A #Roman figurine of a lizard, carved from a single piece of hyaline quartz. It was found in a Gallo-Roman tomb in Belgium, where it was buried as part of an assortment of grave goods about 2000 years ago (📷 MFAH, Brussels) 🏺 AncientBlueSky #Archaeology #RomanArchaeology

Target now achieved 😍

Should have flown off Fair Isle this morning but flights cancelled, may be here a few more days but there are benefits! #birds

“This Oxfordshire hoard, buried nearly 2,000 years ago, really belongs to all of Oxfordshire residents.' Angie Bolton, curator of archaeology, Oxfordshire museum service But the sad fact is, under current legislation, Treasure Hoards can be sold for private profit, broken up and never seen again.

Museum still needs donations to keep Iron Age hoard - please support if you can

Some positive plant news from the BSBI - Holly Fern rediscovered in Cwm Idwal after 150 years! share.google/ZlNYNfC4f6h2... And with a quote from our very own @bsbicymru.bsky.social Plant Atlas maps for Holly Fern here: share.google/9t1TB44l1G1i...

Fox sits in gold and brambles, as the crisp air draws near. He breathes out, accepting this shift in the year. Cold is returning, inviting him to retreat. As the trees speak of change and the hope of release. No need to hold tightly, just trust and know. Autumn Equinox teaches the spirit to let go.

Sarah Ross-Thompson, fine art printmaker based on the West Coast of Scotland #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

🕺Saw it last month… here’s an inside view.

Love a bit of lichen hunting at the beach or anywhere really

The amazing Roman pharos (lighthouse) at Dover, still standing after almost 2,000 years! 🤩 The tallest surviving Roman structure in Britain, and one of only three surviving lighthouses from the former Roman Empire! Dated 1st-2nd century AD. 📷 by me #RomanSiteSaturday #Archaeology

Agnes Kasparkova, 90-Year-Old Czech former agricultural worker who turned her small village into an art gallery by painting traditional Moravian motifs on the local houses. The project went on for over 13 years #WomensArt

🇪🇺 Exceptional speech from James MacCleary on the importance of the Balkans, and protecting Eastern European democracy. 🇷🇺 "The UK must send an unmistakable the Balkans cannot become a playground for Moscow's interference."

Style lessons from Robert Redford, one of the most stylish men in the last century. 🧵

Hilma af Klint : No. 113, Group III, The Parsifal Series, 1916

Woman's face reconstructed from 900-year-old skull. 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I hadn’t seen it for a couple of years so it was extra special in early June to catch up with my #FavouritePlant! The gorgeous Mertensia maritima, commonly named Oysterplant, as the leaves taste like the fruits of the sea! Caithness #Wildflowerhour

Not the best photo but definitely my #favouriteplant this year, Dactylorhiza incarnata, early marsh-orchid in the dunes of the south end of #Shetland #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Hugely enjoying Dutch National Opera’s new Boris Godunov thanks to Mark Pullinger’s Gramophone review. What a fabulous resource is operavision.eu @larkingrumple.bsky.social #Opera operavision.eu/performance/...

Sunday morning in Mesopotamia #Oxford

Summer is not quite over yet: A beautiful day-flying hummingbird hawk-moth in a Shetland garden earlier this week.

Heinrich Basedow, Owl In The Forest (oil and tempera on canvas, 1954)

One of two Hummingbird Hawkmoths I've been lucky enough to see in the south Mainland of Shetland this week. A scarce migrant to our northern shores, these tiny 'flying bullets' boast a wingbeat speed of up to 80 beats a second! #Leptember #teammoth #UKWildlife

'Forest Song' by Shima Tamami (1937-1999), an influential Japanese printmaker who was part of a Women's Print Association in her country #ReframingWomenPrintmakers

Monthly report for August 2025. Start of Autumn #Shetland rossmac.blogspot.com/2025/09/mont...

The wildflowers of Britain include all manner of treasures yet many people are only aware of a few,such as bluebells and foxgloves. In fact,Britain has over 1,000 native species of wildflower, including 50 kinds of orchid. theconversation.com/what-ive-lea...

The European Convention on Human Rights entered into force on this day in 1953. The convention has improved people’s lives, in many different ways, across the continent. Here are more than 200 examples: www.coe.int/ECHR There are thousands more. #ECHR #OurRightsAndFreedoms

We are relieved to see Oxford City Rangers onsite in #LyeValley measuring up our burnt boardwalk section for replacement soon. This burnt section attracted a viviparous lizard to do a bit of basking between rain-showers- perhaps blacker a little bit warmer? @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

A seasonal teasel to celebrate its #JacobinDay #Teasel #WildflowerHour

Alpine town of Ortisei/Urtijëi Italy. View of Funivie Ortisei - Alpe di Suisi from Funivie Seceda 2023 #WorldPhotographyDay #Bolzano #Dolomites #landscape #Italy #travelphotography #photography

Glorious Common Knapweed and friends in the thriving wildflower meadow at Gretna Green motorway services for @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social #WildflowerHour #Scotland #GretnaGreen

The beautiful sight of a nursery pod of Long-finned Pilot Whales in Mousa Sound, Shetland yesterday morning. Check out those tiny calves - some just a few days old. #MarineLife #MarineMammals #CetaceansUK #UKWildlife

Small but interesting exhibition celebrating one hundred years of Brian Aldiss is currently on in the Weston Library, Broad Street. Brian lived at 39 St Andrew’s Road in Headington from 1995 until his death in 2017

Beautiful brightly coloured Hummer (aka Hummingbird Hawk-moth) in my Corfe Castle garden today, stayed for half an hour @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

Scat Ness & Ness of Burgi #Shetland #ScatNess

Lost on the beach #Quendale #MorningMists

Lovely evening at Sumburgh Head - with puffins, storm petrels and a minke whale. #shetland

Starting the week at Sumburgh Head #shetland #mondaymorning

Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975. I play Waltz No.2

Monthly report for July 2025. Mostly Auks. #Shetland #SumburghHead rossmac.blogspot.com/2025/08/mont...

The Last Puffin? At least one puffin on the cliffs at Sumburgh Head this afternoon (and a few more in flight) #shetland #puffins

Love Joe Root dedicating that century to Graham Thorpe who was one of his mentors.

There are still lots of puffins to watch (and photograph) at Sumburgh Head #shetland

A petition to save Headington Post Office has reached 1,000 signatures. Midcounties Co-op plan to close their store in January 2026. The petition was set up by Oxford’s Labour councillors and Anneliese Dodds MP, who has asked Post Office Ltd for a meeting. www.oxfordlabour.org.uk/petition-to-...

Please help the Oxfordshire Museum acquire some local treasure! www.friendsoftom.org.uk/acquisitions...

Gorgeous Sea Plantain and Autumn Hawkbit (with visitor) in the #Shetland Isles for #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social

Spear and Marsh Thistles at the south end of #Shetland for #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social

Bright and breezy morning at Sumburgh Head - kittiwake chicks coming on well, still a few guillemots plus jumplings who haven’t yet jumped. Definite autumnal feel to the weather. #shetland #saturday

An advertisement looking for a local retailer to run a main post office branch in Headington is here: runapostoffice.co.uk/branch/headi...