Vivienne Dunstan

Fear ye mortals! You may think you have vanquished Nospurratu but the undead are not easily destroyed! They have returned to rip your furnishings and leave their victims scattered across the kitchen floor!
Here's a revamped linocut of my sold out vampire kitty! www.blockforest.co.uk/products/nos...

Mabs Drawlloween Club Day 7: Ghoul
This ghoulish little bear is definitely not after porridge.

www.blockforest.co.uk/products/zom...

SCA are delighted to present the latest edition of the Archives Review, celebrating the work and projects being undertaken in collections across the country.

We are grateful to all our contributors!

View it here: www.scottisharchives.org.uk/latest/scott...

A black and white ink drawing of the neolithic tomb known as Wayland's Smithy

This is my ink drawing of Wayland's Smithy, a Neolithic long barrow close to the Ridgeway in Oxfordshire. It is said that if you leave your horse there with a coin then Wayland will magically reshoe it.
The original artwork is now available on my Etsy shop here: shorturl.at/HDzSI
#TombTuesday

Pine martens released on Exmoor in 'positive sign for nature' They are

Scottish pine martens relocated to Exmoor www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A framed black and white linocut print showing three cats full of character and wearing lots of spooky/occult symbols, gathered around a fire in a forest. Behind an owl sits high in a tree and a large moon peeks out between the trees. The frame is black and the portrait orientation A4 print is standing up on a red cushioned seat.

Newly framed art print, waiting to go on the wall. A4 art print from @blockforest.co.uk. There are just a handful left of this limited edition design. Frame from Frames.co.uk in Manchester. The frame has a really nice wood grain effect cushion moulding. Delighted with it all! Thanks :)

A soft focus illustration of a pair of goldfinch eating the seeds of thistles. The main attraction of the illustration is the depiction of the different textures in soft hues

British Birds and their Nests ‘Goldfinch’ (1953)
Artist: Allen Seaby

A scene on a busy, beautifully tended allotment. The star of the scene is the wonderfully delicate, slightly hazy October light.

Other work by the Ladybird artists
‘October’
(From a 1958 calendar by the always fabulous Ronald Lampitt)

Watch online: Hallie Rubenhold: Not Just Victims From Mon 11 Aug - Medical fraudsters, fevered manhunts, sudden disappearances - the infamous true story of an Edwardian crime comes to life in Story of a Murder: The Wives, the Mistress and Dr Crippen...

Watching my last Edinburgh Book Festival event of the year (on streaming catch up) with historian Hallie Rubenhold interviewed by Val McDermid. www.edbookfest.co.uk/the-festival... #Booksky #Skystorians

Releasing stranded baby puffins on a remote Icelandic island Join the puffin patrol as they rescue lost pufflings on Vestmannaeyjar, off the southern coast of Iceland.

Releasing stranded baby puffins on a remote Icelandic island www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

It moved a month earlier a year ago when I last entered. Change of timing to try to reduce the clashes with ECTOCOMP, the Halloween-themed annual comp.

A black and white image with a silhouette of a common buzzard with a long tail and wings spread flying towards the left with out-of-focus willow leaves and branches in the foreground and bright grey/white sky background.

Silhouette of a common buzzard being chased by an out-of-frame magpie. They had just been vocally mobbed by five oystercatchers followed by about ten magies. 📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

A wide shot of a buzzard at the left of frame and a magpie with wings spread wide at right of frame. The buzzard is brown with a hooked beak with brown and white wings. The magpie has a black head and tail with white body; the inner part of their wings is black with fanned out white flight feathers.

A buzzard giving me side-eye while being chased by one of about ten magpies after having been vocally mobbed by five oystercatchers. 📸🎞️🪶 #birds #ukwildlife

One of the arches of an old railway viaduct peeking out in the middle surrounded by green trees to the left, right and in front.

A dipper bird perched on a branch about a metre above a river. Behind it are loads of green leaves. It’s unusual to see a dipper so high.

A very fluffy black, orange and white bumblebee perched on spiky green spherical ivy flowers, wings spread wide.

A dipper flying from right to left above a frothy white flecked river. It has been photographed mid flight, its wings below.

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

One of the arches of an old railway viaduct peeking out in the middle surrounded by green trees to the left, right and in front.

A dipper bird perched on a branch about a metre above a river. Behind it are loads of green leaves. It’s unusual to see a dipper so high.

