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Vivienne Dunstan

@vivdunstan.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.6K following 2.7K posts

Academic historian, genealogist, former computer scientist, Doctor Who fan and accordionist. Scottish Borderer from Hawick now living in Dundee, Scotland. Pronouns she/her. Equality ally. #BLM. vivdunstan.co.uk

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Reposted by Vivienne Dunstan
Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
'I love the sheep and the people' - Knitters flock to Shetland's wool week www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'I love the sheep and the people' - Knitters flock to Shetland's wool week
The annual event is marking its 17th year and draws visitors from all over the world.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 13h
‘I thought Brassed Off might be popular within a 10 mile radius of Barnsley’: the director on its 30 year anniversary www.theguardian.com/film/2026/oc...
theguardian.com
‘I thought Brassed Off might be popular within a 10 mile radius of Barnsley’: the director of Andy Burnham’s favourite film on its 30 year anniversary
Ahead of a live performance in the Royal Albert Hall, the writer Mark Herman explains why he’s not surprised it’s one of the new Prime Minister’s favourites and a why film like this wouldn’t get made ...
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
'I love the sheep and the people' - Knitters flock to Shetland's wool week www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
'I love the sheep and the people' - Knitters flock to Shetland's wool week
The annual event is marking its 17th year and draws visitors from all over the world.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Defrosting the Bettys almond and raspberry cake to have a very belated me birthday treat. I was barely eating anything at the time of my birthday, only a few days after major gynaecological surgery. Luckily we bought this while still available before and froze it. www.bettys.co.uk/almond-and-r...
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Browsing Marchpane Children's Books' online offerings, and amused at this Louis Wain illustration. #cats
A colour painting of an anthropomorphic tabby cat sitting in bed with a large white bandage round much of its head, and beside the bed a box of "Mouse Sweets" and a jar of "Mouse Jam". Clearly restorative.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Marianna Zampieri: Cats in Venice cats-museum.com/digital-exhi...
cats-museum.com
Cats in Venice: Marianna Zampieri Photographs the Cats of Venice
Marianna Zampieri has photographed the cats of Venice since 2015. A digital exhibition with stories of Venetian cats.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
New Box of Delights Appreciation Society website bodas.uk #Booksky
bodas.uk
Box of Delights Home
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
“The swallows can be distinguished from the martins by their reddish-chestnut throats and foreheads, their beautiful steel-blue backs and wings, and their long, forked tails” Writer: EL Grant Watson Artist : CF Tunnicliffe
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk to the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #insects #butterflies
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk to the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #insects #butterflies
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Updating "resources elsewhere" pages on my two Scottish one-place study websites to change ScotlandsPlaces link to go to ScotlandsPeople now (for digitised tax records and Ordnance Survey Name Books). And sad about other things I have to remove due to link rot. Fantastic resources, now totally gone.
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Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
An ancient and magical amber bear 🐻 ✨ Carved some 10,000 years ago, it washed up on a beach at Fanø in Denmark from a submerged Mesolithic settlement under the North Sea. National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen 📷 by me #Archaeology
My photo shows a small and ancient figurine of an amber bear carved some 10,000 years ago during the Danish Mesolithic period. The museum lighting makes the amber glow translucent orange against a dark display case background. The bear is displayed on a small metal stand viewed in profile facing right. The ears, muzzle, and mouth are defined. The neck has a polished groove suggesting it was once suspended on a cord. The characteristic shoulder hump of a brown bear is clearly defined. There are some finely incised horizontal lines along the belly. The legs are incomplete. Length 6.5cm. Amber has many properties which may have been associated with 'magic' for ancient peoples. For example, when rubbed against fur, amber produces static electricity which can give off sparks in the dark, make hair stand on end, and attract small things towards it.
The bear was found in 1991 on a west coast beach of the Danish North Sea island of Fanø. It is one of a small number of amber animal figurines from the Baltic Sea region which have been assigned to the Mesolithic period by means of a typo-chronological approach and /or other contextual information.
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Martin Dunstan @martin-dunstan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
As a motion-activated birder/lepidopterist, autumn is confusing/distracting!
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Belatedly watching Strictly, and crikey the scoring is urgle!
