Nice to see George Buck’s unique 1819-31 lock ground-sluice control mechanism at Carreghofa Top Lock on the Montgomeryshire Canal. You only see these in drought conditions now, or if the canal is drained for maintenance. They were manufactured in cast-iron at Coalbrookdale.

Fabulous recent early music concert here from the Jupiter Ensemble. Takes about 3 mins before the concert actually starts so scroll the playback through to 3 mins.

I never played the original Back Flag RPG game back in 2013 so it was nice to pick up the 2026 version with all of the graphical, gameplay and mission additions. It sure looks good 😯 Quite enjoying the 18th c. pirate life. A brig shouldn’t be able to take on a man-o-war ship 🙄 but we managed it 😁

A future game release that looks interesting. It is based on the Mabinogion tales and uses Welsh as the first language with English subtitles.

Front garden seems to have turned into a Pheasant family nursery

Fabulous recent early music concert here from the Jupiter Ensemble. Takes about 3 mins before the concert actually starts so scroll the playback through to 3 mins.

Excellent blog from the special collections team at King's College Cambridge on a John Dowland manuscript, in his 400th anniversary year... kcctreasures.com/2026/07/15/l...

Great to see the late 16th/17th c. mill being excavated by Border Archaeology at Pentreheylin, Powys ahead of river channel restoration for a new nature reserve on the River Vyrnwy. Huge ramp on the riverside and the waterwheel pit is waterlogged so high chance of timber preservation.

Hi #PortfolioDay! I'm an Architectural Illustrator and 3D Artist from Edinburgh, Scotland. I work with historians and archaeologists to reconstruct our nation's built heritage assets using archaeological and measured survey data and by developing detailed 3D models. Website: bobmarshall.co.uk

The eBook of our new #BSBIHandbook 'Whitebeams, Rowans and Service Trees of Britain and Ireland' is out now & it's only £10 (print book RRP = £35). 282 pages long & covers 68 taxa, all of which will be there on your phone/PC/laptop once you buy this eBook! Lead author is BSBI Sorbus expert Tim Rich.

Our mosaic is having a final clean and the terracotta tiles consolidated (darker in this photo), before we begin lifting tomorrow:

Dragonflies on the canal today…Four spotted Chaser, Ruddy Darter pairs, female Emperor Dragonflies laying eggs on submerged plants, male Broad bodied Chaser. Not sure how well the egg laying will go with the water vanishing fast.

Loads of early leaf fall around here as trees try to survive the lack of water. Also noticed lots of garden birds, particularly the blackbirds, have taken to sheltering in the canalside vegetation now that the water is lower as it’s much cooler there and they are right next to to a water source.

www.audiobulb.com/SITE.html SITE is a collaborative conceptual series curated by Driftworks and Audiobulb Records inviting artists to recreate their personal perception of a location, blending environmental sounds and imagery to capture the unique ‘audio-geography’ of our world.

[OUT NOW] 𝙈𝙞𝙭𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙞𝙜𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙨 𝙄𝙄𝙄 is the latest from @faxmusik.bsky.social and @brauliolam13.bsky.social, the album marks the closing of a trilogy that began in 2020, and now, six years later, comes to a shimmering conclusion. 🎧 BUY/LISTEN → dragonseyerecordings.bandcamp.com/album/mixed-...

the 20-somethingth annual 12k summer sale is here. 40% off your order with code: 12ksummer26 12kmusic.bandcamp.com

Seeing all of the wildfires in Wales on the news reminds me of the fire on top of Craig Rhiwarth hillfort at Llangynog in April 2020. I popped up after the Covid lockdowns for a look and many of the recorded 170 round house foundations were clearly visible after the heather had burned off.

It’s like the thistles know when there is a good breeze around. They have all popped their seeds at the same time.

Dragonfly highlights on the Montgomeryshire Canal today - female Banded Demoiselle, female Broad bodied Chaser, female Southern Hawker, male Ruddy Darter.

Never seen the Montgomeryshire Canal so low. Clearly the canal feeders from the rivers are low on water too - without them there’s no canal. It’s just 10cm deep now & you can walk across it. Fish are already limited to deeper water sections. There’s some abstraction by farmers too which doesn’t help

Always love this bit of Hadrians Wall at Limestone Corner because of its time capsule moment displayed in the remains. The quarrying of the ditch north of the wall was abandoned & you can see the early 2nd c. wedge holes cut into the hard quartz dolerite to split the blocks along quartz veins

Sundown out the back on our hottest day so far here

The trick with dragonfly monitoring on a very hot day is to pick a couple of shaded spots & just see what lands or flys by rather than roasting out in the open. You will see plenty of species. Loads of Emperor, Brown Hawker, Four spotted Chaser, Common Darter, Ruddy Darter, Azure, Large Red & more

Never realised that Prof. David Petts @davidpetts1.bsky.social of Durham University had written this excellent 2009 book on The Early Medieval Church in Wales. Picked up a good condition copy on EBay.