A very fluffy black, orange and white bumblebee perched on spiky green spherical ivy flowers, wings spread wide.

A dipper flying from right to left above a frothy white flecked river. It has been photographed mid flight, its wings below.

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

Image of badges with logo 'I know the value of history' and text 'The value and provision of history and the humanities: it's time for a political response.'

This week, the Society's President Lucy Noakes wrote in response to Bridget Phillipson's Labour conference speech - and its implications for history and the humanities in UK higher education bit.ly/3KBX7Fw

#Skystorians

And we’ve just got to my husband’s first (and possibly only) “Which one’s the professional?” of the night. Which was very predictable in this case. 😜 #Strictly

Catching up with Strictly at speed. And I just said “I don’t think we’ve had anyone pretend to play an accordion before!”

Rare medieval remains uncovered in Glasgow An archaeology team uncovers pottery and well-preserved wooden posts and fencing at a site in the Gallowgate area.

Rare medieval remains uncovered in Glasgow www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Finally detailed mixed media illustration of a view looking down into the Severn Valley and up towards Ludlow Castle, surrounded by autumn trees

Other work by the Ladybird artists.
‘Ludlow Castle’ (Readers Digest magazine)
Artist: SR Badmin

Front covers of the three books which were the first real non-fiction books for older children that Ladybird produced and were the start of the phenomenal increase in sales

Ladybird books in the spotlight:
British Birds and their Nests (1953 - 1956)
Artist: Allen Seaby

Oh it’s my umpteenth reread. I’ve lost count now of how many times I’ve read it :)

I'm usually too impatient to read a chapter a day throughout October. But I'm going to try this time. And, to be fair, I have other novels on the go currently. So snippets will work.

Screenshot of a Kindle Paperwhite, black and white / greyscale colour, showing two rows of three books. On the top are “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang, “A Night in the Lonesome October” by Roger Zelazny, and “Restoration London: Everyday Life in London 1660-1670” by Liza Picard. On the row below are “The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design”, “Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu, and a “Complete Sherlock Holmes” collection.

Current reading, early October 2025 edition. Kindle books anyway. I have to read those with a gargantuan sized font for disability reasons. But do manage to gobble up books that way! #BookSky

Shocking red: behind the scenes on classic horror Don’t Look Now – in pictures Released in 1973, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now is regularly acclaimed as a high point of British cinema, and a new book collects hundreds of images from the film’s production, many of them previously...

Shocking red: behind the scenes on classic horror Don’t Look Now – in pictures www.theguardian.com/film/gallery...

Screenshot of a Kindle Paperwhite, black and white / greyscale colour, showing two rows of three books. On the top are “Katabasis” by R.F. Kuang, “A Night in the Lonesome October” by Roger Zelazny, and “Restoration London: Everyday Life in London 1660-1670” by Liza Picard. On the row below are “The Complete Kobold Guide to Game Design”, “Carmilla” by Sheridan Le Fanu, and a “Complete Sherlock Holmes” collection.

Current reading, early October 2025 edition. Kindle books anyway. I have to read those with a gargantuan sized font for disability reasons. But do manage to gobble up books that way! #BookSky

My photo shows a mosaic fragment from the floor of a Roman villa in Spain, dated AD 100-200s. It depicts a cartoon-like, stylised octopus using red, yellow, white, and black limestone tesserae, against a white background. The front-facing octopus has a large red and white head/body outlined in black. Its yellow circular eyes are outlined in black with a central black dot. Below the head/body are eight writhing tentacles

Charming little octopus from a Roman villa at Villaquejida, León, Spain. Limestone, 2nd-3rd century AD.

Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid 📷 me

#Archaeology

Now Is the Perfect Time to Snuggle Up With A Night in the Lonesome October - Reactor A Night in the Lonesome October is Roger Zelazny’s last novel and still stands as both my favorite Zelazny and my favorite book to open when it’s time for a fall reread, leading up to Halloween. It’s ...

Looking forward to my annual October reread of "A Night in the Lonesome October" by Roger Zelazny. A gothic delight. reactormag.com/now-is-the-p... #BookSky

More on the legal proceedings by Ancestry against the National Records of Scotland From Scotland, a daily news blog about genealogy, family history and personal heritage.

More on the legal proceedings by Ancestry against the National Records of Scotland scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2025/09/more... #genealogy

Oh so very very much ;)