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
It's 3 weeks since my robotic keyhole gynaecology surgery (total hysterectomy, plus loads of bonus cancer-related stuff). And despite being severely immunosuppressed so I heal very slowly, I'm in a good place at mo. Still to hear pathology results re cancer. But yup. Having F&D yum yum to celebrate.
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Daniel Rough @haggistamer.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
calm and well-adjusted thoughts about the lack of Scottish representation in the Great British Bake Off 🍰
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
From bling and birds to ‘really fancy armour’ – the best dressed characters of the Bayeux tapestry www.theguardian.com/fashion/2026...
theguardian.com
From bling and birds to ‘really fancy armour’ – the best dressed characters of the Bayeux tapestry
Medieval experts talk us through the fashion of the near-1,000-year-old embroidered work, and what it says about the characters wearing it
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The doorstep milk thief, 1966 Artist: Ronald Lampitt
A blue-tit pecks at the silver top of a milk bottle on the doorstep 
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
‘Cracking auction, Gromit!’ Original Aardman puppets go under the hammer www.theguardian.com/film/2026/se...
theguardian.com
‘Cracking auction, Gromit!’ Original Aardman puppets go under the hammer
Wallace and Gromit stop-motion models and other beloved creations raise money to train new generations of animators
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's lengthy Wednesday walk around the northern edge of Dundee, Scotland while our car was in the garage for its MOT and annual service 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #rats #comics
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's lengthy Wednesday walk around the northern edge of Dundee, Scotland while our car was in the garage for its MOT and annual service 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #rats #comics
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Shock horror! That's our M&S Christmas and New Year food preordered. Vegetarian mains, traditional garnishes (inc chipolatas - we've a flexible diet!), and sweet treat. That'll feed us for 25, 26 Dec & 1, 2 Jan. Yes it's early, but we left it too late one year, and they'd sold out of what we wanted.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Pub used in cult classic film The Wicker Man up for auction www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
bbc.co.uk
Creetown pub used in cult film The Wicker Man up for auction
The Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown became the Green Man pub for the 1970s cult horror movie.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Current main reading, late September 2026 edition. Yes it did feel like time to start yet another reread of Lord of the Rings! All the books in the picture are in progress, with percentage marks showing how far through I am on most of them. #Booksky #Tolkien
Screenshot of a greyscale Kindle Paperwhite in portrait mode, showing 6 book covers in progress. On the top row first is a bundle of Lord of the Rings books, with Fellowship at the front (as a bundle it doesn't show percentage progress); "Venice" by Jan Morris (60% through); and "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell (57% through). On the row below that are another 3 book covers: "The Sex Column and other misprints" by David Langford gathering his old columns in SFX scifi magazine which had a running joke of partially covering the F of SFX to make it look like another word (70% through); "The Bookshop Book" by Jen Campbell (26% through); and "Eleanor: a 200-mile walk in search of England's lost queen" by Alice Loxton (3% through). The covers are varied, including Venetian architecture, lots of bookshelves, and a rather confused looking standing spermatozoon on the SFX (not SEX!) book.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
How a teacake tycoon helped to save a village's lifeboat station www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #Scotland #ScottishBorders
bbc.co.uk
How Sir Boyd Tunnock helped to save St Abbs lifeboat station
A donation from Sir Boyd Tunnock worth "a lot of caramel wafers" saved the St Abbs service 10 years ago.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
To mark the Autumn Equinox, I offer you a biscuit tin. Designed in 1958 by CF Tunnicliffe
A large rectangular biscuit tin with a decorative lid showing red squirrel perched on a tree stump in front of a vivid blue ground 
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Current main reading, late September 2026 edition. Yes it did feel like time to start yet another reread of Lord of the Rings! All the books in the picture are in progress, with percentage marks showing how far through I am on most of them. #Booksky #Tolkien
Screenshot of a greyscale Kindle Paperwhite in portrait mode, showing 6 book covers in progress. On the top row first is a bundle of Lord of the Rings books, with Fellowship at the front (as a bundle it doesn't show percentage progress); "Venice" by Jan Morris (60% through); and "Cranford" by Elizabeth Gaskell (57% through). On the row below that are another 3 book covers: "The Sex Column and other misprints" by David Langford gathering his old columns in SFX scifi magazine which had a running joke of partially covering the F of SFX to make it look like another word (70% through); "The Bookshop Book" by Jen Campbell (26% through); and "Eleanor: a 200-mile walk in search of England's lost queen" by Alice Loxton (3% through). The covers are varied, including Venetian architecture, lots of bookshelves, and a rather confused looking standing spermatozoon on the SFX (not SEX!) book.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Today is #HobbitDay because Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were both born on September 22nd. Normally we'd shire a hobbit pun or two but it might just feel like a tolkien gesture and we don't want to embarrass our elves. Anyway it's a good day to come and boromir #Tolkien books. 📚
A shelf of books by JRR Tolkien
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Martin Dunstan @martin-dunstan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Wood pigeon resting on our (very relaxed) drive this morning. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife #pigeonsky
A close-up image of a plump grey bird with white collar seen in profile facing right resting on a gravel path in dappled morning light with clumps of grass in the background.
