ploughmany.bsky.social @ploughmany.bsky.social · 10/10/2026A friend placed a postcard in a remote postbox on a 'pole' in Wales, more than 6 weeks ago. It still hasn't arrived. I wonder if it's lost in the post or still sitting in the postbox? 110 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialCBHC / RCAHMW @rcahmwales.bsky.social · 29/09/2026🗺️ Mapping Brecon’s History! Join us on 10 October for the Brecon launch of the new Historical Map of Brecon and Hay-on-Wye. 📍 Guildhall, Brecon ☕ Coffee & tea from 10.30am 🕚 Event start: 11am A great opportunity to explore Brecon’s fascinating past! 054 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialElia Kabanov @kabanov.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I mapped every piece of ancient woodland in London. My map looks almost empty. It’s Day 15 of my London data challenge. Little ancient woodland remains in London. But these places have remained wooded since at least 1600. We are lucky they survived. deptford.org/beyond/woodl... 183 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialKevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 07/09/2026The nave of St. Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in Orkney, with its solid 12th century sandstone piers which mirror those of Durham Cathedral. 📸 My own. #MedievalMonday #StMagus #KirkwallCathedral 13901110 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialLeana Hosea @leanahosea.bsky.social · 02/09/2026~ 20% of the waste in England is managed illegally, at a cost to the economy of ~ £1bn a year The under-funded EA can't close these sites quickly enough to stop them being profitable to criminals who run them. Maybe more funding for the EA saves money overall? share.google/GaIiZ7DnkOFy...share.google‘It smelled like dead people’: the plan to tackle England’s illegal waste problemAndy Burnham has announced a crackdown, but doubts remain over authorities’ ability to take on organised crime 28950 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBecky Wallower @bwallower.bsky.social · 28/08/2026www.theartnewspaper.com/2026/08/28/u...theartnewspaper.comUK government places export bar on £71m Rembrandt portraitThe export bar gives UK museums and galleries until 26 December to raise the funds to keep the painting in the country 051 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBotanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Intrepid botanists headed up Slieve Muck on 18 August in the footsteps of Ireland's most famous naturalist, Robert Lloyd Praeger. They found Mountain Everlasting, a plant last recorded on the mountain by the great man himself in 1880! @bsbiireland.bsky.social Find out more: bsbi.org/about/news/p... 15414 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialEmilie Ellis @e-ellis1.bsky.social · 17/08/2026🦋 I’m recruiting a fully funded PhD student at the University of Helsinki: understanding how butterflies respond to climate change across Europe. Apply by 30 Sept: Full details: jobs.helsinki.fi/job-invite/5... Please share! #ecology #job #phdjobs.helsinki.fiDoctoral Researcher (PhD student) in Butterfly Ecology and Climate Change across EuropeDoctoral Researcher (PhD student) in Butterfly Ecology and Climate Change across Europe 07480 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialFiona Robertson @stonelands.bsky.social · 16/08/2026Bryn Cader Faner, aka The Crown of Thorns. An extraordinary Bronze Age cairn high in the beautiful Rhinogydd mountains #StandingStoneSunday 015727 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialButterfly Conservation @savebutterflies.bsky.social · 12/08/2026We’re proud to support the development of a new GCSE in Natural History 🦋🎓 Combining classroom learning with hands-on fieldwork, the GCSE will help young people discover more about the natural world while building important skills for the future. 📷: Chelsea Mae Photography #InternationalYouthDay 15110 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialMark Mallalieu @mallalieum.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Honey-buzzards in Sussex so far in 2026: c.22 pairs, of which 10 breeding, and >50 in all in breeding habitats. Still a week or two to find more, e.g. none in West Sussex downs yet. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social 1686 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 11/08/2026In 1976 Jim Callaghan instructed Denis Howell, minister for drought, to do a rain dance. It rained next day, but too much: a week later he was minister for floods. Later he became minister of state for snow. 714928 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBirdGuides @birdguides.bsky.social · 11/08/2026A Blackbird that was rehabilitated by the RSPCA in 2011 has been seen alive and well this summer, some 480 km from where it was released: bit.lyRehabilitated Blackbird reaches extraordinary ageThe bird, which was cared for by the RSPCA in 2011, is only two months off the all-time longevity record for the species. 0235 0
