Higher Education continues to burn through talented people, imitating their 'competitors' in a strategy toward oblivion. University leadership across the nation only has one idea and it is cruel and self-defeating.
A map of Wales and the west of England with UHF coverage in green and the larger VHF coverage outlined in red. The Welsh transmitters all stop dead at the border with England.
April 1969 map of the planned UHF 625-line transmitter network in the Harlech Television region. More info: transdiffusion.org/2026/04/21/i...
Two-storey, end-terrace family home with two front doors - one on the right with letter box, plainer one to the left.
Interesting council house design in Bedford - part of a terrace of single family homes with two 'front' doors. I assume the one of the left gave access to a service area - good for muddy boots, bikes, etc. - unless you know better. Tayler and Green did something similar in south Norfolk.
Walked past this memorial today at Hyde Park Corner. Charles Wheeler was considered as a sculptor for Briadcasting House but after some internal machinations by those involved on the BBC side, it was Eric Gill who won the commission. More on this in Palace of the Ether, out in June.
And with colours inverted...
Help with #palaeography please! ‘S[ummon]d[s] of Removeing / Geo: Ramsay / [The?] / [beisteret?]’
And there's a great blog about this text here genizahfragments.lib.cam.ac.uk/2026/02/02/a...
📅 Upcoming wills project talks 👇
- Social History Festival this Friday
- Laura Sangha at the Institute of Historical Research (hybrid) on 7 May
#EarlyModern 🗃️
Are you wanting to get your copy of the awesome "The Biological Recording Handbook - Making Wildlife Count" signed, in person, by the wonderful author - @sarahwhild.bsky.social? Then join us at #NFBRConference2026 Book here: bit.ly/4sZO4iz (p.s. you can buy copy there too!) #BiologicalRecording
Great to see the Westminster government doing this.
Of all the spam that finds its way into my academic work email on a daily basis, this one genuinely had me in fits. Needless to say, I wrote back politely saying ‘Neigh thank you!’
21 April is World Curlew Day
Wildlife.net supports the Melbreak Curlew Recovery Project initiative in the UK to reverse the 60% decline in this ground nesting bird species, the Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata)
#curlew #curlews #worldcurlewday #nature #CurlewDay #wildlife bsky
The cyberattack on The British Library in October 2023 knocked out ebooks and almost ever other computer thing there for years.
Ebooks just came back. They were knocked out everywhere using the BL’s license (legal deposit libraries I think? More libraries?)
Distributed physical copies matter.
54 wild clary plants introduced thanks to students at the RAU! @gloswildlife.bsky.social
So that's it.
"...some museums that take a very niche view on our past that may talk about slavery, without the whole picture of the fact that the British empire was the first to abolish slavery, and that other countries have done it for, you know, millennia".
Reform Leader Dan Thomas to the BBC.
The Museums Association responds to the Reform-UK manifesto for the Welsh Senedd election which states a Reform Gov would impose a curatorial view.
"We are concerned that Reform UK's Manifesto for Wales appears to suggest that, if elected, they would seek to control how museums interpret history."
R.I.P. Desmond Morris.
Borrowing Desmond Morris' works from the public library in the East Midlands town I grew up in was part of my gateway to anthropology as field.
www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...
Died #OnThisDay 1837 John Blackburne, Liberal MP for Huddersfield, 1834-7. He had played an important role in the reform of municipal government in 1835. There’s more about this new system of local elections in this blog from our editor Philip Salmon: victoriancommons.wordpress.com/2015/10/16/1...
A black and white image of a Victorian Pump house on the Old Bedford River in Cambridgeshire. It is owned and operated by the Sutton & Mepal Internal Drainage Board (S&M IDB). The drainage district was formed by Act of Parliament in 1749 covering approx 9,000 acres. The river runs past it to the left and there are lots of fluffy clouds in the sky, some reflected in the river.
Mepal (Fortrey's Hall) Pumping Station.
Bronica Etrs, @ilfordphoto.com Fp4 120 developed in Bellini Euro HC.
One of my favourite of our many pumping stations here in the Cambridgeshire Fens, this one replaced six windmills in 1840 with a Butterley steam beam engine at 80hp.
