Sign in

Max

@swordznsorcery.bsky.social
270 followers 173 following 4.7K posts

Neither shark nor dinosaur, to my lingering disappointment. Still, on the plus side, mammals do have better music.

PostsRepliesMedia
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
There are tiny frogs *everywhere*. It's total chaos and utterly wonderful. I don't know where they were hiding during the heatwave (possibly they delayed metamorphosis), but now the temperature has come down, there's been quite a lot of rain, and basically everything is hopping. 🐸 Dig more ponds!
030
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Haven't seen many frogs over the summer, as I let the pond get as overgrown as possible to protect everything from the heat. Now as things return to more normal temperatures, suddenly there are tiny froglets again! Saw a pair of common darter dragonflies laying eggs today as well.
A very tiny common frog in a mass of greenery.
050
Reposted by Max
Mark Thompson @markreckons.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
I absolutely love this that someone just posted on linkedin clearly created by AI without even rudimentary checking. Surrey appears to be trying to escape to France. Staffordshire and Oxfordshire have annexed Wales. And Labour are very strong in the county of "Monthiste". Which has never existed.
AI generated map of the UK with hallucinations up the wazoo
8620972
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
I suppose it was inevitable that, as we approach Eclipse O'Clock, the sun should vanish behind some of the first clouds I've seen since about June.
030
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Currently reading The Time Traveller's Guide to Regency Britain by Ian Mortimer, part four of a particularly good series. Just finished Todd Pursum's biography of Desi Arnaz, and The Story of Birds by Steve Brusatte. Don't have a local bookstore sadly, but am still attempting to own ALL THE BOOKS.
120
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Uncharacteristically still hummingbird hawk moth taking a rest during the hottest part of the day. I don't know what their sleep requirements are, but it was bloody hot again today, so the ivy must have looked pretty good.
A hummingbird hawk moth resting in a patch of ivy. Actually not moving for once. Still blinking difficult to photograph though, as it was dark in the ivy, and I was trying to give it plenty of space. Apparently I am destined to always see them slightly out of focus!
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
Met a field grasshopper. From the side they look just like you'd expect - camouflaged, built for hopping. Insecty. From the front, bucktoothed, grinning weirdo. They're fab.
A field grasshopper (Chorthippus brunneus) viewed from the side. It's about an inch long, browish and mottled, with stubby antennae, long wings, and huge, folded legs.A field grasshopper viewed from head on. Its face markings suggest huge, goofy teeth in a daft grin. It is the insect Duane Dibley.
010
Reposted by Max
Matt Leys @mattleys.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
GIANT WREN NEWS www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts...
discoverwildlife.com
These tiny birds are doubling in size on remote Scottish islands – and are on their way to “becoming a new species” | Discover Wildlife
Isolated on remote Scottish islands, tiny wrens have recently been discovered to be a fascinating case of island gigantism.
119124
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This is a new one to me - a Red Underwing (Catocala nupta). A nice big moth, with a secret in its wings.
A large moth with upper wings that are a mix of browns and greys, with some fine black lines. When opened, the wings reveal an inner section that is red and black striped.A large moth showing its underwings, which are predominantly black and white striped, but with a flash of red toward the body.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
RAIN!
static.klipy.com
Kermit The Frog Wild Dance
Alt: Kermit the Frog is surprisingly animated over the cessation of a period of near record-breaking drought in my area. But then, being a frog, I suppose he does have some genetic bias in favour of such things.
000
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
I am in love.
050
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Met a speckled bush cricket (it's not very speckled).
Close up of a speckled bush cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) on a variegated pelargonium. It is very green, but not very speckled. It has a very impressive ovipositor, and antennae that are roughly the length of the River Thames.A speckled bush cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) in a variegated pelargonium. It's green, with a yellow stripe running down its back. This shot attempts to show the length of its VERY LONG antennae, but fails dismally.A speckled bush cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) in a variegated pelargonium. In this shot it does actually look a bit speckled, something that it has previously been refusing to do (apparently they're more speckled when they're nymphs). It has very long legs, very long antennae, and how it doesn't trip over either is frankly a mystery.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Find something you love as much as bees love globe thistles.
