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Reposted by Annie Brassey

David Blanchflower BSc @davidbflower.bsky.social · 14h

The Belt of Orion (Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka) with the Flame Nebula. 10 October 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour

The three bright stars of Orion's belt. Left to right Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka. The red flame nebula to the left of Alnitak.

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Order Rodentia @orodentia.bsky.social · 14h

#RodentOfTheDay Crete Spiny Mouse (Acomys minous)

"It is a nocturnal forager, feeding mainly on grass blades and seeds, and builds only a very rudimentary nest."

Photo and info from: animalia.bio/crete-spiny-...

It is characterized by the coarse, stiff hairs on its back and tail and a notably grayer coloration and more pointed face than other species of spiny mice. Its fur color varies from yellow to red, gray or brown on its face and back, with white fur on its underside.

This one appears mostly golden-furrerd and is sitting on a ledge of rock that is against another rock. The mouse's nose is not visible and its eyes are half-closed.

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Karen Averby 🌊 @karenaverby.bsky.social · 15h

For #FindsFriday- Rather lovely mid-20th century tourist salt and pepper shaker, Llandudno Museum & Art Gallery. Perfect for fish 'n' chips!
llandudnomuseum.co.uk/20th-century...

#SeasideHistory #Wales #Llandudno #20thCentury

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The Palaeontological Association @thepalass.bsky.social · 16h

A new long & narrow-snouted ichthyosaur illuminates a complex faunal turnover during an undersampled Early Jurassic (Pliensbachian) interval onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... #FossilFriday @morphobank.bsky.social #PapersinPalaeontology

Photograph of the holotype and only known specimen of the hauffiopterygian leptonectid, Xiphodracon goldencapensis (ROM VP52596) from Golden Cap, between Charmouth and Seatown, Dorset, UK. The skeleton is exposed in ventrolateral view. The skull has been fully prepared free of matrix whereas most of the skeleton is still in matrix. The left (upper) forefin has been prepared so that it is
three-dimensionally preserved and projects upwards. Scale bar (lower left) is 20 cm.

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Reposted by Annie Brassey

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 17h

I bet he woke up with mediumistic abilities.

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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 1d

A 7th century Pictish symbol stone discovered in 1936 during excavations at the Knowe of Burrian - a broch at Netherbrough in the Orkney Isles. Now part of the collections at Orkney Museum in Kirkwall. 📸 My own. #FindsFriday #Picts #Orkney

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Signe Maene @signemaene.com · 17h

A Flemish folktale says people never went near the dunes at night because it was haunted. A man decided to risk it anyway and was knocked over by a ghost who appeared as a headless horse. It stomped on him so badly that he was lucky to live to tell the tale.

🎨Jaroslav Panuska
#PhantomsFriday

Artwork of a white headless horse running in the night. Grass, dark cloudy background.

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Annie Brassey @anniebrassey.bsky.social · 17h

"Serious Result Of A Prank.
It appears that the boy, possibly smitten with the prevailing craze for the supernatural, was impersonating a #ghost on Monday evening, being more or less appropriately garbed in a sack, which covered him from head to feet."
#Bexhill Chronicle 10.1.1920. #PhantomsFriday

Newspaper cutting from the Bexhill Chronicle 10.1.1920.

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Rachel Deering @racheldeering.bsky.social · 18h

Badger, The New Student's Reference Work, 1914.

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Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 19h

Sea Monsters in Cornwall. Sunday 26th October 2025, I’ll be talking Sea Monsters Past and Present as part of the Dark Folklore Festival in Porthtowan, Cornwall. More info and tickets at... www.darkcornwall.com/event-detail...

Dark Cornwall Presents: The Dark Folklore Festival 2025 | Dark Cornwall

Join us on 26 October 2025 in Porthtowan for The 2025 Dark Folklore Festival, where rituals will weave the veil thin, masters of folklore will share their dark tales, and legends will walk among us in...

www.darkcornwall.com

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Annie Brassey @anniebrassey.bsky.social · 17h

""Court Baron" At Bexhill.
Quaint Survival Of Norman Times.
...often coupled with a "Court Leet"...at which the people...met to choose their jurymen...These occasions, like the old English fairs, were made the opportunity for much merry-making and jollity."
#Bexhill Observer 5.12.1914. #FolkyFriday

Newspaper cutting from the Bexhill Observer 5.12.1914 reporting on a Court Baron at Bexhill.

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Ulla Rajala @ullamr.bsky.social · 1d

Quernstones from Hunsbury in Northampton. In the front, rings, beads and a currency bar (?). Iron Age. In the Northampton museum. #FindsFriday

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Rebecca Griffiths @yorym-flo.bsky.social · 22h

This amazing object is a Bronze Age palstave axehead c.1500-1250 BC. The axe would be hafted to a forked wooden handle held in place by high flanges & deep stop ridge. It is decorated with a trident-like shield design. #FindsFriday finds.org.uk/database/art...

