Terry O'Connor
@osteoconnor.bsky.social
Old bloke in Yorkshire, interested in wildlife, gardening, books, classical music, archaeology, cats. Often muddy. Born at 313ppm. Opinions my own.
My new botanical & bird illustration & mental health workshops are now live-29 Aug & 4 Sep.Learn to draw plants or birds & how creative activity alters brain biochemistry to alleviate anxiety & lift mood. Incl 10% off beautiful materials & infinite access to zoom recording: workshops.emmamitchell.uk
Such an honour to be back on the #wainwrightprize shortlist with A River Running Through You. A dream project from the start, as river awareness & guardianship gather pace, the youngest generation are already way ahead of us. This is for them 🩵 Congrats to ALL the other shortlistees 😊🥰xx
Less than 1400 signatures needed to get this vital petition noticed by the government - please sign and share asap! The supermarkets need to stop being allowed to throw perfectly edible food away and instead donate it to people who need it. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/75...
Petition: Ban all supermarkets from throwing away edible food & require their donation
Everyday, UK supermarkets throw away tonnes of edible food while millions of people rely on food banks to survive. We believe this is wrong, and that food that is safe to eat should not end up in bins...
petition.parliament.uk
Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) is a grant programme supporting Dales farmers and land managers. The FiPL Farm Diaries is a podcast series exploring the impact of these projects 👇 📻 - https://ow.ly/hUNU50Yl1nB 📺 - https://youtu.be/2gFi6tdN1eQ #YorkshireDales #FiPL
A simple way to think about basic income. Wealth transfer is also a transfer of power.
(1/) Cuckoo is another species that is often associated with heathland. The BBS trend for different parts of the UK is currently showing some interesting results. It has increased in Scotland, but it has declined in England… @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social
Let us be clear stealing land and forcing people out of their homes is ethnic cleansing. Such actions are outright wrong whichever community is the victim and anyone remaining silent needs to ask themselves what they would do if it happened to a Jewish or Christian community.
Charles Keener@charleskeener.bsky.social · 20h ago
This year I am co-organizing session #18 at @tag26exeter.bsky.social with colleagues Sofia Figueiredo-Persson and Trond Lødøen with title "Life, Death and Transformation with Deer through the European Holocene". We are aiming to explore human-animal relations with a particular focus on deer. 1/
Interesting, though I would point out that the work featured here builds on a considerable amount of previous research by other people.
Live Science@livescience.com · yesterdayBrains don't always rot: Scientists may finally know how human brains have evaded decay for thousands of years www.livescience.com/chemistry/br...
For GOD'S SAKE. Massive landowners call for ban on disposable BBQs, but at the same time call for "a lifting of the ban on controlled burning" 'You oiks shouldn't burn moorland - that's OUR job' Entitled double standards. Ban both. @georgemonbiot.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
Calls to ban disposable barbecues in England and Wales over wildfire risk
Lib Dems and many Labour MPs join farmers, landowners and firefighters in urging temporary prohibition
theguardian.com
We are delighted to share that Howard Carter's excavation journals for seasons 1, 7, 8 and 9 have now been published on the Tutankhamun Spatial Archive! tutankhamun.griffith.ox.ac.uk/journals-and...
Journals and diaries
tutankhamun.griffith.ox.ac.uk
Rain: appears for five minutes ☔ Us: "Quick, get the rainy day ideas folder!" 📂 When the weather isn't playing ball, Dales Countryside Museum is the perfect place to escape the showers 👇 https://ow.ly/2p1q50Zw333 📸 Stephen Garnett | #RainyDayAdventures #YorkshireDales #FamilyDaysOut
A friend gifted me some wonderful fabric for a dress or something of the sort, but I have no sewing skills - literally none. Does anyone know someone at York who does this sort of work and that you would recommend? It would be a shame not to use it but I can't even sew a button...honestly.
FREE SEEDS!!! Mr Etty has asked me to offer parcels of 50 seed packets to 6 charitable organisations connected to horticulture. Please email sales@thomasetty.co.uk with details of your organisation. Should more than 6 organisations apply, we will pick 6 names from a hat to decide. Closing 15th Aug
“[Nationalism does nothing but teach us to hate people we’ve never met before, and take credit for accomplishments we had no part in.]”
Here's some pro advice that could be helpfully applied to scientific papers and reports. 😉
Joanne Harris@joannechocolat.bsky.social · yesterdayUnsolicited writing advice, no. 47: Here's an experiment to try: Take a paragraph of your WIP. Highlight the most important word in each sentence. Now try rewriting with the important words at the very end of the sentences. Look at the difference it makes each way, and the way it affects emphasis.
Over the last week there has been positive progress as firefighting efforts continue in the Cairngorms National Park. However, there are still hotspots. It may be some time before the fire is fully extinguished and, as we have already seen with this fire, the situation can change quickly.
Welcome to the Butterfly Buffet! Today's special: Tree sap 🦋🌳 Flower nectar is an important source of energy for many adult butterflies and moths, but some also have a taste for tree sap, aphid honeydew, rotting fruit and even animal dung! 📹: Charlotte Brooks
New opportunity: fully funded PhD position within the Cluster of Excellence HUMAN ORIGINS Investigate experimentally the evolutionary significance of transformative Stone Age techniques in this project on cognitive demands, and explore the probability of their success. Deadline: 15 September 2026.
As part of my work on sound heritage, I'm running a short survey on sounds (not music) that are important personally/culturally to people from different parts of the world. Please do help if you can 🙏 (versions in other languages will be added soon) tinyurl.com/5579y76e
Britain's only Roseate Tern colony has had its most successful season for more than 50 years, with 156 breeding pairs counted on Coquet Island, Northumberland:
Roseate Terns reach 50-year high on Coquet Island
Britain's only Roseate Tern colony is bouncing back after bird flu, with 156 breeding pairs noted in 2026.
f.mtr.cool
“Here’s a radical thought: what if migration is only a problem to those who want it to be? What if we started seeing the mass movement of people less as an existential threat and more as a simple inevitability of human existence?”
Ceuta was a carnival of anti-migrant content for hateful opportunists on the right – and a lesson for the left | Jonathan Liew
It was framed as a perfect storm because nativists dearly wanted it to be. Looking on, progressives failed to meet the moment too, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
theguardian.com
Yes. I've been called P*ki and told to fuck off home numerous times. Unless you experience it, you have no understanding of the impact. It affects you for weeks/months afterwards - or longer. It destroys self-confidence and any feeling of belonging etc. And then they tell us we're not integrating.
Today is Venn Day, in celebration of the mathematician John Venn, born on this day in 1834. To commemorate the occasion, here’s a poem in the form of a Venn Diagram.
Once again for those at the back: ‘Don’t speak ill of the dead’ is about your great aunt Elsie, who liked a long gin with a short tonic at elevenses, and blew your inheritance money betting on the horses. Speaking ill of absolute monsters is a moral obligation, actually.
In honour of #InternationalOwlDay. (It may be a bit niche [or maybe not, seeing the popularity of #TheOdyssey], but it's my favourite of any memes I've made.)
Across the UK as a whole, the BBS coverage for 2026 is looking fantastic! If things carry on the way they are, we may break the record that was set last year. Thank you so much to all BBS volunteers, especially if you have entered your data already! @btobirds.bsky.social JNCC
