I've known Richard since the 1990s and he was a mentor, advisor and friend to many of us. He did a massive amount to build collabs, help in excavations and pass on advice and enthusiasm. He was a warm and welcoming person who promoted inclusion, collaboration and the role of amateurs in science.
All plesiosaurs today for #FossilFriday, in tribute to our departed friend Richard Forrest.
In shock to hear that Richard Forrest passed this morning. What a guy. I've met few people as enthusiastic about fossils. He had a whole life, whole career, outside of the academic world but made huge contributions to scholarship. And was so kind and welcoming to everyone. RIP.
Just learned that Richard Forrest, one of the pillars of British vert palaeo, has passed away unexpectedly. Richard was such a friendly, welcoming person, an expert on British marine reptiles, and the unofficial custodian of SVPCA. We spent many hours chatting in various pubs. He will be missed.
An absolute pillar of the British vertebrate palaeontology, plesiosaurus expert, Richard Forrest, passed away. Really sad to see another senior welcoming figure in this field, leave us. Was lovely working with him while in Lyme Regis.
Via Sally Hollingworth and Sue Forrest comes the unexpected news that Richard passed this morning. This is a shock and a major loss. Richard is a notable person in the Mesozoic research community, known for his work on marine reptiles and his role in organising conferences and meetings. Very sad.
Australia has no woodpeckers, but striped #possums are tropical #marsupials that do the same job: their big ears detect beetle grubs tunnelling in wood, which they chip out with large incisors, then use their elongated 4th finger to hook them out of the tunnels (just like aye-ayes do in Madagascar).
For generations the Univ of Leicester has been a global leader in geology, Earth science & climate research
Now *the entire program* is on the chopping block
Some of the world's best paleontologists are facing layoffs
Sign this to stop this madness:
www.change.org/p/save-geolo...
A 1.4 Ga organic rich mudstone from Australia that has low-grade contact metamorphism. Black blobs with crystal cores are thucolites, brown square is a fragment of microfossil that has been partially mineralised. More deets in alt text. #ThinSectionThursday #Geology #paleontology ⚒️🧪🔬
#FossilFriday One extra fossil from Singapore, in the black limestone cladding of the same Prada shop as the rugose coral posted earlier, a brachiopod preserving internally the calcite supports of the two arms of the lophophore visible as rings of dots on the left and right side of the fossil.
The resignations of Tim Davie and Deborah Turness must be an opportunity for the BBC to turn a new leaf, rebuild trust and resist those like Nigel Farage who want to destroy it
We must stand up for a strong, independent BBC, to stop Trump’s America becoming Farage's Britain.
🎨 To help promote the benefits of geodiversity, a team from the Open University have worked with artscientist Dr Vicky Bowskill to produce this amazing new image!
🌍 Read more, and download the image on our website: www.geodiversityday.org/post/visuali...
🥳 Happy Geodiversity Day!
⭐ As we celebrate with the theme 'One Earth, Many Stories', read this message from the new UNESCO Chair in Geodiversity and Geoconservation:
🌐 www.geodiversityday.org/post/unesco-...
It’s Geodiversity Day & Mineral Monday!! So I wanted to show you a rare mineral called carletonite, which is usually bright blue but seen here with a pink zonation. It was discovered here in Canada, at the mineral species rich Mont Saint-Hilaire. #GeodiversityDay #MineralMonday #GeoscienceBluesky ⚒️🧪
🌟 The Geological Survey of Northern Ireland have celebrated #GeodiversityDay with the launch of a new Geodiversity Charter!
🌐 www2.bgs.ac.uk/gsni/Geodive...
Happy Geodiversity Day! Today we celebrate the beauty and importance of our planet’s geological diversity. The Durbuy anticline, first described in 1807 by Jean-Baptiste Julien d’Omalius d’Halloy, is a perfect example of an IUGS Geological Heritage Site inside the UNESCO Geopark Famenne-Ardennes
October 6 was declared International #GeodiversityDay by the UNESCO in 2021. On this day we celebrate the abiotic beauty and diversity of Earth - including rocks, soils, landscapes, rivers, lakes, minerals & fossils ⛰️🪨🐚💎
Seeing as today is #InternationalGeodiversityDay and as I'm leading a geology walk there later this month, as part of a Charity Day Fossil Hunt, I thought I'd write a blogpost about the geodiversity of Runswick Bay: fossilhub.org/runswick-geo...
There’s an interesting series of 5 free online paleobotany lectures via the Oxford University Botanic Garden this autumn. You can book all 5 lectures here (scroll down webpage to ‘Get your tickets now’ button) www.obga.ox.ac.uk/event/dr-san... #paleobotany
Regular reminder to authors to please acknowledge and cite people who have contributed to your work. Yet again I find a paper that I collected data for and I’m not acknowledged. 🧪
Also see our recent paper that provides a toolkit for more just and equitable citation practices👇🏽
🔗 osf.io/qjecy_v3
Great to see an interrogation of the sources of commercial fossils, especially from Morocco 🦖🇲🇦
But utterly disappointing to see the platforming of people who have repeatedly and openly flouted (inter)national laws. Not a legal (or ethics) expert in sight 🤦♀️ [1]
edition.cnn.com/2025/08/15/s...
Here’s a comic I drew when I was 19.
I was explaining to my Ukrainian colleague the phrase ‘There’s no such thing as a free lunch’. She told me the equivalent in Ukrainian is ‘The only free cheese is in the mousetrap’ - which is so much better
One of my favourite #MaryAnning facts™️ is that she would discover fossil cephalopod 🐙 fossils with preserved ink sacks, concoct a dangerous chemical slime to turn them back into gloopy ink, and then use her Jurassic ink to draw exquisite illustrations of the vertebrate fossils she found.
Meta.
For #FossilFriday, a cobble from the streets of York with corals, not sure of the precise taxon. Maybe Carboniferous?
I've not seen that one before. It's a beauty! Siphonodendron, I'd imagine; probably Siphonodendron junceum, but I'm not sure how reliable the species classification is.
It’s my book launch on Monday 28th April (5 days) and so I’ll be posting a bit about it for the next week or so!
Nervous, excited, overwhelmed- I’m all of these things plus a few more.
@FairfieldBooks_
thenightwatchman.net/buy/cricket-ch…
I enjoy the way that in this photo my cats look like a hip-hop duo quite a lot of people quite liked in 1996 who have made a comeback record, done an interview with a broadsheet newspaper and are attempting to prove they are still serious and relevant.
Little egrets fighting. Taken at Spurn Head in East Yorkshire, UK #birds #nature #egrets #littleegrets #sprunhead #eastyorkshire #wildlife
Saw some dinoturbation in the Jurassic Sandstones, South Cliff, Scarborough today.
First time spotting these here, was very exciting!
