I always think that one of the joys of other-than-human life is that we are surrounded by the weird and the fantastical: fungi are every bit as strange and marvellous as elves!
jdrobertsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/elf-cups
New single!
This one is called 'Elf Cups', after the tiny red fungi which grow on fallen branches. I was inspired by the connection something so earthy as a fungus has with otherwordly beings...
jdrobertsmusic.bandcamp.com/track/elf-cups
A blcak beetle with an irridescent green-purple sheen on its abdomen and thorax, red legs and antennae, and striations along its elytra
A very nicely irridescent ground beetle (Carabidae - I think this one is Nebria sp.?)
Turns out having a real, 9-5, job is kinda tiring (who knew?), but I managed to steal a few moments with the synth
When @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social started their PhD with @extinctionleeds.bsky.social, the project was a great #conservation #science idea. This latest paper on a more-than-human approach to #bird trade, however, shows how superbly their work developed: conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
I got the Korg Monotron Delay in December, but it's taken me a while to learn to use it well enough for a video! It's a very fun instrument, but it requires quite a precise touch to pull anything melodic out of it
Yeah, it's almost fluffy!
It's gorgeous, isn't it?
A speckled brown weevil with a purplish head and black speckling on the abdomen sat on a veined green leaf, facing left towards the camera. It has large black eyes above its antenna, which set on the end of a long rostrum
A weevil on a nettle. This one has a lovely purplish tint to its head! I looked up the etymology of weevil, but apparently it just comes from the Old English wefil, meaning a small beetle. Seems like we've been calling these little guys by pretty much the same name for over a thousand years
Advertising people get paid bags of money to come up with nonsense phraseology and here am I in academia, doing it for cheap
Just me and my bestie talking about birds #illegalwildlifetrade #songbirds #indonesia
In episode 7 of our podcast, 'Edges of Exinction' @jdroberts.bsky.social talks to @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social about the complex and ambiguous 'wicked problem' of bird trade in Indonesia, and how to create just outcomes for humans and birds alike extinctionstudiesleeds.podbean.com/e/edges-of-e...
A dusty irridescent green beetle with pale spots on the abdomen standing facing right on a grey-white rock surrounded by brown fragments of heather. The top of the legs are coppery, the lower parts emerald, the jaws emormous and bone-coloured
Green tiger beetle (Cicindela campestris). A dusty emerald, stalking and pouncing across the windswept moor; tiger of the heather, jewel of the crowberry-lined path
Taking a moment to decompress after a busy morning
A tiny brown-and-white striped spider perched on a red brocl wall
Zebra spider. Lovely little animals, but very easy to overlook!
I was expecting a bit of pushback against this paper, but so far all the citations have been very positive, which is nice
doi.org/10.1017/mdh....
Episode 6 of our podcast. @jdroberts.bsky.social and Lydia Woods talk to @rachelgrandey.bsky.social about the complexities of guilt, religion, blame and loss in the context of extinction and environmental degradation in south-east Asia. extinctionstudiesleeds.podbean.com/e/a-faceless...
@hibbertsalex.bsky.social - might be a good book to read in advance of the (hopeful!) autumn workshop when it comes out!
I don't have a hot take beyond that, like most historians, I dislike Winston Churchill and think his self-mythologising has deeply distorted public understandings of the second world war, to the detriment of our country. But I like badgers, so there's that
Episode 5 of our 'Edges of Extinction' podcast: 'A Shell like a Paperclip'. @jdroberts.bsky.social and @rachelgrandey.bsky.social talk to Lydia Woods about mass extinctions in the deep past – and the strange world of marine palaeontology.
extinctionstudiesleeds.podbean.com/e/edges-of-e...
Last call for this awesome online seminar on danger in Dartmoor tomorrow! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/embodied-e... #envhist #environmentalhistory
Spring is beginning to spring, which means it's light and warm enough to spend a bit of time sat out with the monotron in the evenings. I can manage the tiny keys quite well so long as I'm not too sleep-deprived, but unfortunately...
They say it's publish or perish in academia, but hey, plenty of us manage to do both!
We've got a fascinating seminar coming up next week on embodied environmental histories of danger in Dartmoor! Join us at 2PM GMT next Tuesday (the 10th) for some dangerous discussions... #envhist #environmentalhistory #nationalparks #envhum #dartmoor #Devon
Aw, thank you MT! I wanted to do something simple and calm, so really glad you enjoyed it!
I relistened to 'Helluland' by Northumbria for the first time in a while last night, and it inspired me to go back to basics and make something more classically ambient
In Episode 4 of Edges of Extinction, Seb Stroud, @sicilyfiennes.bsky.social and @jdroberts.bsky.social talk to Andrea Boom about language, plants, culture and frankincense in Oman #environmentalhumanities #socialsci #linguistics #extinctionstudies extinctionstudiesleeds.podbean.com/e/edges-of-e...
Awesome, thank you!
Join us in a couple of weeks when @lenaferriday.bsky.social will be discussing the narratives of danger that lurk on Dartmoor in the imaginations of the last two centuries. Come along online on 10/03 at 1400. To Sign-up, see here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/embodied-e...
Fantastic news! I am currently looking for postdocs, should I drop you an email to talk more?
