iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

New friend arrived tonight from someone’s holiday - larimar - a rare form of the mineral pectolite:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

A mushroom walk this afternoon.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Common darter lazing on the washing:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My 9 games. I still quote The Hobbit. Thorin get in the barrel.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A nicely sized #calcite rhombohedron for #MinCup26 from the same Derbyshire location as the pyromorphite. There’s large walls of transparent calcite there and these twin crystals I left intact.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

#MinCup26 Vote #pyromorphite today based on how far I’d travel to collect a decent specimen! Only one rock I’ve found in Derbyshire. Fairly frequent #gypsum satin spar in the glacial till on the Wirral.

Four pieces of sugary looking satin spar gypsum.

Beige-yellow looking rock with small dusting of green pyromorphite.

Handheld microscope close up of pyromorphite on the previous rock.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Bit annoyed with daughter’s first #guitar - Fender Redondo Mini. She’s had it about 18 months and only just started playing it over Summer. Some severe bridge lifting going on:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Searching round as to what #anorthite is and - whether I’ve got any in the house, I realised there’s Oslo rift porphyry from the coast of Yorkshire here. The rhomb shaped phenocrysts are a ternary composition of potassium feldspar, albite, and anorthite. Love #MinCup26 for learning.

Oslo rift rhomb porphyry carried from Norway to the coast of Yorkshire. The lighter markings are the phenocrysts formed by different cooling events.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

#MinCup26 #teamsphalerite Going for #sphalerite today. Can be found on spoil with galena (lead) and fluorite. It’s metallic like galena but is much lighter and forms triangular rather than cubic crystals. Often weathers into a bit of a mess but again the light weight should be a giveaway. My pics.

Triangular metallic sphalerite (I’m trying not to allow this to autocorrect to ‘sphincter’)

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

#MinCup26 I adore #azurite which is one of the minerals that began my fascination with picking up rocks. But… I really need to learn more about #smithsonite as I find it so difficult to ID in the wild with all its varieties. Photos from my own foraging. #teamsmithsonite today

Rocks with a layer - allegedly - of smithsonite.

Two rocks with a coating of beautiful blue of azurite

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Two of the Devil’s Arrows. Picture taken Monday. A seriously impressive alignment of three remaining Millstone Grit stones reputed to have been quarried from a site 9 miles away:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

#FossilFriday Our collection from the north-east coast of England this week: a belemnite, gryphaea, bivalves, unknown in the middle, ammonite, and possible crab claw. Nice haul!

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Buff-tip caterpillar found tonight by the little lady:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Nice to see so many out tonight:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Eclipse - best I got with the phone camera:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

My favourite butterflies from the small butterfly house we visited yesterday run by lovely volunteers. Forest (or common) mother-of-pearl, cracker and malachite:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The Robin Hood’s Stone, or Archer’s Stone - nothing to do with Robin Hood or archers sharpening their arrows - but originally supposed to be part of the nearby Bronze Age Calderstones set. #standingstonesunday

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Windy beach doggle helping me look for nice rocks:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Borrowed this girl for a week. We’ve been to the field for a bit and she’s come back with a floppy tongue:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Saw a lovely hedgehog last night:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Speckled wood butterfly today. There’s been a lot of butterflies this year. Which is nice.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Daughter’s first proper gig last night - English Teacher and Wet Leg:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

#StandingStoneSunday A collection of stones in a Lancashire graveyard. A lot of unknowns about what and how old they are. Early Christian imagery and a Sator Square and what appears to be a lintel with super unusual stylised writing on it:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

New rocks from last night’s trip towards sun down. Lots to learn about their mineral make up. Got heavily bit by horseflies. That’s the trade I guess.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Box tree moth. True to form, living in a box in the back garden:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Heading towards sunset last night:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Back to the ITV studio for the hydration break:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

So, this, found a couple of weeks back, I believe is aurichalcite. Checked with mindat for the locality. Google has it as aragonite but I’m hoping my ID is correct and I’ve learnt to identify something new. #mineralmonday

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

#MineralMonday Large block of calcite with possible dots of chalcopyrite. Main interest to me are the translucent green crystals. Difficult to discern a crystal structure, I’m hesitant to call it green fluorite. Possibly something else.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Had a bit of a mare on Wednesday night. Climbed up to the purple fluorite site. A turn to the left and I found what appears to be a greenish lead vein that‘s become exposed: 1/

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

Bit of a celebration tonight #bwfc

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

The sea. Earlier tonight.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

Agate out of the tumbler. Could do with going in again. Thought I was excessive with the polish but didn’t put enough in. So far it’s cost me about £130 - what with the speed awareness course thrown in there going finding it! Oops!

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

One of the Calderstones today on #StandingStoneSunday and a close up of the “bird“ on it discovered by a schoolboy in 2015:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 02/05/2026

Outs and abouts today. No rock based action but a lovely woody walk:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Going through rocks just pulled out of the last grit stage and whether they can go onto polish. Some nice ones in there:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Butterfly season is going well in the back garden this year. Lots of flighty common blue and an orange tip. This speckled wood settled:

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Nice, dinky bed of Crinoid stems found Wednesday evening on the coast for #fossilfriday

Small limestone rock with Crinoid stem fossils.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Seems to be an issue with Reginos of Skopelos #bluesky

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Had a few weeks off from the constant rattle of the rock tumbler but stage one is just out and looking nice!

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

#StandingStoneSunday An 8th-10th century Mercian Anglo-Saxon cross moved to the graveyard of St Lawrence’s in Eyam seen Tuesday. A mid-section is gone, possibly broken up for cobblestones, though the rest did escape Puritan destruction.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

New mineral ID today. Example of Psilomelane, a manganese oxide, on display in a museum and then a find on a spoil heap a few miles from the museum. Looks right.

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Jon Quebc @jquebc.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Back out today. The land seems to glow.

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