Tim Holt-Wilson

@timholtwilson

The story of the Earth - geoconservation, museums, the poetry of things old & wild - based in East Anglia, UK.

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Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 21d

Meaning is what rules living things, each sensing and orienting itself to others and to its circumstances, each adjusting to internal and external information arising; each navigating time and space in service of its portion of the Life Force. #biosemiotics #Schopenhauer

A complex of red bramble stems and green leaves, set against a background of dry, grassy sward.

Large leaves of White Bryony, translucent in strong sunlight. The veins of the leaves are beautifully visible.

A large sow and about 10 piglets, all multi- coloured brown and black, resting together in a dusty field.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 21d

The deeper we go the more layers we encounter, affordances of all kinds. Roof moss? The watery film between its leaves contains bacteria and spores and the minute living things with fugitive lives which call it home.

Four damp pads of moss in a terracotta bowl.

A photo of microscopic organisms I water. They are lilely to be ciliate protozoa, about 0.3 mm in size.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 23d

@vannabartlett.bsky.social Gordon Brown has stacked a set of images. Here is his remarkable photo of the beastie and his deduced identification. 《This is a stacked photo (8 images) of one of the pseudoscorpions we found in compost at the Crowfield Village fete. 🧵

A remarkable microscopical darkfield photo of a pseudoscorpion, length perhaps 3 mm. It has red claws and pedipalps, white legs, orangey thorax and a yellow abdomen with brown horizontal bars across it

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 24d

A colourful pseudoscorpion - species not yet determined - found in compost, was a star visitor to Crowfield Village Fête, Suffolk, courtesy Anglian Microscopy Group. @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social @vannabartlett.bsky.social

A pseudoscorpion with a an elongated, amber-coloured body and red pincers on long, jointed red pedipalps. The eight legs are clear and uncoloured.

A pseudoscorpion with a an elongated, amber-coloured body and red pincers on long, jointed red pedipalps. The eight legs are clear and uncoloured. A lump of nondescript matter is near one pincer

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 28d

Look at his beast. It weighs 3½ stone/23 kg - a real back-strainer & finger-crusher. The Vickers Patholux c.1970, with special features such as trinocular tube, halogen lighting, filter trays, fine-focus control. Needs work doing on it, though. I now need somewhere to put it. #microscopy

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· 29d

"The idea of vegetation underpinning all life has led contemporary scientists and phytobiologists to describe plants as constructors of the environment where we live—producers of nature, life and living condition." With #mosses surely down at basement level.

Plump, green pads of moss on a tiled roof with upright sporophytes decorated with sparkly raindrops

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 12

I saw some 'thunder flies' on Friday, felt them prickle. "Oho" I said... "I haven't seen you chaps for a while". A half century ago, every framed picture - especially the Edwardian ones - seemed to carry a cargo of them. It's possible to be nostalgic about thrips.

A photo from 1910 showing Rev Leonard Holt-Wilson and his daughter Edith on the diving platform at Redgrave Lake, Suffolk. Leonard is seated on the platform and Edith is seated on the gangplank with her legs drawn up and a broad-brimmed straw hat on her head. The other side of the lake is visible in the hazy distance, with mature oak trees coming down close to the water.
The picture has had all its thrips removed.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 9

This was a rose. It is now sere. It may be dead. Sere (adj): dried up, withered, or without moisture; mostly used to describe dead, thirsty plants or dry, harsh landscapes.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 6

Acrocarpous mosses grow on the broiling, south facing roofs of the Bungalow while pleurocarpous mosses grow on the shadier north. All very ecological. Meanwhile, mosses animalicules shrink into a tun state of suspended animation: their desert survival mode. #bryology #mosses #microscopy #heatwave

A pert but yellowing pad of acrocarpous moss with some sporophytes sticking up: set against the background of a roof made of old peg tiles.

Sprawling mats of pleurocarpous moss: sere and yellowy, set against the background of a roof made of peg tiles.

The cover of 'Moss Safari' by Andrew Chandler-Grevatt (Pelagic Press, 2025). It features diagram pictures of four moss animalicules set against the green mossy background.

A portrait photograph of the pioneering bryologist HN Dixon (1862 to 1844). He was president of the Northamptonshire Natural History Society in 1914. He has an amiable but discerning eye for the camera.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 3

Sales are doing well. Social media round here is discussing the infernal plague and the means of combating it. Meanwhile, I am running my second fly paper of the summer, and a plastic fly racket is in daily use.