ploughmany.bsky.social @ploughmany.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Gilfach farm is one of my favourite places to visit. 010 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 09/08/2026Exquisite c. 20,000-year-old laurel leaf point. Expertly worked, this beautiful Solutrean-era flint tool is 28 cm long and 1 cm thick, with edges so wafer thin they’re translucent! ✨ From Volgu, France. Musée d'Archéologie nationale Saint-Germain-en-Laye 📷 by me #Archaeology 14573147 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBrian Groom @groomb.bsky.social · 06/08/2026The Sisters, south Wales, painting by David Carpanini, Welsh artist, b.1946. 933250 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialNorthumberland Wildlife Trust @northwildlife.bsky.social · 05/08/2026This August, every donation to The Rothbury Estate appeal will be matched up to £100,000. Help secure 3,800 hectares of river, land and sky for wildlife before it's too late. One special place. One final chance to secure it. www.wildlifetrusts.org/donate/rothb… 195 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialLundy Bird Observatory @lundybirds.bsky.social · 19/07/2026Celebrating 20yrs Rat free this year! One of the biggest successes on the island is the seabirds, but for Manx Shearwaters it has been phenomenal. One of our box birds from today, the fact we have 15,000 and they breed successfully was unthinkable 30yrs ago! 10628121 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialDr Carolyn La Rocco 🏺🍃 @carrielarocco.bsky.social · 23/01/2026A 14th-century manuscript of the Romance of Alexander (the Great) that I saw in the Treasured exhibition at the Weston Library. [Shelfmark: Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 264; fols. 43v-44r]. 819834 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialLucy Worsley @lucyworsley.bsky.social · 02/08/2026I'm in the South of France , where I was introduced to a French person with the words 'and this lady is from England.' 'Yes,' said the French person, dryly, 'I can see that for myself.' 2963741 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialBig Meadow Search @bigmeadowsearch.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Just 1 month left to participate in the 2026 BMS project. Thanks to everyone who has taken part. If all our followers did 1 search this month, with only 10 species that would add nearly 60,000 records to the project and lots more dots on the map. All the info is on our website 052 0
ploughmany.bsky.social @ploughmany.bsky.social · 31/07/2026The closure of Jodrell Bank Observatory would be analogous to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues by the Taliban in 2001. 000 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialThe Dark Sky Ambassador @darkskyambassador.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Amber LED street lights could save millions of insects. New research shows 1800K amber LEDs cut insect attraction by ~40% compared to standard white LEDs, emitting almost no blue light. The study tracked 71,000 bugs across 6 German railway stations. #LightPollution #Insects #Wildlife #DarkSkiesindependent.co.ukResearchers may have solved a problem caused by artificial street lights 15029 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAndrew Copson @andrewcopson.bsky.social · 30/07/2026In 1776, Adam Smith risked his reputation to tell the world that his friend David Hume had died cheerful, kind, and unafraid — without religion. That is friendship. I’ve written about it (and about making friends in middle age) for the #InternationalDayofFriendship.humanists.ukLessons in friendship: David Hume and Adam Smith | Andrew CopsonFor International Day of Friendship, Andrew Copson reflects on one of humanist history's great friendships – and on why making friends in middle age is worth the awkwardness. 214637 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialFraggs Photography 📸🦊🦉🦋🦔 🏴 @fraggenstein.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Following on from my #BirdOfTheDay post this morning and comments with @alan678.bsky.social, I thought it would be good to show a wide shot of the Barn Owl in the window of the church & what a setting for these beautiful birds 😍😍 🪶🦉 #birdingWales #ukbirding #birdphotography #ECK #owllovers #owl 41196 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialRoman Sites @romansites.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Excellent - and illuminating - video on Iron Age Dorset. It seems that the Romans didn’t fight major battles at hill forts like Maiden Castle after all. @durotrigesdig.bsky.social @forestcollectiv.bsky.social #HillfortsWednesday youtu.be/QpA_Ist5LRY?...youtu.beAncient Dorset, The Durotriges & #HillfortsWednesday with Dr Miles RussellYouTube video by Forest Archaic Collective 2207 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialNina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 29/07/2026WOW, new finds from the Ice Age! Two absolutely stunning Ice Age figurines from the Swabian Jura were found, dating back around 40,000 years. The tiny carvings, about the size of a thumbnail, depict two birds, rendered with remarkable attention to detail. Snow grouse, buzzard, or...