Declan Valters

RIP Leslie the Lupo 2001-2026. The salty Scottish roads finally got him.

jury citation *again*!? 🫠

near Kingussie, 19/01/26

Did you see the Aurora displays this week? If so we'd love to see your photos! Thanks to Karl Thurlow for sharing these images with us, taken in Aviemore on Tuesday.

Did you know BGS monitor geomagnetic activity and have an alert service? please visit:

geomag.bgs.ac.uk/education/cu...

I learnt a lot

gave in and booted windows to watch a documentary about hockey 😶‍🌫️

Now TV will only play in a browser if you are using Windows or Mac?! This is Linux erasure!!

Aurora borealis over Aviemore

🚨 Aurora alert! 🚨

A geomagnetic storm is expected over the next 48 hours due to the expected arrival of a coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on 18th January.

View the full forecast:

geomag.bgs.ac.uk/data_service...

📷 Aurora borealis over Aviemore - credit: J Orsi

The fast (~1400 km/s) CME that launched yesterday is forecast to arrive sometime Tues. Probably during the day in the UK, so not great for aurora. But there's a fast solar wind stream near Earth, and the precise location/timing of that could really change the CME propagation.

An image of cliffs in within the Yorkshire Wolds area. It is a calm and sunny day. The cliffs are to the left and the sea to the right.

Geologists at BGS have completed a major update to the geological map of the Yorkshire Wolds that will help to improve regional understanding of both the aquifer and the groundwater resources, and may assist in reducing risks to specific water supply assets.

www.bgs.ac.uk/news/new-geo...

A map showing the distribution of earthquakes in the UK over 2025. Below 1 mag is in blue, 1 to 1.9 is green, 2 to 2.9 is yellow and 3 to 3.7 is red. The outline of the UK is in grey.

Seismologists at BGS have published data on the number of seismic events over the past 12 months. With over 300 earthquakes recorded, data shows 2025 was an above average year for earthquakes across the UK.

www.bgs.ac.uk/news/perth-a...

‘Three norths’ set to leave England and not return for hundreds of years 🧭

The historic alignment of true, magnetic, and grid north is set to leave England, three years after they combined in the country for the first time since records began.

www.bgs.ac.uk/news/three-n...

stuck key is free !! No locksmith call out and saves cutting 24 tenement keys plus new barrel 🔑🔑🔑

why is it called fun size twix when it's the least fun size a twix can be?

Very Manchester-appropriate parallel file system! 🐝🐝 #CoSEC #ciuk

the joys of a cable-operated clutch! 🫠

can't have functional public transport in west Edniburgh when thousands of rugby fans insist on driving to Murrayfield 🙄🏉

nothing more BBC than the BBC approaching the BBC for comment

We have upgraded our geomagnetic forecast today (12 November 2025) to the highest intensity level amid an ongoing solar storm.

Current predictions suggest that the activity will result in potentially the largest solar storm to hit our planet in over two decades.

£15 Edinburgh - Aviemore on the Ember electric bus !

(£56 on the train, exactly same time, 2hrs59 mins)

A weak spot in the Earth’s magnetic field has nearly doubled in surface area since 2014.

BGS Geophysicist Ciarán Beggan appeared on @earthskyscience.bsky.social's podcast to explain why this is happening, and what the consequences might be.

Watch the full episode: www.youtube.com/watch?v=az8K...

distance to nearest magnetometer across the UK

Five new sensors being installed across the UK will provide full national coverage of the magnetic field for the first time.

The quantum magnetometer sensors will improve our understanding of extreme magnetic storms and associated effects on national infrastructure.

www.bgs.ac.uk/news/uk-scie...

context: Keighley & Worth Valley Railway 🚂🚃

Keighley just got a mention on Radio nan Gàidheal! (ann an "Yorkshire an Iar")

French police have released image of prime suspect in Louvre heist 💎🐔

A picture of a foggy street

Edinburgh castle failing to render, likely thanks to the AWS outage

I saw a Lada Riva in Gorgie a few months back and it was tempting...

who designed this thing?? Headlamp bulb behind the fuel lines...need fingers like Rachmaninov to fish it out

Aurora Borealis over Mount Lothian, Midlothian in 2024. BGS © UKRI.

Surveying for magnetic interference after installation of solar panels for powering a quantum magnetometer sensor in Blickling, Norfolk.

New highly sensitive quantum magnetometers are being installed across the UK.

These instruments are helping us understand the effects that extreme magnetic storms have on technology and national infrastructure.

Read more: www.bgs.ac.uk/news/uk-scie...

YouTube video by Mountain Bothies Association Behind The Bothies: Declan Valters, Maintenance Organiser, Strathchailleach Bothy

Lots of work goes into looking after mountain bothies: MBA trustee Juls Stodel amazingly manages to turn my incoherent rambling into a nice video about some of the work we do: www.youtube.com/watch?v=oc4v...