Oxford Brookes Uni students had a great time recently in #LyeValley #fen learning various coring techniques, studying peat & tufa sediments. They learnt what hard work it was! but some very interesting layers discovered, now for some lab study... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @palaeolou.bsky.social

Last-minute cancellation for Friday 26 Sept #linocut #workshop in #York. Find out more: www.michellehughesdesign.com/lino-printin...

Went to the big smoke. Saw archaeological bling. Interpretation panels at the London museum mudlarking exhibition were very well thought out.

If the world is just a bit much, I heartily recommend feeding pygmy goats.

Cate nails it again ♥️

"cultural vandalism on a breathtaking scale"

One of my favourite floodplain meadow plants - Pepper Saxifrage Silaum silaus. For it's amazing cinnamony smell of leaves and fruits mostly. And a good insect nectar source, like most Apiaceae. @floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Visited Somerford Mead, a recreated (from arable) floodplain haymeadow nr Oxford. Looking good, but surprised to see that even here the Rough Hawksbeard Crepis biennis (last photo) is gaining ground as it is in all dry verges & meadows locally @floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Did I mention how important skilled #volunteers are to maintaining Oxford's special calcareous fens? 3 #scythers get on with the summer cutting, felling reed & avoiding Common Valerian& marsh thistle. 1 vol carefully chops reed in a patch of fleabane, left uncut @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social

Good Science xkcd.com/3101/

sunsets are better with you #landscape #photography #wildflowers #losangeles

Trojan Horse xkcd.com/3098/

Congratulations NERC on 60 yrs of leadership in environmental science. In celebration NERC published its new 10-year vision, launched at the Royal Society. The Forward Look for Environment Science www.ukri.org/publications...

It's scything, scything and & more scything time in #LyeValley #fen. Reed, reed sweet grass & rank grass - late May/June is the time to take them down to reduce vigour & take nutrients away in risings to encourage more biodiversity @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social

Mass Spec xkcd.com/3094/

Delighted to welcome our first Common Spotted orchid flowers in #LyeValley #fen, but Ooohh...now our Common Cotton grasses are shedding fluff & seed like snow... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social #Oxfordshirefens @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Orkney Gothic

Nestling down amongst the sedge bases in #LyeValley #fen time to notice the small lilac-purple flowers of insectivorous butterworts & their strange star-shaped yellow-green sticky leaves that trap and digest tiny midges. @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #Oxfordshirefens @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social

Watching BBC News. Good grief, that Chris Mason's a pointless gobshite. Don't just gibber on about how the UK/EU deal is 'complex'. Tell us what it is. Give some real context to the blethering vox pops. OK, rant over. As you were.

oof. i should get this as a tattoo

I met Mog! 😭♥️🐈‍⬛

At the most excellent 'what is Wild?' conference today, organised by @ianthewildside.bsky.social and colleagues, we were asked 'what was your most wild moment?' I think this is a contender mas.to/@palaeo_lou/...

I swear I'm cursed. This is the 5th time I've stayed in a hotel where the fire alarm has gone off and I've had to stand outside waiting for the all-clear. Thankfully they were all false alarms.

Anyone I know going to see The Flaming Lips in Leeds tonight? I'm going on my own, so come say 'Hi' if you see me! www.flaminglips.com

Crucial fact, cis men harm women without pretending to be anything. They harm women in public, in private and in pseudo private spaces like toilets and hospital wards. When they harm women, they ignore rules and laws and they are rarely prevented or held to account. This is what makes women unsafe.>

I love to see Lye Valley calcareous spring-fen really nice & wet after a shower. A close look at the well-scythed sward shows the promise of spotted orchid leaves, first butterworts & round marsh pennywort leaves. Flowers soon! @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #oxfordshirefens

more great coverage of our recent paper reevaluating Neolithic Ireland's society and kinning practices

as there's a once again a lot of media about archaeologies of inequality, please enjoy a little archaeology of equality... looking at the world as it is rather than the grand narratives of conquest means it's not shocking to find people resist domination, even in the most dire circumstances

This issue of Quaternary Science Reviews comprises reviews on stable isotopes in different types of records. This is an update of the 2004 issue on “Isotopes in Quaternary Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction (ISOPAL)”, volume 23, issue 7–8, pages 739–992. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

This prospectus was fairly instrumental in me choosing to study at Sheffield in 2001. Looks so dated now! Look at the gender imbalance. And haircuts!

Resident geoarchaeologist Dave Kay has been out in the sunshine at @kneppwilding.bsky.social looking at the effects of rewilding on soil structure - accompanied by the usually pretty elusive ponies! #WildWednesdays

NEIF has launched an online course developed by our stable isotope teams at BGS and SUERC covering the fundamentals of stable isotopes. Through these 5 videos, covering basic terminology, notations, essential equations, and potential applications of stable isotopes. vimeo.com/1067017318?s... 1/3

But because I'm not cruel, here's a section 28 playlist to go alongside open.spotify.com/playlist/2my...

i really neither understand nor appreciate the loss of 3.5mm jacks on phones

A day out looking at the lowland peat landscape of Prestwick Carr, near #Newcastle. Just managed to reach the late glacial lake deposits (blue-grey silt) which underlie the basin in which the peat formed. #Geoarchaeology #archaeology

Impressive iron oxide deposition in Lye Valley fen yesterday, with mirror image layer at the surface. A spring from the iron sulphide rich Beckley Sands nearby. Iron can be quite toxic to some fen plants, explaining the lower plant diversity in these iron rich areas. @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

Anyone else have problems opening their phone with a thumb print after they've been wet-sieving or is it just me? 😂 Should have set up a PIN #laboratoryfail

Reasons to be cheerful today:

Sunrise over York Racecourse

I love bogs. They are stinky, slimy, and utterly weird. They also store more carbon than any other ecosystem, clean water, provide food, and protect unique biodiversity such as meat-eating plants. Are you a big bog lover too?

I think fuckity-bye might just be my new favourite phrase 🤭

Looking through an archaeobotanical sample from West #Cumbria, #England and spotted this perfectly preserved flax seed (Linum usitatissimum) among the domestic oat dominant assemblage. The sample came from a #medieval corn-dryer and was likely owned by a local Cistercian monastery #archaeology

From the latest Private Eye. Nice.

Please, stop remote dunking. If you see a stupid, enraging post on X (or anywhere really) leave it there. It does nothing for interaction here to drag that rubbish in

Sometimes when I’m having a particularly lousy day, I say “Computer, end program.” You know, just in case.

Yesterday’s path was gamboge - full of the vivid yellows of autumn, even on a grey and misty day.