🧵1/2 191242390 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialMark Walters @mark-walters.bsky.social · 28/07/2026The impressive early opencast lead mine remains at Craig y Mwyn high in the Berwyn mountain range. This is the best example of hydraulic mining or ‘hushing’ in Powys with dams set around the rim to send water down the opencast & reveal mineral. It is Roman, Medieval & Post Medieval in date 26415 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 24/07/2026The famous Hindsgavl Dagger, found by a young boy out walking with his mum on the Danish island of Fænø! A masterpiece of flint knapping from Late Neolithic Denmark, c. 1900-1700 BC. 📷 National Museum of Denmark #FindsFriday #Archaeology 411664307 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialNina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 23/07/2026A pair of gold bull head earrings, decorated with granulation, filigree and garnets. Dating late 4th century BC. Hoops formed of wound wire with animal-head finials were a very popular type of earring during the #Hellenistic period. They were inserted into a hole in the earlobe. 📷 me 738483 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialKevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 21/07/2026Part of the interior of Taversoe Tuick Chambered Cairn on Rousay - one of the Orkney islands. The cairn dates to the Neolithic, and is a wonderful example of a two-storey cairn with chambers on top of each other. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Rousay #Prehistory #Archaeology #Orkney 217840 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.social@s4r4h-l @s4r4h-l.bsky.social · 21/07/2026#TuesdayBlue Fabulous blue #butterflies seen in the last week. Top is a holly blue sunbathing, middle; male common blue, very fresh with it's white wing edge in tact, bottom; female common blue; easy to confuse with brown argus but the body has a blue tinge. @savebutterflies.bsky.social #Lancashire 0325 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 18/07/2026The thing is, England got invaded by a French force in the 11th century and those people are still basically in charge of everything. So I don’t know why we’re pretending otherwise. Although then a bit later England ended up being ruled by a Scottish king. The Auld Alliance. I’m half Welsh anyway. 6653567 0
ploughmany.bsky.social @ploughmany.bsky.social · 26/06/2026She doesn't stand in the way of transition. She's just saying that working people shouldn't pay for net zero transition with their jobs and livelihoods. The government should nationalise North Sea oil engineering facilities for use with wind turbine engineering. 000 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialRSPB Scotland @rspbscotland.bsky.social · 09/06/2026BIG NEWS for some of Scotland's most iconic seabird islands 📣 Bass Rock and Craigleith are now part of our nature reserve network! Together with @seabirdcentre.bsky.social we’re taking an exciting step forward to deliver a more secure future for seabirds. youtube.com/watch?v=WHxVpCh5E-Qyoutube.comAmazing news as RSPB adds iconic seabird islands to its reservesYouTube video by RSPB 318141 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialNational Trust @nationaltrust.org.uk · 28/03/2026🥳 Happy 20th birthday Speedwell! She is the first Wicken Fen Highland cow to reach this age and has been a resident at the Nature Reserve all her life. Speedwell was one of the first calves to be born on the Fen in Cambridgeshire as part of a pioneering conservation project in 2006. 216928 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialNorth Ages @northages.bsky.social · 31/03/2026Workers restoring St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall, found a box of bones, believed to be those of the saint, concealed within a pillar #OTD in 1919. In 2025, the pine box was carbon-dated to a period contemporary with the 12thC earl of Orkney's martyrdom. 📸Orkney Library & Archive #medievalsky 1679 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialChris Simms @chrisnsimms.bsky.social · 13/03/2026This is an awesome discovery: A single-celled organism with no brain called Stentor seems capable of Pavlovian learning. Yes, it can actually learn to associate two things despite having no neurons. My latest for @newscientist.com. 🧪 #science #memory #learning www.newscientist.com/article/2519...newscientist.comSingle-celled organism with no brain is capable of Pavlovian learningA trumpet-shaped, single-celled organism seems able to predict one thing will follow another, hinting that such associative learning emerged long before multicellular nervous systems 826084 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 21/02/2026Timeless humour! A 2,000 year-old Roman souvenir pen with a joke inscription roughly equivalent to: “I went to Rome and all I got you was this cheap pen!" 😂 Dated circa 70 AD, this iron stylus pen was recovered in London during excavations by MOLA. 📷 Juan Jose Fuldain/MOLA #Archaeology 221505514 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialDavid W. Williams @vc40orthops.bsky.social · 06/02/2026Wildlife group returned to the English/Welsh border on Weds to the location of our Land Caddis (Enoicyla pusilla) discovery last Nov. Found in v. good numbers again & over a wider area. Grown too: cases now around 3.5mm long (prob 3rd instar of 5). Excellent result! 