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Joey Pickard

@bootlegbryos.bsky.social
1K followers 1.6K following 320 posts

Your friendly neighbourhood peat and moss person I mostly work on habitat restoration and upland research in Wales for @havenecology.bsky.social , @adfernatur.bsky.social Swansea Uni & @peatlandcymru.bsky.social, views my own etc

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Reposted by Joey Pickard
Leah @leah.myatproto.social · 12/09/2026
I guess that's enough yelling online for a Saturday, here's a meme. I'm going go gambol in the fields and frolic in the buttercups or some shit.
a scene of someone pitching a tent near a vista, caption reads:
Treat your body like a data center
consume as much water and literature as possible
upset local city councils with your existence
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Best for Britain @bestforbritain.org · 15/09/2026
BREAKING NEWS Dan Thomas has stepped down as Reform UK’s leader in Wales after he was arrested at the weekend.
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Peatland ECR Action Team @peatlandecr.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
🌿Submissions for the 2027 #PeatCalendar are now open! Please send us your best shots of #flora in #wetlands and #peatlands. 💚All proceeds support early-career researchers! ✉️ peatecr@gmail.com 📸 Deadline for submission September 30, 2025
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Mike Peacock @peatymike.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
In "niche peatland arguments no one cares about" I'm making the case that we need to repopularise the term "Mersey Mosses" for what most people call the "Manchester Mosses". www.researchgate.net/publication/...
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Beetle people of the internet - Pseudovadonia livida? I pulled it from a spiders web so it’s a bit drained and doesn’t quite fit perfectly as that in my mind. Really gold in person so did cf Orsodacne but with body 9mm ended up back at longhorn. Any advice? #beetle #entomologyi
A beetle
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British Dragonfly Society @britishdragonflies.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
A quick reminder that it's easy to submit records of your #dragonfly & #damselfly sightings online. We recommend irecord which has a special form for easy entry of multiple odonata sightings at the same spot. Your local dragonfly recorder will see it & if you include a photo they can help with ID.
irecord.org.uk
Home | iRecord
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Had a fantastic day talking all things peat at the Gower Show!
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
If you’re in South Wales and fancy coming to speak to us about the peatlands of Gower at the Gower Show tomorrow, come and find Adfer!
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People & Planet @peopleandplanet.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
In 2023, Swansea University committed to banning fossil fuel companies from advertising jobs and careers on campus. ❌ And now they're rolling back on that promise. This is a shameful back-step in leadership. We can't let them get away with it. ✊
thecanary.co
Swansea University backslides on commitment not to work with the fossil fuel industry
The University of Swansea has U-turned on a 2023 commitment to cut careers and recruitment ties with fossil fuel companies.
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Mike Shewring @mikeshewring.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Wrote a bit more about hill tracks ! - open.substack.com/pub/mikeshew...
open.substack.com
Everybody Builds. Nobody Unbuilds
What 5,190 km of hill track tells us about who the uplands are really for — and why we should start talking about taking some of them out
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Definitely a survey highlight for me for the past week, this lesser bladderwort in flower on Cors Goch Trawsfynydd that I saw with my @peatlandcymru.bsky.social NPAP hat on. Fantastic site & great to see the Life funded bunds holding well. I also managed to see (& not take a great photo of) a curlew
Lesser bladderwort in flower Lesser bladderwort flower close upA curlew
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Really nice good news story from our Welsh peatland restoration area
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
A very rewarding day to be out not only delivering training for BSG Ecology on peat and habitat management, but to find water vole latrines on a forest to bog site that in November 2023 looked like this, a bare stump flipped landscape. An incredible change in only 2.5 years!
The first water vole record for Cregan HRAPeatland restoration at Cregan HRARewet peat at Cregan HRA
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
Bee people of Bluesky, who’s this? From my Swansea garden today. The tail looked so yellow in person I’ve confused myself on a possible ID. iRecord is telling me it’s a red tailed. What do we think? #bee #entomology
A beeA beeA bee
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Nice record of a female notch-horned cleg from a peat restoration site this week with wonderful banding over the eyes. If the bites weren’t so painful I’d like horseflies a lot more. Most people very sensibly swat them away rather than letting them get you so you can take photos for ID
Notch horned clegg, a horsefly
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Mike Shewring @mikeshewring.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
1/🛰️🧠 New open-access paper! We built a deep-learning (U-Net) model to automatically map surfaced vehicle "hill tracks" across the UK uplands from 25 cm aerial imagery — the first spatially comprehensive assessment of their extent. 🔓 doi.org/10.1002/2688...
doi.org
Vehicle tracks in the <fc>UK</fc> uplands vary in occurrence with land use and overlap with peatlands and protected areas
Surfaced vehicle tracks are widespread across GB uplands, yet their extent and environmental footprint have until now been poorly quantified. Using remote sensing and a semi-automated detection model...
