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Lou Matthews

@palaeolou.bsky.social
58 followers 57 following 66 posts

Here for the pollen, sediment geochemistry, prehistory and baby goats 🐐

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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I had a sinking feeling when I saw one on holiday in SW Scotland. Used to be a place where you'd see the red squirrel... The link doesn't open for me btw.
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'Rewilding' Later Prehistory Project @rewildarch.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The Knepp Accord has launched! Supported by the National Trust & representatives from 30+ orgs, it sets out shared principles for collaboration between archaeology, heritage & the nature sector to support nature recovery. We're proud to have played a key role in developing it. shorturl.at/KxRF7
nationaltrust.org.uk
Press Release | Media
The National Trust, Oxford Archaeology and Knepp Castle Estate have launched the ‘Knepp Accord’, a new framework to tackle the nature and climate crisis.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Look what they could have won (un-mowed field today).
A field of ox eye daisies stretching into the distance
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Claire Boardman @claireboardman.bsky.social · 01/05/2026
"Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose more than just a place to rest." placesjournal.org/article/the-...
placesjournal.org
The Disappearance of the Public Bench
Benches are microcosms of an expansive debate about who belongs in urban public spaces. When they are removed or made uninviting, we lose more than just a place to rest.
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 27/03/2026
I love the colour of this sphagnum in full sun. We have so little of this left in Oxfordshire...Cothill #fen has most.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
I've been telling people if they read (or listen to) one book this year it should be Cory Doctorow's 'Enshittification'. I'm not a tekkie person, so have really struggled to understand just what the big tech people are doing/capable of doing. The book sets it out really well, and I was *horrified*
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
*Name-dropped on BBC radio yesterday, so don't just take my word for it (interests statement: one of the performers is known to me and ruined his socks in the cause of Art and the Muppets!).
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
At a loose end in #London tonight? I'm going solo to the capital to see some #Sketch #Comedy performed by the very funny #NextLevelSketch*. There are still tickets, so you a) get to be spontaneous b) fill up the room so I don't feel self conscious 😊 www.unrestrictedview.co.uk/events/sketc...?
Poster for sketch comedy on 21st March 2026. Photos of 6 performers for Next Level Sketch on a light pink background. Venue: Hen and Chickens Theatre, London.
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
London gig on Tuesday - fantastic bill - tickets here #comedy #poetry #neurodiversity www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/neurospicy...
eventbrite.co.uk
Neurospicy Comedy - a Neurodivergent Comedy Night
A night of neurodiverse comedy and laughs. A friendly night in an intimate venue.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
Dear Manchester: thank you
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Exactly so.
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Mark Knight 🍉 @markknight63.bsky.social · 20/11/2025
Bog-oaks in a palaeochannel #Fenland #FlagFenBasin #Holocene
Archaeological section through a palaeochannel containing preserved ancient trees Continuation of a palaeochannel with preserved bog-oaks
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
Something happened recently that made me think of it. I've been reflecting on how every instance of harassment or assault is different in terms of context, and there's no one-rule to successfully intervening. It's useful to have a number of different tools to deal with different situations 2/2
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 21/11/2025
A while back, (possibly in twitter days) I saw a brilliant thread on how to intervene when someone is being harassed in public. It involved tips for standing with the person being harassed and not engaging with the perpetrators. Can anyone point me to a UK-specific resource? 1/2
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 14/10/2025
Oxford Brookes Uni students had a great time recently in #LyeValley #fen learning various coring techniques, studying peat & tufa sediments. They learnt what hard work it was! but some very interesting layers discovered, now for some lab study... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @palaeolou.bsky.social
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Another one here for never having seen The God Father. Also: Saving Private Ryan Titanic Never purposely watched the Eurovision song contest (although I have caught bits now and then).
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
I once slogged my way through a Tom Wolfe...
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 06/10/2025
Umberto Eco? One of the Amisses? Dying to know then I don't bother.
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Michelle Hughes Printmaker @michellehughes.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Last-minute cancellation for Friday 26 Sept #linocut #workshop in #York. Find out more: www.michellehughesdesign.com/lino-printin...
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
That's going to be tough. The MMR scandal had bad design/ data... The paracetamol nonsense has... None?
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
Sadly archaeology is heading towards repeating history: the preserve of those with a secondary source of income or generational wealth. I really don't know if I would have 'made it' if I started my degree/career now from where I was in 1998.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
This was taken down the eyepiece with a mobile phone! If I had a proper camera it would be even better.
Pollen grain of the Caryophyllaceae family viewed down a microscope.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
I love Brunel. I bought my secondhand microscope from them. It's been really good. I have both things to hand at home. The glycerine jelly probably came from Brunel as well!
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
🤯😯 Wow! That's amazing. I wish I'd done something like that. Who's/what prep method did you use? I've been toying with the idea of making up my own reference slides for ages... Maybe 2026 will be the year!
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
Went to the big smoke. Saw archaeological bling. Interpretation panels at the London museum mudlarking exhibition were very well thought out.
Neolithic blade, mace head and dagger in a museum case
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 30/08/2025
If the world is just a bit much, I heartily recommend feeding pygmy goats.
