Hear all about Timothy Knapman's brilliant book 'The Gladiator Who Couldn't Stop Hiccuping' a hilarious historical story illustrated by Aleksei Bitskoff 🏛️ #Readerful #RaiseAReader x.com/TimothyKnapman…

'I love to see thee come & litter gold' (John Clare on #ragwort) Ragwort is still attracting butterflies 💛🦋💛

“…and litter gold.” How marvellous.

The #HarvestMoon is big and bright (some call it a #Supermoon) and technically called a perigee syzygy and worth a million scrabble points! #FullMoon #StormHour #ThePhotoHour @MoonHour #MoonHour

Delighted to learn from The OED that 'shoop' is a northern variant (possibly from Old Norse) for these resplendent hips - the fruit of the wild rose🌹 Rose hip/shoop syrup is particularly delicious - with a delicate tropical flavour🌹

Frolicking in the hedgerows for to fossick about amongst tangled brambles & untamed beauty, & wondering if the very elderly neighbour folk calling gloriously glossy red rosehips 'shup sweets' is linked to this rather lovely tidbit of knowledge...

This fabulous bird is the source of a fabulous #etymology - it used to be known as a 'jynx' and is what 'jinxes' are named after: presumably because also uncanny & unexpected!🪄 I learnt this magical etymology from Pratibha Rai: hogwartsprofessor.com/guest-post-nam…

Trumpet vine in Trinity College glowing in the September sunlight 🌿 #Oxford

Kimmeridge Bay #Dorset #AlphabetChallenge #WeekLforLight #coast #Sea #coastal

Pristine Artist's Fungus🤎🤍🤎 It is named after the pure white 'canvas' of its underside. The dusting of cocoa on the top is billions of its spores #FungiFriday🍄

The burnished copper of a late season comma 🧡🦋🧡

An Artist's Fungus used as a canvas by an artist🤎

The Old English word for equinox is 'emniht', from 'efen' and 'niht', when night and day are evenly balanced. Today is the 'hærfestlice emniht', autumnal equinox; after this (says Byrhtferth of Ramsey) 'langað seo niht and wanað se dæg', 'the night lengthens and the day wanes'...

Yellow & purple loosestrife💛💜💛 Lysimachia (yellow loosestrife) is named after a king said to have pacified an angry bull by feeding it to him. Pliny says if you feed it to oxen they 'lose strife' & will more willingly pull the plough together. #SundayYellow💛

'Aftermath' means 'after the mowing/harvest' - originally it was the second crop planted after the harvest🌿 I love the way this #etymology transforms the word, stressing the potential of the aftermath - what can be grown after the harvest has been gathered in🧡

'An alligator stuff'd, and other skins Of ill-shaped fishes' Absolutely delicious shop/museum of an apothecary from Verona - really worth a click to explore. I love the open drawers! The ceiling display is interestingly similar to Shakespeare's description📚

Southern green shieldbug on blackberries💚