Joey Pickard

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

‘Other investors’ means Trumps son in law, so I look forward to the next Star Wars Jedi game telling me that the empire is great and actually always was. I assume also now you can only build walls in the Sims

Apple Review #4: Knobbed Russet Holy fucking shit, look at this Shrek-Ass Apple. Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself. Before we begin, a note on how (and why) I’m reviewing these. The why, first. Once upon a time, ther…

Sure, let's eat and review this Shrek Ass of an apple --

Reform UK’s ex-leader in Wales Nathan Gill pleads guilty to bribery charges Gill admits to eight charges while an elected member of the European parliament

🚨 BREAKING: The former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has pleaded guilty to #bribery, admitting he received corrupt payments as a Brexit Party MEP in exchange for making statements in the European Parliament to promote Russia’s interests in #Ukraine.

Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

I am glad to be part of the largest paper on bryophyte genomics. Spearheaded by Shanshan Dong and Yang Liu ( Fairy Lake Botanical Garden) presents: "A comprehensive super-pangenome analysis, incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte nuclear genomes......"
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

YFORY! | TOMORROW!

Ymunwch â Heneb a Buglife ar-lein am noson o Natur a Threftadaeth. Darlith AM DDIM. Archebwch le yma: heneb.org.uk/cy/event/dar...

Join Heneb and Buglife online for an evening of Nature and Heritage. FREE lecture. Book here: heneb.org.uk/event/henebs...

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

A crowd in front of empty chairs with a background from the Australian comedian Matt Stewart’s show, Bad Boy, before the show starts

As I approach old age (30) it’s pretty rare I find myself out for late nights. Zero chance of missing Matt Stewart’s stand up show this week though, he made it all the way from Melbourne to Swansea! Great time, still laughing and a nice distraction from *gestures at the bin fire we call the UK*

Promotional poster for the “2026 PEAT Calendar” by the Peatland ECR Action Team. The calendar theme is “Wildlife.” The poster announces that photo submissions are open until September 30, 2025. The background features a scenic photo of a wooden boardwalk leading through a peatland toward snow-capped mountains under a colorful sunset sky. Photo credit: Justinas Sakas.

🚨📸 About 2 weeks left to send in your best #wildlife in a #peatland shot and publish in the 2026 edition of #PeatCalendar

Email to: PeatECR@gmail.com

Deadline: 30 September

I will be! It’s on my list of things to do for my desk week I’ve booked in next week so keep your eyes on the inbox

Only photo I got

A view of Castell Nos peatland restoration area, near Maerdy, Rhondda

The only photo I managed to take today, if you look closely you can even see the rain! Despite the very changeable weather it was nice to be on Castell Nos peatland site again after a year to see how it’s doing. Also nice to be with other bog nerds from the @peatlandcymru.bsky.social NPAP team

Annual report of the small but mighty Initiative for Nature Conservation Cymru (INCC) @inccymru.bsky.social - and yes, as a trustee I am biased ;)

A horse

Some very nosey company for NVC surveys today. Personal space doesn’t translate into farm horse apparently

A view of an upland common in Wales

Alongside the hammering rain that seems to have made itself at home over the past couple of weeks, the other challenge I’ve noticed is finding time to post work updates alongside the annual August fieldwork rush. NVC surveys have been enjoyable despite the weather though!

Nice! The mycologists I know always tell me to smell Hygrocybe to figure out what it is, did it smell of anything strongly?

Water vole droppings in a fen

Burrow at water level (centre) that curves up and out of the stream

For those who have never had the joys of wading through a stream or crawling through dense vegetation looking for water voles to inform your peat restoration constraints, here’s a close up of the target from the second photo showing the droppings, and also a burrow in the bank

Two surveyors in a greater tussock sedge filled fen feature at Cwmparc, Rhondda

Spot the water vole droppings (they’re next to the target)

Very atmospheric (c.f. rainy) day out in the Rhondda doing water vole surveys for Lost Peatlands sites at Mynyndd Ton and then Cwmparc. Great to have @inccymru.bsky.social with us as well for the day. Been a while since I’ve been in the Cwm and it’s fantastic, despite the razor sharp tussock sedge

A Skoda yeti having its front drivers side wheel replaced on a gravel track

Stunning place for a puncture! I know the Skoda Yeti has its fans and it’s served me pretty well on my peaty and ecology adventures but file this one under ‘how to ruin a car by giving it stupid sized wheels’. I miss my Land Rover every day.

Peatlands and Wetlands Group - British Ecological Society Providing a forum to unite researchers working across all aspects of peatland and wetland science.

Interested in #wetlands and #peatlands? Want to be part of a growing network to help promote these ecosystems?

We are looking for new ECR committee members

Email for more information (in link below):

www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/peat...

@britishecologicalsociety.org

Some interesting bog employment opportunities coming out for those on the peatlands and wetlands feed!

No tickets needed! Just turn up on the night!

I have two weddings of good friends to go to next summer, both of which now pale into insignificance compared to my excitement at getting tickets to see My Chemical Romance in July

Cycling through the Swedish agricultural landscape today. Found a ditch. It illustrates nicely how ditches can be refuges for biodiversity, including wetland species, when wetlands and wildness have vanished from the surrounding fields.

SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR MEMORIES, THEY'RE KILLING THE EARTH, ALSO WE'RE BUILDING NEW AI CENTERS feels absurdly farcical and dystopian while perfectly illustrating Stage 4 End-Stage Capitalism in all its dipshit horror.

Yep they’re both visible on google - lapwing here maps.app.goo.gl/dGkPi5mX62z9... and curlew here maps.app.goo.gl/wGRqp7UJcmEo...

A curlew made from a peat bund

A lapwing made from peat bunds

Increasingly jealous of there being not one but two giant artworks in peatland restoration sites in Ireland where they’ve made first a curlew, and now a lapwing from the bunds. Time to start a crowdfund to make one in the Rhondda of that one sheep who harasses you for ice cream on top of the Bwlch

Four sheep in a foggy heath

Some absolutely stunning views for peat depth surveys today. Now that’s what I call a gorgeous Welsh summer!

Gwna wahaniaeth!
Mae hon yn swydd allweddol i gyflawni amcanion Adfer Mawndir Cymru. Byddwch yn dod â'ch sgiliau a'ch arbenigedd i gefnogi'r tîm deinamig a llwyddiannus sy’n anelu at #NaturUwchCarbonIs.
bit.ly/45ieGkI
£45K-£50K+
Cau 15/9/2025
@natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social

Make a difference!
This is a key post to achieve the aims of Wales Peatland Action. You’ll bring your skills and expertise to support the dynamic and successful NPAP team aiming for #HighNatureLowCarbon.
bit.ly/3H1UbAR
£45K-£50K+
Closing 15/9/2025
@natreswales.bsky.social @iucn-uk-peat.bsky.social