Well unless I have this identification badly wrong this is the first example of a Willow Emerald Damselfly (male) recorded in Wales ! They are a new colonist seen mainly in SE England, but this one is on the Montgomeryshire Canal. Can someone from @britishdragonflies.bsky.social confirm please ?

Wild bird numbers continue to fall in UK with some species in ‘dramatic freefall’

Canalside

Lovely mackerel skies first thing this morning

No chance of watching the Mozart proms on BBC4 when Lola wants to play…😁

Glowing

First time our quince tree in the hedge has produced any fruit in 24 years. They are really hard and not suitable for eating without coring and cooking - usually for jams.

Canalside

Just reminded myself of my crazy lockdown project March to July 2020 - to produce a pollen microscope slide of every flowering plant that appeared within 2km of the house along the Montgomery Canal towpath. 104 days and as many pollen. I was hot on that slide prep by the end of it 🙂

It’s the first time watching #strictlycomedancing where I don’t recognise any of the ‘celebrities’. I have obviously reached that age !

And from early music listening this morning we come bang up to date with Hinako Omori’s lush analog electronic and vocal compositions on the Houndstooth label. She is performing at St. Alkmund’s Church, Shrewsbury on 24/10/25 tickets here skiddle.com/deeplink?typ... or via @sygigs.bsky.social

Gosh just look at the art and design put into this CD. Some of the early music CD’s put out in the 90’s early 2000’s were packed full of booklets and artwork. This one transports you back to 17th century Rome and the Palazzo Barberini with the music of Stefano Landi by the L’Arpeggiata ensemble 😍

On a rainy morning I’m going back through the Early Music CDs from the 1990’s and finding some forgotten gems like this Music of Medieval Spain album by the Florata ensemble and their later companion album that explores the Medieval Sephardic Heritage🎶 #earlymusic #medieval

Ahh great 🙂 It’s always nice when you chip in some money for a worthy restoration project and it actually works out. Looking forward to hearing the Union Chapel historic organ playing again 🎶

Very autumnal along the Montgomeryshire Canal today

Ahh great, there’s a new Michelle Paver supernatural/exploration novel on the way in October 👍 Still think Dark Matter was the best of her last 3 books

Grey Wagtail among the fallen Chestnuts

Thought I would revisit the 2008 drama The Devil’s Whore on Channel 4. There aren’t many good Civil War period dramas but this one had a great story arc and characters. You can watch it here www.channel4.com/programmes/t...

📱🌱 Plant identification apps are booming – but which one is the best? And how reliable are the results? 🤔 Our researchers collected over 5,000 photos of 560 Swiss plant species from 85 habitat types and tested the most popular apps.🔎 Here are the findings: shorturl.at/lD0Cl

🎊We are very pleased to announce that our paper investigating what we think Prototaxites, the mysterious giant of the Devonian landscape, actually was is now available as a pre-print on @biorxivpreprint.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

There’s an interesting series of 5 free online paleobotany lectures via the Oxford University Botanic Garden this autumn. You can book all 5 lectures here (scroll down webpage to ‘Get your tickets now’ button) www.obga.ox.ac.uk/event/dr-san... #paleobotany

Companion

Nice to see Grey Wagtails flitting along the Montgomeryshire Canal over the weekend. I think the muddy margins due to low water levels have attracted them in for feeding.

Rounding off an afternoon of great music with Les Amazons d’Afrique - Musow Dance. An infectious mix of pumping African influenced rhythms and beautiful vocal harmonies - propels you through a dreary afternoon - Lola approves 😁

More posts like this would raise the spirits. Here’s mine for a bit of inspiration and peace this Sunday afternoon:

This discovery is highlighted in the U-M Museum of Natural History. Although Beck's pivotal specimen isn't displayed, you can see this giant Archaeopteris trunk (UMMP 13837)--my favorite fossil in the gallery.

