River restoration by the National Trust at Godrill Beck in the Lake District. (Image: Rose Ferraby)
In 2022 the University of Exeter and the National Trust developed the “Landscape Histories for Landscape Futures” project to explore how archaeology and understanding of past landscape change could inform the Trust’s planning for accelerated nature recovery on its properties. 🧵
What is resilience for a landscape? Check out our (with Charles Cunningham, @hannalp.bsky.social, Lauren Barnes, Chris Thomas and @janehillyork.bsky.social ) new paper now out in @peopleandnature.bsky.social Early View @anthropocenebio.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1002/pan3...
A flagship partnership opportunity for the Festival of Archaeology 2026🏺🌿
Last year, the UK’s largest programme of archaeologically inspired activity had:
👥 +100,000 attendees
🎪 +450 events nationally
💻 +100 million digital online reach
🌍 It’s World Rewilding Day!
We’re revisiting a past podcast: Rewilding: People & Participation. It explores rewilding from a social perspective. Many of the challenges facing nature are rooted in human activity & how we prioritise land use. So solutions like rewilding must put people at the centre.
Welcome to Mike and Lesley! I'm looking forward to working with you.
📢 We are hiring! 📢
We are looking for a highly organised, efficient and detail-oriented person to join our busy team as a part-time Publishing Assistant. This role will assist colleagues across editorial, production and marketing, gaining exposure to all elements of the publishing process.
Thomas Malton the Younger, 1748–1804, King's Parade, Cambridge, between 1798 and 1799, Oil on canvas, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, B1996.22.25.
1/ Explore the NEW website for the Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative ⬇️
A central online hub for all research, collaboration and public engagement exploring @cam.ac.uk's historical links to slavery & the wider afterlives of enslavement and colonialism.
🔗 www.hist.cam.ac.uk/news/new-web...
We’re looking for consultants to help shape the future of the CBA 📣
🔹 EDIE Policy Consultant: £3,000
👥 Volunteer Policy Consultant: £2,000
Both projects involve reviewing policies, working with staff and producing updated guidance.
More info 👉https://www.archaeologyuk.org/news/job-vacancies.html
You can continue the conversation in this ‘Next Steps’ event - Climate Resilience in the Cultural Sector. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/climate-re... #UKMuseums
Have we passed 'peak sheep' in the UK?
"I either continued along the sheep-farming route because of sentimentality or made bold decisions."
BBC News - Sheep are disappearing from the UK's hills - and its dinner plates - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
A black and white cat sits on the grey carpeted floor of a library in front of a bookcase.
Shout out to Betty for #WorldBookDay She was doing the rounds at Acomb Library when I visited earlier this week
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
What can biodiversity patterns during the Black Death tell us about our relationships with nature?
(hint: its not all bad!)
Read more in our new paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🌏🧪🌐
Biological Conservation Volume 316, April 2026, 111749 Revisiting Europe's temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome
"The study shows that current reforestation practices are on the wrong track—both here in Denmark, where subsidies are only granted for planting dense forests, and elsewhere in Europe. This will not only be harmful for biodiversity; it will be in direct contradiction to the type of ecosystems that Europe's species have evolved in over millions of years," says Professor Jens-Christian Svenning from the Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology at Aarhus University, senior author of the study. Source: "Dense, dark forests in Europe are a modern phenomenon" https://phys.org/news/2026-03-dense-dark-forests-europe-modern.html
New study: Europe had MUCH LESS dark dense forests vs today!
🚫🌲🌳🌳🌳🌲🌳🌲🌳🌲🌲🌳
"For over 20 million years, the landscape of Europe has been a tree-rich mosaic of grasslands, scrubs and more or less open woodlands with an abundance of wildflowers"
👇 👇
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
New study analysed 4k images from UK rewilding organizations & AI images
📸 Charismatic species and scenic views
💀 Death and decay mostly absent
👥 Few people depicted
🤖 AI imagery reproduces these exclusionary representations
Time to diversify!
