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Kitty Ross

@curatorkitty.bsky.social
659 followers 564 following 154 posts

Curator of Leeds History, Leeds Museums and Galleries. Loves material culture, the great outdoors and singing.

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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
My moment in the limelight. Filmed at Leeds Discovery Centre @leedsmuseums.bsky.social @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social Bargain Hunt, Series 74: Wetherby 4: www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002x7p7 via @bbciplayer
bbc.co.uk
Bargain Hunt - Series 74: Wetherby 4
Danny Sebastian is in the saddle at Wetherby Racecourse, where a team of twins take on a mum-and-daughter duo, with experts Charles Hanson and Philip Serrell by their sides.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/retro/i-unco...
yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk
'I uncover forgotten stories hidden inside everyday objects in Leeds’ past'
Meet the woman responsible for uncovering forgotten stories hidden inside everyday objects in Leeds’ past
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Having learned more about the amoral inventor of the notorious Maxim Gun courtesy of @davidolusoga.bsky.social A Gun Through Time (Leeds Grand Theatre) I was reminded that we have this cynically marketed Pipe of Peace in @leedsmuseums.bsky.social collections. Not sure it mitigates much.
Sir Hiram Maxim's Pipe of Peace and Maxim Inhaler, Leeds Museums Collections.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Hanging a chandelier at @leedsmuseums.bsky.social Leeds Discovery Centre. A moment of mild peril but very satisfying.
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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
We could wait years for any results and then lock ourselves into using oil and gas supplies that could be disrupted with one bomb or Britain could more quickly provide battery storage in homes and use the cheap overnight windpower that currently goes to waste. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
New North Sea drilling would barely reduce UK gas imports at all, data shows
Exclusive: research finds Jackdaw field would provide only about 2% of current demand, and Rosebank only 1%
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Magic Arzonic Soap anyone? Claims to clean grease, paint, clothes and babies and even cure scurvy. I suspect it just scoured several layers of skin. A gem found inside a scrap album donated to @leedsmuseums.bsky.social in 1961. Leeds c1885. @leedscivictrust.bsky.social @thackraymuseum.bsky.social
1880s advertisement for Magic Arzonic Soap made by J. Morgan, 86 Kirkgate, Leeds. Depicts a woman washing a fully dressed child in a tub. 
Leeds Museums and Galleries collections.
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Dr Francis Young @drfrancisyoung.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
This is the sort of thing a cashless society robs us of, the opportunity to try to get away with paying the bus fare in Carthaginian currency www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Coin used as Leeds bus fare was 2,000‑year‑old currency
The coin was handed down to Peter Edwards from his grandfather in the 1950s.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
Abbey House Museum exhibition "In the Picture" finally opens today. Linking some fantastic objects with original pictures and photos. A real visual feast. @leedsmuseums.bsky.social
Display showing the skeleton of Mok the gorilla alongside a sketch of him at London Zoo in 1936 (Leeds Museums)An embroidered curtain being installed, Abbey House Museum An 1850s crinoline dress displayed with a photograph of the original wearer, Abbey House Museum Portrait of Colonel T Walter Harding wearing a Leeds University doctoral gown, Abbey House Museum
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
🧵A photograph of Kirkstall Abbey by Leeds born photographer William Lyndon Smith (1836-1865) dating from around 1855. Smith exhibited widely around Britain from the 1850s until his untimely death in an ice skating accident attempting to save a couple who had fallen through ice
A photograph of Kirkstall Abbey by Leeds born photographer William Lyndon Smith (1836-1865) dating from around 1855. Smith exhibited widely around Britain from the 1850s.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
wegottickets.com/event/676652...
wegottickets.com
Bach MASS in B minor
Since its completion in 1749, the B Minor Mass has been celebrated as one of the pinnacles of Western music, whose significance has only grown with time. Musicians and scholars through the ages have m...
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
Wishing this amorous pair of mandarins a happy Valentine's Day
Pair of mandarin ducks stood on a river bank and reflected in the water
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Pretty pleased with our #BigGardenBirdwatch tally this year. 12 species including bullfinches, goldcrest and nuthatch. @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social @wildsheffield.bsky.social
List of birds seen in garden. 2 bullfinches, goldcrest, 2 bluetits, 2 coal tits, 2 dunnocks, 1 magpie, 2 great tits, wood pigeon, blackbird, wren, 2 robins, nuthatch WrenBluetit and great titMale bullfinch
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 24/12/2025
The WW1 soldiers who wrote messages on the surface of their basic emergency ration biscuits before sending them to their loved ones in Leeds. @curatorkitty.bsky.social 👇 BBC News - Wartime Christmas greetings sent by biscuit revealed in Leeds - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Wartime Christmas greetings sent by biscuit revealed in Leeds
Snacks given to frontline troops in World War One were used to send heartfelt messages home.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
My last object cataloguing of 2025 for Leeds Museums @leedsmuseums.bsky.social and an inspiring message for the coming year (courtesy of The Gang of Four, currently on show at Leeds City Museum music exhibition).
Pair of drumsticks with inscription "These Drumsticks Fight Fascists" 
Leeds Museums and Galleries collections
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
The two magazines delivered to our door yesterday. A rather sinister symmetry.
Two magazines side by side. Kingfisher wildlife trust magazine with photo of a red toadstool. New Internationalist magazine with image of a red mushroom cloud headlined The New Nuclear Arms Race.
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Otto English @ottoenglish.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Without asylum: Marks and Spencer wouldn't exist Queen would have been without a front man The other queen wouldn't have had a husband Judith Kerr would never have written The Tiger Who Came to Tea And thousands of less famous people wouldn't have been teachers, politicians, neighbours, etc
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
@leedsmuseums.bsky.social @leedslibraries.bsky.social @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
I love linking @leedsmuseums collections to old trade catalogues. Proves that this is not just a humble school abacus (in Leeds Education Committee lime green) but part of the long argument for the superiority of the Decimal System. 1921 catalogue of Leeds based school suppliers E. J. Arnold
School abacus or ball frame with ten rows each with ten balls on wooden stand painted lime green. Leeds Museums and Galleries collections.Detail from a 1921 catalogue with an illustration of a school abacus, text reads: Ball Frames with 10 Wires 10 Wooden Beads on each wire. Designed by one of His Majesty's Chief Inspectors, on the principle that the Decimal System should be the basis of all renumeration.
Leeds Museums and Galleries collections.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Some very imaginative ways of representing struggle, conflict and protest in the history of Vancouver @museumofvan.bsky.social. Lots of ideas to take back to @leedsmuseums.bsky.social
Display of broken windows illustrating anti-immigrant riots in 1907 Vancouver Display about illustrating anti-immigrant riots in 1907 Vancouver Display about shanty town life in early Vancouver Display about 1960s protests in Vancouver
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History and Heritage Yorkshire @handhyorkshire.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Rational recreation' was an ideal that nineteenth-century middle-class reformers hoped to impose on the urban working class. They believed that leisure activities should be controlled, ordered, and improving' The Leeds Rational Recreation Society was created
Rational recreation' was an ideal that nineteenth-century middle-class reformers hoped to impose on the urban working class. The pewter medals above from the collection of the British Museum were produced in 1854
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
#RIP Cleo Laine. I hope that the Sheffield Lydian Singers can do justice to this song of hers in our concert tomorrow night (St James Church, Norton, Sheffield 7.30pm) youtube.com/watch?v=-2Mj...
youtube.com
Cleo Laine sings Shakespeare, 'The Compleat Works'
YouTube video by paulprocopolis
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
Cataloguing this fantastic set of Yorkshire Relish bottles into the @leedsmuseums.bsky.social collections is whetting my appetite for lunch. A couple still have their contents but are probably past their best after 80 odd years!
Selection of Yorkshire Relish bottles made by Goodall Backhouse & Co Leeds. Leeds Museums and Galleries collections.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 04/07/2025
Lovely little film from @wildsheffield.bsky.social about building climate resilience into Ughill Farm. Happy to have contributed a few pennies to help them buy this little plot of hope. youtu.be/T8eEQcakWCs?...
