Well the signs warned us and they weren’t wrong! The magic of nature watching on the quite incredible Kangaroo Island, Australia. A fine way to end 2025 #marsupial #koala #kangarooisland

A real parental joy when your child (now adult!) continues to share your thrill in discovering nature’s treasure Stones, shells, or in this case feathers. Katherine found a sherbet-coloured feather (from the crest of a sulphur-crested cockatoo) alongside the tail feather of a kookaburra in Victoria

Had a really fun evening giving the Christmas talk to the Great Bustards group in Salisbury with the Lord lieutenant of Wiltshire (Dame Sarah) and a very good old archaeology friend!!!

Really looking forward to giving the Cambrian Archaeological Association Christmas lecture tonight. There may be Druids! Am doing some last minute cramming with the help of some of the usual suspects. Thus I can blame them for any errors! #celts #ironage #veterans #archaeology #wellbeing

If I sent ANY of you an odd message this morning, apologies. It was my assistant rather than me. Sigh. 🐈 #cats

An ox-head Iron Age bowl handle from Llantrisant Fawr in Wales. Some 2000 years old and gloriously ’Celtic’ with incised tongue. Known (I believe) as ‘bovril’ the vessel was worked on by @archaedelle.bsky.social . Having seen it this week I thought it perfect for #findsfriday #archaeology #celts

I adored this book and its glorious illustrations

No better way to spend a day than at Amgueddfa Cymru/National Museum Wales St Fagans in excellent company with @archaedelle.bsky.social, @richardosgood.bsky.social & the Op Nightingale team. Thanks to all the museum staff for a memorable day 👌🍻

Am enjoying ‘The House of Wolf’ by Sir Tony Robinson. Saxon spear for effect! A Viking appears called Martin Hennig. The only Martin Henig I know is Oxford Rev Prof Martin Henig. A lovely gentle soul who’d be the worst raider: I saw him fall off a punt! REALLY hope he was Sir Tony’s inspiration

Seriously looking forward to hearing the amazing @richardosgood.bsky.social talk about an incredible year of archaeological discoveries on the Defence lands of Wales 👌 See more at: @cambriansarch.bsky.social

Rubbish news about Mani. The Stone Roses were definitely one of the soundtracks of my Uni days. Very sad. #stoneroses

Very much looking forward to this evening and hoping last hashtag doesn’t lead me to dark places.. @profaliceroberts.bsky.social !! #archaeology #heritage #domination

The 11th hour, 11th day, 11th month. Time to remember. #armisticeday #liverpool

Not Forgotten #remembrance

As the autumn storms kick in, this dramatic image of the windmill at Great Bardfield in Essex was taken from the site of the p47 excavation we accomplished in the summer

Moonlight illumination of Romanesque magnificence at Winchester

#inktober2025 31) Award. This Atlantic Star medal was found by one of the Op Nightingale team at RAF Valley just over a week ago. One wonders on the recipients’s experiences & their reactions on realisation of its loss. Been slack with inktober this year but hope you’ve enjoyed the doodles I put up.

#inktober2025 30)Vacant. I visited the Nabatean city of #petra in Jordan last century and, like many a traveler before me, found the great Treasury to be vacant. The city looks as though it was etched into caramel. The treasures had sadly gone & the city was now empty and vacant. #heritage

#inktober25 28)skeletal - a skeleton of a skeleton - depicted at the gloriously macabre Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh. Time respects no monument even to time passing itself.

#inktober2025 27) Onion. The Reigate Witch bottle. This still-sealed Onion bottle (made around 1688) was found in 1993 in Reigate and contained 9 brass pins, urine, fabric fibres, and some human hairs. A perfect thing on the run in to Halloween 🎃

#inktober2025 26) Puzzling. Sticking pot sherds back together to show how the vessel once looked is a tricky puzzle. The results can be grand. We excavated this collared urn with @wessexarchaeology.bsky.social at Netheravon in 2015 www.wessexarch.co.uk/news/recordi... #archaeology #bronzeage

#inktober2025 25) Inferno. The doom painting of St Thomas’ church, Salisbury. A mouth of hell and demons that even Dante would have been proud of. Decided to add colour wash to emphasise the toasty nature of the scene. Oh and thanks to @profaliceroberts.bsky.social for the kick up the 🍑 x #heritage

The last Op Nightingale project of 2025 was sensational. We aimed to find more of the Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard AND SUCCEEDED! All finds are subject to treasure assessment so no images yet bar this ww2 medal & toy truck! #anglesey #druids #ironage #celts #heritage #archaelogy #veterans #wellbeing

Operation Nightingale& @richardosgood.bsky.social made the mistake of inviting this lot to Anglesey for Operation Ex Druid Sacrifice again & they’re beside themselves, they haven’t even slept. Right, get in the car & if there’s any fighting we’re coming straight back home again #PlaymobilInfestation

Tomorrow we embark on the last Op Nightingale fieldwork for 2025, back to the sacred lake of Llyn Cerrig Bach on Anglesey, last refuge of the druids. Will we find more of this incredible Celtic assemblage as we did in 2024? Watch this space….! #archaeology #celtic #anglesey #veterans #wellbeing

So she’s finally unveiled! A statue of the author Jane Austen now resides in the cathedral close at Winchester with her hand resting on a book on top of her 8-sided writing desk at Chawton in Hampshire. It’s is the 250th anniversary of her birth. She is buried in the cathedral. #janeausten

#inktober2025 14) Trunk. The burial of a woman from Bronze Age Denmark at Borum Eshøj. She was buried in a tree trunk coffin with a panoply of accoutrements from bronze discs & neck/arm rings to a comb , pottery vessel and box. She was in her preserved clothing and even hair remained. #archaeology

The new MOD sanctuary magazine is out and it’s rammed with archaeology!! assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68e501...