A bumble bee and a honey bee feeding from a globe thistle (Echinops bannaticus).Two bumble bees feeding from a globe thistle (Echinops bannaticus).
020
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
There are bats flying around outside the window! Bats! They are tiny and they are beautiful, and I love them.
141
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Today definitely belongs to this female Common Blue, flashing her colours in the sun.
A female Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) on some oregano. The upperwing is predominantly coppery brown, with a blue sheen towards the body.A female Common Blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) on some oregano. The underwing is brown, speckled with white, black, and orange. She has black and white striped antennae, and a long, snaking tongue.
030
Reposted by Max
Professor John R. Hutchinson @johnrhutchinson.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Wow. What a spectacular, epic story. I had no idea, and feel all the better for learning of this. Despite many deeply uncomfortable truths associated with it. www.bbc.co.uk/travel/artic...
bbc.co.uk
How an enslaved, shipwrecked African became the US's first great explorer
Nearly 500 years ago, a Moroccan man travelled thousands of miles from Florida to the Pacific Coast, becoming the first known outsider to see the American West.
43312
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
European Robin, with bugs. Beautifully lined up bugs, too, which suggests wonderful co-operation on the part of those about to be eaten.
A European Robin (Erithacus rubecula, apparently), with bugs. There's a perfectly good tree next to those bins, but would it perch on a nice branch? No it bloody wouldn't. Honestly, birds. Can't do a thing with them.A European Robin looking for more bugs, because clearly you can never have enough.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Gatekeeper on water forget-me-not and marjoram.
A gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) on water forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris).A gatekeeper butterfly (Pyronia tithonus) on marjoram (Origanum majorana).
130
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
The blackbirds are loving the berberis bush at the moment. Loads of berries, and the pigeons can't figure out how to sit in it -to their great annoyance, and the blackbirds' benefit!
A female Eurasian blackbird sitting in a berberis bush. It's extremely spiky, with leaves a bit like minature holly leaves. Blue-black berries abound. They're clearly very tasty if you're a bird.
111
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
SWIFTS! Also RED KITE! Within moments of each other. There's a bit of a breeze today, so hopefully it's quite nice up where they are.
020
Reposted by Max
Kym Deyn @kymdeyn.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Rough day, so have a poem about the Jar of Moles in the Grant Zoology Museum in London that everyone has regarded as too thoroughly batshit to publish
Jar of Moles (Grant Zoology Museum, London)
crittery dozened things each pink snout snootling
formaldehyde up it's bamboozler which poor fuck
had to collect them out in the dirt with a shovel
here moley moley  	BONK . I’m only gonna
put you in a jar and let tourists go eww at you
for the next two hundred years god look at me
for two hundred years I’d do anything look 
mummy, one of them’s licking the glass—
honey it's dead  velvety sweet sardined hope
their ghosts are friends teeming in a molish
afterlife dark and circular everything worm-
flavoured tasty buggy snackerels what if 
you smashed the mole jar? vinegared
moles spilling out flaccid & swimming
everyone screaming someone saying Freddy
you gotta get us a new jar of moles—
—goddammit boss I  never asked for any of this
A jar of wet preserved moles, the jar is very full and all the little hands, feet and snoots mark it as both upsetting and fascinating
701754610
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Tadpole update! They are no longer tadpoles. Tiny stumps of former tails still visible, but otherwise, they are now the tiniest of tiny frogs. Adult frog amongst same plants for scale.
Hopelessly tiny froglet (Rana temporaria) in a pond. It's sitting on some hornwort, amidst some duckweed, very busy being extremely small.A very small froglet (Rana temporaria) swimming in a pond. It is utterly dwarfed by the vegetation.An adult frog (Rana temporaria) in a pond. Or a frog's nose anyway. The rest of it is under duckweed. The duckweed looks tiny next to it, because it is roughly the size of Saturn compared to the tiny froglets.
150
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
I've just been invaded by a little flock of long-tailed tits! Only ever seen them in the garden once before, years ago, in the dead of winter. I think this was an outing for a newly fledged family. If there's anything cuter in the bird world, I don't know what it might be.
A long-tailed tit in a cotoneaster bush. It is stupidly adorable.A long-tailed tit in a cotoneaster bush. It's slightly fluffed up, and cute. Probably it hides a dark secret beneath its babyish veneer, and if so, I am lost.