📖 buff.ly/GWT6QCL
Much needed interdisciplinary work 👍:
"22 expert consultees including representatives from government bodies, learned
societies, expert ecologists, taxon specialists & archaeologists... discuss[ed] and refine[ed] the definition(s) of
‘Ancient Grasslands’ & identification methodology."
The past is the key to the future…
A group of people sit on a bench overlooking a scenic landscape of fields and hills under a blue sky with clouds. Tall grasses and wildflowers surround the bench. The image includes logos for "Danby Lodge" and "Sutton Bank" with a "50" emblem.
Three people sitting at a picnic table talking and smiling outside the Sutton Bank National Park Centre. A red sign on the building reads "Welcome to Sutton Bank National Park Centre." Text overlay says "Danby Lodge 50 Sutton Bank." Trees and a stone building are in the background.
50 years of Sutton Bank National Park Centre 🎂
Celebrate with us on Good Friday, 3 April 2026.
Live music from The Saltburn Smugglers, circus skills, bubbles, crafts, local food and the launch of ‘Finest Brew’ from Turning Point Brewery.
📸VisitBritain, Ula Blocksage
Still spaces available for this evening’s session on the Implications for Archaeology in the Draft National Planning Policy Framework!
Join Neil Redfern and Catherine Bell as they unpack what the changes mean, key areas of concern, and how to contribute to the consultation.
👉 tinyurl.com/2wwwm9z7
The Festival of Archaeology returns for 2026! 🏺🌲
From 18th July to 2nd August, the UK’s largest celebration of archaeology is back, and this year we’re exploring the connections between archaeology and nature.
Find out more 👉 shorturl.at/u9VQy
A large gorse bush fully stripped off the bark, leaving bare pale stems. There is some dark green foliage at the very top of the bush, above head height.
Mind you, these Royal Golden Guernsey goats take their jobs as conservation grazers seriously. Here's a gorse bush they've nearly fully stripped.
A group of half a dozen golden-haired goats stand on and beside a footpath with a bench in the foreground and yes in the background.
My colleagues at Sutton Bank today acting like kids.
A woman wearing black waterproofs stands in front of a leafless ancient tree on a grassy slope with a drystone wall in the background.
A staked tree sapling in a graze-proof metal mesh cage in the foreground. I'm the background there is a veteran tree by a drystone wall and a slope covered by plastic tree guards.
A bracing winter's site visit to wonder at trees both ancient and new.
It's definitely different 😂 Thank you so much for the well wishes.
Clemency Cooper’s PhD research aims to understand how perceptions of the landscape have shaped the North York Moors, and how evidence of past change might influence decisions about its future character.
@northyorkmoors.org.uk
www.york.ac.uk/anthropocene...
Image alt-text: A steep heather-covered escarpment at Blakey Ridge overlooking Rosedale. There are a couple of bare trees in the foreground and thick cloud in the background. Photo credit - Clemency Cooper.
I've been scaling my own wuthering heights since a momentous move to York last autumn to start a PhD investigating landscape change in the North York Moors #moorviews
Read more about the aims of my research in this blog post for @anthropocenebio.bsky.social www.york.ac.uk/anthropocene...
The lecture will follow the AGM, which starts at 10am. Remember if you are a CBA member and you’re unable to attend the AGM in person, you can still take part by voting by proxy !!
Increasing human ecological impact over the Holocene (11,700 - 150 years ago) led to biodiversity gains in Europe.
Why? From ~8,500 years ago, the spread of farming created heterogeneous, habitat-rich landscapes that enhanced biodiversity.
Read our new paper: dx.doi.org/10.1111/geb....
🌏 🧪
Catch up on our sold out lecture with @tonyjuniper.bsky.social.
Tony reflects on environmental legacy, current climate challenges and social inequalities before considering how we might tackle some of these issues.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y24-...