Nice gentle background accompaniment to a lazy Sunday afternoon. I can visualise the swirling court of Charles 1st at a dance and social evening in Oxford during the Civil War 🎶

One for @skionar.bsky.social

📣📣 Call For Donations! 💰💰 I am raising funds to finance the 2025 'glacier subfossil wood' field campaign! Do you want to continue hearing tales about glaciers and trees? 🧊🌲💍 I need your help! 🤍 To learn more: wemakeit.com/projects/gla... 🙏🙏 Please share it widely! 🙏🙏

Gills fiery red Gladiolus always puts on a show this time of year. I must get more Dahlias growing next year. Gill was great at growing Dahlias and used to win village show awards with them.

I thought I would pop some acorns from the oldest and tallest Oak in the Vyrnwy confluence into some seed pots and see what happens. Spiky side up, 1” deep in well draining compost but keep wet. I’m leaving them outside as they need a cold stretch too. Wait and see 🙂

Blimey 😍 That was just the best version of Bohemian Rhapsody I have ever heard on The Last night of The Proms #BBCProms

Nice out the back…

Lovely walk with friends from the Border Walks group that is an offshoot of the Shrewsbury live music scene community. Up to Llynclys Common & around Llanymynech Hill on a 7 mile circular from the canalside heritage centre. I did this walk with Gill in Feb 2024 & it was so odd doing it without her

Nicely presented intro. to Cooksonia and the earliest land plant fossils by Dr Joe Botting from our Mid Wales Fossil Group. This is his first go at educational short videos so do give him a like and a subscribe on YouTube if you enjoy it youtu.be/KFHYjFEC1Zg?... #FossilFriday

Some lovely specimens of the earliest vascular land plants collected last weekend with the Mid Wales Fossil Group from forestry track exposures near Bishops Castle. We think there are probably 2 Cooksonia species here in the Silurian rocks. There were also tiny fragments of Eurypterids #FossilFriday

Nice out the back..

🏰✨ Free Walk & Talk! ✨🏰 📅 Sat 13 Sept 2025 | ⏰ 2–4 pm 📍 Caergwrle Castle, Flintshire 📩 Reserve your spot: [email protected] #SwallowtailArchaeology #QueenOfLostCastles #ResearchWritingReviewReach #CaergwrleCastle #WelshHistory #CastlesOfWales #LegendLadyLandscape #medievalsky

I see the late 90s trip-hop influenced album Extra Virgin by Olive is getting an airing on TV adverts with the You’re Not Alone single. Had to dig it out for a listen again…still a great album 👍

Reflections

Do listen to this: William Lawes’ setting of a paraphrase of the 13th Psalm. youtu.be/0YSPay-JClo

That's it for another year. Brilliant archaeology. Brilliant people. Friends who I've known for over 20 years who are basically family. And the oldest standard gauge railway in Scotland. Well before Carron Ironworks in 1810.

Forgot it was the lunar eclipse tonight at 7.45pm but here’s a quick snap at 8.15 with 50% coverage

Missed it, I was in the shower 🤣 When the apocalypse arrives I will no doubt be ill prepared 🙄🙂

Loads of fragments of the earliest plants to colonise land 433 million years ago from yesterday’s collecting trip with the Mid Wales Fossil Group. They are so tiny you need a hand lens or microscope to see them but we had one lovely clear branching specimen and there are lots more in the fragments

Listening to the swansong album just released by Saint Etienne - International. A joyous way to end their musical journey together 👏🎶

Lovely quiet morning listening to the debut album by the French ensemble Pres De Votre Oreille of William Lawes music. Piercingly beautiful tracks throughout 😍 William Lawes was a musician in the Court of Charles 1st & tragically killed in the siege of Chester in 1645, but his music lives on 🎶🙂

Bury Ditches hillfort, Shropshire earlier this evening.

What an amazing day out with the Mid Wales Fossil Group at a new locality for the earliest land plants in the UK from Silurian rocks near Bury Ditches hillfort. Never thought I would find an example of Cooksonia but there it is, so small, fragile & just 1cm tall. Reconstruction image with spore caps

Sad to hear that Peter Crew, the former Snowdonia/Eryri National Park Archaeologist through to the 1990s, died earlier in August. Best known for his research and fieldwork on early iron metallurgical sites in North Wales. I learned a lot about iron smelting and smithing from Pete.