Lots of Pike fish resting up in the heat today in the Montgomeryshire Canal

Moorhens mooching in the increasingly shallow Montgomeryshire Canal. You will be able to cross the canal without getting your feet wet soon.

Even the Herons look hot and bothered today

Watched the first two episodes of the fantasy drama The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin. It is based on the 1980’s novels by Stephen R Lawhead which I haven’t read. If you take it as complete fantasy hokum its actually a good watch if a bit disorienting at first www.imdb.com/title/tt2373...

It’s that time of the year out the front. Windows closed to avoid the hay dust when cutting and its 31 degrees 🥵

Love the contemporary stained glass by Alan Davis in Penmachno Church

This high status medieval grave slab in Penmachno church was found when the original church was demolished in the 17th c. It is later 12th/13th c. in date & assoc. with Iorwerth ab Owain Gwynedd. Iorwerth was killed in battle at Pennant Melangell & his son went on to become Llywelyn the Great.

The 5th-6th c. Carausius stone in Penmachno Church. It includes one of the earliest examples of Christian symbology in Wales with a staurogram cross. The Carausius mentioned is not the usurper Roman emperor of 286-296 CE from Britain but someone using the same name & recalling a British emperor 1/2👇

Had to visit the place & the replica Cantiorix stone (the original is in Penmachno Church) which carries the earliest inscribed mention of the fledgling kingdom of Gwynedd (as latin Venedotis) in the 5th-6th c CE. On old maps this spot is Beddau Gwyr Ardudwy - Graves of the men of Ardudwy. 1/2👇

A walk along the Snowdonia Slate Trail from Penmachno to the Conwy Falls and back before it gets too hot.

They had secondhand books going for a donation in St. Tudclud’s Church in Penmachno today and appropriately, given the wealth of Welsh history within the church and chuchyard, this 2007 revised edition of John Davies’s A History of Wales has found a home 🙂

If you look closely you should be able to see what is known as the ‘Roman Bridge’ over the Afon Machno. It is festooned in Ivy high above the gorge & difficult to see at first. It is more likely to be a 16th/17th c pack horse bridge despite lying on the Sarn Helen Roman road route.

The 16th century Pont Tai Hirion bridge on the Migneint. It is the forerunner of the modern B road that crosses from Bala to Llan Ffestiniog.

Thought I had spotted the Gwiber on the Afon Machno this morning, but no, it’s just a slate ghost 🙂

This was a good lightweight travel book published in 1990 that I read while exploring the Eden Valley. It’s amazing how much things have changed in just the 36 years since it was written.

Missing the fantastic limestone flora of Westmorland already but the woodland & heath flora of the Breidden is always changing…Enchanter’s nightshade (surely one of the best wild flower names 🙂), vivid blues of Tufted Vetch, Wood Sage, Harebell, Bell Heather. Nice when you meet the Fallow Deer too.

Some iridescent clouds around tonight

Good to see Flowering Rush spreading along both sides of the Montgomeryshire Canal near Four Crosses this year - perhaps helped by the dredging in winter 2024/25 #WildflowerHour

The Nab, Wild Boar Fell

Devonians were horrified to learn last week of plans for a massive AI data centre near Great Torrington, north Devon. The proposals from company XLinks Ltd would cover 850 acres of farmland. But who owns the land? I decided to investigate. 1/ www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Castle Folds Iron Age/ Romano-British settlement in the Great Asby Scar Nature Reserve. An unusually heavily defended and remote Brigantian site with apparent evidence of hostile action to collapse the outer wall face. Whether attacked by a Roman force during a revolt or internal strife is unclear.

Thought I would give this Italian film a go tonight. Based on Vivaldi’s historical involvement with Venice’s Ospedale della Pietà, a foundation designed to care for abandoned & orphaned children, & the all female orchestra he worked with in 1716. The fictional Cecilia is the historical Anna Maria

Latest medieval period historical fiction read…

A 16km walk along the River Eden from Outhgill to Kirkby Stephen & back passing the Pendragon & Lammerside castles. Pendragon was restored in the 17th century by Lady Anne Clifford as well as the local church & numerous other castles in the area. Sadly her successor was less conservation conscious.

On the show this week: @belovedofoizys.bsky.social celebrates the launch of her book 'Gladiators in the Greek World: How a Roman Blood Sport Took Ancient Greece By Storm' with a gladiator themed episode: over a dozen internet 'facts' about gladiators, all demolished in under an hour!

Out on the limestone common near Nateby today. Always nice to see the dusty pink variety of Yarrow (Achillea) rather than the usual white. Also lots of Betony, Marsh Woundwort and Ground Elder.