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Sarah Murden @sarahmurden.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
From the archives of All Things Georgian, 'The perilous role of the Georgian Firefighter' - wp.me/p3JTNy-6rs #c18 #18c
wp.me
The perilous role of the Georgian Firefighter
Should you have the misfortune to suffer a household/business fire in the Georgian period, then let’s hope you had taken out fire insurance. If you hadn’t then you would not be eligible to call on …
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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
NASA picture of the day today is a real 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿beauty! This is a composite image of the ~5000yo Callanish Stones on the Isle of Lewis. The amazing Giuseppe Petricca has only gone and photographed the Sun at noon there, every few days, for a whole year. #Dedication 🔭🧪👌 ℹ️: science.nasa.gov/image-articl...
The imposing Callanish Stones stand talk with their shadows spanning out across the glass.  It's a super clear sky, but looks cold. Above the central stone is a strange figure-of-8 shape of dots.  This is the location of the Sun, at noon, on various different days across the year.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk to the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #insects #PigeonSky
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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Goodnight. From Weird Tales, September 1941.
Five birds perched on a branch in a tree silhouetted against a full moon, illustration.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk to the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #insects #PigeonSky
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Belatedly starting watching some Edinburgh Book Festival 2026 events I had livestream tickets for but couldn't watch live. Fortunately still available to watch online, pay what you want to support the festival. Just watched Maggie O'Farrell speak about "Land". www.edbookfest.co.uk/on-demand #Booksky
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Other work by the Ladybird artists ‘September’ (1958) Artist: Ronald Lampitt
In a walled Orchard, which seems to belong to a large, half timbered house, a couple stand on ladders or reach up with a fruit picker to pick apples 
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Rob Crank Photography @robcrank68.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Here's a set of Kingfishers and Puffins for today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Elegant. These are 2 species that are as elegant as they come. #birds #birdphotography #ECK #naturephotography #CanonR5mkii #photography #ukbirding #wildlifephotography @rspb.bsky.social #PhotographyIsArt #BirdLife
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
15 days post robotic keyhole gynaecological surgery for possible cancer and I'm recovering well. Now on just 4 paracetamol a day, temperature regulation normal again, eating near normal (that was slow to come back), and just ongoing low kidney function still to recover. Another 4 weeks or so ... 1/2
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's brief Friday visit to the seafront in Monifieth, Angus, east of Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds
A common gull standing facing left on a sandy beach among seaweed covered stones. The bird has soft white and grey plumage, a yellow and green beak, black and white tail tips, and green legs.A bar-tailed godwit flying low above a beach with incoming waves behind. The bird is flying right, caught here with its wings low. Its main body is soft brown coloured and its wings grey and white. A great black-backed gull standing facing right in seawater between a sandy beach in front and a row of rocks behind and sea splashing beyond that. The bird has a white front and black back, black and white tipped tail, and yellow/orange beak.Looking across seawater to a sandy beach and green dunes with a white lighthouse at the right side. In the foreground are two strips of sand running horizontally in the sea. In the longest strip we can see, from left to right, about a dozen large black cormorant birds, including one in the air. In front of that, and to the right, a smaller strip of sand has about half a dozen smaller bar-tailed godwits standing on it.