Feeding grass pellets to a black and white pygmy goat at a city farm
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 07/08/2025
Cate nails it again ♥️
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
One of my favourite floodplain meadow plants - Pepper Saxifrage Silaum silaus. For it's amazing cinnamony smell of leaves and fruits mostly. And a good insect nectar source, like most Apiaceae. @floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 29/06/2025
Visited Somerford Mead, a recreated (from arable) floodplain haymeadow nr Oxford. Looking good, but surprised to see that even here the Rough Hawksbeard Crepis biennis (last photo) is gaining ground as it is in all dry verges & meadows locally @floodplainmead.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Did I mention how important skilled #volunteers are to maintaining Oxford's special calcareous fens? 3 #scythers get on with the summer cutting, felling reed & avoiding Common Valerian& marsh thistle. 1 vol carefully chops reed in a patch of fleabane, left uncut @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Footnote: I did actually hang around in the changing room for a bit to see if I could talk to her, because: yikes. They must have gone straight home tho cause I never saw them again.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
I stopped going and bought a vertical climber off eBay. The final straw was a man standing over his wife as she stepped on a weighing scale and he demanded 'how much?'. Seriously tested my commitment to non-violence. My hand actually twitched towards a nearby dumbbell.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
🤢😷😡
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 12/06/2025
Good Science xkcd.com/3101/
5-panel comic. (1) [teacher with long hair next to whiteboard] TEACHER: I’m supposed to give you the tools to do good science. (2) [teacher addressing students] But what *are* those tools? Methodology is hard and there are so many ways to get incorrect results. What is the magic ingredient that makes for good science? (3) TEACHER: To figure it out, I ran a regression with all the factors people say are important: [embedded list in sub-panel, cut off at end] Outcome variable: correct scientific results. Predictors: collaboration; skepticism of others’ claims; questioning your own beliefs; trying to falsify hypotheses; checking citations; statistical rigor; blinded analysis; financial disclosure; open data (4) TEACHER: The regression says two ingredients are the most crucial: 1) genuine curiosity about the answer to a question, and 2) ammonium hydroxide. (5) STUDENT: Wait, why did *ammonia* score so high? How did it even get on the list? LONG HAIR: ...And now you’re doing good science!
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Leah Berman @leahberman.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
sunsets are better with you #landscape #photography #wildflowers #losangeles
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 05/06/2025
Trojan Horse xkcd.com/3098/
4-panel comic. (1) PERSON to two listeners [in inset panel]: When the Greeks departed, they left behind a horse as a gift. [horse faces people in front of a tower] (2) We took it as a gesture of peace, but it carried a secret payload. [horse in between people] (3) One night, from within the horse, *another, smaller horse emerged!* [big horse looks behind at smaller horse] (4) PERSON: Our guards have been unable to determine the inner horse’s objective, but it has begun to show an interest in our oats. PERSON 2 from off-panel: An attack on Troy’s food supply! PERSON 3 from off-panel: How *dare* they!?
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Melanie Leng @meljleng.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Congratulations NERC on 60 yrs of leadership in environmental science. In celebration NERC published its new 10-year vision, launched at the Royal Society. The Forward Look for Environment Science www.ukri.org/publications...
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 01/06/2025
It's made you all remember it though right?! 😉
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
It's scything, scything and & more scything time in #LyeValley #fen. Reed, reed sweet grass & rank grass - late May/June is the time to take them down to reduce vigour & take nutrients away in risings to encourage more biodiversity @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social
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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 29/05/2025
Mass Spec xkcd.com/3094/
[Person with ponytail wearing lab coat hands balloon to another person in front of a springboard, a magnet hanging from above, and then a target] PERSON WITH PONYTAIL to Person 2: Rub this balloon against your head, then go jump past that magnet toward the target on the wall. [caption] Before the bathroom scale was invented, the only way to weigh people was mass spectrometry.
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 28/05/2025
Delighted to welcome our first Common Spotted orchid flowers in #LyeValley #fen, but Ooohh...now our Common Cotton grasses are shedding fluff & seed like snow... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social #Oxfordshirefens @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Oh my, this is perfection 😂
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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
Orkney Gothic
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Judy Webb @judywebb.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Nestling down amongst the sedge bases in #LyeValley #fen time to notice the small lilac-purple flowers of insectivorous butterworts & their strange star-shaped yellow-green sticky leaves that trap and digest tiny midges. @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #Oxfordshirefens @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social
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Terry O'Connor @osteoconnor.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
Watching BBC News. Good grief, that Chris Mason's a pointless gobshite. Don't just gibber on about how the UK/EU deal is 'complex'. Tell us what it is. Give some real context to the blethering vox pops. OK, rant over. As you were.
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
I need to do a thing, don't wanna do the thing... My bathroom has been cleaned, books alphabetised, new recipe tried and the thing is still not done, and will not be started until unutterably urgent... (This will not fit a tattoo 😉).
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 18/05/2025
Tricky, it's all going to depend on the specifics of how the mapping will be used of course... I'm not quite sure I know what my thoughts are yet (although I'm already aware of another colleague who's spotted an error). I'd probably defer to @judywebb.bsky.social on this one!
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Lou Matthews @palaeolou.bsky.social · 16/05/2025
#lifegoals 😂
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