Vivienne Dunstan

Two round ovoid rose hips with green leaves around and behind and more red rose hips glimpsed in the left background.

A dipper bird, its back to us, head turned slightly to its right, perched on a dark grey rock in the bottom left of the picture with green and white flecked water behind.

A tall portrait orientation photo of one arch of an old stone built railway viaduct rising high above a rocky river. Tall green trees rise up at the sides of the picture, the left side particularly dark in shade. Through and above the railway viaduct can be glimpsed blue sky and white clouds.

A wood pigeon seen from behind, perched on an arching branch with soft green in the background. The bird has grey wings and back, with soft slate like feathers layered on top of each other. It has a white ring around its neck and darker grey head above, turned slightly to the left.

Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk in the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶

Two round ovoid rose hips with green leaves around and behind and more red rose hips glimpsed in the left background.

A dipper bird, its back to us, head turned slightly to its right, perched on a dark grey rock in the bottom left of the picture with green and white flecked water behind.

A tall portrait orientation photo of one arch of an old stone built railway viaduct rising high above a rocky river. Tall green trees rise up at the sides of the picture, the left side particularly dark in shade. Through and above the railway viaduct can be glimpsed blue sky and white clouds.

A wood pigeon seen from behind, perched on an arching branch with soft green in the background. The bird has grey wings and back, with soft slate like feathers layered on top of each other. It has a white ring around its neck and darker grey head above, turned slightly to the left.

Some photos from my husband's Saturday walk in the Dighty Burn wooded river valley near our home in eastern Dundee, Scotland 📷📸🎞️🪶

Finished reading the 10-issue bundle of fairly recent Mslexia writing magazines that I got for a bargain. Going to donate them to Oxfam's to sell on to someone else. And I've just taken out a new print subscription to the magazine for me. Which I've already enjoyed reading immensely. mslexia.co.uk

Common Buzzard (Buteo Buteo) - taken a few months ago #birds

Bolton Museum displays rare Roman sun hat following restoration The 2,000-year-old hat, which kept soldiers cool in Ancient Egypt, is one of only three in the world.

Wow! How a 2,000-year-old hat kept Romans out of the sun. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Your pictures of Scotland: Photographs from around the country A selection of photographs submitted to BBC Scotland News from around the country this week.

Loving especially the puffin and fox in this week's BBC "Your pictures of Scotland". Plus Abbotsford (I lived nearby in Melrose for some of childhood & ancestors were family friends&neighbours of Sir Walter Scott) and St Andrews (where I went to uni and met my husband). www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Particularly since much of Burns isn’t written in English …

Guest blog post: Butterflies in Dundee in 2025 My husband Martin Dunstan is a keen bird watcher and photographer, going for regular walks, especially in the Dighty Burn / Seven Arches Viaduct area wooded river valley near our home in eastern Du…

A guest blog post from my husband @martin-dunstan.bsky.social. Butterflies in Dundee (Scotland) in 2025. vivsacademicblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/g... 📷📸🎞️ #butterflies

Guest blog post: Butterflies in Dundee in 2025 My husband Martin Dunstan is a keen bird watcher and photographer, going for regular walks, especially in the Dighty Burn / Seven Arches Viaduct area wooded river valley near our home in eastern Du…

A guest blog post from my husband @martin-dunstan.bsky.social. Butterflies in Dundee (Scotland) in 2025. vivsacademicblog.wordpress.com/2025/08/09/g... 📷📸🎞️ #butterflies

Vintage image of the 1928 unveiling of the stone, different images of the stone in the landscape and with people

Vintage image of the 1928 unveiling of the stone, different images of the stone in the landscape and with people

Vintage image of the 1928 unveiling of the stone, different images of the stone in the landscape and with people

Vintage image of the 1928 unveiling of the stone, different images of the stone in the landscape and with people

🎉 #OTD 8 Aug 1928 the 10ft Swedish granite #Trimontium Stone was unveiled by Dr James Curle, excavator of Trimontium. Shaped like a Roman altar with a libation bowl, it honours the fort built by Agricola’s troops nearly 2,000 years ago. A timeless reminder of Roman frontier life. 

#RomanHistory

Grappling with auto correct mess ups tonight. Especially bootmaker changed to bookmaker, and dinmont (as in the Dandie Dinmont Terrier dog breed) auto corrected to dismount. Sometimes technology can be extremely frustrating. And do anything but assist the user.

Today's book grab was an eclectic range, including book history (journals and academic books), cultural history, roleplaying game books, and comic books. Some alarmingly chunky books among them! Can see a sense of progress in the study. But much more still to clear out. For another time.

