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Hugh Pumphrey

@hughpumphrey.bsky.social
3.1K followers 602 following 4.6K posts

Retired from Sch. of GeoSciences, Uni. of Edinburgh, UK. Still works a bit on mls.jpl.nasa.gov . Walking, singing, Linux, bellringing, astronomy, geology, geophysics and meteorology. Dislikes extreme right or leftwing politics and nationalism.

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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sunrise has now definitely moved south of that roof and is visible from the bedroom window. By midwinter it will be well off the right edge of the picture, behind the cement works.
Sunrise over a sea horizon with buildings to the left and a distant headland to the right.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
One of my retirement projects was an all-out war against my least-favourite insect: the gooseberry sawfly (Nematus/Euura ribesii). At least partial success: the bushes still have leaves on and are now losing them due to autumn rather than horrid larvae.
Sun shining on leaves of a spiky plant growing against a brick wall. The leaves are turning red.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Great moments in Scottish literary history. David Macbeth Moir (pen-name: "Delta") tries to work out whether his tablet understands sufficient unicode to represent Greek letters. (Do plz dig down into this chain of QPs to get to the good ones from @ncdominie.bsky.social and @threadinburgh.scot .)
Stone statue of a man holding a notebook of some sort. The plinth he stands on has a Greek letter Delta on it surrounded by leafy twigs.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
As someone who has played creepy Uncle Max in an amateur production of "The Sound of Music", I very much recommend this thread to my hordes of followers. Do not miss the alt text in that first post.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Great moments in Scottish pet-keeping history. John Muir reaches up and fails to grasp his poorly-tamed seagulls as they make a successful bid for freedom.
Bronze statue of a young man with a rustic walking stick, reaching up to touch three birds in flight.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Ah, yes. Sir Peter Moneybags: a man liked by exactly nobody who works at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social apart from his clique of overpaid senior management wonks. I was a bit offended to be elbowed into early retirement, but, frankly, I am glad not to be working there any more.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This is good stuff from Denmark --- even better than the pastries.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I was offered two spare places on a boat trip down the coast from Dunbar to Siccar Point: a recreation of James Hutton's 1788 trip [1]. The weather was fab and we could see some parts of the unconformity that are hard to view from on land. #geology (1/2). [1] en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_H...
View from the sea of a rocky headland which is made of red rocks at the top and grey rocks at the bottom.View of a coast from a boat; the boat's wake is visible in the water. In the centre of the picture is a rocky headland made of red rock at the top and grey rock at the bottom. Zoomed-in view of a rocky coast from a boat. There are grey rocks with their layers tilted almost vertical. On top of them is a layer of reddish rock sloping gently down to the right.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
This is mildly entertaining. I got up to 16 after a few tries, but most of my chains had length zero. Any length requires a long run where one MP is a well-known character. A pair of backbench nobodies and you are sunk.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Ol' frogface summed up more succinctly and accurately than I have seen up to now.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
QPing for your enjoyment. Sadly, none of these look as if they would lock the (possibly Georgian) original lock on my front door.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
What did you actually say, @alex.scotlibdems.org.uk of @libdems.org.uk ? I mean, if Scotland doesn't exist, where am I sitting? It might not exist in the form that frothing-at-the-mouth nationalists want, but, looking out of the window, it definitely seems to be here.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Only heard today that the BBC is closing its medium-wave transmitters (AM to Americans, although you can do amplitude modulation at any frequency.) radiotoday.co.uk/2026/06/bbc-... WTF? Why have I not heard of this before? Are they going to improve the DAB signal in Dunbar so it works in my car?
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I don't have anything to contribute to this thread, but if you have not read it you will definitely enjoy doing so.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
You gotta watch this. (Thanks to @dreadships.bsky.social for posting it.) Not some AI nonsense: it is a real ship; I found it on marinetraffic.com
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is fabulous. Makes me pleased with last week's bench renovation. ( bsky.app/profile/hugh... ) Aside: loud boo-ing to BBC Gardener's world magazine, whose "2 for one gardens" app is the only app so far to whine that my Android phone was not new enough for it.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Constructed this bench from parts that were cluttering the MiL's boilerhouse. Hard part: sourcing the bolts. 1-⭐ review for B and Q Rhyl whose "nuts and bolts" section appears to have been played with by a tribe of feral 4-year-olds.
Bench made of wooden slats (clear finish) and metal ends (painted green).
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
This is your weekly-or-more-frequent reminder from me that it is long past time that the UK govt and all the more serious political parties abandoned X.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I have seen at least one post stating without reason that the idea of sending RNLI Xmas cards to the Refukkers would not work. Many thanks to @ncdominie.bsky.social for explaining why it won't work.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Must have been his last £36M because he clearly cannot afford £15 to pop into the nearest Turkish barbers to get his hair tidied up.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I don't remember ever having my start word in #Wordle be an anagram of the answer before today! A pity that wordle does not have a "No grey squares" award to go with its "Sea of greens" and "Wordle in two". Wordle 1,910 3/6 🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 🟨🟨🟩🟩🟨 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
People QP-ing their rivers, so here is the Weaver in Frodsham, Cheshire, back in the day when it was still heavily polluted by the industry upstream in Northwich. (That is me crewing and my late father at the helm in the leading boat.)
Photo of distressed framed photo of some sailing dinghies rounding a marker buoy.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
This was reposted today by @astroroyalscot.bsky.social and I found myself reading it. Very thought-provoking and definitely worth a bit of your time, especially if you are worrying about the effect of LLMs on how we do science.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Fab! (Although #LaTeX nerds be fuming because @ellecordova.bsky.social has failed to mention any of the Computer Modern series . . .)
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Paging @giantcatsdunbar.bsky.social . . .
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
I posted last spring about a visit to China ( bsky.app/profile/hugh... ) and thanked the @royalsociety.org for funding it. Filling in the final report on that grant reminds me to post the paper that resulted from the grant: doi.org/10.1038/s432...
doi.org
Residence time of Hunga stratospheric water vapour perturbation quantified at 9 years - Communications Earth & Environment
Stratospheric water vapour injected by the 2022 Hunga eruption has now entered a steady decay phase and is expected to return to its pre-eruption range around 2030. This estimate combines satellite ob...
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Fell down a cavernous internet black hole this morning when I found fruitid.com . Spent ages trying to identify the apple that I know only as "MiL's large purple cooker". (I think it might be Red Victoria: fruitid.com/index.html#v... .) The tree was there when my in-laws bought their house.
Large red and green apple on the arm of a pink armchair.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Seems a reasonable decision. Not sure I am that fond of the new Equal Earth projection, but I understand why it was needed. At least the UN did not go for that Gall-Peters abomination. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size
The Togo-sponsored resolution was backed by 164 nations - with the US as the only nation to vote against it.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Any of your lot banned, @privateeyenews.bsky.social ? You were discussing which party conferences you all wanted to attend on your latest podcast.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Winter is coming; I know this because I can now see the Sun fom my bedroom, shortly after sunrise, over the sloping roof of that building. In a few days I will be able to see the sunrise without going up to the storey above. #astronomy
Photo taken through a dirty window, showing sunrise over the angled roof at the end of a building. The horizon over the sea is visible just to the right of the Sun.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
This is a thing that I have experienced when talking to actual geologists, when I am merely someone who has read some books on the subject. (Tagging @bgs.ac.uk and anyone from the School of GeoSciences at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social )
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Please insert a different fuck into your floppy fuck drive.
Wall of pebbledash painted in various colours. A band of tiny square grey tiles bears the graffito "FUCK CORRUPTO"
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Post covering this story from a more direct source at bsky.app/profile/bgs.... and for those of you with an account at a university library, the actual paper is at doi.org/10.1130/B388... (Odd coincidence: one of the authors is my predecessor as ringing master at @stmaryskirk.bsky.social )
doi.org
The Wash Igneous Complex of eastern England: A candidate Avalonian source for Sandbian tephra in Baltoscandia and implications for closure of the Tornquist Sea | GSA Bulletin | GeoScienceWorld
The Wash Igneous Complex (WIC) is a component of a Sandbian (Late Ordovician) calc-alkaline magmatic arc that extends from the Lake District in northern
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Paging @greenleejw.bsky.social . . .
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Well played, ma'am: this had me laughing out loud just after breakfast.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
This thread is fascinating: well worth your time if you have ever caught or eaten a fish out of the North Sea. (I do wonder what this lady in Burgos cathedral would make of it. Whatever fish she has caught is certainly not a tuna. bsky.app/profile/hugh... )
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
He is not wrong . . .
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
As El Niño is all over the news today I thought I would make an update of Figure 1 in this paper doi.org/10.5194/acp-... (free access). Based on MEI (which moves earliest) the current El Niño is already as big as 2015-16 and still going up. It is expected to beat 1982–1983 and 1997–1998. (1/3)
Plot of three different ENSO indices between 1979 and 2026. The 2026-27 El Niño is already as big as the 2015-16 one by one of the indices.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Everyone else is posting their tomato glut, so here is mine.
Tomatoes, whole in plastic boxes and a deep bowl, and cut up in a salad.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Not sure how accurate this thread is, but it is pretty funny.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
QP-d as I suspect that some of you will enjoy it, especially @dreadships.bsky.social , if he has not seen it already.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
This from @carolecadwalla.bsky.social is worth a read. I continue to be glad that I took my own advice and did not post bad takes on the Jason Arday story.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
W00t! I grew some carrots that were not full of carrot root fly. The secret appears to be to grow them under a fine fleece mesh.
Four half-decent carrots and a small one, on a wooden table, with their tops still on.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
In another reply to this, and as a followup to the #DominieAufUrlaub sequence, here is a short thread of #Hugodevacaciones , all from the cathedral in Burgos, northern Spain. To start with I didn't expect a King of England. (1/3)
Bust of a beardy bloke with a crown in front of a gold altar. An inscription claims that he is Saint Edward, King of England.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Now that I have had time to think about the experience of the total #eclipse , here is a 🧵with some photos and some comments; maybe some if it will be useful if you are planning for the August 2027 event. Tip 1: order your eclipse glasses early. Do not attempt to buy from a shop on the day. (1/11)
Old bloke in t-shirt, shorts, silly hat and eclipse glasses.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
It's plum time! Better go and make some jam . . .
Stainless steel colander full of Victoria plums.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Quarter peal made it into the comic[*] while I was on holiday. [*] This unflattering nickname refers to the Ringing World: the journal of record of bellringing.
Quarter peal record from the Ringing World, with me (Hugh C Pumphrey) ringing bell 4.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Heard the news re Jason Arday this morning. Rarely have I been more glad to have taken my own advice.
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Last night's earthquake in Indonesia detected clearly on the gravity meter at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social . (But not on the @raspishake.bsky.social --- typical for a quake at a great distance.)
Gravity meter output for 14--15 Aug 2026 showing a large signal late on the 14th from a quake in Indonesia
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Hugh Pumphrey @hughpumphrey.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
After reading about this as a child, I have now, at nearly 62 years old, seen it at last. #eclipse #astronomy
Diamond ring at end of solar eclipse.Wide view of total solar eclipse.Almost total solar eclipse
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