microscopesandmonsters

The backdrop for this post is the spectacular scenery of the Greater Caucasus mountains, extending to over 5000 metres in height (Mont Blanc, by comparison, is 4807 metres) but with an added frisson of geopolitical tension as Russia lies just beyond the p…

The previous post contained my most recent painting of the microscopic world, encapsulating my “imagined but not imaginary” approach to painting.

I’ve turned the cyanobacterial mat I described in “Vertically challenged …” into a picture to try to understand how the different elements interact with each other.

I’m back in the Lake District but, this time, looking at it through the eyes of a four-year old boy equipped with his first “I Spy” books.

Whilst much of the country is wilting under the unprecedented summer heat and praying for rain, I was hoping for the dry weather to persist for just long enough for me to complete my August field surveys in Cumbria.

Back in May, I wrote about some algae I had encountered in Upper Teesdale (see: “Vertically-challenged …”).

I’ve written about the benefits of returning to the same site over and over again in order to catch it in all its moods.

In my career as a freelance consultant, I have analysed over 6500 diatom samples and I thought that the next of my occasional essays on diatom genera should probably focus on the genus that I have found most frequently in those samples.

The headlines screamed “hottest May ever!”

There was a heatwave forecast across northern England on the Whitsun holiday, so we set off early to avoid the worst of it and, when we arrived in Upper Teesdale, the growing heat of the morning sunshine was abated by a refreshing breeze.

My comments on diatoms and topophilia (see: “Hannaea: springing into life …”) also apply to the subject of this post, but with a few variations.