A fly paper hanging from the ceiling studded with dead flies. The effect is decorative but macabre.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 3

"The present state of civilization is as odious as it is unjust ... and it is necessary that a revolution should be made in it. The contrast of affluence and wretchedness continually meeting and offending the eye, is like dead and living bodies chained together." (Thomas Paine) #USA #Mamdani #Trump

A print of the portrait of Thomas Paine by Romney. It is a half portrait and shows the subject next to a table with papers. Paine is leaning g slightly towards the papers, as if he were just turning from his desk. He is well dressed and has an amiable, intelligent expression and a slight smile.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 2

Breckles is one of Norfolk's out-of-the-way places. The landscape and its plants, insects, birds & mammals are gifts of centuries of nature and farming. Out with Norfolk Flora Group today, we investigated #plants of old pasture and former fen. #biodiversity @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social

Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense) making a show of nectar-rich mauve flowers in a field. There are trees and blue sky in the background

A group of Old English Longhorn cattle in a sunlit pasture. Their coats are roan and white. They have long, spreading horns.

A damp pasture filled with herbs, grasses and sedges surrounded by alder trees. Two members of the Norfolk Flora Group are recording plants. The sky is blue and a single white cloud can be seen in the distance

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 1

Going totally sedimental - coring by the Ghost Ponds Team at Illington today revealed layers of sand under the valley floor but no organics; probably wind & water-lain deposit. Looking for buried 👻 ponds, we may have found a late Ice Age lake bed. @norfolkponds.bsky.social @carlsayer.bsky.social

Over 0.5 metres of sand from a sediment core laid out on a straw mat next to a tape measure. The first 20 cm of sand are fine, grey then grading down into medium, yellow.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jul 1

We could core almost anywhere in this former fen/lake land at Illington and discover palaeo-environmental riches. Peat and Chara marl over putty chalk. We just need researchers to tell the #Holocene story. @amywalsh.bsky.social @chslane.bsky.social

A field full of thick grass with woodland in the distance. A group of researchers can just be seen waving in the middle distance.

A field full of thick grass with woodland in the distance. Three people are waving from a small clearing in the grass.

Three researchers surrounded by thick grass in a field. They are examining and recording material from a sediment core

A seed of Bogbean Menyanthes trifoliata recovered from peaty sediment at about 2 m depth in the core.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 29

Out coring a backfilled doline on arable at Illington in the Breckland, to see whether it could be a suitable pond restoration site. Our first core was abandoned at 1.6 m after hitting a buried log, after passing through rotten lumps of burned wood. 🧵

A woman and two men (Prof Helene Burningham; Gilbert Addison and Les Leach) carrying out sediment coring in the middle of wheat field. Gilbert is holding up a green umbrellas a sun shade and Helene is pushing the core into the ground. The cross-bar handle of the corer is outlined against the sky.

Samples of sandy sediments recovered from the ground are laid out next to an extended tape measure.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 28

The Joy of Ants. Winged Lasius fuliginosus clustering in my bathroom - as they have been doing the past week for some obscure reason (no other ants seen in the house). @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social

A close-up photo of two of the winged ants. They have the typical glossy black exoskeleton and cordate head of L.fuliginosus.

Black winged ants in several clumps on the inside of a window frame. Branches with leaves can be seen through the window pane.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 26

With EU funding, Keystone Development Trust in #Thetford were able to develop Vocational Ed courses for young people NEET - Job-seeking Skills, Building Work (bricklaying, joinery), Health & Social Care, Customer Care. Costly to run but I think - and hope - we made a difference to some young lives.

The attractive cover of a 'Prospects' leaflet advertising training courses for young people, 2005/6. The artwork is in cartoon form and depicts a young man and a young woman in colourful clothing seated around a table, discussing some paperwork.

The interior page of the Keystone 'Prospects' leaflet showing portrait faces of a diverse group of young people saying why they think that doing a course can help them get skills and move forward with their lives.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 24

My Yucca filamentosa has woken up and loves the heat, reminded of its home range in southeast USA, casting exquisite lemony cologne scent on the torrid air. #bloomscrolling

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 23

Traffic jams can offer moments of reflection and repose ... admiring brand new Cotswold dry-stone walling at roadworks beside the A436 at Birdlip in Glos. This Middle Jurassic limestone is looking scrumptious. #Cotswold #stone #craftsmanship #geology #geodiversity

A drystone wall made of roughly rectangular blocks of honey-coloured Jurassic limestone. The blocks have been snugly fitted together horizontally, and the uppermost row are set vertically along the top of the wall. There is some stony rubble in the foreground and some trees with blue sky and clouds in the background. The scene is viewed through a car window and the grill of a wire fence. It is a pleasing composition with a complex of layers.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 23

The sun is putting a glorious polish on the leaves of Black Bryony (Tamus communis). It looks tropical - not surprising , as members of the Yam family (Dioscoreaceae) are mostly tropical. I've trained it along a fence and up a pole, later to create a showy festoon of scarlet berries. #Suffolk #flora

Dark green, heart-shaped leaves with a sparkling gloss on them, caused by a waxy surface.