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 18h

In the Margam Stones Museum, South #Wales, can be found the Bodvoc Stone, which commemorates a Dark Age king. #Legend stated that (when in situ), a fabulous treasure was buried beneath the stone but that this was guarded by the fierce ghost of King Bodvoc himself.
#PhantomsFriday #folklore

The Bodvoc Stone, an upright pale sandstone pillar with writing crudely carved on it. I won't type out the full inscription because it was said reading the words would bring a fatal curse down upon you!

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Three Ravens Podcast @threeravenspod.bsky.social · 21h

We're off to the fair for #FolkyFriday today! 🖤

Our theme this week is "Autumnals Fairs, Festivals, and Animals Brought to Market!"

From Samhain to Goose Fairs to Pack Fairs and beyond, it's a very folky season!

Tag related posts, art, songs and customs #FolkyFriday for shares until 6pm UK time!

a painting of people with the word frolic on the top

ALT: a painting of people with the word frolic on the top

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Annie Brassey

New Scientist @newscientist.com · 18h

Naked mole rats live an extraordinarily long time, compared with similar animals. We're starting to understand how they do it, and whether we can use their strategies to prolong our own lives.

We've discovered another reason why naked mole rats live for so long

The longevity of naked mole rats may partly be due to them having a variant of a key protein that boosts DNA repair – a discovery that could help extend our own lives

www.newscientist.com

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David Blanchflower BSc @davidbflower.bsky.social · 18h

Waning Gibbous Moon. 0219UT 10 October 2025. 🔭 🧪 🎨 #astrophotography #SciArt #photography #StormHour #ThePhotoHour

The Moon at waning gibbous phase on a dark background.

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Bexhill Museum @bexhillmuseum.bsky.social · 19h

"The new railway station at Cooden Beach is now nearing completion, and will provide travellers with more comfort and facilities. Passengers will reach the up platform under a covered way on the south side."
Bexhill Observer 10.10.1936. #Cooden #Bexhill #Sussex #Travel #Railway #History #1930s

Newspaper cuttings from the Bexhill Observer 10.10.1936 showing the building of Cooden Beach Railway Station.

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Kath Page @orkat3.bsky.social · 21h

#FindsFriday This unique carving of a woman was discovered in 1880 in a peat bog in Ballachulish near Loch Leven, #Scotland in 1880. Carved from a single piece of alder, the Ballachulish women stands 1.5m tall, has quartz pebbles for eyes and dates to about 600AD. Her purpose is unknown. #IronAge

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Tom Sharpe @tomsharperocks.bsky.social · 19h

#FossilFriday: pterosaur jaw from the Lias of Lyme Regis, collected by Dr James Harrison (1819–1864) who moved to Charmouth in 1850 and took up fossil collecting, his most notable find being bones of the dinosaur Scelidosaurus at Charmouth in 1858.
This specimen in Lyme Regis Museum.

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Annie Brassey @anniebrassey.bsky.social · 19h

Sunbeam #StraitofMagellan #Chile 10.10.1876. "Some of these glaciers...are by far the finest we have...ever seen...those of Norway & Switzerland sink into comparative insignificance..we came in sight of Owen's Island, one extremity of which is called Mayne Head, & the other Cape Brassey..." #Brassey

Pages and illustration from "A Voyage in the Sunbeam" by Annie Lady Brassey, published in 1878. Cape Brassey, Strait of Magellan, Chile 10.10.1876.

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Dr Rebecca Warren @drrjwarren.bsky.social · 2d

#FindsFriday
Chalcolithic/Bronze Age 'beaker' pot from Argyll - dating from c2300-2000 BCE.

Someone took such care to make this vessel look beautiful.

(Kilmartin Museum)

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 21h

The Lammas and Harvest Fairs were once the social heart of the countryside. Pipers played, apples were pressed, and livestock changed hands. Beneath the trade was gratitude; a farewell to summer’s plenty. #FolkyFriday

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 21h

The mysterious slab in Written Stone Lane, #Preston, #Lancashire. A #boggart lived beneath it and attacked a man who foolishly scoffed at its existence. After trying to use it as a gatepost, a farmer was also punished by the spook and rapidly put it back: 'TO LYE FOREVER'
#PhantomsFriday #folklore

My photo of the Written Stone (does it always lie in shadow?). The inscription reads: 'RAUFFE RADCLIFFE LAID THIS STONE TO LYE FOREVER AD 1655'. It's been suggested the stone started life as a prehistoric standing stone. There are a number of tales of ancient stones being moved, only for the mover being forced to return it by invisible forces or recurring bad luck.

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Bexhill Museum @bexhillmuseum.bsky.social · 20h

Wood from the stump of the famous #Bexhill Old Town walnut tree, and a walnut from the tree. The tree was cut down in 1906 but the stump remained in place until 1921. Set in the wood is a photograph of the tree, but it’s hard to see through the reflections -sorry.

The chunk of dark wood is standing so that the flat bottom part is facing the camera, the photograph is inset into that. The walnut is lying just in front of it.

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