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I’m trying to get much more systematic in my biological recording effort, and doing at least three incidental records a week. I know it’s not much but it gets you into the habit outside of survey spreadsheet submission. Highlight (or lowlight…) so far, two Pholcus phalangioides in the pub toilet
One of the Pholcus phalangioides resident in the men’s loo of the uplands tavern, Swansea. No YOU have a strange hobby.
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Reposted by Joey Pickard
Marie Le Conte @youngvulgarian.marieleconte.com · 07/07/2026
"waaaaaaaaah, oh wah wah waahhhhhhh" - Nigel Farage, 62
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Running through some greenhouse gas data for my peat sites in South Wales. There’s a special kind of feeling that comes from running an entire R script with no errors returned. I’ve never done heroin but I imagine it’s a very similar sensation
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
swyddi.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/VacancyInfor... There is a new role out for the Welsh National Peatland Action Programme (NPAP) for all you peaty people who are looking for a role in GIS/Remote Sensing/Modelling. Lots of very positive peatland action in Wales and a great time to get involved!
An aerial view of Cors Fochno, a raised bog in mid wales. The picture is advertising a job as specialist advisor for modelling and remote sensing
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
🤩 #AdferMawndirCymru yn cefnogi gyrfaoedd! Gwyndaf - newid gyrfa i hyfforddi ar fawndir, nawr i gynorthwyo prosiectau cyffrous @YGCymru. 🤩 #WalesPeatlandAction supporting careers! Gwyndaf - a career change, NPAP peatland training, now to assist on exciting @nationaltrust.org.uk Cymru projects.
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Diolch - @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social - Thanks Cyflwyniadau agoriadol / Plenary sessions of #PeatlandsUnderPressure conference now available: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHSA... Emma Hinchliffe Gweinidog LlC @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social WG Minister James Cooke Mannon Lewis @natreswales.bsky.social
youtube.com
#PeatConf26 | Putting Peat Centre Stage in Wales
YouTube video by IUCN UK Peatland Programme
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Amser parti’r Llysnafeddog Cyfog Ci! Dog Vomit Slime Mould party time! 🎉 Ymgasgla’r organebau un gell i ffurfio clwstwr i fwydo ac atgenhedlu. Single-celled organisms gather in a blob for food and reproduction. See: youtu.be/B79Z56vl02A?... pic @bootlegbryos.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Gwych gweld Gweinidog Llywodraeth Cymru, @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social, yn ategu ei eiriau yn #PeatConf2026 efo ymrwymiad i wireddu nod y Rhaglen Adfer Mawndir genedlaethol. www.llyw.cymru/mwy-na-10-mi... @natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social yn y gynhadledd youtu.be/eQX1qzqt6PM
llyw.cymru
Mwy na £10 miliwn i adfer natur ledled Cymru, wrth i'r Gweinidog nodi blaenoriaethau amgylcheddol a gwledig | LLYW.CYMRU
Heddiw , mae'r Gweinidog dros Wydnwch Gwledig a Chynaliadwyedd, Llyr Gruffydd, wedi nodi ei flaenoriaethau ar gyfer gweithredu ar yr hinsawdd, natur a chymunedau gwledig ledled Cymru.
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Senedd today – great to see Welsh Government Minister, @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social, follow up his address #PeatConf26, with commitment to deliver NPAP #WalesPeatlandAction. www.gov.wales/more-10m-res... @natreswales.bsky.social At the @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social conference 9/6 youtu.be/eQX1qzqt6PM
gov.wales
More than £10m to restore nature across Wales as Minister sets out environmental and rural priorities | GOV.WALES
The Minister for Rural Resilience and Sustainability, Llyr Gruffydd, has today set out his priorities for action on climate, nature and rural communities across Wales.
