bd

[Dannyboy Wildlife @DWesthawk]

Pine marten

[🙏🌧🌍 @godblesstoto]

Boudica: "Yes I was flogged and my daughters raped in front of me, but I've been advised by a government-approved psychiatrist to not let division and hatred win. Now, let's stick that Oasis track on and sing to suppress whatever survival instincts we still have left."

[The Bee Guy @the_beeguy]

Queen BUMBLEBEES - HELP THEM OUT!
A vital thread concerning bumblebee queens at this time of year!
Please #retweet/#share. EVERY QUEEN BUMBLEBEE THAT SURVIVES GETS TO ESTABLISH A NEST which otherwise would not happen.
Let me explain.
1/11
#bees #help #love
#nature #bumblebees

[gregorio catarino @gregcatarino1]

"Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don't they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers"
― Ray Bradbury

[The Angelus Bell @TheAngelusBell]

@CatholicFQ please consider giving us a retweet! God reward you!
https://t.co/1qqTE11BLx

[bd @bdunnewithyou]

@Michael96829676 @CarlBovisNature This can be a matter of a pinion

[Friendless Churches @friendschurches]

In the UK, you could demolish a church VAT-free, but if you wanted to repair that church, you would have to pay VAT.

[Elaine Farrell Photography @_EFarrellPhoto]

A 46 second visual feast of sea swell and birds … Co. Sligo, Ireland.

#cosligo #ireland

⬇️
https://t.co/qS8Kz0gVyf

[Gillian Dempsey @catedempsey]

Parents are being taken for a ride. The Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill 2024 requires Minecraft and Youtube as well as other social media to take measures (up to a year after assent) to ensure that people are over the age of 16. This is a bad idea and here

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

The Swan, No. 24, Group IX, by Hilma af Klint, 1914, 📸 by me

[Art Gallery @X_ArtGallery]

Caravaggio

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

Le Blanc de Blanc, by Georges Mathieu, 1987, 📸 by @ClubCatoK

[Gerard Rennick @RennickGBR]

Six inches of rain and this is what the Bruce Highway turns into.

Money for Ukraine, money for Olympics, money for renewables but we can’t even keep a national highway open.

That's why it’s time for change - it’s time to kick the majors to the curb.

Vote for hope. Vote for solutions. Vote for People First.

#auspol

[Katherine Deves 🇦🇺 @Katherine_deves]

🇦🇺🇬🇧Let me tell you a story…

On this day in 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip sailed into Port Jackson, now Sydney’s Circular Quay

One of the greatest sea voyages ever undertaken - 11 vessels, the largest contingent to sail into the Pacific Ocean, laden with stores, 1500 souls & livestock & poultry, 252 days at sea but only a 3% death rate & no ships lost - a spectacular result

Philip oversaw 1420 people, about half were convicts including 200 women, 325 crew, 250 marines with 50 wives & children, 15 officials & passengers

50 children, including children of convicts & convict children, 20 babies born on the voyage

Only 48 people died en route, a spectacularly low death rate & testament to Phillip’s stewardship & commitment to good nutrition for crew & convicts

My ancestor, John Rowe from Cornwall, travelled on the convict ship Scarborough in chains after being sentenced to 7 years transportation for stealing two coats & other goods

Conditions were horrific for convicts - vermin, lice, bugs, overflowing bilges, the stench belowdecks was overpowering, the women were issued with rice sacks to wear as their clothes had to be burnt due to bugs

I cannot imagine how terrifying it would be to be taken from your home & family, everything you’ve ever known, held in chains in a stinking ship’s hull for nine months, to sail to the end of the earth

Voyaging across the violent Roaring 40s, becalmed in hot humidity for days

Then arrive in a landscape as hot, hostile & strange as Australia with absolutely nothing familiar

To undertake such a dangerous & intrepid journey into the unknown is unfathomable to those of us living today

The next such comparative undertaking in human history will be @elonmusk’s mission to settle Mars

John Rowe eventually married a female convict, Isabella Manson, three weeks after she arrived on the notorious second fleet ship Lady Juliana, convicted of stealing clothes & sentenced to 7 years transportation at Old Bailey

They had three children, worked out their sentences & were eventually given a small land grant

Australia gave my impoverished ancestors something they would never have had as convicted criminals in Britain, the opportunity to work hard, own land, build a business, become respected members of community & contribute to the building of a fledging society

It is testament to John & Isabella, & all others like them, who worked hard, took risks, journeyed into the unknown, to build Australia into the nation it is today

As an Anglo-Australian with colonial heritage I am proud of my ancestral past & deep connection to this land & our great nation

I am proud of the contribution my forefathers & foremothers have made since 1788

It grieves me deeply to see the division, hatred & shame being sown by those who take our blessings, freedoms & opportunities for granted & want to rewrite our history into an oppressor/oppressed narrative when it is not that simplistic

Human history is complex, riven with suffering & success, displacement & dispossession, victory & Valor, but we are all here today because our ancestors fought to survive

So we must be vigilant against those who hate Australia, undermine what is great about this country & who seek to destroy the good

So today, on 26 January, we celebrate & honour those who came before us & created the foundation to make this nation great

🇦🇺AUSTRALIA DAY 2025🇦🇺

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

Palmscape II, by Mrinalini Mukherjee, 2013

[Humanspective @Humanspective]

Bill Gates has tested his Genetically modified Oxitec mosquitoes out on an African village....now it's ready for primetime....Queensland, Australia.

Dr Raj Bhula, Gene Technology Regulator, has said The Office of Gene Technology will give people 30 x days to make submissions and comments.

You can also ask for a copy of the application or summary by contacting OGTR with reference DIR 207:

1800 181 030 | email: [email protected]

You know what to do folks.

[ArtButMakeItSports @ArtButSports]

Delacroix’s Lion and Snake from the @walters_museum also plays well, especially with the ‘Lions’ layer