We still have far too many books I'm not using and won't be able to use even more as my neurological disease progresses. Would like to get some floor space back. At the moment too many places in our bungalow resemble my former PhD supervisor Charles's office, which was filled with book piles too!

Still on operation reduce the piles of books around the house, giving most to charity. Managed to find 20 more books to donate in a couple of short bursts this evening and just now. Had set myself that target today. Plus a chunky limited edition OOP Big Finish Doctor Who boxset. Going to Oxfam's.

Mark Grantham (Canadian Painter, born 1966)

"Public Gardens, Halifax", 2023.

Acrylic on Canvas Board

Booked us front row seats to see violinist Nicola Benedetti perform in Dundee, accompanied by a Brazilian guitarist and Italian accordionist.

Community claims council ignored bid for Jedburgh's Carnegie library A group is calling on Scottish Borders Council to allow a community takeover of the Jedburgh building.

Community claims council ignored bid for Carnegie library in Jedburgh www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Community claims council ignored bid for Jedburgh's Carnegie library A group is calling on Scottish Borders Council to allow a community takeover of the Jedburgh building.

Community claims council ignored bid for Carnegie library in Jedburgh www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A close-up image of a large young gull standing on a tarmac path. Their head is mostly mottled grey and white with a dark shadow around their eye. Their beak is black. Their body is dark with pale edges to their feathers. Their tail is black. Their legs are pink. The wind has caught some of their feathers on their side lifting them out in a star-edged pattern.

A juvenile gull, possibly lesser black-backed (LBBG) but note pinkish legs so likely herring? They flew up onto a nearby roof with an adult LBBG then proceeded to chase the adult off the edge. Another adult LBBG snoozed on a nearby lamp post. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

Small painting made with posca markers. There is a pitch black werewolf standing on two legs on a purple background. There are also some golden stars and a moon behind the character. Both upper corners are arched and there are some simple red floral ornaments in the corners on black background. The werewolf has a red eye and some red drop like details in the boofy neck hair.

just a simple woof
#art ✧ #painting ✧ #werewolf

A close-up image of a juvenile goldfinch perched on curved branch facing the camera set against a while sky background with out-of-focus foliage around the edges. They are mostly mottled pale brown and white with gold and black patches on their wings.

Juvenile goldfinch on a wet, windy lunchtime walk around Seabraes, Dundee. Shot towards the light through a narrow gap in a buddleja, barely cropped. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

A close-up image of a large black and white gull perched on a lamp-post seen from below. Their head, breast, belly and under tail are white. Their flanks and wings are dark grey, almost black. Their eye is yellow with a red outer ring and a small dark pupil. Their hook-tipped beak is bright yellow with a red patch underneath near the tip.

A lesser black-backed gull briefly awake between snoozes on the top of a lamp post at Seabraes in Dundee. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

YouTube video by bigfinishprod Behind the scenes at The Ninth Doctor Adventures

Behind the scenes at The Ninth Doctor Adventures #DoctorWho youtu.be/L5OQfr6DoPI

To clarify I am very happily working through reading the series of books on my Kindle. I need an utterly gargantuan font to read now due to my progressive neurological disease. So print books are bought only rarely now. But I can definitely make an exception for a special signed copy! #Booksky

Must not buy more print books I can't read easily. But a current fave author was in my local bookshop, signing his Renaissance thrillers. Erm. Well, just ordered his latest Venice-set book! Marvelling at his bookshop signings in St Andrews and Dundee. The Tay Bridge shut totally mid day ... #Booksky

I am agog that you managed that cross-Tay visit during today's storm! Thank you for all the signing. I've just nabbed a signed copy of your latest book from the Bookhouse in Broughty Ferry. Very much enjoying your Renaissance Italy series of books. All the best.

A monoprint from a walk earlier this week.

#DrawingAugust #DrawingAugust2025

Coffee and sketching on the riverbank.

Heard kingfishers but didn't actually see one. Heron gracefully glided by just as I was finishing.

A close-up image of a brown, orange and white bird perched in shadows on a giant hogweed stem with an out-of-focus dark and green background. The top of their head is grey; their forehead, chin and breast is pale orange with flecks of dark. Their eye is jet black. Their wings are brown. Their underbelly is fluffy white with patches of black feathers.

A young robin on a giant hogweed stem beside the Dighty Burn just west of Seven Arches (Balmossie) Viaduct in Broughty Ferry, Dundee. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

A small brown and grey bird perched facing the camera on a branch, half-hidden by foreground leaves. They have a small pointed grey beak, orange eye with black pupil. The background is out-of-focus splotchy green and red.

A young dunnock beside the A92 near West Grange Road in Monifieth, Dundee. 📷📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife