Norwegian folklore includes the belief that if you see a face in the mountains, it's a troll. I am concerned that the troll in question is the well known Count Olaf, from A Series Of Unfortunate Events. 🎶Look away, look away...🎶

Dog1 has been on a diet, since the transition from working to retired. Nothing drastic, about a 5% drop in calories. Today, she got into the freezer and ate 4kg of frozen dog food. She is approximately spherical but apparently happy. Guess she likes the diet life?

I'm often asked why I choose to live in a tiny high-arctic town. Because some days, waiting at the airport to greet new guests, I get to take videos like this.

We are applauding Dog2 for protecting his food. Dog1 is rolling her eyes and grumbling at the ceiling. Huskies are _the worst_

Partner has picked "The House" for movie night. Suffice it to say that shit got real weird, real fast.

@Estonia, what on earth 🤣 Does tagging an entire country even work?

I am a firm proponent of "the best camera is the one you have with you", but sometimes a mobile phone just doesn't feel as though it cuts the mustard. Enjoy this truly awful quality footage of a juvenile goshawk utterly failing at eating the lizard it has managed to catch. Possibly by accident.

We've been in the Kruger National Park for less than 24 hours and have already seen lions. Thankfully it was just taking a quick break in the shade and not waiting for us to come past to pounce. One of the 4 lions spotted by @paisleystars.bsky.social in, as is my wont, a less than flattering pose.

In today's "I don't think that word means what you think it means", I would like to present leopard. Apropos of nothing, do you know you get really, really strange looks from people if you shout "That's not a fucking elephant!" at the top of your voice on a plane?

Regrettably, Tromsø airport continues to be the _absolute worst._ I'm told the city itself is lovely, vibrant and with plenty to see and do. I'm starting to doubt I'll ever visit. I fear having to deal with the airport any more than absolutely necessary. Ah well. Off to South Africa!

“You’ll be visited by three spirits.” The three spirits:

Good morning Bluesky, and God Jul! SkyPro has been retrieved after yesterday's escape attempt and is now under house arrest, pending upgrades to prevent a repeat. See if you can spot the point that the box fell off the roof and got buried in snow...

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Because I ate it this morning for breakfast.

For Christmas Eve we have watched: The Grinch (2018) - Mutant survives a heart attack and does good with his second life Mortal Engines (2018) - London moves to China and tries to blow it up with a singularity Matilda (2022) - Child goes to school Guesses as to which one is batshit insane?

Good morning Bluesky! SkyPro has given an early Christmas present and I fucked it up especially for you. The whole damn day yesterday was aurora and I can only upload 60 seconds, so I sped it up even more. May it bring you slightly more joy than pain.

Scandinavian countries catch a lot of flak for some of their cuisine. I will go to the barricades to defend many of their decisions. Consequently, I was perhaps overconfident that our burnt figs would be appropriately festive. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find a fruit claymore.

I'm late I'm late I'm late! Sorry, I've been out taking some photos on the big boy camera so SkyPro has been a bit neglected. As amazing as it is to say, the aurora in this lapse is a bit washy, but the clear skies gave a beautiful wheel of stars also with some aurora. I have a timelapse problem.

@stylishpanda.bsky.social is very into the sky photography stuff, this is no surprise. This image, which he turned up with after going outside with a Canon R5 and an ordinary 200mm lens, however, is *very fucking surprising*

I do hope you'll all forgive a certain dramatic slow start to this clip. Well, forgiveness or not, it's what was recorded, so there. Fascinating show though, full gamut from delicate dayside into some impressively bright streaks, even with light pollution from the moon!

Well, not every day can be a banger. At this stage in the solar cycle, while the aurora is theoretically always visible to some degree, the clouds are often the deciding factor. Today was one of those days.

A very unusual show on SkyPro yesterday. Red Aurora seems to be quite rare, we've only seen it twice in over a year. SkyPro also isn't usually great at soft red tones, but I think this came out pretty well!

Bonus over the past couple days - a couple of meteors that, I assume, burned up in the atmosphere.

