Alex Scott Fairley
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alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Alex Scott Fairley
@alexscottfairley.bsky.social
350 followers 290 following 330 posts
New-Scottish Tasmanian. Professional actor and proof-reader. Loves nature, words, mountains, whippets, and paleontology. Currently in the process of writing the 'Dinosaur Dell' stories.
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alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Making #animal friends at the petting #zoo and feeding the #goats on my day off. Also, I think I ran about 19K in the soft play and the #playground attempting to superintend. Also, a #llama sneezed in my hair. Gross.
An alpaca, a pair of rabbits, a bagot goat, and a pair of zebra finches at the petting zoo. Me and my nephews making friends with a goat. My nephews on the playground ship (a "prison ship" apparently, according to the older one). I think this is just some sort of woodwose, though the older one was convinced it was Groot...
November 8, 2025 at 8:57 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Please can we have more like this, @penguinrandomhouse.bsky.social? It's phenomenal. Essentially a duologue based on real characters, by turns lurid, profoundly moving, though-provoking, and beautiful. #Halloween #novel #witch #book #publishing
Hilda Lewis's 1956 novel "The Witch and the Priest".
October 31, 2025 at 3:57 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
#Fungi are sort of #Halloween adjacent, I guess... As it's #FungiFriday, this week's finds from Esher Common, Alice Holt, and the Malvern Hills. I haven't gotten round to all the IDs yet, so please feel free to have at them! #FungiFriends #mycology #mushroom #nature
My favorite finds on Esher Common: a tawny grisette (Amanita fulva), showing off its volva; a perfect hedgehog fungus (Hydnum repandum), showing off its teeth; an amethyst deceiver (Laccaria amethystina) showing off its beautiful violet gills. Waxcap species just beginning to emerge in Dockenfield, on the fringes of Alice Holt Forest. Corals, clubs, and stagshorns from Esher Common, and Dockenfield, through to the Bentley fringes of Alice Holt Forest. Somber fungal fall colors from Esher Common and the Malvern Hills.
October 31, 2025 at 10:46 AM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
This piquant sign from Malvern #Theatres is just to get the attention of anyone that wanted to meet up whilst I'm in the UK! I think 3 and 15 November are my remaining #London days, and 6 November my #Guildford day! If you'd rather not, you only have 70 days til I'm safely 18,000km away again!
The (possibly rather optimistic/redundant) sign at the stage door at Malvern Theatres: "Would people who wish to obtain autographs please wait behind the railings on the pavement".
October 29, 2025 at 12:20 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
I can't be in #Malvern and not summit the Malvern #Hills, even if it means doing it at almost-running pace before the show. #autumn #fall #countryside #Britain #Worcestershire
Malvern from the hills above the town. Malvern from the bracken on the hills above the town.
October 26, 2025 at 2:24 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
It's #FungiFriday, so here are this week's finds! Mostly from Surrey, with a couple of Welsh finds from my tour thrown in. I think the last one is a powdery piggyback (Asterophora lycoperdides) from Alice Holt; @andyplatt.bsky.social, I think that's your stomping ground? :) #FungiFriends #fungi
Some finds from the beechwoods at Alice Holt Forest, including my first fly agaric (Amanita muscaria) of the year, and a trio of sickeners (Russula emetica). More finds from near one of the playgrounds at Alice Holt Forest, including a white saddle (Helvella crispa), which seems to grow in abundance throughout the forest. A couple of finds from Wales on my tour this week, including a handsome magpie inkcap (Coprinopsis picacea). Above, two more finds from Alice Holt Forest: an orange-peel fungus (Aleuria aurantia), and an emerging tawny grisette (Amanita fulva), looking more like an acorn in a tube! I think these may be powdery piggybacks (Asterophora lycoperdoides), parasitizing a brittlegill of some sort; found near one of the playgrounds in Alice Holt Forest.
October 24, 2025 at 10:50 AM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
A pre- #FungiFriday surprise in one of the largest bracket fungus conks I've ever seen growing from a tree, on one of the ancient beeches at Fiddler's Elbow, near Monmouth. #FungiFriends #fungus #woods #trees
A very large bracket fungus conk on an ancient beech tree, with my hand for scale.
October 22, 2025 at 12:32 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
You'd think that having successfully outsourced his portfolio to the demagogues of the world, the dark lord would have more time to sprinkle his namesake #fungi around the NNRs, but no sign of Satan's bolete in the #woods at #Monmouth. Still, aren't they STUNNING? #Wales #nature #woodland #trees
A very large beech tree at Fiddler's Elbow NNR near Monmouth, Wales. Late afternoon sun through the beech canopy at Fiddler's Elbow, one of the most westerly sites for beechwood in the UK, and also one of the most southwesterly for ancient yew groves. Looking out over the adjacent hills from Fiddler's Elbow NNR. An avenue created by the beeches at Fiddler's Elbow. No Satan's boletes, but some other nice bits and bobs that can wait for Fungi Friday!
