Its here! The first ever Ancient Times, our new zine covering everything stone related and beyond. This issue contains French Megaliths, Daniel Gumb, Flint, Stonehenge, Druids and more! 40 pages of stone-mania. Copies will be shipped in October. stoneclub.bigcartel.com/product/anci...

It was a huge honour to be welcomed into the @linneansociety.bsky.social recently as a new Fellow. Such a beautiful building, packed full of nature’s stories.

The time is nigh! Something new is coming. It’s in the woods. It’s coming! Send us your submissions! Articles! Photo diaries! Reviews! Enthusiasms! Unexpected Tales! UFO Sightings! Favourite Stones! Whatever takes your fancy! Email us via our contact form on the website, or slide into our DMs 😉

Looking forward to talking about the lichens and the living stone of Blenheim Palace on this course for Oxford Lifelong Learning on October 7th. Places still available! lifelong-learning.ox.ac.uk/courses/natu...

Oh my, what an amazing opportunity in such a wonderful location :)

Save the date! Saturday 4 October is a Black British Folk Renaissance and you are invited. I’ve nurtured this idea for a few years now, so I’m thrilled that @efdss.bsky.social will be hosting it at @cecilsharphouse.bsky.social See you there! 🖤 www.efdss.org/whats-on/26-...

Thank you for having me over @blenheimpalace.bsky.social for an armchair talk (sorry, couldn’t help but prowl for most of it!) about my research into Blenheim’s lichens and seeing stone differently. And so glad the escaped convict’s skull dressed in glorious Parmelia didn’t cause too great a stir ☠️🦠

Wonderful evening with the brilliant Matthew and Lally at @stoneclub.bsky.social. Particularly listening to @lallymacbeth.bsky.social talking about all things folk and my old stomping ground of Painswick in Gloucestershire… just don’t mention the song ;)

Sandstone @harvingtonhall.bsky.social, framing, bridging, laying foundations. Depth, warmth, colour #Stone #Sandstone #HistoricBuildings #Buildings #Weathering

Very much looking forward to this. I’ll be talking about my research into Blenheim’s lichens, their cultural history and the life of stone. Hope to see you there! Date: Tuesday 29th July, 6pm Place: Blenheim Palace blenheimpalace.com/whats-on/event…

#lichenGBI Caloplaca teicholyta with apothecia. First time I’ve seen it fertile. On calcareous ironstone, Warwickshire, UK. Used video to catch the red reaction on the apothecial section, as it dissolved out rapidly. The soredia gave a faint pinkish reaction to K (not really ‘dull violet’) >

The @britishlichensociety.org.uk LEAF course taught me that my road, Brighton, is typical of Xanthoria parietina-Physconia grisea community (Physcietum ascendentis): well-lit trees, urban areas: Hyperphyscia adglutinata, Phaeophyscia orbicularis, Physconia grisea, Physcia adscendens & X. parietina

Stepped into the wonderful world of tree lichens this weekend with @britishlichensociety.org.uk in Somerset. It’s both challenged and enriched how I think about rock and stone lichens and I’ll be exploring those crevices more closely from now on 🔬👀

Natural history museums are our most complete records of life on Earth and environmental change. Great talk by @jackdashby.bsky.social at @morethanadodo.bsky.social this evening. And what a lovely book cover 🐚💚

Delighted my new article on stone lichens and conservation is out with @uk.theconversation.com. It’s time to think differently about stone… theconversation.com/how-lichens-...

LIFELINES is published today, 25 years after my wife and I arrived in northern Greece with the aim of changing our lives. It's a book about shelter and generosity, borders and brown bears, people and pelicans. It's about how the lifelines of the world hold together the greater home of us all.

A patch of licheny material on a mossy brick wall in my garden looks to be Vezdaea leprosa, with tiny loosely organised apothecia and long squirly paraphyses. 1st occurrence in VC28.

Interesting link to article about different perceptions of lichen interactions with building stone

On the wee red hill An Ruadh Mheallan in Torridon, on the way down at 500m asl we saw a lot of Alectoria nigricans lichen on top of an erratic sandstone boulder above the gneiss, presumably out of reach of munchers and tramplers. #LichenGBI

"Arguably, much of how we define something depends on our relationship with it and how we choose to see it. How we value the living in relation to the non-living plays out in how we define lichens; we need to acknowledge the importance and value of both. In doing so...

Inspiring article ⬇️ about #lichens, stone, conservation, reconnection. In my experience, strange beauty, diversity and vitality of lichens has special power to 're-enchant' nature. People who take lichen walks and workshops with me all marvel to discover this secret world right under their noses!

Congratulations to @neacarter.bsky.social for the publication of this fascinating article on stone lichens, which is also a runner up for this year’s Conversation Prize! 🏆 #AcademicSky #Geography #Geosky #Conservation

A team led by Prof Louise Slater has created the most complete #map of the world’s #rivers ever made, offering a major leap forward for flood prediction, #climate risk planning, & water resource management. Read more: www.geog.ox.ac.uk/news/grit-re...

Check our our tool for finding suitable indicators to monitor biodiversity and soil health - the paper is published today! www.smithschool.ox.ac.uk/news/researc... @naturerecovery.bsky.social @naturebasedsols.bsky.social

Lichens bridge the living and non-living – understanding them allows us to better see how to conserve our heritage, and also ourselves.

Delighted my new article on stone lichens and conservation is out with @uk.theconversation.com. It’s time to think differently about stone… theconversation.com/how-lichens-...

Lichens as ecosystems? Interesting long read by @neacarter.bsky.social I have strong memories of surveying lichens aged c12yo for some NGO. Must have been part of campaign against acid rain. Citizen science by snail mail. theconversation.com/how-lichens-...

Great piece from @neacarter.bsky.social for @uk.theconversation.com on why we need to think about stone, and heritage conservation, differently. theconversation.com/how-lichens-...

Further opportunities for prospective Geography undergraduates this summer…

And a huge thank you to the Heritage Pathway team for inviting me to talk all things stone lichens and conservation. Such great students :)

Very much looking forward to meeting all you prospective undergraduate geographers out there on June 16th! 🌎 :)