150
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Potentially the world's most supercilious frog.
A common frog (Rana temporaria) surveys its subjects with a haughty air. Bow down before it, peasant.
050
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
Hello.
Male large red damselfly looking straight at the camera. He's actually connected to a female, who is partially visible behind him. They're taking shelter on a pond lily leaf due to a rather gusty wind.
040
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Can I please have Naomi Novik's Temeraire series? Please? I was promised it years ago, and it didn't appear. It was going to be a Peter Jackson project then, and I'd rather the BBC made it, (mid-1980s, with stop-motion) but I can handle modern CGI if I have to.
110
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Damn.
Tony Head as Rupert Giles.
020
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
Vote for the animals that you'd like to see on the new Bank of England bank notes! www.bankofengland.co.uk/banknotes/he... (just as long as you vote basking shark 😉).
bankofengland.co.uk
Help us celebrate the UK’s wildlife
Tell us which animals you would like to see on our next series of banknotes by 3 July 2026
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Tadpole update! Very bad picture of tadpole leg. Very, very bad. But! Tadpole leg!
A tadpole shows its leg, largely obscured by duckweed.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Yesterday.
Common Blue damselfly. A later emerging variety than the red flavour, though they share the pond for a while. Amazing colour. I object to the common bit of the name, but it doesn't seem to mind.Five-legged spider. Seemed to be doing okay though. I think it's a running crab.Painted lady. Maybe the same one that was waving at me through the window when I was trying to work on Friday. It would *not* sit still.Mint moth. Not on mint. This is a common enough occurence that I have to question its choice of name.
000
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
I answered this question in-thread with Roger Taylor's Sunny Day, but I just remembered this one. Which isn't necessarily better, but needs celebrating. www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFwS...
youtube.com
Roger Taylor - Gangsters Are Running This World - Purple Version (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by Queen Official
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Unimpressed blackbird is unimpressed.
A Eurasian blackbird sits on a bird bath. It seems to be staring straight at the camera with a grumpy expression. Maybe a pigeon had beaten it to the clean water.
000
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Right outside the window at the moment, and not AT ALL distracting.
Painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) on red valerian. Harebells, wood avens and other greenery is in the background.Painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) on red valerian. It's beating its wings whilst drinking.Painted lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) on red valerian.
120
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Hello.
A frog (Rana temporaria) sitting on a lily leaf. It looks very pleased with itself. It is a very nice lily leaf. It is a very nice frog. The duckweed is less nice, and I am not best pleased with the bird that probably introduced it to the pond. They do things like that. Sigh.
0130
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Giant water beastie on the prowl. (Dragonfly nymph, most likely a Southern hawker, Aeshna cyanea.)
A large dragonfly nymph prowls through a garden pond. It's brown, and seems to have a ribbed tail.
031
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
The baby spoods have been relocated to the outside, as safely as possible. A greenhouse really isn't ideal. Some have dispersed, no doubt in search of chaos. The rest plot together on their bit of bamboo cane.
So many tiny spiders, scuttling in little circles. (Araneus diadematus.)Massed spiderlings (Araneus diadematus). Some abseil, their minds on merry mayhem. Others cluster, whispering plans of world domination. They are beautiful.
061
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
LOOK AT ALL THE SPIDERLINGS! They're *everywhere*! (Araneus diadematus.)
So, so many tiny spoods. The nest must have been on a bit of bamboo cane that's supporting a Thunbergia in the greenhouse. Some are still within the web. The others are radiating out like it's their mission to make as much mischief as they can.Some of the spiderlings on their way out into the big world, spreading across a Thunbergia leaf.Radiating spiderlings photographed with the flash on, which shows a bit more detail. The are yellowish, with black triangular markings on their bodies. They are very, very small, but this will not stop them.
020
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Tadpole update! No legs yet, but some of them sport increasingly clear dimples where the nostrils will be, and are taking on more frog-like colouring. There are signs of changes to body shapes too.
