DrRoyB
@drroyb.bsky.social
Retired academic, but still a pedagogue. Volunteer at BBOWT's Warburg Reserve, Bix valley, Henley. Plodding cyclist, hasty photographer of wildlife, fond rabbit owner.
Mestiza: Spanish house music assimilated to the flamenco tradition. Wildly dramatic, brilliantly danced and filmed. The whole sequence is 15 minutes. Then you will watch it again, and again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIj...
September 4, 2026 at 8:06 AM
Mestiza: Spanish house music assimilated to the flamenco tradition. Wildly dramatic, brilliantly danced and filmed. The whole sequence is 15 minutes. Then you will watch it again, and again. www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCIj...
G, my 'affex' (= 'affectionate ex-') has draped her rabbits Archibald and Henry in dampened tea-towels to help them cool down in the UK heatwave. Remarkably, they seem happy with the idea. Genuine photo, no AI.
June 26, 2026 at 6:01 PM
G, my 'affex' (= 'affectionate ex-') has draped her rabbits Archibald and Henry in dampened tea-towels to help them cool down in the UK heatwave. Remarkably, they seem happy with the idea. Genuine photo, no AI.
Very lucky to meet a Purple Emperor on the track in Bernwood Forest yesterday, and then at the meadow margin, this Black Hairstreak on an Ox-eye Daisy.
June 14, 2026 at 6:19 AM
Very lucky to meet a Purple Emperor on the track in Bernwood Forest yesterday, and then at the meadow margin, this Black Hairstreak on an Ox-eye Daisy.
Testing the new photos sizes here. Yesterday I came across a swarm of Green Longhorn moths, at a sheltered corner of a field of Oilseed Rape. As with other species, the males are ridiculous.
April 23, 2026 at 5:51 AM
Testing the new photos sizes here. Yesterday I came across a swarm of Green Longhorn moths, at a sheltered corner of a field of Oilseed Rape. As with other species, the males are ridiculous.
Flora Starkey's 'Spring Rites' was created for the 2018 vernal equinox. Via her floral designs, the director's stop motion, and the soundscape, you can believe that we are indeed closer to fungi than to plants on the tree of life. The full seven plus minutes here: lbbonline.com/work/28561
March 19, 2026 at 8:31 PM
Flora Starkey's 'Spring Rites' was created for the 2018 vernal equinox. Via her floral designs, the director's stop motion, and the soundscape, you can believe that we are indeed closer to fungi than to plants on the tree of life. The full seven plus minutes here: lbbonline.com/work/28561
The wonderful Ensemble Supersonus have a new live show video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMf... Anna-Maria Hefele, overtone singing; Anna-Liisa Eller, Estonian Kannel (box zither); Marco Ambrosini, nyckelharpa. It's a Handel chaconne they are transforming.
March 16, 2026 at 9:36 AM
The wonderful Ensemble Supersonus have a new live show video. www.youtube.com/watch?v=igMf... Anna-Maria Hefele, overtone singing; Anna-Liisa Eller, Estonian Kannel (box zither); Marco Ambrosini, nyckelharpa. It's a Handel chaconne they are transforming.
Signs of Spring in the Thames valley: solitary bee, first Brimstone, lark, harlequin ladybirds. In the Wargrave chalk pit except the lark, above farmland near Crazies Hill
February 23, 2026 at 9:09 AM
Signs of Spring in the Thames valley: solitary bee, first Brimstone, lark, harlequin ladybirds. In the Wargrave chalk pit except the lark, above farmland near Crazies Hill
In the V&A. Satan tempting Christ to turn the stone he holds into bread, detail in a panel from cloisters at Mariawald, c.1521. Google's AI confidently identifies it as showing St Augustine.
February 4, 2026 at 9:20 PM
In the V&A. Satan tempting Christ to turn the stone he holds into bread, detail in a panel from cloisters at Mariawald, c.1521. Google's AI confidently identifies it as showing St Augustine.
