It gives me pause when I walk out from Holywood along the south side of Belfast Lough to think of the city and its history, tucked in to the left as if it’s not there, the centuries of dispute invisible in the sheltered air, the birds of the far north wintering out, as they have for millennia.

My brother and I at The Offspring. It was a great show :-)

Tree of the day is this Japanese maple tree (April and October)

Recent trip to the GoT Studio Tour in Banbridge- it was a lot of fun

An excuse to post the Shakespeare joke I found actually funny... GLENDOWER: I can call spirits from the vasty deep. HOTSPUR: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them? #shakespearesunday

This is such a nice song: a favourite from this year

Out and about on my birthday :-)

Prague night tour

Tree of the day – a big old sycamore at the Lennon Wall in Prague

I had this little poem in my head all day By Kobayashi Issa (HT @bashosociety.bsky.social for sharing)

Today's tree is this rather special Cedar of Lebanon

Mournes today

I love that this plant is someone's favorite. Native over there. Of course it's invasive over here. And personally it's way too "spikey" for my liking. 😂

This teasel plant self-seeded in my garden and is now my favouite. Its about 6ft, with lots of little pools of water where the leaves meet up the stems, making it v popular with insects too

Tree of the day

Local, middle-aged woman outside the Europa Hotel in Belfast just now: "It's called 28 Years Later but I don't know what it's about - is it the Good Friday Agreement?

My tree of the day - yew

Mr Wisteria is, understandably, tree of the day

Wild garlic update

Quite a big wild garlic patch. I do like the smell after the rain

Great article on the gap between how we value human and natural heritage. Interesting that in Portugal and Italy, anyone is able to recommend a tree for protection www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

I really enjoyed Mikey 17. Hope it does well as it was such an original and fun sci fi & political satire, with great cast and performances. My one issue is how very naïve folks in sci fi stories are about the fact that death-followed-by-cloning still equals death. See also: teleporters in Star Trek

My #thicktrunktuesday nomination — yew tree at St. Andrew's Church, Totteridge. Perhaps the oldest living thing in London.

My tree of the day is this holm oak in Armagh

My #thicktrunktuesday nomination: The Ankerwycke Yew. At least 1400 years old, but very possibly more than 2000.

I’ve never wanted to recommend a place to stay so much as the Manor House on Rathlin. Just the friendliest, cosiest place, with lovely staff and great food too. Really enjoyed walking the length of the island over the weekend

Sunrise this morning, between Rathlin island (left) and Ballycastle

View from Rathlin Island just a moment ago. You can see across to Scotland at the end

Just passing by and thought I’d take a little video. This is a 4000 year old tomb in the Sperrins, with a fairy thorn tree growing from it.

Really happy to see @irishrainforest.bsky.social, all the way up from Beara Peninsula to talk about the value of restoring and expanding Ireland’s temperate rainforests 🌳

My tree of the day. Scots Pine

My #thicktrunktuesday nomination is this extraordinary 400 year old oak tree I saw outside Warsaw in summer. I’ll post a video below too.

Tree of the day (Ash)

This was a really interesting episode of Countryfile about the Mourne Mountains. I especially liked the interview with @davidscottni.bsky.social who highlights that native ancient forest—as found at Mourne Park—accounts for just 0.04% land cover in NI. www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Tree of the day. Summer and winter

I am deeply concerned to learn about this goblin-chatbot alliance.

I quite like the fact that talking about different trees is, according to the Bible, indicative of great wisdom.

“When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools” - King Lear #ShakespeareSunday Theme: Cats & Dogs

Six leaves of different spinescence from the same old holly tree. (Yes, I just wanted to use that word.)

My tree of the day is this oak tree, which long ago would have been pollarded and harvested for timber. Now enjoying a long retirement

At a favourite tree this morning 🌳

I like this one very much. Journeys are most of life; so we should enjoy the time spent on them

Taken in June. An old olive tree near the town of Luras in Italy. If I returned as an old man, it’d be like the blink of an eye in the lifespan of this one

A few more photos of this old beech. I think the summer look is my favourite

My tree of the day - a huge beech in the fog

My tree of the day — a pedunculate oak, still holding on to its leaves.

My tree of the day — a horse chestnut, ready for winter

My tree of the day submission — an old oak in Armagh

The picture in my profile’s banner is of the suitably named ‘King Oak’ in Co Offaly; one of my favourite trees. Beautiful all year round

A big old yew tree in Crom, Co Fermanagh. Apparently over 800 years old