October 22, 2025 at 12:29 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
I'll be on stage when it's proper @wildflowerhour.bsky.social time, so posting slightly ahead of time! Very surprised to see all of this still out at the #nature reserve when we were in #Basingstoke earlier this week! #flower #WildflowerHour #wildflower #botany
First row, left to right: germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys) / teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) / blue fleabane (Erigeron acris) / cowslip (Primula veris); Second row, left to right: field scabious (Knautia arvensis) / greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa) / oregano (Origanum vulgare) / agrimony (Agrimonia eupatoria); Third row, left to right: self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) / sanfoin (Onobrychis vicifolia) / hedge parsley (Torilis arvensis) / meadow buttercup (Ranunculus acris); Fourth row, left to right: wild basil (Clinopodium vulgare) / red clover (Trifolium pratense) / wild parsnip (Pastinaca sativa) / rough hawkbit (Leontodon hispidus).
October 19, 2025 at 5:56 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
It's #FungiFriday! Not as many around as I'd hoped in Solihull and Surrey (in Alice Holt @southdownsnp.bsky.social), but it has been very dry! Some surprise coral, a handful of waxcaps, troops of false death caps, and a lone panther cap. #fungi #mushroom #mycology #nature #FungiFriends
An ivory-colored coral, possibly Clavulina coralloides, though I find it hard to distinguish from C. cinerea sometimes. Waxcaps from the churchyard in Bentley, Hampshire, including an especially flamboyant parrot waxcap (Gliophorus psittacinus). A handful of finds from a very dry Alice Holt Forest, including a couple of the very many false deathcaps (Amanita citrina), and a solitary panther cap (Amanita pantherina). Some rather somber colors from a very small handful of fungi dotted around the River Blythe in Solihull.
October 17, 2025 at 5:15 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
I'm not especially impressed by celebrity, but this is #showbiz royalty! A joy to meet the lovely Jacki Piper and Valerie Leon last night, after our show. Between them - aside from a huge body of other work - they were in eight of the "Carry On" movies! #theatre #film #CarryOn #comedy #RoundtheHorne
Three of the cast of the touring production of "Round the Horne" at Richmond Theatre, with two of the "Carry On" legends! Left to right: Alex Scott Fairley (Hugh Paddick), Eve Winters (Betty Marsden), Jacki Piper, Valerie Leon, Tim Astley (producer, and understudy Douglas Smith).
October 17, 2025 at 9:17 AM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Remembering to do @wildflowerhour.bsky.social this week, as I'm still in the UK, and have been touring from Surrey to Yorkshire and Warwickshire to Essex, so please enjoy these bits and bobs! #WildflowerHour #wildflower (names in ALT).
Top row, left to right: herb robert (Geranium robertianum) / common vetch (Vicia sativa) / creeping thistle (Cirsium arvense); Middle row, left to right: self-heal (Prunella vulgaris) / ivy-leaved toadflax (Cymbalaria muralis) / greater willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum); Bottom row, left to right: redshank (Persicaria maculosa) / red bartsia (Odonites vernus) / greater knapweed (Centaurea scabiosa). Top row, left to right: cinquefoil (Potentilla recta) / common toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) / hedge bedstraw (Gallium mollugo); Middle row, left to right: common tansy (Tanacetum vulgare) / bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus) / mouse-ear hawkweed (Pilosella officinarum); Bottom row, left to right: yarrow (Achillea millefolium) / butcher’s broom (Ruscus aculeatus) / field mustard (Brassica campestris). Top row, left to right: autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) / red campion (Silene dioica) / bramble (Rubus fruticosus); Middle row, left to right: common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) / red deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) / pellitory-of-the-wall (Parietaria judaica); Bottom row, left to right: long-headed poppy (Papaver dubium) / borage (Borago officinalis) / field speedwell (Veronica persica).
October 12, 2025 at 7:28 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Another venue I couldn't resist posting some photos from. Some incredible history and illustrious company. And Ken Dodd (I get to throw shade at him twice in the show). #theatre #Leeds #play #musichall
The beautiful interior of Leeds City Varieties. Some of the illustrious footsteps we're following in... Especially illustrious (reptilian) footsteps... And Ken Dodd.