youtu.be
*UGHILL FARM: May 2025* | Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
YouTube video by Sheffield & Rotherham Wildlife Trust
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
Council run museums provide a £47.3 million boost to Leeds. 👇 BBC News - Council-run museums and galleries bring Leeds a £47.3m boost - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Council-run museums and galleries bring Leeds a £47.3m boost
City councillor says the economic impact of the eight institutions makes a
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 26/06/2025
Time to put up a few more #clocks at Leeds Discovery Centre @leedsmuseums.bsky.social, including one showing a view of #Leeds Town Hall c1858 @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social
Technician Rick hanging a cuckoo clock on the wall at Leeds Discovery Centre.Long case clock made by J. C. Elliott, Leeds c1858, with painted image of Leeds Town Hall, installed at Leeds Discovery Centre
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
A good day for #birds in Lathkill Dale today. These are the ones that stayed to be snapped - plenty of others were less co-operative with the camera! @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social @peakdistrict.bsky.social
kestrel in flight, Lathkill Dale, Derbyshiregrey wagtail sitting on a tree branch, Lathkill Dale, DerbyshireBlack cap with a grub in it's beak, balanced on cow parsley (or hogweed), Lathkill Dale, Derbyshireredstart on a tree branch, Lathkill Dale, Derbyshire
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
sheffieldbachchoir.com/sheffield-ba... A wonderful concert at St Mark's, Broomhill, #Sheffield this Saturday 21st June including Bach, Handel, Elgar, Holst. Tickets available on the door. @classicalsheffield.bsky.social
sheffieldbachchoir.com
Current Season Concerts
Outline and detailed list of the current season’s concerts
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
Another confused German nudist for @museumbums.bsky.social. Clearly a hat an boots are obligatory, but nothing else (spotted on the Puppenbrücke, Lübeck)
Sandsstone sculpture of a man wearning a hat and boots (but not much else), on Puppenbrücke (Puppet Bridge) in Lübeck, Germany.  Originally sculpted by  Dietrich Jürgen Boy 1774-1776, but these are replicas from 1907.
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Brian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 07/06/2025
Valley of the Aire, Armley Pastures and Kirkstall, Leeds, 1853, by George I. Alexander, 1832-1913 (Leeds Art Gallery). #NorthernArt
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
Had the moors to ourselves apart from a cuckoo and lots of curlews, lapwings and golden plovers. @bbcspringwatch.bsky.social @wildsheffield.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social
cuckoo on wires, Thornseat Moor, near Sheffieldlapwing on grass with bilberry and heather, near Cartlege Stones, Derwent EdgeGolden Plover in grass and cotton grass, near Cartledge Stones, Derwent Edge
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Very shocked to see the images of the landslide and destruction in #Blatten in Switzerland. We have visited several times and bought one of the iconic Tschäggättä masks, and later returned to buy one for the @leedsmuseums.bsky.social collections.
Chalet in Blatten, Lotschenthal, Switzerland with traditional mask 
Photographed in August 2014.View of Blatten, Lotschenthal, Switzerland, taken in August 2014Mask, bought in Blatten in 2008.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
A few new additions to @leedsmuseums.bsky.social Leeds Story, #Leeds City Museum.
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Brutal 17th century scold's bridle goes on display at Leeds City Museum. The device contains an iron plate to stop the tongue moving. /1 @curatorkitty.bsky.social BBC News - Torture device used to punish gossip put on show in Leeds Museum - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Torture device used to punish gossip put on show in Leeds Museum
The scold's bridle – an iron device worn over the head - aimed to silence gossipers, experts say.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
Found some calm landscapes by a namesake (Kitty Kielland) who found beauty in peat bogs (as do I) #art #museums
Painting "Peat Bog at Jaeren" 1901 by Kitty Kielland, National Museum, OsloPainting "Summer Night" 1886, by Kitty Kielland, National Museum, Oslo
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Hurrah - a bit of blue sky! @museumbums.bsky.social Visiting Vigeland Sculpture Park on a chilly windy day made me feel rather sorry for the innumerable naked figures on display.
Sculpture of two boys running with arms outstretched, on bridge, Vigeland Park, Oslo, Norway (by Gustav Vigeland 1869-1943)Bronze statue of girl with arms and legs folded against the cold, Vigeland Sculpture Park, Oslo
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Ancestral Enquiries - Tony Smith 🌳 @ancestralenq.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Exhibition of vintage Leeds clocks to be held at the Leeds Discovery Centre. 👇 @curatorkitty.bsky.social BBC News - Leeds Discovery Centre vintage clocks stand the test of time - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Leeds Discovery Centre vintage clocks stand the test of time
The exhibit at Leeds Discovery Centre includes cuckoo clocks, Grandfather clocks, and retro alarms.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 12/05/2025
Happy to have added a few new (or old?) items to the @leedsmuseums.bsky.social #Leeds Story, Leeds City Museum. 1. Leeds cabinet maker Joseph Theaker by Charles Schwanfelder (2024 gift) @leedscitycouncil.bsky.social
Portrait of Leeds cabinet maker Joseph Theaker by Charles Schwanfelder, about 1810 above a corner cupboard made by Theaker. On display at Leeds City Museum. Leeds Museums and Galleries collections.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
#VEDay Happy to learn that as well as making Monopoly escape kits for POWs #Leeds firm #Waddingtons printed escape plans in invisible ink on white hankies which you had to pee on to read. Washing in cold water made it disappear again. Sadly @leedsmuseums.bsky.social don't have any as far as we know.