#inktober2025 12)shredded- it’s your own fault. I warned you. It’s not ME that was late in giving second dinner…. (Ps possibly my least fave Cure track. But it’s the Cure so…lovecats all round)..

#inktober2025 11)Sting. Quick one today as I’ve been out at a lovely folklore, art and archaeology session. Everything is about balancing risk and reward - for every sting there is the chance of honey!🍯

#inktober2025 10) Sweep. My dad introduced me to the incredible character that was Brusher Mills - snake catcher of the New Forest. He used to sweep the local cricket pitches to clear adders from it. By happy coincidence daughter was handling snakes as part of her vet training today. Hisssss!!! 🐍

#inktober2025 9)Heavy. Never found one of these but this is a Roman Lead bar called a ‘pig’. This one made by the Deceangli in Flintshire (hence the ‘decea’ on the side) for the Emperor Vespasian (hence the impression on the top). Weighing 6827g & made in AD76. #archaeology

#inktober2025 8)reckless Those of us of a certain age will vividly remember the lifting of the Mary Rose from the Solent and she now resides in Portsmouth back in 2005 the MOD also recovered the anchor from the vessel during dredging works for the new aircraft carriers. #archaeology #tudor #heritage

#inktober2025 7) Starfish. Starfish sites were decoy installations built across the UK in WW2 to confuse bombers. lit at night to replicate failed street blackoutsHow effective they were is open to debate. There is a good one in the Mendips for Bristol & this one at Doncaster. #heritage #archaeology

#inktober2025 6)pierce. Ok confession: I’m a massive coward. Hate needles. So am full of wonder for my friends that have been pierced for tattoos. Going back to prehistory & the most astonishing Scythian Iron Age tattoos: mythical beasts preserved by permafrost in human skin at Pazyryk. #archaeology

inktober2025 5)Deer. The antlered figure (and a deer) on the interior of the astonishing Iron Age Gundestrup cauldron in the @nationalmuseet.dk Copenhagen. Fingers crossed our team finds something similar at RAF Valley soon! 😂 #archaeology #celtic

#inktober2025 4)Murky - its AD9 and we are off into the murky depths of the Teutoburg Forest in Germania with the XIX Legion under the control of Varus and with our expert guide Arminius. Quite noisy up ahead…..#kalkriese #archaeology #Roman

#inktober2025 3) Crown. The skull of an Iron Age man from Mill Hill, Deal Kent - complete with ‘crown’. Found in 1988 and over 2000 years old, this bronze headdress has La Tène artwork incised on it too…#archaeology

#inktober2025 2)weave . On Danebury projects lots of these Iron Age weaving combs were found. You can’t beat a nice spindle whorl too (integral to weaving process) - this one came from Pembrokeshire & may allear on the next #diggingforbritain - sheep care of @butserancientfarm.co.uk ! #archaeology

#inktober2025 1) mustache (sic) I’m not feeling the sketching mojo this year so will just dip in/out. This is the rather splendid Celtic head on the Marlborough bucket in Devizes. Our dig team is returning to Anglesey - will the site yield something similar??? #ironage #celts #inktober #archaeology

Today it was my privilege to be present at the burial of Lt James Grant Allan, LCpl Gordon McPherson and 6 unidentified soldiers killed in 1915 at Loos. Superb work by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the MOD War Detectives #archaeology #veterans #firstworldwar www.gov.uk/government/n...

Our first bit of gun from the p47 excavation with @cotswoldarch.bsky.social - the top of a .50 cal machine gun. We have found lots of rounds which are safely dealt with by on-site ordnance experts Mark and Rich. Emma alone has found 11!! #archaeology #wellbeing #veterans

Superb display boards on our crash p47 crash site excavation produced by @cotswoldarch.bsky.social explaining the project mission and, most importantly, the young man we are searching for. His name is highlighted on the wall of the missing at Madingley cemetery. #archaeology #wellbeing #veterans

Footprints yesterday paw prints today! Cat prints in the 1916 concrete of the officers mess at Stow Maries aerodrome - in the setting of First World War buildings and incredible old aircraft.

In the footsteps of the Boudiccan revolt at Colchester Castle. There as a supporter of the Iceni!

And of our week 1 on the p47 dig with @cotswoldarch.bsky.social - part of one of the wheels found just before we visited the wonderful American military cemetery at Madingley to think about our pilot 🇺🇸 🇬🇧 #archaeology #veterans #wellbeing

More fascinating finds today on our p47 excavation with @cotswoldarch followed by a team visit to nearby Ridgewell commemoration Museum which keeps alive the memory of the US 🇺🇸 8th Air Force - esp the B17 crews of the 381st Bomb Group. Some incredible finds within. #archaeology #wellbeing #veterans

The glamorous world of sieving every bucket of spoil in the rain on our p47 dig with @cotswoldarch.bsky.social - this way we’ll miss nothing and get the best results. Trays filling up! #archaeology #wellbeing #veterans 🇺🇸 🇬🇧