Model and artist, V&A. Virgin and Child by an unknown artist, limewood, probably Salzburg, c.1480. She has probably been carved to be viewed from far below: she is certainly looking down, and her head would look in proportion. Will she give her blessing? Her expression is not very encouraging.
February 4, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Model and artist, V&A. Virgin and Child by an unknown artist, limewood, probably Salzburg, c.1480. She has probably been carved to be viewed from far below: she is certainly looking down, and her head would look in proportion. Will she give her blessing? Her expression is not very encouraging.
Rotation. Still morning reflections, Cock Marsh. (90 degrees right pleases me most: the reflection being more real than the tree, and the quasi-Chinese signature bottom right.)
January 28, 2026 at 4:18 PM
Rotation. Still morning reflections, Cock Marsh. (90 degrees right pleases me most: the reflection being more real than the tree, and the quasi-Chinese signature bottom right.)
Snowdrops, crocuses and a first daffodil at the Wargrave Chalk Pit. The gardener who looks after the cemetery area once told me that the old quarry is two degrees warmer than the surrounding area in winter, two degrees cooler in summer.
January 25, 2026 at 12:06 PM
Snowdrops, crocuses and a first daffodil at the Wargrave Chalk Pit. The gardener who looks after the cemetery area once told me that the old quarry is two degrees warmer than the surrounding area in winter, two degrees cooler in summer.
Max Cencic as Monteverdi's Nero, looking as if Sonya Yoncheva's voluptuous Poppea has already frazzled him. Singing "Pur ti miro, pur ti godo" ('I adore you, I embrace you'), they advance downstage, having sex in acoustic form. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oADm...
January 22, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Max Cencic as Monteverdi's Nero, looking as if Sonya Yoncheva's voluptuous Poppea has already frazzled him. Singing "Pur ti miro, pur ti godo" ('I adore you, I embrace you'), they advance downstage, having sex in acoustic form. www.youtube.com/watch?v=oADm...
Off my usual patch, and I may be 71, but I can still recognise a total banger, and can still manage not to resent the young being young, energetic, and talented. Haute and Freddy, 'Dance the pain away'. feat. students of the Hollywood Dance Centre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BhJ...
January 13, 2026 at 8:54 PM
Off my usual patch, and I may be 71, but I can still recognise a total banger, and can still manage not to resent the young being young, energetic, and talented. Haute and Freddy, 'Dance the pain away'. feat. students of the Hollywood Dance Centre: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BhJ...
The latest from Le Musée d’Orsay's 'Box of Nuggets'. Performers of Freda Swain's 1950 piano quartet about the sea, dropped digitally into Henri-Edmond Cross's painting, Après-midi à Pardigon. Amid the AI dross on YouTube, a precious nugget of human creativity. Look at the resources put in play here!
December 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
The latest from Le Musée d’Orsay's 'Box of Nuggets'. Performers of Freda Swain's 1950 piano quartet about the sea, dropped digitally into Henri-Edmond Cross's painting, Après-midi à Pardigon. Amid the AI dross on YouTube, a precious nugget of human creativity. Look at the resources put in play here!
23.11.25, the De Panne Beach Endurance race. Mass start into the vast horizontals, the lead group soon heading into vanishing point. 52km of being sandblasted with wet sand. Cycling at its most existential: no landscape, just an illimitable surface. Wonderful spectacle.
November 26, 2025 at 3:57 PM
23.11.25, the De Panne Beach Endurance race. Mass start into the vast horizontals, the lead group soon heading into vanishing point. 52km of being sandblasted with wet sand. Cycling at its most existential: no landscape, just an illimitable surface. Wonderful spectacle.
Textile Art butterflies by Paula Robinson (Freehand machine embroidery). She represents her subjects as accurately as possible, without fantasy. Insects are intricately textured things. (I had gone to a Xmas Craft Fair, intending to buy presents for others.) Look for thelittlebunnystudio.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Textile Art butterflies by Paula Robinson (Freehand machine embroidery). She represents her subjects as accurately as possible, without fantasy. Insects are intricately textured things. (I had gone to a Xmas Craft Fair, intending to buy presents for others.) Look for thelittlebunnystudio.co.uk
Down the Nut Walk, near Crazies Hill, today Nov 4th. Cob nuts, hazel, sweet chestnut and walnut saplings were planted in 2007. It's beautiful. Roe deer in the fields to either side.