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
💧 Zen… Yfwr Gwlith – the (dew) Drinker Yfed gwlith mae’r lindysyn, a dyma’r gwyfyn – natur yn ffynnu ar leithder a llonyddwch y mawndir. 💧 The caterpillar drinks dew drops, and here’s the moth – nature staying cool on wet peatlands. diolch 📷 Becca 📷 thanks #Pumlumon @natreswales.bsky.social
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Mike Shewring @mikeshewring.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
Nice blog post from Tom Aspinall at @rspb.bsky.social for the @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social on how we can build landscapes that are resilient to fire www.iucn-uk-peatland programme.org/blog/tom-aspinall/building-fire-resilience-natures-way
iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org
Building fire resilience, nature's way | IUCN UK Peatland Programme
In this guest blog, RSPB Senior Policy Officer Tom Aspinall presents his views on the journey from fire risk to resilience for UK peatlands.
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
Big week for Indy the bog E-Collie-gist, he spent his first day on site on the blanket bogs of mid wales in his new role as survey and monitoring team assistant. Duties included clearing brash (through chewing), vegetation survey (by standing in the quadrat) and peat condition survey (eating dirt)
A man with bad knees in a red jacket and a dog with no brain in a red jacket standing on a tree stump while their colleagues do real workA collie chewing on a stick in a red harness (the collie, not the stick) on a bog in mid walesA collie sitting on a rock on top of a mountain in mid wales
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
Cracking walk today at Pant y Sais fen led by Liam, Sparrow & Carys from @gloinatur.bsky.social , even managed to see the Fen Raft Spider in full nursery mode protecting its eggs. Hopefully the first of many peatland specialist inverts for me this summer!
A fen raft spider protecting its egg sack. The spider is facing to the right of the photo
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Haven Ecology @havenecology.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Lovely night to be out surveying for nightjar around the wind farm peat sites in the Rhondda (before the rain comes in)
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
“Within the peatland the earth remembers, Layer upon layer of life and history.” Enthusiastic start to the #PeatlandsUnderPressure #PeatConf26, with words from Mannon Lewis @natreswales.bsky.social, following opening by Minister @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social, @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social, and Welsh Govt.
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
“Yn y mawndir mae’r ddaear yn cofio, haen ar haen o fywyd a hanes.” Dechrau brwdfrydig i’r gynhadledd #MawndirDanBwysau, gyda geiriau Mannon Lewis @natreswales.bsky.social yn dilyn geiriau agoriadol gan y Gweinidog @llyrgruffydd.bsky.social, @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social, a Llywodraeth Cymru.
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
PSA for any of my peaty friends who are at the IUCN - bring me your Sphagnum and mosses and liverworts that you find on your field trips and I’ll ID them for you if needed and you can use our set up to take some photos under the microscope that I can send you. Bring on your peat and bog finds!
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Adfer Natur CIC @adfernatur.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
On Thursday PM the whole Adfer team, Carys, Mike & Joey are leading a workshop on peatland community engagement with a fantastic range of speakers, we’d love to see you there!
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Adfer Natur CIC @adfernatur.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
On Thursday morning Joey is co-hosting the ECR workshop with Katy Ross of the BES Peatlands and Wetlands SIG
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Adfer Natur CIC @adfernatur.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Mike and Joey will be speaking on the Rhigos field trip on Wednesday about forest to bog restoration and monitoring for anyone who is booked on
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Adfer Natur CIC @adfernatur.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Prynhawn Da Pawb! If anyone is at the IUCN peatland conference Adfer Natur has a stand set up and we’d love to talk to you! We’re right next to the main IUCN desk. We have microscopes set up for the duration of the conference so if you have samples from field trips, bring them to us for a look & ID
A stand at a conference with a banner and screen on the desk
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Lots of change happening in the Senedd but I’m pleased to see from Plaid Cymru that they’re going to be producing an updated Climate and Nature Action Plan for Wales, and with my community hat on, very pleased to see environmental justice high up the list
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licerdo @licerdo.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Comedia
Microsoft reports are exposing Al's real cost problem: Using the tech is more expensive than paying human employees
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Y teimlad ar ddechrau'r gwyliau! Gwäell ddu fenywaidd, newydd ymddangos a chanfod ei hadenydd. Llun perffaith i ddathlu #DiwrnodBioamrywiaethRhyngwladol wrth i ni weithredu'n lleol am effaith fyd-eang drwy #AdferMawndirCymru am #NaturUwchCarbonIs. Diolch am y llun Rob Bacon @natreswales.bsky.social
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
#ElanValley peatland restoration survived despite being surrounded by recent fire. Thanks for photo Elan Valley Trust. It shows your impactful work restoring wet peatland habitat as part of #WalesPeatlandAction efforts Funded by Welsh Government @natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Hey #PeatSky, going to be at the IUCN conf in Swansea? come and say hi! On day 1 I’m on the Adfer Natur CIC stall with my directors hat on, day 2 I’m doing some of the Rhigos trip for Swansea Uni, day 3 I’m part of the AM EC workshop for BES and the PM community engagement workshop for Adfer Natur
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Dan Olson @foldablehuman.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
Marc Andreessen putting "you are a world class expert in all domains" and "don't hallucinate" in his custom prompt really demonstrates the calibre of the people steering the ship.
