Why are so many people following a site that hasn’t posted anything. @waltsharpe.bsky.social just followed me. @support.bsky.team

The fabulous staircase @linneansociety.bsky.social, did you know the Society building and its amazing collections are open to the public, & not just for Fellows? If you are in London, do visit & explore some amazing natural history history. I was there today for the Trustee Council meeting.

How it started, how it’s going. 2 months later, the bay window that was a second-hand reclaimed addition in 1831 has been stripped back, restored, & today finally re-puttied. It looks a bit sharper, despite its 200+ age.

Moscow 11th November 2020. A rainy evening in Red Square.

Self-portrait in an oak wall cabinet.

Copcobana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

It’s autumn, so we lit the fire.

Congrats, Joe Ecker @salkinstitute.bsky.social, to receiving the McClintock Prize! Joe has been a visionary leader of the field of genetics and genomics – not only for plants – for decades www.salk.edu/news-release...

A reminder that the PhD program for EMBL is open for winter recruitment round. If you want to understand life at a molecular level and have a quantitative science (you don't have to have done biology - we love our mathematicians/physcists/chemists!) apply www.embl.org/about/info/e...

Applications are now OPEN for the JIF Rotation PhD Programme This prestigious 4-year #PhD programme trains graduate students in Plant and Microbial Sciences at the JIC, @thesainsburylab.bsky.social and @earlhaminst.bsky.social. 🗓️ Closing date - 13 November 2025 www.jic.ac.uk/training-car...

Another big goose day. Honk Honk.

Only 10 days left to apply to the MSU Plant Resilience Institute for a faculty position.We're looking for 1 junior and 1 senior faculty. Applications submitted after 10/15 cannot be considered. Join us! It's a very collaborative, fun, innovative group of plant biologists. Apply at: lnkd.in/eRyDv_Pi

Ooh, tricky. Wordle 1,571 6/6 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟨🟨🟨⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

MrsG’s sewing room floor looks good from this outside angle too.

Spotted on Hannah’s walk tonight, dog wee on a litter bin in the form of a wooly mammoth, #canineart

Just spacing out the oak parquet ahead if laying the floor for MrsG’s sewing room. It’s going to look lovely when laid, sanded, & coated with Osmo PolyX waxoil.

Bought another book at Sledmere House today, after the house tour last Friday I was keen to discover more. Just need that new bookcase.

Still quite some colour in the borders of the walled garden at Sledmere House today, the banana plants are still looking lush 🍌

Lovely walk with Hannah around the grounds at Sledmere House today. Fabulous. A view towards the house from the haha wall, & a view from the house towards the deer park beyond the haha.

Ceiling mirror, mirror ceiling.

Now the books are unboxed & shelved, I can start to lay the oak parquet floor in MrsGs sewing room, which was the book store for the past few years. It finally fells like the end is in sight.

Progress, around 1500 books unboxed, dusted, & shelved. Lots of cardboard boxes to now recycle. Around a 100 books still homeless. I guess they represent the ones I’ve bought while the library was in storage. I now need to go bookcase shopping.

Feels like this weekend is an important time to share this video again... ...what has the ECHR ever done for us? youtu.be/ptfmAY6M6aA?...

In my ‘to read’ pile. A 1957 perspective on how it all started.

Making progress, but still a lot more boxes to unpack.

Still unpacking old books. Who else read this cover to cover & became hooked on molecular genetics?

Finally unpacking all my books that have been boxed up for the past few years. Discovering old friends, & books I didn’t remember I had! Just came across this 1950 classic.

Saw this ~3000y old carved pendant recently @britishmuseum.bsky.social. Legend says it’s a reptile, but I think it looks more like a Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus). Here is an early 2000’s plastic key ring (pendant?) of A. japonicus for comparison, & a real one @londonzoo.bsky.social

A dry stone wall. Egypt 2023.

Another large flock of honking geese heading South East tonight. Last night’s formation was twice the size. Safe travels big birds.

“Jane Goodall was an amazing scientist who inspired people to see the natural world in a new way. She helped us to look at the animal kingdom with fresh eyes and with greater respect.

In an age where we are jeopardising biodiversity at unprecedented rates, we have never needed people like her more. Her death is a loss for us all.” Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society

Sad news. An inspiration & an icon. news.sky.com/story/jane-g...

Big day tomorrow. Removals company coming back to move the furniture that has been stacked & stored in the garden room for 2 years into the living room & dining room. Then just 2 more rooms to finish before rest of the furniture can be finally settled, & the garden room can be filled with plants.

We’ve been visiting the grounds at Sledmere House for the past 6 years since we moved here, & have walked past this statue many times, but on our 1st guided tour of the house today (highly recommended), we discovered it has an interesting recent past. news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england...

Fabulous guided tour of Sledmere House today, absolutely fascinating, What a wonderful house & home (it is still lived in, not just a museum). Highly recommended. The estate is also well worth visiting.

Visited Spurn Point for the 1st time today, fascinating place & fabulous weather. First 3 photos are from ground level, the 4th is from the air taken on a previous Humberside to Amsterdam flight. What an incredible peninsula!

Went to Hornsea to visit the pottery, something I remember from childhood; discovered it closed in 2000 😳 But a great display of past patterns in the superb Hornsea Museum, it was just as I remember childhood meal times 😂 Spotted these cufflinks, only 2 pairs made, I wonder where the other pair is 🤔

Great morning sunshine at Hornsea Mere earlier today.

Five trellis panels in place, the final one needed cutting to size, so frame dismantled, cut to size, & rebuilt. Painted & ready to erect tomorrow. I will then fit the home made tops. The garden is starting to come together, but back to painting windows next if the weather holds.

Big day today! The sitting room & dining room carpets were fitted 🎉🥳 Both rooms now ready to move the furniture in. For those who have followed the renovation over the past few years, I’m sure you’ll appreciate what a momentous step this is. It’s taken quite a while, but the end is in sight.

Had a couple of old fence posts mounted in steel ground spikes that were in the way of the new trellis. Fixed a couple of angle brackets for purchase & a few cranks on the farm jack just pulled them straight out of the ground. Very satisfying 💪 😊

There are still some tickets remaining! Don't miss Dr Jane Wildgoose as she shares her comparative readings on collecting from The Wildgoose Memorial Library, launching our brand new exhibition: 'Wonder'. 📅 30 Sept 🕑 6-8PM 📍The Linnean Society buff.ly/gIF9KEV

Great weather today so we finally got three of the six trellis panels installed that now define the boundary of the orchard. Slowest part was digging out a tree stump that was right where I needs to put a fence post. A satisfying job.

Titus Salt, textile manufacturer and politician, was born on this day 1803. He built Salt's Mill and the model village of Saltaire, away from the smoke and pollution of overcrowded Bradford.

Some fabulous dahlias at the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show today 😍

Just got home from the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show at Newby Hall. We may have over indulged, but I did restrain myself to just the one houseplant.

After a busy day visiting Breezy Knees & then Harewood House, an early dinner before heading home at the Westbourne Spice in Otley. Fabulous food & great friendly service. Highly recommended.

Superb Austen and Turner exhibition at Harewood House; contemporaries who apparently never met but both had independent links to the house.

Had a great visit to Harewood House this afternoon. An amazing building (construction started by Edwin Lascelles in 1759) in 140 acres of stunning grounds (designed by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown). Well worth a visit.