merryn

That's a great story!

Sleepy owl found resting among items on a New York antique store shelf Shoppers in upstate New York month turned up a rare find while perusing a local antique store this month: a live owl resting peacefully among items on a shelf.

@ntheowl.bsky.social
apnews.com/article/owl-...

On Orkney one of the signs of Spring is the oyster catchers as they fly around calling for their mates. Even very late at night. Well, I think that's what they are doing. If I wrote the sound down it would be something like "meebeep meebeep beep beep beep". #Spring
markavery.info/2020/04/20/b...

For #StandingStoneSunday today - the tallest menhir from the alignements at St-Pierre-Quiberon (Morbihan) known as The Great Monk from its distinctive outline. Just over 20 menhirs remain from rows which originally stretched out into the Bay of Quiberon. Card by Henri Laurent in Port-Louis 1905.

Have a lovely birthday!

Also with food and drink, it seems, I wonder what that was.

Stone Age boy in Sweden was buried in deerskin and a woodpecker headdress, archaeologists discover A new method of studying the contents of soil samples has revealed Stone Age people in Sweden were buried in decorated fur-and-feather clothing.

Cute reconstruction drawing! 🧪🏺

Wrekin

I set off up the Wrekin with no sun in sight, but the further I climbed then the brighter it became. I reached a cloudless sky at the summit and all around me were hills standing out like islands in the mist. As I stood there I could pick out the Clees, the Strettons, the Stiperstones... #Shropshire

That's really helpful for all of us who have not been there! Yet. 🤓 I know all the names from reading your book/blogs so it's nice to see this.

Photo of a still fjord with forest-covered hills. A runway juts out into the sea, pointing straight up a valley labeled "Stjørdal main valley." A side valley to the left is marked "Skjelstadmarka." On the far left is a peninsula called "Skatval", and Stjørdal town is right next to the runway.

As I flew into Trondheim airport yesterday, I managed to snap this photo of Stjørdal. All of the marked areas are malting and brewing areas, except for the town. Jørund Geving's malt kiln (såinnhus) is basically at the far end of the runway.

The end of Digging for Britain.
For me, at least.
But I’ll still be making television about archaeology, on other channels. So watch this space…

Photo of several Cladonia podetia that look like cream coloured trumpets (growing vertically) with the trumpet openings ringed in red.

Cladonia sp #lichen
#Newfoundland Canada.
Lichens are about 3cm high
#fungi #fungifriends

Thanks!

I'm off to sow some seeds. Marigold and Gazania. That should cheer me up.

Did any of our politicians say anything about the Winter Olympians? Any praise, congratulations? Acknowledgement? Because I haven't heard any thing so did I miss it? Wondering.

Such lovely lamps, my husband rescued a couple of these from the skips when he worked at a university.

When I first came across your work, @larsga.bsky.social, it brought the archaeological record that I was studying to life. Malting, mashing, obtaining a wort, yeast, fermentation techniques. As I live with a brewer I understand the process. Your research reveals ancient and traditional techniques.🤓

Platyrhinus resinosus - Cramp-ball Fungus Weevils!!! They’re so beautiful, with eyes like tiny galaxies. Best weevils ever. Examine every Daldinia concentrica you come across & eventually you’ll find one. Took me years. #FungiFriends #Platyrhinusresinosus

Image of the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age logo with the words We Are Back! beneath.

Welcome to the brand-new social media page for the Centre for the Study of the Viking Age! The longship has set sail for new shores as we have parted ways with X (Twitter) and are setting up camp here on Bluesky. Follow along for updates on upcoming events, new research, and all things Viking Age!

Useful books for understanding the mashing and brewing processes, for the brewer's kit especially. In Norway they make malt using a slightly different technique, it's not always floor malting, but the same fundamental principles and process: no direct heat to dry it. Only warm, often smoky, air.

Lautering a 100% Wheat Malt Mash - Daft Eejit Brewing In which I briefly describe how I managed to lauter and sparge a 100% wheat malt mash without any stuck sparge using a historic technique.

After a long and exhausting brew day (triple decoction mashing 😐) of a historic recipe involving 100% wheat malt, I wrote a brief article how I managed to lauter and sparge the mash without any issues, using a historic lautering aid.

dafteejit.com/2026/02/laut...

#homebrewing #beerhistory

Do any of my #archaeology contacts know about 'pitting' on the inside surface of #Beakers? Some sort of damage done to the inside of pots because of use or maybe functional wear and tear. I have no photos. It's just that I've been asked about it. It's not something that I have come across myself. 🏺

A lovely view and an inviting path.

Lawley

What a spectacular sight - I had spent sunrise on the southern end of the Lawley and came across this view as I was heading back down the hill. My eye was caught by the inviting footpath along the top of the ridge, and the contrast in colours between the sweeping slopes and the... #Shropshire

Photo of a crustose lichen on tree bark. The lichen is light green-grey with numerous brown discs that have white rims (the apothecia). The lichen is roughly oval in shape, with pointed ends.

Lichen, Lecanora epibryon. NWT, Canada. #lichen #fungi #fungifriends
Lichen is approximately 5cm long.

Done, now following them. Do you think they'd be interested in our work on identifying the Viking brew houses in Orkney and Shetland?

Storms reveal rare 2,000-year-old footprints on Scottish beach Storms which recently ravaged Britain's coastline have revealed 2,000-year-old footprints on an Angus beach - one of only a handful of locations in the UK where markings of this kind have ever been di...

Radiocarbon dating shows these prints date to the late Iron Age — moments in the lives of people who walked this landscape two millennia ago, a few centuries before the first reference to the Picts. #Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen!
More to follow!
www.abdn.ac.uk/news/25127/?...

Beautifully made and decorated and interesting burnishing details too.

In the footsteps of a Welsh borderlands baddie: walking the Mortimer Trail A trail named after a brutal marcher lord passes through tranquil countryside between Shropshire and Herefordshire but is rich in reminders of the area’s turbulent past

The @theguardian.com featuring the new app for the Mortimer Trail from Ludlow to Kington. The views from Offa’s Dyke at Kington are panoramic. It’s the location of one of the minor diversions the monument takes along its route and you can absolutely see why.

Yeah, different approaches to a walk. I shall stick with the botany group. We just wander around fields and along the tracks, looking for flowers and plants.