Per Ahlberg

@perahlberg

Palaeontologist at Uppsala University. Early vertebrate enthusiast. Moderately effective gardener. He/him. Views my own. Enemy of AI slop. The photo is me, not some random bloke. Background image from Ymer Island, north-East Greenland.🇸🇪🇺🇦🇨🇦🇬🇱🇪🇺🇬🇧

5174 Siguiendo7572 Seguidores6494 Publicaciones

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¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y perahlberg.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 15d

Here's an exclusive copy of Mitch's reply.

An off-white page bearing the words "BRAINS BRAINS BRAINS" in large uneven dark red letters.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

The final haul:

Two bowls on a wooden table. On the left, a smaller white bowl half full of dark blue berries. On the right, a larger red bowl full of golden chanterelles.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

And then, a surprise! The first yellow chanterelles, the earliest of the autumn mushrooms, are up - and in some abundance. The outing gained a new focus.

A bearded man (me) holding a golden, trumpet-shaped mushroom up to the camera. Forest in the background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

The lichen colonies are spectacular.

Dome-shaped colonies of white lichen growing in a rock. Green forest in background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

…and plenty of lingonberries (Vaccinium vitis-idaea) as well, though they aren’t quite ripe yet.

Green plants with leathery, glossy leaves and red berries growing up through whitish-grey cloud-shaped lichen colonies.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

There were plenty of those…

Close-up of a bilberry plant covered in dark blue berries. Forest in the background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 16d

Off to the local forest today with @janetahlberg.bsky.social to pick bilberries (Vaccinium myrtillus).

A forest scene with spruce trees in the background and a smoothly rounded rocky outcrop in the foreground. A man in a red plaid shirt (me) is walking purposefully away from the camera, along the spine of the rocky outcrop.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 17d

Outside in the garden, another Bishop of York flower has become a bed for a bumblebee.

A yellow Dahlia flower with a bumblebee asleep in the middle.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 17d

Dahlias on the kitchen table. From left to right, Bishop of York, Mexican Star, Bishop of Oxford. Cut and arranged by @janetahlberg.bsky.social

A clear glass vase on a wooden table, containing (from left to right) a yellow, a dark red and an orange Dahlia flower.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 17d

A bit of a tough day for various reasons, but at least there are water lilies! James Brydon.

Photo looking straight down into a pink water lily. All you can see is pink petals around a circle of orange stamens in the middle.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 17d

Here you go! Matteuccia struthiopteris.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 19d

Two views of a jar of preserved cherries in brandy, one showing the label. The jar has a checkered red and white top.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 19d

A white bowl seen from above, full of red cherries.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 19d

Cherry update: with all those bees it’s no wonder we got an excellent fruit set. The tree is covered with small semi-sweet cherries, quite fiddly to process but very useful. We are making cherries in brandy, cherry syrup and frozen cherries for use in baking during the winter.

A tree branch full of small red cherries.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 20d

IYKYK

A sculpture from the ship Vasa (sunk in 1628) with reconstructed paint scheme, showing a mustachioed Polish nobleman in a red robe hiding under a bench.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 21d

Back in 2023, when I first read it, your translation made my Christmas cake design take an unusual turn. I often make carol-based designs, but this turned into "I saw three black ships come sailing by on the wine-dark sea". You never know how your work will impact the readers...

A decorated Christmas cake: three Ancient Greek ships with black hulls and golden eyes are sailing round the edge, which is worked into blue glittering waves. In the middle of the cake is a bright golden sun.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 21d

Also, that's Classical Greece. Only one Bronze-Age Greek armor is known, the so-called Dendra panoply, and it looks very different (photo from Nafplion Archaeological Museum):

Three views of the "Dendra panoply", the only known Greek armor from the Bronze Age. It looks very clunky, assembled from large bronze plates, with a weird segmented 'skirt' at the bottom. The assembly is topped off with a boar's-tusk helmet.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· 24d

Thanks for the follow! Here's a nice stripy Ferdinand Pichard as a thank-you present. Blooming now in Uppsala.

A rose striped in raspberry pink and white. Green foliage in the background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

We went to Iona a few days ago. This is the interior of the abbey church.

A gothic church interior of rough stone. In the background, light shines in through a traceried window.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

Sometimes they look quite fierce.

A puffin in threat posture, leaning forward to the left with its beak open. It's standing on grass and there's a rock face behind it. To the right is the entrance to a small cavern that appears to be its home.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

The same puffin, now facing obliquely towards the camera with its wings half raised.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

A couple of puffin shots.

A puffin in side view, with its head turned back, preening its flank feathers. It is standing on a rock with the sea behind.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

I got some incredible photos. Here's a razorbill.

A razorbill (a black-and-white sea bird) lying on a rock with the sea in the background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

A short video clip of puffins by their burrows.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 8

The strangest thing happened today. We went to the uninhabited island of Lunga, west of Mull, to look at the puffins nesting there. I was just taking photos when I felt a thump as something landed quite heavily in my head. It was a puffin! It stayed for about a minute before flying off.

A man with his back to the camera, wearing a blue jacket and a grey woolen hat. A puffin is sitting on top of his head. On the left, an arm holding a mobile phone can be seen. In the background, a green slope and the sea beyond.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 5

And a perfect waterfall.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 5

Melancholy thistle.

A large pink thistle flower against a dark green background.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 5

@irishrainforest.bsky.social, here’s one for you! We are on Mull, staying in Tobermory, and the local rainforest is gorgeous. Small hazel and birch, occasional large oak and sycamore, and carpets of ferns and mosses everywhere.

A wet, tangled forest of small multi-stemmed trees. The ground is covered with ferns.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jul 2

Now the other water lily is out! This is Arc-en-ciel, named for its supposed rainbow colour though it mostly looks white to me. Lovely anyway.

A white water lily with narrow petals, against a background of dark water.

Per Ahlberg@perahlberg· Jun 28

Here’s Ferdinand Pichard, representing the Hybrid Perpetuals which were the great rivals of the Bourbons. A difficult rose, prone to frost damage and dieback, but the flowers are spectacular. And that concludes today’s garden tour!