Andrew Beaven
@andrewbeaven.bsky.social
History (mostly local - London), nature (mostly local). Also posting on cricket as @TheTeesra.com, but no sport or coaching via this account.
#TenMinMerlin #TenMinuteMerlin from yesterday — Hainault Forest Country Park, Greater London…but right on the Essex border, so birds might not be Londoners… Common chaffinch Eurasian blue tit European robin Eurasian blackcap Eurasian jackdaw Eurasian blackbird Ring-necked parakeet 1/2
“…some of the most valuable human work lies not in making things new, but in the patient, humble, disciplined practice of helping what matters to endure.” Now there’s a line to live by!
Should you embrace your inner stonemason? Why our constant desire for change needs a rethink
In a society obsessed with reform, change and progress, we often overlook the essential work of maintenance.
theconversation.com
The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 3mo agoIn a society obsessed with reform, change and progress, we often overlook the essential work of maintenance.
How a Spitalfields blog became bigger than Keanu Reeves. And why, if you want to know London, you need to know @thegentleauthor.bsky.social Wonderful tours (literally, full of wonder), wonderful cake! www.the-londoner.co.uk/how-a-spital...
How a Spitalfields blog became bigger than Keanu Reeves
Plus: a must-see Spanish master and a West End strike in our new culture edition
the-londoner.co.uk
I did enjoy Jef Page’s presentation on schools in Ilford for @ilfordhistory.bsky.social My grandmother had aviaries in her garden (Lockwood, then Belmont Rd) where she raised birds (e.g. budgerigars) for sale and shows - I have vague memories of going to shows at the Thompson Rooms in mid-1960s.
Ilford Historical Society (@ilfordhistory.bsky.social)
The Bluesky account for the Ilford Historical Society. Posts by @ColinRuneckles Website: https://ilfordhistoricalsociety.weebly.com/
ilfordhistory.bsky.social
To the rather wonderful #GardenMuseum in Lambeth this afternoon. Many interesting exhibits, but I was taken by a copy of "Rus in Urbe: or, Flowers that thrive in London gardens and smoky towns", an 1886 gardening book by author and artist Mary Eliza Haweis.
From my Google feed, today, a provocatively truncated quote from an article in The Economic Times. - Chinese proverb of the day: 'It's better to walk thousands of miles than to read thousands of...' #ThoughtForTheDay #FillInTheGap"
#TenMinuteMerlin from yesterday — Hainault Forest Country Park, Chigwell, Essex. Merlin did not pick up the pheasant, calling from the copse on the adjoining golf course, the green woodpeckers on the grasslands on the other side of the woods, nor could it ID the biplane from the local airfield!
From a laid hedge in #HainaultForestCountryPark for #HedgeRowChallenge — guelder rose, hawthorn, field maple. #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
Great day on the #QueenElizabethOlympicPark #QEOP today, volunteering with the #ParkChampions. Met an original calypsonian who sang with Lord Kitchener, a former motorcycle #speedway racer, and the widow of a Hollywood great. And the sun shone all day!
The Government has a duty to protect people from legal bullying. The first step? A clear commitment to stamping out SLAPPs in the King’s Speech. Silence helps abusers. Action protects us all. #StopSLAPPs
Shout out to a couple of wonderful #IndependentBookshops we visited during a recent trip to Cornwall. 1/3
Not rare, especially in the fields & hedges near me, but I do love the first proper showing of the spring of blackthorn under a sunny sky. #wildflowerhour #HainaultForest
If it takes 4 hours for a ranger and three volunteers to construct 8m of dead hedge, how long will it take for someone to pull it apart… Hedge building at #FairlopWaters with #VisionRedbridge Nature Conservation.
Back at the Olympic Park - first day this year that has properly felt like spring! #ParkChampions #QEOP
An important read from Dr Amanda Cole, for anyone who wants to understand #Tourettes 🫶
The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 5mo agoI often feel that I live in my body alongside another person who wants to continually move and say things.
“War has always been a test of human skill and courage, not of gender. A bullet doesn’t care which body it shatters and nor should history.”
The Conversation UK@uk.theconversation.com · 8mo agoA person’s gender does not matter on the battlefield, and history agrees.
"Otters in the Roding Otters (says a London correspondent) are more numerous than many people imagine. They work the River Roding, for instance, as close to London as Buckhurst Hill and Wanstead Park." - Ilford Recorder, April 27th, 1906 🦦 @paulpowlesland.bsky.social @wrenwildlife.bsky.social
River Roding Trust@riverroding.bsky.social · 2y agoCelebrating the arrival of the River Roding onto Bluesky by posting this incredible video that has proven that otters are now living on the lower Roding (in LB Redbridge), taken from a police helicopter!
Between 3–5am in the morning, before the tube opens, tens of thousands of Londoners are already commuting to and from work. Who are they? Fascinating piece from Katharine Swindells for @londonermag.bsky.social
Meet London's earlybirds
Between 3–5am in the morning, before the tube opens, tens of thousands of Londoners are already commuting to and from work. Who are they?
the-londoner.co.uk
Brilliant talk today from @lucytsmith.bsky.social for @fovm.bsky.social . Fascinating insight into the process of creating the illustrations, many for @rbgkew.bsky.social
Friends of Valentines Mansion@fovm.bsky.social · 12mo agoOctober 14 botanical illustrator Lucy T Smith will use highlights from her 30-year career to talk about the excitement of working at Kew Gardens continuing a long tradition of collaboration with botanists to document and share discoveries in plant science. www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/ilf...
Walking #StCuthbertsWay, Melrose, Scottish Birders to Holy Island, Northumberland. Despite the claim on the notice, Wideopen Hill is _not_ the midway point of the walk (although the summit is the highest point).
To the #MiningArtGallery at the #AucklandProject in Bishop Auckland, County Durham. aucklandproject.org/attraction/m... The Pit Road paintings of Norman Corrnish were especially evocative normancornish.com
Fascinating visit to @durhamcathedral.bsky.social for the #MagnaCarta and the North exhibition and Nicola Anthony’s #TheWordsThatBindUs artwork.
The Words that Bind Us — Nicola Anthony - contemporary Artist
The Words That Bind Us is a light installation artwork by contemporary sculptor Nicola Anthony, at Durham Cathedral. A glowing river of public-contributed words explores justice, democracy, and equali...
nicolaanthony.co.uk
for #wildflowerhour #fruits — guelder rose, rose hips (dog rose), haws & sloes. Local blackberries already gone over — we have been eating them since June, and those that are left are mostly dry & shrivelled!
Are there any #typewriter #skystorians on here? Saw this beauty yesterday, and wondered who needed the special keys at the top of the keyboard — £1/1d; £19/10d; £100/.; £1000/1s; £10,000/10s. Google Picture search suggests it is a Royal, but has not helped with the currency keys.
Visit to #EssexWildlife #FingringhoeWick. Highlight was nightingale, cuckoo, and turtle dove all calling at the same time. Shame we can’t post audio files, yet. 🎶
Watched #OceanWithDavidAttenborough this afternoon. Scenes of bottom trawling were devastating. But there is hope. 🐋🐬🐟🐠🌊 #DavidAttenborough #OceanFilm youtu.be/IzG9AwlypaY
OCEAN WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH | BOTTOM TRAWLING OFFICIAL CLIP | IN CINEMAS NOW | Altitude Films
YouTube video by Altitude Films
youtu.be
A slightly ragged winged green hairstreak, Callophrys rubi — looked like a walking leaf when I first spotted it —demonstrating how that green underwing coloration is produced by diffraction of light falling onto the intricate wing scales.