White handkerchief against a red fabric background. (Not made by Waddingtons)
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Bank holiday bonus - spotted a muntjac munching our flower beds. Certainly a newly confirmed species for our #Sheffield #garden! @wildsheffield.bsky.social @mammalsociety.bsky.social #deer #gardenwildlife
muntjac deer on garden lawn with blue flowers on the leftmuntjac deer on garden lawn with cotoneaster in foregroundmuntjac deer on garden lawn with garden border behind
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Any one able to help with this #photo? Part of @leedsmuseums.bsky.social Burtons photo archive. Original caption: Peter Robinson "Pop Group" 1965. Are they a real group or just models posing?
Peter Robinson "Pop Group" 1965. Four men posed by a taxidermy buffalo in a clothes shop. Burtons company photograph, Leeds Museums and Galleries collections
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
Enjoying nature closeup and closeby - a selection of #Sheffield #bluebells, #birds & #butterflies @wildsheffield.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social
close-up photograph of an English bluebell, with small spider, photographed in Ecclesall Woods, Sheffieldgreen-veined white butterfuly, photographed in Ecclesall Woods, SheffieldWheater (bird) on rocks, Broad Shaw Ridge, Sheffield moorsGreen butterfly (green hairstreak) photographed on path at Stanage Edge, near Sheffield
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Love spotting links between @leedsmuseums.bsky.social and @leedslibraries.bsky.social collections. Music in the Frank Kidson archive published by Joshua Muff who made our 1820 glass harp (viewable at Leeds Discovery Centre). #music collections symposium @universityofleeds.bsky.social
Glass harp made by Joshua Muff, Leeds in 1820 
Leeds Museums and Galleries collections. Piano sheet music published by J. Muff, 12 Commercial Street, Leeds, Leeds Music Library collections (Frank Kidson collection)
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
Looking forward to sharing our @leedsmuseums.bsky.social project to record lost music written in #Leeds and also by neglected #women composers at today's Music Collections Symposium @leedslibraries.bsky.social youtu.be/n5qeOquRHCs?...
youtu.be
Joyous Spring - caprice for piano written by Clara Gottschalk about 1875
YouTube video by Abbey House
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 18/04/2025
Great trip to @rspb.bsky.social Rye Meads to watch ducks dabbling - I think I can now remember the difference between a pochard and a gadwall! @rspbengland.bsky.social #birds #birdphotography
Pochard (duck with red head) splashing in watertufted duck with wings outstretched, reflected in watermale gadwall (grey duck) swimming in water
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
Lovely to be invited to the launch of latest book from @chrisnickson2.bsky.social and to visit the site of Kirkstall Forge #Leeds. Sorry I had to dash off before the cake was cut. I'm sure it was delicious.
Cake on the form of the Chris Nickson book No Precious Truth at book launch.Mural depicting Bessie Beecroft, Kirkstall Forge
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 14/04/2025
Happy #PuffinDay. A nod to the Puffin Books that shaped my childhood imagination. @penguinbooksusa.bsky.social
Row of children's books published by Puffin Row of children's books published by Puffin Row of children's books published by Puffin
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Yaroslava @strategywoman.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
I want you to realise the scale. UNESCO estimates that the damage caused by russian aggression since 2014 to Ukrainian cultural heritage exceeds $2.6 billion. This looting of Ukrainian museums is believed to be the largest since the Second World War.
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
Wearing pollen with pride! (Common carder bee enjoying the forget-me-nots) #Spring #bees #gardens
Common carder bee with pollen dusted on its forehead, on a forget-me-not flower
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Kitty Ross @curatorkitty.bsky.social · 30/03/2025
More #butterflies enjoying the spring @europebutterfly.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Comma butterfly on blue chionodoxa flowersBrimstone butterfly on yellow flowers
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