Philolithia@bsky.social

@philolithia

Prehistoric landscapes, skyscapes, cosmology, folklore & nature. Meirionnydd #StandingStones PhD researcher Bournemouth Uni. Cymraes dw i. (She/they).

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Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 2h

Some #SolarEclipse 2026 photos of the sun setting over Cardigan Bay #Wales. This morning’s apocalyptic wildfire smoke has abated.

Photo of the sun in the process of being eclipsed whilst starting to set over the sea. A startled sheep stares at the camera from its tree-fringed field.

Low exposure photo of the setting sun, partially eclipsed by the moon, with the sun’s glitterpath over the sea and silhouettes of leafy trees in the foreground.

Photo of pinhole camera effect on the wall of next door’s house, capturing the eclipsed sun through gaps in the leaves of a nearby tree. So pretty because they rustled in the faint breeze.

Another low exposure photo of the eclipsed sun setting, with glitterpath, over the sea.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 4d

Walked a path I’d not walked before down by the saltmarsh this morning. It was a place of low flying geese, wondrous blue and lens flare.

Photo of a still blue mere in the yellowy green saltmarsh with mountains beyond and blue sky with a fine skein of white cloud in places.

Photo of a blue sky with mackerel white clouds over a blue pool in an expanse of yellowy-green saltmarsh that stretches flat to the horizon. A feeling of peace.

Photo of two geese flapping wildly as they navigate a harmless hill, with mackerel white clouds overlying blue sunlit sky.

Photo of yellow sun with lens flare making the white clouds iridescent in places. Blue sky above, dark mountains below.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 6d

Update on Hugin and Munin (I hadn’t spotted them for a while) but they are cool and enjoying the summer.

Rubbish photo of two ravens just chilling in a leafy tree by the sea on a sunny day.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 7d

Moel Offrwm (bare hill of sacrifice) - that bumpy hill in the distance - offering up two hillforts - one Iron Age and one possibly Bronze Age for #HillfortWednesday

Photo of reedy view across expanse of marshy lowlands to distant wooded slopes dotted with a few houses, beyond which looms a low craggy mountain under lower g grey skies.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 10d

Another offering from the Arthog stone setting, taken from the nearby cairn and showing the white quartz boulder of the monument gleaming out from below the white quartz outcrop of the hill above for #StandingStoneSunday

Photo of a pile of grey rocks in the foreground beyond which scrubby yellow grass leads to a collection of knee-high, grey standing stones with one quartz boulder. Beyond these, a grey stone wall separates the rough grazing hill beyond which is topped by an outcrop of quartz that emerges from the bracken. In the distance, a craggy grey mountainside of scree looms up. Mist looms on its summit as it reaches into the pale grey clouds.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 11d

The perfect not too warm, not too windy, weather for walking down the hill this morning and with perfect blueness and cottonwool clouds. Now back to the laptop and writing up🤓

Photo from a high hillside of vibrant blue sky with cottonwool clouds, mirrored on the sea below. In the foreground an unedged tarmac track lined with rickety telegraph poles heads off down and round a dry scrubby mountainside.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 15d

The 1000 year old yews of St Melangell-y-Pennant for #ThickTrunkTuesday. They share the circular churchyard with a Bronze Age cairn which shows the church was built on a pre-Christian site.

Photo of an information board with text about the churchyard.

Photo of an information board with text about the yew trees.

Photo of an information board with text about the church.

Photo of an ancient yew with a split trunk.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 17d

So brill to finally meet @stonelands.bsky.social and family and spend fun #StandingStoneSunday morning looking at stones in the Arthog hills. Looking forward to the next book!

Photo of a collection of knee high grey standing stones with one pure white quartz boulder. In the distance heavy clouds try to submerge the mountains.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 21d

The old ones definitely have personality! You are lucky having some nearby. I loved seeing these cloutie beeches at Avebury a couple of years ago. The gnarled roots and silver bark and golden leaves were just magic 💫

Photo of a couple of autumnal golden beech trees on a leaf-strewn chalky mound. Rags are tied to the lower branches as offerings for wishes.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 23d

This evening’s sun setting through the wildfire smoke from the iron bridge. The fire is either getting worse or the wind has changed to bring the smoke this way more and make it hang in the air like that #ominousforebodings

Photo of a small yellow sun hanging low in a sky of purple and red smoke. The distant hills are in shadow above silhouetted forestry. In the foreground, the rusty red balustrade of an old iron bridge looks out over a thin channel of silty water flowing beside an empty river bed at low tide.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 24d

They’re meant to be one of the most delicious fruit aren’t they? I’ve never tried one. There is a hill near me called Craig y Merwydd, which I believe translates as Mulberry Rock - so I went up to the top to see if there was a mulberry tree anywhere - sadly no 😞, but I did find this rock:

Photo of a large oval grey rock, freeze-thaw cracked into tessellating hexagon-ish shapes. The whole thing looks like a giant stone mulberry. In the distance, the distinctive peaks of Pared y Cefn Hir teach up to a cloudy sky and beyond, the Afon Mawddach River sneaks out to the sea.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 24d

Just now a blood red waxing crescent moon sinking into a layer of cloud (or smoke from the wildfires)

Photo of a red-tinged crescent moon low in a violet sky striped with grey clouds above a dark blue sea. A leafy tree is silhouetted in the foreground.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· 25d

The air above the Diffwys mountain range is hazy with smoke from the Rhinogydd wildfire at Llyn Cwm Bychan. Every so often there is a waft of the smell of burning lands is carried on the wind. View from the iron bridge at low tide #sad

Photo of distant hazy mountains above forested slopes. In the foreground, a rusty iron balustrade of a bridge looks out onto a silty channel of water and a riverbed at low tide.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jul 12

Another early morning walk - to the iron bridge by the estuary at a highish tide. The heat just bearable. Saw this bird - Merlin says it is a snipe. Is that really right - a snipe with snippets?

