January 1, 2023 My ’22 Top Ten – 11. Crocodile Rock “Is it a skull?” we asked, disbelievingly. “A crocodile, perhaps?” Categories Outreach/Research
December 30, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 1. Quicksand Number one in my Top Ten of 2022 is the first thing of note I did in the year, but Emma Gibson’s Quicksand is also number 1 because it was my favourite project of the year. It marked the first time I was employed as a museum consultant, the first time I worked with a professional artist, and the first... Categories Media/Outreach/Teaching
December 29, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 2. Lost Beasts of the North On Sunday March 13th 2022, as part of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and Yorkshire Geological Society symposium ‘Lost Beasts of the North’, supported by the Curry Fund of the Geologists’ Association, and celebrating the bicentenary of the discovery of Kirkdale Cave, I took to the lectern in St Gregory’s Minster and pretended to be William Buckland: “Account of an assemblage... Categories Outreach
December 28, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 3. Earth Club “Pupils are happy and well cared for. They attend a range of different activities, such as girls’ football, yoga and the Earth club.” Categories #StratumYoung/Outreach/Teaching
December 27, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 4. Meandering down Micklegate Since starting up York’s Hidden History with the most excellent Dr Simon Rogerson (buy his books here!), I have become a bit obsessed with the ancient, natural and scientific history of Micklegate. York’s Great Street has all manner of fascinating tales to tell, and when we were asked if we might offer a Visit York Members event, I suggested a... Categories Outreach
December 26, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 5. Streetlife In June, the University of York launched the Streetlife project, turning the former Dorothy Perkins store on Coney Street into a space celebrating creatively the street’s history, heritage, and future. Via our York’s Hidden History walks (especially the York Earth Walk), I was asked if I could help people uncover the deep time stories of Coney Street, beginning during the... Categories Outreach
December 26, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 6. The Family Tree In July, I went to Clayton St John Primary School in Bradford, to run a Yorkshire Fossils class. This was part of my Stratum Young project, supported by the Geoscience Communications Fund of the Yorkshire Geological Society, and it was lovely to go in and work with the children to discuss, describe and draw the fossils they can find in... Categories #StratumYoung/Outreach/Teaching
December 24, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 7. Creatures of Curiosity I don’t really need to re-write the post I put up in August, but one of my highlights of the summer was being palaeontological consultant and fossil roadshow host for Rosie Barrett‘s Creatures of Curiosity exhibition at Nunnington Hall. Rosie tells me that more than 20,500 people visited the exhibition. I made a video, which is rubbish, but gives you... Categories Outreach
December 23, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 8. Yorkshire Fossil Festival At some point I should probably write a proper blogpost about how marvellous the 2022 Yorkshire Fossil Festival, which I organized in Scarborough over the weekend of September 16th to 18th, was. Now is not that point. Instead, I will refer you to the image above; the fact that we won an award for excellence in geological education from the... Categories Outreach
December 22, 2022 My ’22 Top Ten – 9. Jurassic Whitby The 2023 Yorkshire Fossil Festival is coming to Whitby over the weekend of June 10th and 11th, so it seems fitting that most of my research is focussed on the geological history of the Whitby area. In October, we published a new subsurface record of the Pliensbachian-Toarcian, Lower Jurassic, of Yorkshire in the Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society. Nine... Categories Outreach/Research