A Black Bryony stalk with leaves and unripe, green berries. It is crossing from left to right across a gap.

The underside of a train of Black Bryony leaves and berries outlined against the sun. The background is bright, blue sky.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 22

Ammophila sabulosa - the Red-banded Sand Wasp - in its saharan element,quivering and flickering to & fro at Knettishall Heath @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social in a fierce hunt for caterpillars (and anything else it can get a grip of). #Breckland #biodiversity @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social #hymenoptera

A black and red wasp with long, black legs hunting over sandy ground dotted with dried rabbit droppings. Hot sunlight casts stark shadows.

A close-up view of a sandy bank dotted with clumps of yellow Sedum acre (Biting Stonecrop) flowers. There are oak trees in the distance.

A black and red wasp with long, black legs hunting over sandy ground dotted with dried rabbit droppings. Hot sunlight casts shadows.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 21

A midsummer Yucca filamentosa in the Bungalow garden. Can you guess what it smells like? So far unvisited by any insects - they'd have to fly over from Trumpland.

The flowering spike of Yucca filamentosa plant, a native of the SE USA. The plant is about 2 m high and consists in a dense cluster of cream-white flowers rising from a clump of dense, radiating, strap-like pointed leaves.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 21

Trust nature to get the plant & insect populations right for the soil & circumstances. Trust her timescales too. Squirrels, jays and meece as unwitting East Anglian ecosystem engineers.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 21

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 20

Hello Hive Mind: I have a question re. UV (ultraviolet) light for #biodiversity surveying. There was a cool article by Tilley et al. in British Wildlife #37.2. 2025. Are there any other UV #inverts workers in this field in the #UK? (Asking @norfolknats.bsky.social for poss Conference speaker.) 🦋🐝🌱

A looping caterpillar on the underside of a Wych Elm leaf seen under UV light at night. It is showing up as pale blue against a predominantly purplish-red background of the leaf with blueish ribs.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 19

Out today with the Suffolk Flora Group at Oakley, Suffolk - testing monad recording sheet @bsbibotany.bsky.social (why is Scarlet Pimpernel missing?). We started on the boulder clay plateau then drifted down to the Dove valley and a spring-fed, flushed hummock rich in Valerian and Ragged Robin.

Members of the SFG roving through long grass with alder trees in the background.

Photographing rot holes in the coppiced stub of a huge old Sycamore tree.
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A Ragged Robin seed, perhaps 2 mm in length. It looks like a brown purse covered with stubby, brown, star-shaped spines. The overall effect is interesting and pleasing to the eye.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 19

The temperature climbed to 30°C in Suffolk today, even bringing cold stone out in a sweat. Here, a gnarly, patinated, brown-stained flint boulder embedded in a gravelly farm track has chilled the sweltering air to dew-point. More of the stone is probably lying unseen, rooted beneath the ground.

A gnarled looking brown flint boulder covered with condensed moisture. The stone is embedded in a gravel trackway and has chilled the warm, sweaty atmosphere to dew point.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 19

Yes, it is an over-topping ravaging swine. What is more, its fruits are not worth eating.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 16

Thinking of future gnarled beauty as well as conserving biodiversity, Ian Sanders has been introducing Black Poplar clones from Suffolk to West Oxon. Here a clone from Thelnetham in Suffolk is thriving on the floodplain at Shipton-Under-Wychwood in the Evenlode valley.

A man stands next to a tree guard made of wood and wire netting containing a Black Poplar sapling. He is standing in thick grass with willow trees behind.

Broad, hastate leaves at the tip of a Black Poplar sapling branch. The leaves are a fresh colour green set against a backdrop of darker grass and willow branches.

A plastic tag attached to a Black Poplar sapling. Details of the BP clone are written on the label : 'Thelnetham 25M' naming the place in Suffolk where the original came from.

Tim Holt-Wilson@timholtwilson· Jun 15

Heroic work @severntrentwater.bsky.social in Stroud trenching at four metres depth beneath the street level, clearing a stinky blockage "all the way up the street" caused by WET WIPES. Imagine how much this has cost, think of the disruption... Nb the original sewer would have been dug by hand.