Absolutely amazing up close sightings of pilot whales today on a zodiac trip from Chéticamp, Cape Breton. Six foot swell in high winds today so we’re all very wet but happy.

Turned out okay.

After success earlier this year with the most scenic hike in the Faroes, time to tackle the stunning Skyline Trail in Cape Breton.

So much food including Digby scallops, lobster rolls and oysters on PEI, donair in Halifax, poutine in lots of places, & amazing pancakes everywhere.

Driving the stunning Cabot Trail through Cape Breton Highlands National Park today as climax of a fortnight of family road tripping through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick & Prince Edward Island 🇨🇦

Reading the novel “Life Before Man” by Margaret Atwood, which has a central character who happens to be a palaeontologist. Thus we get unexpected references to legendary palaeontologist John Ostrom.

Congratulations to all members of the Palaeobiology group at the University of Birmingham - tonight we won the Rose Sidgwick Award for External Engagement & Impact at the University’s Founders’ Awards, our highest internal awards. youtu.be/rXLX0sN5Q5c?...

At Gardeners’ World Live at the NEC to see the garden of evolution designed by @profaliceroberts.bsky.social, with help from @lapworthmuseum.bsky.social & BIFoR, featuring Ajkaceratops, a dinosaur described by team including Attila Osi, @tweetisaurus.bsky.social and me!

Here's @markwitton.bsky.social mobbed by fans at #DinosaurHighway2026. Photo courtesy of the lovely @gizz47.bsky.social.

The extent to which fieldwork in palaeontology (& other research areas) is valued has been in long-term decline, with funding challenging despite its fundamental importance. Will the rise of AI change this given that finding, collecting & studying new fossils cannot be done by a computer? I hope so.

The best thing about academia is the amazing people you get to work with. #DinosaurHighway2026

Lovely to host both University of Birmingham Vice Chancellor Professor Adam Tickell and popular historian, broadcaster & palaeontology enthusiast Tom Holland at the Dinosaur Highway today. Glorious weather & a perfect day for digging dinosaur tracks.

We are back at the 'Dinosaur Highway' in Oxfordshire for our third year, with our University of Birmingham students and partners from @morethanadodo.bsky.social, Smiths Bletchington & Liverpool John Moores. Weather cleared up for a great first day! #DinosaurHighway2026

While some of our University of Birmingham Palaeontology undergrads have been learning to prepare fossils this week, another team have been excavating Carboniferous fossil plants with the marvellous Tim Astrop at Brymbo Fossil Forest in North Wales.

This week we have @afossilpreparator.bsky.social training our Palaeontology & Geology undergraduate students in fossil preparation skills in our new fossil prep lab. Another reason to consider the University of Birmingham if you are interested in studying Palaeontology at university.

Somebody left some pretty cool Polish dinosaur stamps attached to my door this morning.

On the way home after a completely amazing short break in the Faroe Islands 🇫🇴. What a place! I loved it.

Joking aside, we’ve had four wonderful days of no rain so one afternoon of mist isn’t so bad.

This afternoon in the Faroe Islands 🇫🇴 we took a ferry to the island of Kalsoy to hike to the Kallur lighthouse. It is famous for its jaw-dropping views, some of the best in the Faroes, as you can see.

Vestmanna bird cliffs, Faroe Islands 🇫🇴. Absolutely incredible.

I am in the Faroe Islands 🇫🇴 and it is AMAZING.

As always there were a lot of cultural experiences along the way, including couscous Friday, unique approaches to transporting livestock, our first meal of sheep brains & liver, and the inevitable speeding fines. Morocco is an amazing country. If you haven't visited you really should.

We finish back in Fez, with a gift to @tweetisaurus.bsky.social (& the team) from USMBA for an exceptional collaboration. With perfect timing, Kawtar & our team also have a new paper out on fossil heritage law in Morocco, using our field sites as a example. link.springer.com/article/10.1...

We also joined a meeting in Boulemane organised by Kawtar Ech-charay with government officials, senior university academics & community leaders, focused on developing a UNESCO Global Geopark in the Middle Atlas.

We've been digging up Middle Jurassic dinosaurs, looking to find more fossils of the amazing Spicomellus and the many other dinosaurs that lived alongside it. It was pretty successful!

At the end of our fieldwork in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco with @tweetisaurus.bsky.social @simonwills.bsky.social & @pimkaskes.bsky.social from @nhm-london.bsky.social & Driss Ouarhache, Khadija Boumir, Kawtar Ech-charay & @ahmedoussou.bsky.social from USMBA in Fès. What a team! 😍 (1/5)

Maidment 2, Butler 1 @tweetisaurus.bsky.social

Jacketed our first bone of the trip today. Among the smaller dinosaur bones I’ve seen, as you can tell from the scale. @tweetisaurus.bsky.social

First day back in the Moroccan Middle Atlas for fieldwork & @tweetisaurus.bsky.social has not only already got her first speeding ticket but also got to meet some of her heroes.

Huge thanks to @afossilpreparator.bsky.social & @palaeo-olly.bsky.social at Emanya Fossil Prep for setting up the new UoB fossil preparation lab today! Looking forward to running our first student training soon! Thanks also to Kate & Mihai at Zoic for all the support & UoB Alumni Fund for funding.