November 4, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Down the Nut Walk, near Crazies Hill, today Nov 4th. Cob nuts, hazel, sweet chestnut and walnut saplings were planted in 2007. It's beautiful. Roe deer in the fields to either side.
Delaminated headstone, Sonning churchyard. Leica Monochrome setting, Lumix G9ii.
November 3, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Delaminated headstone, Sonning churchyard. Leica Monochrome setting, Lumix G9ii.
Fungal textures: Artist's Bracket (?) on a tree stump, Fairy inkcaps on decayed burr wood, intricate as a Bosch painting of hell.
Sonning Lock, Berkshire side.
Sonning Lock, Berkshire side.
November 3, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Fungal textures: Artist's Bracket (?) on a tree stump, Fairy inkcaps on decayed burr wood, intricate as a Bosch painting of hell.
Sonning Lock, Berkshire side.
Sonning Lock, Berkshire side.
This robin is a detail in a painting, one which I hadn't noticed before. Can you think what famous scene it is in? Answer in Alt Text.
October 30, 2025 at 5:28 PM
This robin is a detail in a painting, one which I hadn't noticed before. Can you think what famous scene it is in? Answer in Alt Text.
The Warburg reserve, where I volunteer on Fridays, has always been famous for its fungi. A guided walk yesterday revealed some fine examples. IDs in Alt text #fungi
October 18, 2025 at 1:29 PM
The Warburg reserve, where I volunteer on Fridays, has always been famous for its fungi. A guided walk yesterday revealed some fine examples. IDs in Alt text #fungi
Stocking Webcap (Cortinarius torvus) at the Hurley Chalk Pit reserve today. Such a sculptural, colourful fungus, and not common. In an attempt to do it full justice, I focus-bracketed and then image stacked using focusstackingonline.com
October 16, 2025 at 4:36 PM
Stocking Webcap (Cortinarius torvus) at the Hurley Chalk Pit reserve today. Such a sculptural, colourful fungus, and not common. In an attempt to do it full justice, I focus-bracketed and then image stacked using focusstackingonline.com
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THV... From the Musee D'Orsay's delightful 'box of nuggets' series of works by 19th-20th century women composers, Louise Héritte-Viardot's 'Flies and butterflies' movement, with the performers digitally dropped into Berthe Morisot's 'Butterfly chase' painting.
October 6, 2025 at 6:53 PM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6THV... From the Musee D'Orsay's delightful 'box of nuggets' series of works by 19th-20th century women composers, Louise Héritte-Viardot's 'Flies and butterflies' movement, with the performers digitally dropped into Berthe Morisot's 'Butterfly chase' painting.
After Martha www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... I have read a lot or prose in my time. This, though written in deep grief, is exceptional for its dignity, seriousness, and effectiveness. The power of this indictment of a hospital hierarchy that could not be questioned - hence, rightly, 'Martha's law'.
Paul Laity · After Martha
For the hospital, and for the NHS, it was a closed case, another preventable death: medicine is imperfect, such things...
www.lrb.co.uk
October 1, 2025 at 1:20 PM
After Martha www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4... I have read a lot or prose in my time. This, though written in deep grief, is exceptional for its dignity, seriousness, and effectiveness. The power of this indictment of a hospital hierarchy that could not be questioned - hence, rightly, 'Martha's law'.
For my 71st birthday, the hearteningly vivacious Cachua la Despedida: "I must be made of bronze, Or diamond, or of ruby. Either death is afraid of me, Or I shall not know death." Codex Trujillo, c.1780. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0UC...
September 24, 2025 at 8:04 AM
For my 71st birthday, the hearteningly vivacious Cachua la Despedida: "I must be made of bronze, Or diamond, or of ruby. Either death is afraid of me, Or I shall not know death." Codex Trujillo, c.1780. www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0UC...