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Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The autumnal equinox is only a few days away. BL Add 18856; Guyart des Moulins, Bible historiale; c.1420 CE; France, Central (Paris); f.5v @blmedieval.bsky.social
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Some photos from my husband's brief Friday visit to the seafront in Monifieth, Angus, east of Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds
A common gull standing facing left on a sandy beach among seaweed covered stones. The bird has soft white and grey plumage, a yellow and green beak, black and white tail tips, and green legs.A bar-tailed godwit flying low above a beach with incoming waves behind. The bird is flying right, caught here with its wings low. Its main body is soft brown coloured and its wings grey and white. A great black-backed gull standing facing right in seawater between a sandy beach in front and a row of rocks behind and sea splashing beyond that. The bird has a white front and black back, black and white tipped tail, and yellow/orange beak.Looking across seawater to a sandy beach and green dunes with a white lighthouse at the right side. In the foreground are two strips of sand running horizontally in the sea. In the longest strip we can see, from left to right, about a dozen large black cormorant birds, including one in the air. In front of that, and to the right, a smaller strip of sand has about half a dozen smaller bar-tailed godwits standing on it.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Other work by the Ladybird artists ‘September’ Shell Nature Studies, 1956 Artist: Rowland Hilder and Maurice Wilson
A rather bleak view across windswept moorland to low seacliffs. In the foreground are brown brambles and damp corn stooks. In the mid ground, a small white, low crofters cottage. 
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Clare Kirk @digupyourancestors.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I’m always excited to come across evidence of women parish officers from before the 20th century. In 1716, Ann Bretten Widdo served as Overseer for Stratton-on-the-Fosse in Somerset. And in 1726, Mrs Green had the same role. Here are the pages of their accounts.
Page of Overseers Account Book for Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, 2 April 1716. At Southwest Heritage Centre.Page of Overseers Account Book for Stratton-on-the-Fosse, Somerset, 1726. At Southwest Heritage Centre.
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Just discovered "A Guide to Scots Bird Names" edited by Robin Jackson. Now very out of print, but the PDF edition is available to download from his ResearchGate account. An absolutely delightful book for lovers of birds and the Scots language. www.researchgate.net/publication/... 🪶 #birds #Scotland
researchgate.net
(PDF) A Guide to Scots Bird Names
PDF | One of the purposes of this copiously illustrated booklet is to show the reader (Scot or non-Scot) that Scots is a living language and one that... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...
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Vivienne Dunstan @vivdunstan.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Here's the BBC newly published invitation to tender for Doctor Who. Lots of interesting details in there about how they're envisaging future production. www.bbc.co.uk/commissionin...
bbc.co.uk
New opportunity: Doctor Who invitation to tender
Deadline for initial submissions: 2 October
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Martin Dunstan @martin-dunstan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A curlew in flight over the edge of the River Tay at the Stannergate this morning. First one I've seen there since March although I've only visited infrequently. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife
A speckled brown bird with long thin down-curved beak is flying over deep blue water with wings spread wide. They have a distinctive white triangular wedge in the middle of their back down to the start of their tail.
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Martin Dunstan @martin-dunstan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
A small white butterfly feeding on dandelion-like flowers near the Stannergate carpark this morning. 📷📸🎞️ #butterflies #ukwildlife
A close-up image of a white butterfly seen in profile facing left on a multi-petalled yellow flower. They have speckled green on the underside of their wings while the upperside side is white with black tips and a black spot. Their eyes are like small green eggs with dark spots. There is a rich gold/yellow stripe on the upper edge of their hind wing.
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Hadrian's Wall ‘Julius Caesar and Roman Britain’ (1959) Artist: John Kenney
Artists impression of the wall in Roman times, with a group of soldiers patrolling along it 
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SAOCousins @saocousins.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Grey Heron #ArtDD2026 Sketching is a good way to try and figure out how nature works but I cant phantom out how the feet stays after the Kaploosh #heron fishing @everyheron.bsky.social #doodle #inknib #nso2026 #gfö2026 @drrjwarren.bsky.social @andykaitken.bsky.social
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
‘Oak’ Ladybird Book of Trees, 1963 Artist: SR Badmin
In the foreground we just see a little of the leaf and fruit of the tree. In the mid ground, the large trunk of an ancient oak displays the bark. In the background we see the full tree canopy in all its splendour. 
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