#believeinfilm #fp4party
A black and white image of a derelict manor house almost completely covered in ive and brambles. Fitton Hall was originally called 'The Manor of Fitton' and was held by Alan de Fitton, the Bishop of Ely. The surrounding land was at first very marshy, but by the year 1221, 120 acres of the estate had been reclaimed.Over 100 years later, Agnes, the daughter of Sir Lawrence de Flete married Sir Bartholomew Everard and the manor descended into this family, and remained with them for several generations.When the Buckworths took over, the house was rebuilt. By 1728, the manor consisted of 87.5 acres, 5 of which were woodland, 11.5 were arable and the remainder was pasture. In 1824 the property was sold to a silver plater from Sheffield for £2,990. This farmhouse has now replaced the old manor building.
Fitton Hall, Leverington,Cambridgeshire. Now derelict.
Bronica Etrs, Kodak T-Max 100 in D23.
#believeinfilm #blackandwhitephotography #derelict #landscapephotography
A few more images from my time living in the South Wales Valleys.
#photography #landscapephotography #EastCoastK
jevoncarey.myportfolio.com/below-and-ab...
@suw.bsky.social
S: Welsh Bio Recording example:
@suw.bsky.social
S: Welsh Bio Recording example:
The SEWBReC #SpeciesOfTheMonth for April is the lovely Seven-spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)!
Can you spot them in your local parks or your garden?
See if you can fill in the gaps in our maps, find more info, distribution maps and ID tips here: www.sewbrec.org.uk/species-otm/....
A black and white photograph of a flat Fenland agricultural landscape. A small farmhouse sits centrally within the frame, partially obscured by a dense cluster of trees forming a shelter belt. The trees create a compact mass against the otherwise open field, their foliage merging into a single dark shape. The surrounding land is level and largely uniform, with no visible variation in elevation. The field extends outward on all sides, with no nearby buildings, roads, or boundaries immediately apparent. The farmhouse appears set within its own holding, positioned away from roadside settlement patterns typical of other rural areas. The tree belt encloses and protects the structure, providing shelter from exposure in the open landscape. Above, a bright sky with scattered cloud occupies a large portion of the frame, contributing to an even distribution of light across the scene. The image is rendered in black and white, emphasising tonal contrast between the trees, field, and sky. Captured using a Bronica ETRS on Kodak T-Max 100 film, developed in D23.
A typical Fenland farmstead: an isolated farmhouse within its own holding, enclosed by a shelter belt against exposure. Positioned within the land it works, reflecting drainage-based agriculture.
Bronica Etrs, Kodak T-Max 100 in D23.
#believeinfilm #blackandwhitephotography #landscapephotography
A photo of a parish register with the following text over the top: 'An Introduction to Parish Registers 10:30am, Saturday 2nd of May, Buckinghamshire Archives'
We've got plenty of parish registers in our collection, but how can you use them in your research?
Come along to this free talk and learn how to get started in using this fantastic resource!
Spaces are limited, so make sure you email us to secure your spot at archives@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
In their version, Edward I liberated Wales from her nasty commie princes; built those castles as social housing for the peasants; and aided our tourism and 2nd home development by removing all that nasty, dirty coal, iron, and water.
To find out more about tea in the late 18th century by reading Lettsom's treatise online: archive.org/details/b280.... And however you take your cuppa, have a very happy #NationalTeaDay!
Black and white illustrations of 'boxes for conveying Plants by Sea'. There are four images, 'A box with plants shut down with the opening at ends and front left for fresh air' 'The cask for sewing seeds with the openings defended by wire' 'The inside of the box showing the manner of securing the roots of the plants surrounded with earth and moss tied with packthread and fastened cross and cross with laths or packthread to keep them steady' 'The box with divisions for sewing different seeds in earth and cut moss.'
Tea might be considered Britain's national drink today, but it was, of course, introduced to the country as one of the commodities grown in and traded via colonised lands. Lettsom includes images of the equipment used to (try) to transport tea plants across the oceans.
Colour illustration of tea plant - camelia sesangua - with dark green leaves, with finely serrated edges and white flowers.
A colour image of Bohea tea showing the dark green leaves with finely serrated edges and multiple white flowers with yellow centres.
Elsewhere in the hundred-page treatise, he addresses other observed effects, such as the afflictions affecting those who package and trade in tea, tea as a treatment for worms in children, its effects on people's teeth, and the dangers to the stomach of drinking it too hot.