Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻
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sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻
@sarahbearchell.bsky.social
3.1K followers 1.8K following 170 posts
Science Writer, Presenter & Trainer. Oxfordshire, UK. Making multi-sensory interactive science accessible for all! Lapsed botanist
#Inclusive #SciComm #Nature #Agriculture #Autistic

childrens-science.co.uk

Photo: making clouds for delighted children
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sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · Nov 10
Dear Grown-Ups,

Please take time to nurture your own curiosity and joy. These things are not just for children.

This photo shows a dry ice filled cloud bubble dropping into the audience @adalovelaceday.bsky.social at The Royal Institution, London. The anticipation is tangible! #SciComm
Photo shows an audience of adults in a lecture theatre. A white bubble is drifting down towards them. Everyone is smiling and watching it, but those in the drop zone are reaching to catch it. One woman , who weirdly seems to be highlighted, is straining to reach it from a distance. She's completely lost in the moment and it is joyful!
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I've been running an online challenge for @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social - with the help of my pal, Oso.

In Imaginary Aliens, primary school children were challenged to invent an alien which combined adaptations to climate with their amazing imaginations. Amazing science and creativity!
A Zoom screenshot. The host of the call, Rod Hebden appears in a tiny window at the top, surrounded by a Festival of Tomorrow backdrop. Most of the screen is occupied by Dr Sarah Bearchell, a white woman with long straight brown-grey hair and round glasses wearing an emerald green jumper. She is accompanied by Oso, an orange muppet-type puppet with bushy eyebrows.
February 13, 2026 at 8:10 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
The Cloud Factory is coming to @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social STEAM, #Swindon Saturday 14 February!

Free shows at 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm

Everyone in the audience gets to see, hear, touch, taste and smell clouds - make sure you're seated early!

#Family #Science #SEND #FREE
February 12, 2026 at 3:02 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature A disease resistant elm thriving at Christchurch #Oxford. Their flower buds are just about to burst open!

Most of Europe's elms were devastated in the last century by Dutch elm disease, caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, spread by bark mining beetles.
#Nature #SciComm
Two photos. The first shows an immature Elm, Ulmus procera, devoid of leaves on a February day. It is thin with an upright habit. The second shows a close up of a young lateral branch with regular, spherical pink buds. They look as if they'd have the texture of those liquorice sweets that are covered in hundreds and thousands.
February 11, 2026 at 4:39 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Very appropriate for Bluesky!

Buddleja will take hold in the cracks of any abandoned city space. It looks gorgeous in summer and is an excellent nectar source for butterflies but can crowd-out caterpillar food plants. #SciComm #Nature
The forecourt of an abandoned office block has become clogged with dead leaves and litter. In the cracks where the pavement meets the facade is a row of self-seeded butterfly bushes, Buddleja davidii. In February they are straggly and green, with the remnant of last year's flower heads.
February 10, 2026 at 3:17 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature One of those plants which can live in the tiniest pocket of soil! Pellitory-of-the-wall, Parietaria Judaica, looking glorious in #0xford
#Nature #SciComm #PavementPlants
A wall of grey engineering bricks meets a tarmac path. Growing at the interface is a ragged looking plant with clusters of tiny flowers, only noticeable when pointed out to you.
February 8, 2026 at 4:45 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature

A *slightly* warmer day sees his ladybird out for a walk

#Nature #SciComm
A photo taken through a window looking outwards. There's a blurry grey sky and treetops but in the centre of the frame, in sharp focus, is the silhouette of a ladybird walking across the window.
February 7, 2026 at 3:05 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature LOOK VERY CLOSELY! Pull aside some dead leaves and you might find some springtails! These little jumpers were only about 2mm long. There are over 9000 species of Collembola, which are not insects but hexapods.
#Nature #SciComm
February 6, 2026 at 3:14 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature An earthworm running (?!) for the cover of darkness after I accidentally removed its safe covering of dead leaves.
#Nature #SciComm
February 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature A patch of the neatest rosettes with the scruffiest hairs (until you look at the underside of the leaves!)

#Nature #SciComm
A close-up of small rosettes of long rounded leaves with coarse hairs on the upperside. One leaf has been removed to show the white felted underside.
February 4, 2026 at 3:26 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Petty Spurge looking gloriously healthy by this sunny wall! Have a close look at the remains of an old flower to see the horned glands (spiky bits on the paler rounded structure) typical of this species

#Nature #SciComm #Oxford
A distant and close up shot of petty Spurge, Euphorbia peplus. You can see it's a short, lightly branches annual with rounded leaves. Up close there is a strange circular structure with eight horns around the outside. These are the glands.
February 3, 2026 at 12:03 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
Recently, I've been posting about #NoticingNature, which is something I asked students to do today as part of my Imaginary Aliens workshop for @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social

To get them thinking, I use real animals and Oso, a creature I found living in my shed.

#SciComm
February 2, 2026 at 12:28 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Oriel Square, #Oxford. Not a lot of nature...but look closely under the bike rack! Low foot traffic and kept damp through a permanent rota of locked-up bikes. This helps plants and mosses grow larger between the cobbles. Zoom in to see the flush of green!
#Nature #SciComm
A rainy street scene in historic Oxford. There's Oriel College facing onto Oriel Square, a tarmacked street with a wide cobblestone boundary. This area is covered in electric scooters but there is also a permanent bike rack and the ground in this area is covered in grass and moss growing between the cobbles.
February 1, 2026 at 7:37 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Sycamore seeds a-sprouting!