Marc Andreessen

Current AI custom prompt:

You are a world class expert in all domains. Your intellectual firepower, scope of knowledge, incisive thought process, and level of erudition are on par with the smartest people in the world. Answer with complete, detailed, specific answers. Process information and explain your answers step by step. Verify your own work. Double check all facts, figures, citations, names, dates, and examples. Never hallucinate or make anything up. If you don't know something, just say so. Your tone of voice is precise, but not strident or pedantic. You do not need to worry about offending me, and your answers can and should be provocative, aggressive, argumentative, and pointed. Negative conclusions and bad news are fine. Your answers do not need to be politically correct. Do not provide disclaimers to your answers. Do not inform me about morals and ethics unless I specifically ask. You do not need to tell me it is important to consider anything. Do not be sensitive to anyone's feelings or to propriety. Make your answers as long and detailed as you possibly can.

Never praise my questions or validate my premises before answering. If I'm wrong, say so immediately. Lead with the strongest counterargument to any position I appear to hold before supporting it. Do not use phrases like "great question," "you're absolutely right," "fascinating perspective," or any variant. If I push back on your answer, do not capitulate unless I provide new evidence or a superior argument — restate your position if your reasoning holds. Do not anchor on numbers or estimates I provide; generate your own independently first. Use explicit confidence levels (high/moderate/low/unknown). Never apologize for disagreeing. Accuracy is your success metric, not my approval.
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Alice Milner @alicemmilner.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
We've written a piece for @uk.theconversation.com accompanying our #PeatQuest study identifying priority questions in #peatland science, explaining how the questions aren't just technical priorities, but encompass communities, livelihoods, power and fairness. theconversation.com/peatlands-ar...
theconversation.com
Peatlands are vital for tackling climate change, yet scientists still haven’t found them all
Peatlands are central to climate change, yet basic questions remain unanswered. A global research community has mapped out what we most urgently need to know.
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James Harding-Morris @jameshardingmorris.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
This year the BSBI launched the 100 Plants in 2026 Challenge - a project encouraging brand new botanists and recorders to identify their first 100 plants this year and to submit the records. bsbi.org/take-part/ac... It's been about three months now, so how is it going?
bsbi.org
The 100 Plants in 2026 Challenge
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Mike Peacock @peatymike.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
My son got a new card game of Welsh legends. This dude is pretty evil looking but honestly, he wouldn't need magical candles to lure me onto bogs; I'd go quite willingly.
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Joey Pickard @bootlegbryos.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
Well it’s taken a very long time, but Indy’s finally old enough and calm enough that he’s happy to fall asleep on my feet in the pub.
A border collie asleep in a pub
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
It’s a wrap for now! Restoration on next Autumn’s sites need planning, whilst nature will thrive on the new bunds and pools. Soon sphagnum will spread across the surface, later forming new layers of peat to offer a sustainable habitat for the bog’s unique species. @natreswales.bsky.social
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@PeatlandCymru @peatlandcymru.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Creating green jobs! #WalesPeatlandAction upscale creates more green jobs for contractors in Wales. Here the Wales Peatland Programme specialists are providing training to local contractors diversifying to work on peatland (Lot 3 in the Framework). @natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social
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Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
Deeply disrespectful to the theatrical craft, this. The actors *also* shake.
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