bag on the path.

Today, a really #greattree for you 🤩 The Holme Lacy pear tree 🍐 Probably the oldest pear tree in the world (and, at one time, almost certainly the biggest) Great Trees of Britain #GTOB 🏆🌳 🇬🇧 #GreatTreesof #Herefordshire

Responses to Jonathan Jones' sneering review of Máret Ánne Sara's installation in the Turbine Hall. Hope he reads them. A city-boy reading of the Sámi artist Máret Ánne Sara’s work | Exhibitions | The Guardian share.google/oq9z8em8nupZ...

Another Annual Review, and my "Learn R" goal is carried forward again. After so many false starts, maybe this will be the year I finally nail it?

From the Bovine Tuberculosis Control and Badger Culling debate 13/10 "I was surprised to learn that culled cows that are found to have one visible lesion can enter the food chain if the lesioned area is removed. Those with two or more lesions are deemed unsafe and cannot enter the food chain " cont

Bones of many ducks.

Timeline cleanse: spotted in Edinburgh City Centre this morning. #otter #nature #Edinburgh

I am striding for Gaza in aid of Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP). I will be completing 98km in 23 days & virtually following the displacement journey of one of MAP's Palestinian workers in Gaza. Please donate to my page & help me support MAP. medicalaidforpalestinians.enthuse.com/pf/paul-brow...

An easy paced 16k around Blackheath and Greenwich, I had intended to go further afield but the autumn colours were so beautiful. It was the first few km of my fundraiser for @medicalaidpal.bsky.social (see pinned post). #GreenRunners #RunningPunks

Weekend Oxfam bookshop find.

Leaked video from speech to Tech bosses at JP Morgan Tech Stars event appears to show Chancellor Rachel Reeves boasting of a "good relationship with the developer" as one of the rarest creatures in Britain "some snails on the site that are a protected species or something" could pay the price.

Ticked the #treesnottees box when I entered Worcester City 10k - they've just sent me a photo of my tree! Little (very little) birch sapling. Thanks, @treesnottees.bsky.social Good luck, little tree ❤️

Sophie adding a little feline elegance to the decor #TuxedoCats #CatsofBluesky

Positive story following the Unbound/Boundless publishing debacle. Welsh publisher rescues thousands of Jackie Morris books from being destroyed share.google/6oW7dI7mWWfv...

This sounds like a fantastic day out.

Evolution of the depiction of Elephants, from times when folks had seen them at the end of the Roman empire 'til the Renaissance.

Sigrid Leijonhufvud, Rosa Norström, Märta Leijonhufvud and Fanny von Haartman sitting on an 11th century bench, discovered in 1906, still being used in Kungsåra church, Sweden. Currently at the Historiska museet in Stockholm, no sitting allowed. historiska.se/upptack-hist...

What a fantastic find! Reminds me of the fashion for beetle wing dresses, especially Ellen Terry's Lady Macbeth dress which I think is in the care of the National Trust.

In Intriguing Furniture news: yesterday I visited Lichfield Cathedral and found a new 13 metre long table made from a 5000-year-old oak log discovered perfectly preserved in a peat bog in 2016. The cut planks took 9 months to dry out, losing 2 tonnes of weight in the process. Definitely haunted...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEv... For decades we've worked to enhance the Sheffield Zooarch Lab & to see years of dedication destroyed by corporate executives who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing is heart breaking @watchingbrief.bsky.social #savesheffieldarchaeology

I wish I'd had the foresight to buy this t-shirt for tomorrow

Daughter is getting married in Berlin this weekend, which just happens to coincide with the #BerlinMarathon. Currently trying to plan travel and times around road closures and other disruptions - beginning to think it would be easier to run the marathon! (It's on my bucket list!) #runningpunks

We’re on a mission to *PRINT* thousands of *Brummies United Against Racism and Hate Crime* posters and stickers—and distribute them *FREE* across Birmingham—because together, we can overwhelm our city with positivity and stand *united* in the face of hate ❤️✊✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿❤️ #BrummiesUnited

It's been really heartening to see how well the house martins have done locally this year. Over the last few days there have been gatherings of literally dozens, perhaps even hundreds of them sometimes, hunting above the trees by my house, zooming over the rooftops and so close to the windows!

Anyone know anything about apples? Any suggestions for what variety this is? Subtle taste, skin slightly bitter, floury with very little juice and goes brown before you finish eating it. #apples #autumn

Morning 10k run, through a downpour, with occasional thunder. Always feels slightly bonkers but exhilarating running in very heavy rain. Soundtrack: Die Toten Hosen - Learning English, Step One #Runningpunks

My neighbour has given me a tiny oak tree - barely big enough to be called a sapling. It has variegated leaves so I think it's a white-leaved oak. Heard of them before but never seen one.

We appear to have raised a minor imp...

Watching Grimsby v Man Utd. Hope The Mariners can hold on for the second half.

Yet more over platforming of REFORM on tv & radio this morning. It’s become a daily party political broadcast. You’re meant to assume Farage is now a PM in waiting. Tell our broadcasters it’s WE the voters who decide elections & WE want to hear from ALL parties petition.parliament.uk/petitions/71...

Pleased to see they'd decided to go with small, Icelandic horses for King and Conqueror instead of the flamboyant Friesians which seem to be the breed of choice for most historical dramas these days. Not too impressed with the rest of it though.

It is famine officially in Gaza. I just made a small donation to Oxfam's Gaza appeal. Please, consider doing the same 😔 www.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam-in-act...

Took part in Derby’s Big Ride for Palestine yesterday with around 30 other cyclists. We were raising money for Medical Aid for Palestinians. If you’d like to, you can donate at this link: chuffed.org/project/1382...

Milestone run this morning - my first 10 km since the heart bypass. Lovely trails on the lower paths of the Malvern Hills. Obligatory photo of Narnia-style gas lamp (if you know Malvern, you know!) #runningpunks #malvern #trailrunning 📸 Sim Foreman

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

Anglo-Saxons with West African roots: DNA analysis of 7th century burials reported in @antiquity.ac.uk today reveals long-distance connections reached across continents and cultures. Read about it @science.org:

There’s a quiet revolution of British voters who have had enough of the over platforming of one party in a multi party democracy & want to see/hear ALL their parties covered in the broadcast media. Letters to broadcasters are increasing &so are signatures here petition.parliament.uk/petitions/71...

The Lincolnshire Fens are like The Archers scripted by JG Ballard...

Wandered past the Theatre of Small Convenience in Malvern this afternoon and was delighted to find the door open! A quick look inside - it's amazing! Looking forward to seeing it open again after the restoration work. The smallest theatre in the world, in a converted Victorian gents toilet. Seats 12

“Me neighbour’s lad’s blocked’t ginnel at’t back wi an old settee and he won’t do owt about it. If someone dun’t come for it, it’s going in’t road" I also have a Northern accent and my heart sinks when i have to deal with voice recognition software. www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Volume up. How long has this same sound rung along this pasture, century after century after century? Two thousand years? Three? How old are the oldest European livestock bells? Iron Age? Bronze Age?

DuckDuckGo has added a feature to filter out AI images from search results.

Cat's in a funny mood.

I’d have said, I will slay all my footnotes but one, that my one favorite may feast & grow without competition for a full year, & kill all the newborn footnotes of next spring, too, and when my only footnote is grown twenty hands high I will ride it right into your chambers & see what you say to me

Buying books again. Feasting, fowling and feathers, by Michael Shrubb. A history of the exploitation of wild birds, which will help interpret some interesting sea bird bones from medieval Edinburgh.

Osama is one of so many please help if you can