There was an extremely brief break in the 80 straight hours of Svalbard Egg* around midday yesterday, and, wouldn't you know, Lady Aurora was dancing! *Egg is our household term for the irritatingly persistent cloud produced by the odd microclimate around Longyearbyen.

Intellectually, I know I shouldn't be surprised that interactions between Earth's atmosphere and Solar particles are highly variable. Emotionally, I've been up here for over a year now and every time I see the aurora, it's got new shapes and colours and it's awesome and I fall in love again.

Better late than never, I hope! Clouds for about 17 straight hours finally gave way to clear skies. I had expected SkyPro would have missed the show, being pointed North, but I was pleasantly surprised on review.

While cloud rolled over yesterday afternoon, during the 'day' from around 0700 to 1500, the aurora was almost continuously visible otherwise. The odd bright wave but mostly far more diffuse. Also, a very large number of satellites and/or meteors.

Well, I believe it's reasonable to say that SkyPpro2.0 is currently living up to my expectations. Fingers crossed for many more of these over the coming weeks!

I should have something to show you in the morning, all being well! #SkyPro

My most sincere apologies for the extended hiatus of SkyPro. There was an unfortunate incident involving significant water ingress - stupid global warming. Once again, no cost has been attempted but this time, the housing is upcycled _plastic_, not cardboard! SkyPro is dead. Long Live SkyPro 2.0!

Slow start last night. Most of the early stuff that @paisleystars.bsky.social caught was way too east/south for SkyPro, but when it went in the north, my goodness did it go!

A much better show from lady aurora last night, and the clouds graciously parted for long enough to see it. Strange artefact during the second flare is assumed to be snow falling and melting on the lens. If anyone has any more concrete theories on it, I'd love to hear them!

webmd my reflection in the mirror is gone

Another heavily clouded night, but a (very) brief gap showed some quite strong display around 5-10 seconds. Unfortunately washed out by the white balance on the GoPro. Mesmerising cloud movement though!

Last night was a bust on the aurora front - the sky mostly looked like an eggshell from the inside. As an apology, have a timelapse from last year instead!

Today's aurora is faint dayside, about one hour before "dawn". Bonus points if anyone manages to find the brief meteor, which may have burned up in the atmosphere!

If you see this, quote post something green from a photo you took.

Only a very brief break in the clouds last night, but some wonderful delicate aurora did manage to show through!

SkyPro 1.0(*) is up and running, ready to record the night-sky over Longyearbyen! (1/2)

Hey all. Little help from smart people, please. Top is a 10microgram vitamin D supplement. Bottom is a multivitamin that contains, among other things, 20micrograms vitamin D. I assume the difference is a vast amount of stabilisers and/or sweeteners, but can someone explain why?

I'd spotted the antler a couple hundred meters back and was hoping, live or dead, it wasn't attached to any more of the reindeer. I'm beyond thrilled 😁

So, this just happened. *Phone ringing* Scammer: This is 3G Network your provider Me: Why are you calling me in the Arctic? S: ... Posh motherf*cker *click* To the man with the audacity to try this, I love you in all the worst ways.

2023 nature flashback: these are my favourite nature and wildlife moments from each month of 2023. This one is May-Aug. Share yours with me too, please! 😍

2023 nature flashback: these are my favourite nature and wildlife moments from each month of 2023. This one is Sep-Dec. Share yours with me too, please! 😍

2023 nature flashback: these are my favourite nature and wildlife moments from each month of 2023. This one is Jan-Apr, the rest will be in the replies. Share yours with me too, please! 😍

"I had enough time to pick up your welcome home treat." That's a bag of meth. Suddenly so much about Percy Jackson And The Olympians is excruciatingly clear.

We have several award-winning restaurants, a local brewery, and a state-of-the-art hybrid power system that is currently transitioning towards renewables. Is it remote? Yes. Is the wilderness a kilometre away? Yes. It's not the fucking Wild West though.

Die Hard is about as close to a Christmas Movie as I can actually cope with, so it was of course my choice for movie night. Had to pause the film and proceeded to nearly rupture something laughing.

I /beg/ your damn pardon?

IMAGINE REGENERATING WITH NO BLOODY TROUSERS. New Doctor seems brilliant, but I am NOT going to forgive that.