#Nature #Spring #SciComm #Oxford
Debris at the side of the path includes leaf litter, young dandelion plants and over 20 sprouting sycamore seeds. You can see the remnants of the winged seed pods of some, but for most you can just see a root and the cotyledon leaves
January 31, 2026 at 7:03 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Beech tree seed pods silhouetted against the January sky, each like a like hairy pac man. Look closely and you'll see this spring's buds developing, tightly packed for now!

#Nature #SciComm
The branch of a beech tree is silhouetted against a grey January sky. Last autumn's seed pods remain. They are covered in hooks and have a mouth-like opening so each looks like a hairy pac man! The long slender buds are growing for spring.
January 30, 2026 at 1:11 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
. #NoticingNature Next time you see a snowdrop, take a closer look. Those six petals aren't actually petals 🤔 There are two whorls (circular patterns) of TEPALS, a structure which is neither leaf or petal. Look closely and you'll see the inner set has green markings.

#Nature #SciComm #Spring
A shady wintry bank with a weak sun just dipping behind it. There are snowdrops bravely emerging from a covering of dead leaves
January 29, 2026 at 12:07 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I've been #NoticingNature

Clusters of tiny white flowers and heart-shaped seed pods tell me this is Shepherd's Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris.

Apparently, the pods produce mucus which traps nematodes. So it's a #protocarnivore (on the evolutionary path to #carnivore!)

#Nature #SciComm
Clusters of tiny white flowers on the raised stems of a plant with lance-shaped leaves. You can also see heart-shaped seed pods.
January 28, 2026 at 2:39 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I made a library book! It's a childhood dream come true!

Lovely to find my book in #Kennington #Oxford #Library today.
Three photos: 1. A non-fiction shelf in a community library, red arrow points to one book. 2. The cover of The Future of Agriculture by Sarah Bearchell. 3. The book plate marking it as the property of Oxfordshire County Council
January 28, 2026 at 12:12 PM
Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻
joannabagniewska.com
Today, I found out that the French term for "science communicator" is "vulgarisateur scientifique". Science vulgariser.

There is literally no better descriptor for someone who talks about animal sex and poo.

Joanna Bagniewska: Science vulgariser. Wulgaryzatorka nauki.

#scicomm 🧪
January 27, 2026 at 9:46 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
#NoticingNature A worm cast! Earthworms eat dead plant material, and a lot of soil, so it's no surprise that some of their poos look like coiled piles of mud.

Earthworms provide vital nutrient cycling and help aerate soils - so worm casts are something to celebrate! 🎉

#Nature #SciComm #Oxford
A small mound of mud in short wet grass. The mud has a lumpy, coiled look, as if it has been squeezed out of a toothpaste tube!
January 27, 2026 at 10:40 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
#NoticingNature Spring IS coming!

Currently tightly closed and rigid, but soon these male hazel catkins will be flexing their pollen into the air.

Can you see a tiny flash of pink-red on a bud? These are the stigmas of the female catkin, just starting to emerge.

#Oxford #Nature #Spring #hazel
A close up of a leaf-less winter hazel twig. There are rigid, closed male catkins - the large catkins which you can feel with your hands. There is and a bright flash of red-pink on a bud. These are the stigmas of the female catkins, just starting to appear - often missed by the sighted because they are so inconspicuous.
January 26, 2026 at 3:50 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
#NoticingNature Hope!

There may be few pollinators here in #January but that doesn't matter to wind-pollinated grasses like this Poa annua. A tiny bunch of flowers on a grey day. #Spring is coming!

#Oxford #Nature #SciComm
A neatly painted exterior wall. White with a black border. There is a crevice where the wall meets the damp paving slabs. In this gap grow three grass plants, the central one is flowering, its inflorescence contrasts bright green against the black.
January 25, 2026 at 5:21 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
#NoticingNature A damp day in the city. What could this smear of green be?

Life!

Raindrop splash moves nutrients and moisture up the wall creating a zone where algae and mosses can thrive.

#NoticingNature #Nature #SciComm #Oxford
An old limestone wall with a smear of green at the base. The photo was taken on a wet January day and a bare deciduous tree stands to the right.
January 24, 2026 at 4:56 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
This feels like a cheeky rebellion! Moss growing from a leaky downpipe in #Oxford

#NoticingNature #Nature #SciComm
Bright green patch of moss growing on the leaky joint of an urban downpipe
January 23, 2026 at 1:20 PM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
This is a lovely resource to develop #ComputationalThinking skills and a #GrowthMindset - all while playing a game #Rodocodo

I can personally vouch for the fun I had learning #VisualCoding by trial and error, all those 60 reward stars in the screenshots were earned while I was writing about it!
dmolearning.bsky.social Digital Museum of Learning @dmolearning.bsky.social · Dec 19
How can digital technologies help you learn?

🤖 What do videos, games, apps, and AI really bring to education?
December 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM
sarahbearchell.bsky.social
I'm bringing #TheCloudFactory to #ChelmsfordScienceFestival on Saturday and Sunday. Four free shows of hands-on multisensory science, suitable for all. Come along AND TOUCH A CLOUD!
angliaruskin.bsky.social Anglia Ruskin University @angliaruskin.bsky.social · Sep 12
🎉 The Chelmsford Science Festival is back from 21 - 28 October 2025... and the programme is now live: aru.ac.uk/csf

🌍 This year, we’re diving into the theme ‘Our AI World - Power and Perils’, exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming our lives.

Book your free tickets!

#ChelmSciFest
Graphic reads: Chelmsford Science Festival 21 - 28 October. Ignite your curiosity. Book your free tickets now. ARU logo
October 21, 2025 at 9:14 AM