Several tadpoles (Rana temporaria) grazing on algae in a pond, alongside some very small ramshorn snails. One of the tadpoles has lots of golden flecks on its skin, but two others in the foreground have more froggish colouring, with shades of brown and green. A bigger one on the left has much more bulbous eyes, and appears to be developing nostrils.A large tadpole (Rana temporaria). It no longer has a plump tadpole shape, and instead has increasing definition to is edges as it continues to develop. It's almost as though the muscles that will work its legs can be seen beneath the skin.
321
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
Swollen-thighed beetle (Oedemera nobilis), male and female.
A male swollen-thighed beetle on a magenta geranium flower. The beetle is long and thin, green and shiny, with long, narrow wing cases, and very large thighs.A female swollen-thighed beetle on a clover leaf. The beetle is long and thin, green and shiny, with long, narrow wing cases. It lacks the large thighs of the male.A pair of swollen-thighed beetles, each on a magenta geranium flower. The male is in the foreground, and his large thighs are visible. The female is in the background, on a more distant flower.
010
Reposted by Max
🌈 Dr Ross Brooks @rossbrooks.co.uk · 19/05/2026
Whoop, whoop! 🥳 My book has just been sent to the printers! It also features in @yalebooks.bsky.social's Autumn Catalogue, in some very illustrious company . . . #excited All shares and preorders much appreciated! 🙏 yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300... #booksky #queer #lgbtq #queerhistory #histsci 🌈📚🗃️
Cover of Yale University Press's Autumn Catalogue. It features a colourful painting of a building on a hill with a mountain in the background and other buildings in the foreground.Page from Yale University Press's Autumn Catalogue featuring image of my forthcoming book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life: A History of Sex and Science, and accompanying spiel.
05412
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Bogbean. Truly lovely plant that deserves to be better known. @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
The flower of a bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata). Small, white, five-petalled flowers clustered in a vaguely pyramidal shape on a long stem. They are fuzzy and glorious.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
If you see this, post a Star Trek [gif, presumably. Otherwise gonna need a bigger character limit]
media.tenor.com
two men in tuxedos are standing next to each other and kissing .
Alt: Garak and Bashir in tuxedos, being very Garak and Bashir. The automated alt text said that they're kissing, which... they're not, but it's nice that the automated alt text ships them too.
120
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Neverwhere The Crow Road Cahokia Jazz
000
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Unexpected punk damselfly.
A large red damselfly perced on some bogbean. It's looking straight at the camera, and its wings look a bit like a Mohican hairstyle.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Damselflies! I haven't seen them for a few days, due to the rain, but they're clearly taking advantage of a break in the weather.
Two large red damselflies on an iris stem. They're connected in typical tail-to-head fashion, ready to lay eggs. Ideally in the water, but they're not great at that, to be honest.A large red damselfly perched on some bogbean.
010
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Tiny frog! One of last year's, I suppose. It's always nice to see them back.
Two frogs (Rana temporaria) resting in undergrowth beside a pond. One is very much smaller than the other.Two frogs (Rana temporaria) resting in undergrowth beside a pond. One is very much smaller than the other.
0654
Reposted by Max
Tim Clare @timclare.bsky.social · 05/05/2026
The rising 'children need to get used to being uncomfortable' anti-neurodiversity discourse is at once evidence of improved visibility & understanding (which always provokes dissent), & also lazy, pathologically incurious, harmful propaganda, mostly not from frontline teachers, pushed by the media.
1122881
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
Family history. These are marrow spoons, for scooping the marrow out of bones. Yum. They belonged to my great-grandparents (born in 1883 and 1885).
Six short, slim spoons, almost more like hooks. They are silver plated, and have highly decorated handles.A close up of the business end of a marrow spoon. It looks like a flattened hook, lacking the bowl shape of a traditional spoon.The decorated handle of a marrow spoon. It's a series of diagonal lines, twisting and criss-crossing.
031
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
There is something gloriously pleasurable in watching newts and tadpoles on a warm, sunny day, when you're very definitely supposed to be doing something else.
000
Max @swordznsorcery.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
Wolf spider investigating a pond lily leaf, then going for a run across the water. I love watching them do that. @britishspiders.bsky.social
A wolf spider stands on its back two pairs of legs, and reaches out to a lily leaf with its front two pairs.A wolf spider runs across the surface of a garden pond. It treats the water surface tension as though it were solid ground.
030