Michael O'Connell
@moconnell007.bsky.social
Botanist, palaeoecologist. Research interests: long-term environmental change, local and global; also archaeology, geography, history & a spot of photography
An #IceAge masterpiece: This small carving (4.7cm) of a water #bird was made from mammoth ivory some 40,000 years ago. It's thought to be a #diver, #cormorant, or #duck. Found in the Hohle Fels cave on the Swabian Jura. It's the oldest known representation of a bird. 🧵1/2
So sad to learn of death of Prof Yoshinori Yasuda. Yasuda's research and publications, incl. several books, contributed greatly to the study of long-term environmental change & conservation. I had the good fortune to be invited to several conferences that he organised at IRCJS, #Kyoto Photo 2010-12
The Mayo Gaelic Football team are the champs after yesterday's display of grit & determination in #CrokePark. The magnificent #Mayo #GAA team just one of the many assets of that large & heritage-rich county on the @wildatlanticway.bsky.social. Maigheo abú! bsky.app/profile/galw...
Tuatha@tuatha.ie · 2w agoEnjoy a monumental meander through the lakeland landscapes of South Mayo with our exclusive itinerary guide. Complete with an illustrated map, the history and all the practical info you need, this itinerary leads you on a journey through lakes and legends in the south of County Mayo. #Ireland
"Sometimes that process means confronting questions that research has not yet resolved. In those moments, illustration can become a way of generating knowledge rather than simply communicating it." great article. www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
‘Good design takes mastery’: scientific illustrators sketch out AI’s future
Nature talks to five artists about their approaches to communicating science visually.
nature.com
#GreatSouthWall, #Dublin last evening. This 18th century construct keeps entry to #DublinPort clear of mud. Also an amenity, affording magnificent views & habitats. Large flocks of turnstones wait on the rock armour for tide to recede, terns call loudly as they fish, while guillimots bob about
I'm for the double & the best teams: An Ghaillimh [#Galway] & España [Spain]⛵☀️
Sending you some prehistoric sunshine - Neolithic and Early Bronze Age - from Ireland for #2026summersolstice
Hard to believe that WB Yeats was born so long ago (1865); yet his #poetry continues to speak to us as if it were of yesterday. Photos from earlier today in #Sandymount, Dublin, nr the poet's birthplace. Grass burned by heatwave; walnut trees laden with fruit. Happy #BastilleDay to one and all!
Even #Iceland is experiencing a heat wave with possibility of reaching 30C tomorrow! icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_...
Iceland's temperature record could be broken tomorrow
Iceland's all-time temperature record was set at Teigarhorn in 1939, when the mercury reached 30.5°C (86.9°F).
icelandmonitor.mbl.is
Spotted this tall giant bugloss (Echium) in a backyard in the middle of Ranelagh. Growing on the back wall of a shed, it appeared other worldly in the evening sunshine. Probably self-seeded. Meanwhile, in nearbyTerenure, swifts flying high presumably enjoying the exceptional temperature (30+C)
Are you a higher education teacher with #geoscience teaching #materials 📚💻to share? Why not apply for the #EGU 2026 Tertiary Education Geoscience Teaching Materials Award and receive up to €1000? 📆 Apply by 27 July 2026 Learn more here: egu.eu/95J8WA 📷 Vincent Felde on https://imaggeo.egu.eu/
The strand at #Silverstand this pm packed with swimmers taking advantage of the heatwave. Nearby, freshly eroded drumlin face has provided new nesting sites for a substantial #sandmartin population which is busy feeding a new brood
#Salthill this evening at about 5 pm. Crowds enjoying the #heatwave, completely oblivious to the threatening sky out west at the mouth of #GalwayBay. Within 2 hours, the promised thunder and lightning rolled in over Galway Bay and the Burren hills but so far relatively little rain
“We’ve only had 114 years to do something, let our kids sort it out!”
The RIA is delighted to announce that four projects will be supported under the Nowlan Digitisation grant scheme for 2026. Read more about the projects on the RIA website: www.ria.ie/2026/06/02/f...
Beautiful image for the summer solstice!
NCC (北米日本研究資料調整協議会)@nccjapaninfo.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt’s the first day of summer! ☀️ What’s more summery than a celebration of the season with fireworks? 🎆 Enjoy this Utagawa Toyokuni print of fireworks at Ryōgoku Bridge, dating to c. 1820! Held by Harvard Art Museum: harvardartmuseums.org/collections/...
Fortunate to be among 30 GGA participants on the @galway-geol-ass.bsky.social fieldtrip last weekend. Areas of outstanding natural beauty explored incl. parts of Joyce Country & Western Lakes #Geopark. Míle buíochas to leader Brian McConnell, @geolsurvie.bsky.social & @mayocountycouncil.bsky.social
Galway Geological Assoc (GGA)@galway-geol-ass.bsky.social · 2mo agoLast Saturday, GGA summer fieldtrip, day 1, explored complex #geology of S #Mayo trough (Ordovician sandstones mudstones ignimbrites) led by Dr Brian McConnell @geolsurvie.bsky.social. Explored Leenane to Louisburgh via Doo Lough, & then coastal area west of Mweelrea. Summer finally arrived, TG!
#Bloomsday2026 was marked this afternoon in #CharlieByrnes bookshop by Prof Brian Arkins @uniofgalway.bsky.social speaking to James Joyce: a political life. Needless to say, Joyce's wife #NoraBarnacle, who was born & grew up in #Galway city, was recalled by the speaker & several in the audience
#Salthill Monday morning In the Bay, Balmoral, a Fred Olsen cruise ship, sits in the calm waters of #GalwayBay with the karstic Burren Hills as a background. On land, students of local schools explore the beach at Grattan Road. All seems in order in these parts @wildatlanticway.bsky.social
Vic O’Sullivan (The Guardian) writes a lyrical piece on Joyce Country and Western Lakes Unesco Geopark that runs from the L. Corrib / Mask lowlands to Killary Fjord @wildatlanticway.bsky.social. It describes several features of this, up to now, largely hidden landscape on the Galway/Mayo border
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 2mo agoWest Ireland’s magical landscape: where limestone rivers, Hollywood legend and Irish myth converge
Bird's Eye Speedwell, just a beautiful little Irish wildflower 💙 Find out more about it here through the eyes of John Feehan: youtu.be/CDI6xIoE7KY?... @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
We also describe for the 1st time the secondary phloem of Hermanophyton and we (re) discuss its habit (large liana vs. monocaulous tree) & possible affinities. We... do not actually answer any of the questions - but you were warned in the paper's title! Happy #FossilFriday 😬🌿⛏️ 3/3
#NewBlog '"I am of Ireland": Mother Ireland between history and myth.' In this month's blog, Terry Clavin explores the impact of a fourteenth-century manuscript on how Ireland was symbolised in twentieth-century poetry and politics. www.dib.ie/blog/i-am-ir... #DIBLives
#Iceland odyssey comes to an end but the wonderful memories of the past several days live on. 'Sun Voyager' on the northern shore of Reykjavik encapsulates the spirit of the country & its peoples
#Reykjavik has a lot to offer by way of #museums. Aptly named 871±2 Museum should not be missed esp if interested in the early settlement of Iceland (late 9th century onwards) by the Viking world of the time, which very much includes #Ireland as stressed throughout the #museum
Day 6 #IGA #Iceland #geology fieldtrip. Continued east on southern ring road that runs on flat outwash plains between the high ice-capped mountains [Skaftafell Nat Pk /Vatnajökull] & the Atlantic. Spectacular glacial features. A deluge in am; welcome sunshine in pm! Photos from Höfn looking W c. 8pm
