Jim Martin
@jimspim
Publishing Director, Bloomsbury. Pop-science, natural history. Gonzo editor; zoo-LOL-ogist; supplier of bookish news, animal facts, regular swearing. Views my own.
I find fungi tough. But here's a nice one – we wonder if it's Chicken of the woods. It was a brighter yellow when it first emerged on our seemingly doomed plum tree.
Dave @davehone.bsky.social Hone delivering spinosaur news and opinion to a PACKED #dinoconuk main stage audience.
The show has begun. Rebecca chatting with Shahida Bari about Neanderthals. @lemoustier.bsky.social. Win or lose I am so proud to be here in this company.
Tonight, a trip to @foylesforbooks.bsky.social for the @englishpen.bsky.social history prize CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS awards ceremony. @lemoustier.bsky.social is nominated for Kindred, of course. In it to win it!
An ID is beyond my skills, I'm afraid. Abdomen does look quite like the wasp's quarry. Isn't evolution amazing?
Amazing wildlife encounter in the garden. I keep a lot of ragwort, as I love Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. Today, though, found a huge ichneumon wasp. I got lucky and managed to catch it in the parisitoid act. Egg injected, caterpillar doomed. WOWsers.
A tremendous moth-find in the front garden, a SILVER Y MOTH. Just hanging out, pretending to be a broken twig. The deception fails on an iron railing but it looks peaceful enough.
Desperate times for BBC News. Helicopter footage of Andy Burnham's delayed 10.41 train to Kings Cross.
Rescued from the paddling pool, this handsome beetle. A WELSH CHAFER. He (I think? Male antennae?) has been safely deposited on some bramble blossom.
Wine-flavoured crisps. And they do actually taste of Cava. Remarkable that there are still new tastes and sensations to encounter.
Today I am at the Kent Coast derby - @ramsgatefc.bsky.social v @fifc.bsky.social. missed kick-off due to queues. Ground packed. Programmes long since sold out. Spicy.
Interesting choice of Yellow Wagtail to illustrate this BBC report. Let's just say it's not a Welsh one. Who fancies IDing to subspecies?
Rather shamelessly heading on the tube with an award I collected on someone else's behalf at a ceremony earlier. Fun to see people clock the award, then try to figure out if I'm famous. Bad luck, fuckers. 10/10, would recommend.
I've tried to like this. I really have. The subject is something I'm really interested in. But the author is just too boasty-humble braggy, and I've had to knock it on the head. His editors haven't done him any favours here.
I am on my second Yakult of the day. #NewScientistLive doing its bit for gut health. Currently learning about witness mis-remembering with @ciaragreene.bsky.social and @gillian-murphy.bsky.social
Back at New Scientist Live this morning. @helenczerski.bsky.social on earth energetics is a good way to start the day.
Busy at #NewScientistLive. Gravitational waves first thing, and now it's the gut/brain connection. Yakult is sponsoring. Lots of free Yakult. I am expecting a first-class gut lining by teatime.
This has inexplicably made it into paperback. 70th on the Sunday Times hardback list now constitutes a 'best-seller'. Intriguing.
Today I'm at Moneyfields v Horndean in the Isthmian League. Moneyfields is a suburb of Portsmouth. A lot of England flags and Union Jacks on lamp-posts. Not, I suspect, in a good way.
I may not know much, but that this subtitle somehow got approved is troubling.
Hats off to staff at @foylesforbooks.bsky.social for this pleasingly subversive piece of book placement.
There's a mind-blowing Jimi Hendrix concert on BBC4 iPlayer at the moment. Atlanta Festival 1970. Heard bits of it but never seen it before.