2426 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialDr Tess Machling @tessmachling.bsky.social · 15/02/2026Meanwhile, the rest of us scrape together our fivers and tenners to try to stop this happening... www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-save-...crowdfunder.co.ukHelp Save Leicestershire’s Bronze Age TorcHelp us raise £10,000 towards Leicestershire Museums' acquisition of this unique object so that it can remain in the public domain. 27518 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialVeeloxxy Bites @the-episiarch.bsky.social · 10/02/2026The bone collector caterpillar is a carnivorous caterpillar that lives in spider webs. It disguises itself with the corpses of the spider's prey, while stealing food from their eight-legged host's web 🧪 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...science.orgHawaiian caterpillar patrols spiderwebs camouflaged in insect prey’s body partsLepidoptera is the most herbivorous of all the insect orders, with predatory caterpillars globally comprising less than 0.13% of the nearly 200,000 moth and butterfly species. Here, we report a specie... 510228 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 07/02/2026Hello everyone! If you’re watching Channel 4. If not, why not? ALL NEW ROMAN EMPIRE BY TRAIN ON RIGHT NOW!!! 6457353 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialHannah Bourne-Taylor *Author*Bird Campaigner @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Tears of joy! SCOTLAND HAS JUST PASSED SWIFT BRICKS INTO LAW unanimously! 4 years of asking England & Scotland sorts it in a month led by ACE MARK RUSKELL MSP ♥️The RELIEF is unreal! Tell England to follow 🏴by emailing PlanningPolicyConsultation@communities.gov.uk now!WOOP! 841470392 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialJim Leary @jimleary.bsky.social · 23/01/2026The Ehenside Tarn axe, found in Cumbria in 1869, now in the British Museum. An early Neolithic stone axe from Langdale, with its original wooden handle still attached. The haft always reminds me of Captain Caveman’s club! #FindsFriday 313924 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAntiquity Journal @antiquity.ac.uk · 23/01/2026Lithics called Maros points characterise assemblages of the Toalean hunter-gatherer group, who occupied south-west Sulawesi 🇮🇩 c. 8000-1500 years ago. Their similarity to perforated shark teeth suggests a possible link between the two technologies. 🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy... 🏺 #Archaeology 1418 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialWildlife @worldwildlife.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Bats (order Chiroptera) comprise 20% of all mammal species with 1200 known types of bat. With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more manoeuvrable than birds. #bat #bats #mammal #mammals #wildlife #nature #chiroptera 🦇 625452 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAndy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social · 20/01/2026✨Deerhurst, Gloucestershire. A kitchen in the nave and a bedroom in the chancel hid within plain sight an Anglo-Saxon chapel built by Earl Odda (a relation to Edward the Confessor). Re-discovered in 1865, it is the most complete surviving Saxon church in England. 210121 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialAlison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 16/01/2026WOW! This late Roman blue glass cup made an epic 12,000 km journey! Made in the eastern Mediterranean, it was excavated from the Cheonmachong Tomb, a royal tomb of the ancient Silla Kingdom in Korea! 🤯 Early AD 500s. Gyeongju National Museum, South Korea. 📷 by me #FindsFriday #Archaeology 16574131 0
Reposted by @ploughmany.bsky.socialWildlife @worldwildlife.bsky.social · 18/01/2026Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis): 55cm (22in). Aka just "Bilby" this is a long-eared rabbit-like mammal native to Australia. It lives in burrows. Formerly widespread, bilbies are now endangered & with the odd exception restricted to arid parts of northwestern and central Australia. #bilby #australia 416038 0
![The photo shows four images of the same Roman iron stylus (pen) one below the other, with knib to the left. This stylus is octagonal in shape, with an inscription dot-punched along its length on four alternate sides. The stylus is 132 mm long and 5 mm thick, and the letters are circa 2 mm high. The four images of the pen show the four lines of inscribed text (highlighted) which read:
‘ab urbe v[e]n[i] munus tibi gratum adf(e)ro
acul[eat]um ut habe[a]s memor[ia]m nostra(m)
rogo si fortuna dar[e]t quo possem
largius ut longa via ceu sacculus est (v)acuus’
Translated as
‘I have come from the City. I bring you a welcome gift
with a sharp point that you may remember me.
I ask, if fortune allowed, that I might be able (to give)
as generously as the way is long (and) as my purse is empty.’
This inscription is generally interpreted by scholars as a humorous, tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment by the giver of the cheapness of the gift.
The pen was used to write on wax-filled wooden writing tablets. Found in London (Roman ‘Londinium’) by MOLA, during excavations for Bloomberg’s European Headquarters in 2010–2014 . Photo by Juan Jose Fuldain for MOLA](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:j56ydp325adovobhwpkzc6sp/bafkreifnagf7o3c3tsvpawfj2o5exyqsg52vwrovvapsjrhwtzd6tv5bf4)