Photo of a rusty balustrade of an iron bridge over a silty tributary which leads past marsh hags and sandbanks to the wider blue river beyond. The other side of the river is flanked by forested hills, giving rise to grey craggy mountains.

Photo of some sort of water bird on grey sparkling water, next to loop of floating seaweed which for some reason sparkles like a tiara of amethysts, diamonds and pearls.

Photo of a silty river bank strewn with boulders, with grasses and reeds growing on the higher slopes. A water bird with its young swim together near the shore.

Photo of a water bird and its young camouflaged amidst floating weed.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jul 11

A couple more photos from my early morning walk (before it gets too hot to venture outside)

Photo of the sun shining through leafy branches of an old oak on the bank of a blue river.

Photo of the 2-carriage regular train service here crossing a long arched wooden bridge over the estuary. In the foreground, a silty channel drains the short-cropped saltmarsh.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jul 11

7:40am and the heat is rising fast. Grateful for the cooling breeze coming down the estuary, the water is loud this morning.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jul 8

High summer late afternoon view past a leafy bough of ash to distant sunny meadow and dark hills.

Photo of summer late afternoon view past a leafy bough of ash to distant sunny meadow and dark hills.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jul 5

Practically a summer solstice sunrise (23rd June) with the sun appearing to roll up the distant hill from the Waen Oer (aka Bryn Seward South) standing stone row (btw it should be called Bryn Meurig stone row). Love way the recumbent stone in the foreground reflects the light #StandingStoneSunday

Photo of an orange sky with a yellow sun on the slope of a green hill. There are distant violet mountains. But in the foreground the yellow sunlight reflects off a long grey recumbent stone, patterned with fossil markings. Flecks of white sheep wool speckle the shortly cropped green grass dotted with old mole hills. One of the standing stones of the row stands between the recumbent and the sun. I have scared the sheep away.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 30

The heady scent of valerian (Valeriana officialanis) making this evening’s walk particularly calming.

Photo of a tall plant with white umbel-like scented flowers in a break in the trees in a deciduous woodland setting.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 28

Midsummer solstice sun setting behind the mound behind the Bryn Seward standing stone last weekend for #StandingStoneSunday

Photo of a white gold streak of sunset sandwiched between grey clouds and white lichen-covered grey stones on a green grassy hill. A tall angular standing stone dominates the photo. To me it resembles a bearded man with a backpack watching the sunset (mirroring me with my backpack 😁). A couple of tall purple foxgloves emerge from the white-lichened stones in the foreground.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 24

Lovely to see these up close and from a different perspective - here’s a distant view from across the bay with the sun setting between them at midsummer solstice (Carn Fadryn on the left and Yr Eifl on the right). One day, I too will venture beyond the bay and explore that distant peninsula 😀

Photo of a yellow sun setting in an orange stripe of sky roofed with violet clouds. Below a thin mountainous shadowy peninsula stretches out across a bay of calm silvery blue sea. The foreground is just flat scrubby grassland shadowed khaki green in the fading light.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 23

Sunrise this morning over Pared y Cefn Hir

Photo of a bright yellow sun, low in a bright orange sky above a craggy twin-peaked mountain, forests and tall flowering grasses and reeds: layers in a slightly hazy landscape.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 23

Just after sunrise this morning at the Bryn Seward stone row

Photo of a yellow sun in an orange sky above different layers of landscape in darkness: from a mountainous backdrop, over coniferous forests, tall grasses and finally a shadowy tall standing stone next to a barbed wire fence. Lens flare has caused the sun to look like it is casting a single strong ray of light from the top middle of the photo to the bottom left, where a straggly piece of white sheep’s wool is caught on the fence.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 23

Early doors this morning, by the tallest standing stone of the Bryn Seward stone row, catching the very near exact midsummer sunrise from the side of the Pared y Cefn Hir mountain #solsticeaintoveryet

Photo of a tall angular standing stone catching the rays of an orange sunrise over a distant, but craggily distinctive, mountain.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 22

Twenty seconds of the recumbent stone of the Waen Oer stone row aligning with the midsummer sun setting last night - and skylarks singing

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 22

it could be 😂, but this one looks deliberately placed to me - and the fact that it aligns with midsummer sunset confirms it in my opinion. The recumbent is flanked by the two tallest stones, there are another two smaller stones away in the distance in this photo; one of these has fallen over.

Photo of two tall grey standing stones standing stones flanking a recumbent one (placed perpendicularly to the other two) on a green hill.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 21

The Waen Oer recumbent stone with the midsummer sun setting beyond; sheep tiptoeing between. #SummerSolstice #StandingStoneSunday

Photo of a patterned grey slab of rock, pointed towards the bottom centre of the picture. A ewe and her lamb are silhouetted against a setting yellow sun that has turned the sky orange over distant mountains on the other side of a bay of calm blue sea. Violet clouds crowd the top of the picture.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 21

Midsummer solstice sunset at Carreg y Planwydd Helyg for #StandingStoneSunday (photobombed by an emerald green lens flare heart)

Photo of a pointed menhir on a green hill at sunset and under a sky of dark grey clouds, with an orange sunset stripe over the horizon of blackening hills. A green lens flare dot sits over the heart of the stone.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 20

The start of the shortest night #solstice

Photo of the last stripe of a yellowy orange sunset hovering above distant black mountains beyond a silvery blue bay. In the foreground, silhouetted flowering grasses stand tall in the evening light.

Philolithia@bsky.social@philolithia· Jun 18

More scenes of unbridled summer from my estuary walk yesterday evening #summersolsticeapproaches