October 5, 2025 at 1:22 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
It's @britmycolsoc.org.uk UK #Fungus Day today! I don't live here any more, but get to visit, so here are a few species I've found over the last 15 years or so! (adding IDs for all of them would finish me off, but happy to answer if anyone is interested!) #fungi #mushroom #mycology #FungiFriends
Some fungi in reds, yellows, and oranges, including iconic species like fly agaric, orange caterpillar club, orange-peel fungus, and chanterelle, as well as some more unusual ones such as red cage fungus, flame shield, and yellow earth fan. UK fungi species in eye-popping shades from blue to violet, including some relative rarities such as violet coral, wrinkled peach, and ballerina waxcap, as well as more common species such as plums-and-custard, blue roundhead, hare's ears, amethyst deceiver, and wooly milkcap. Even when they're in shades of brown, fungi are beautiful, so here are some including jelly baby, hen-of-the-woods, old-man-of-the-woods, magpie inkcap, and trooping crumble-cap. And yet more fungi, in shades from light brown to white, including some dapperlings and parasols, earthstars, saddles, stalkballs, clubs, and cauliflower fungus!
October 4, 2025 at 2:37 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
And a bonus orange bonnet (Mycena acicula), I think, looking splendid and tiny in the rain! #fungi #mushroom
A tiny fungus in the rain, probably an orange bonnet (Mycena acicula).
October 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
A day off of my tour on #FungiFriday, so braved the torrential rain to visit Oakhill Nature Reserve in #Goole. Surprised to find so many lovely things! AM very happy for any corrections to my IDs in the ALT text. #fungi #nature #Yorkshire #mycology #mushroom
Clockwise from top left: yellow fieldcap (Bolbitius titubans) / witch’s hat waxcap (Hygrocybe conica) / collared earthstar (Geastrum michelianum) / Jew’s ear (Auricularia auricula-judae). Clockwise from top left: pleated inkcap (Parasola pilicatis) / shaggy mane (Coprinus comatus) / trooping crumble-cap (Coprinellus disseminatus) / mica cap (Coprinellus micaceus). Clockwise from top left: blewit (Collybia nuda) / rosy bonnet (Mycena rosa) / yellow stainer (Agaricus xanthoderma) / shaggy parasol (Macrolepiota rachodes). Clockwise from top left: humpack brittlegill (Russula caerulea) / sickener (Russula emetica) / stinking dapperling (Lepiota cristata) / possibly an aniseed funnel (Clitocybe odora), though I am far from sure.
October 3, 2025 at 5:01 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Did I remember you saying you once surveyed #newts in #Goole, @jamesgilbertmr.bsky.social? Was it here? I spent a very, very wet day off here today!
Are these your steps? A very large newt sculpture at Oakhill Nature Reserve, Goole. The information board at the entrance to Oakhill Nature Reserve, Goole. One of two large dragonfly sculptures at the entrance to Oakhill Nature Reserve, Goole.
October 3, 2025 at 4:58 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Always a huge joy to perform @thesjt.bsky.social, even if I have to fly from Australia these days to do it! Lovely to be in #Scarborough, the home of Alan Ayckbourn (the nearest thing we have to Shakespeare!) #theatre #comedy #touring #play
Me in the studio theater for our soundcheck. The Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough. Sadly not the view from my Travelodge room! The blue plaque at the library in Scarborough, the original site of the first theater-in-the-round.
September 29, 2025 at 4:29 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
It's #FungiFriday and as I've gone straight from southern hemisphere #fungi season to the one in the northern hemisphere, a few finds from my walk this week in Alice Holt Forest @southdownsnp.bsky.social. I wasn't expecting to find quite so much so early on! #fungi #mushrooms #nature #mycology
Blue roundhead (Stropharia aeruginosa). Top: two of the brittlegill species, possibly purple brittlegill (Russula atropupurea) and a sickener (Russula emetica). Below: the purple-colored form of lilac fibercap (Inocybe geophylla), and one of the bonnets (Mycena sp.). Some of the bolete species in Alice Holt Forest; I find these trickier to ID, but fairly sure that bottom left is a very large king bolete (Boletus edulis), which was considerably larger than my hand! Top: a birch polypore (Fomitopsis betulina), and hen-of-the-woods (Grifola frondosa). Below: possibly one of the jack-o-lantern fungi (Omphalotus sp.), now established in the UK, and a false chanterelle (Hygrophoropsis aurantica).
September 26, 2025 at 8:18 AM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
Shana tovah to all those celebrating Rosh Hashanah. Being overseas, I can't bake my New Year cake, but in the tradition of sharing sweet things, here are the sweetest things I know! @palnam.bsky.social #NewYear #RoshHahanah #whippets #dogs #puppies
Niles and Margo having a well-earned rest on Paul's parents' spare bed!
September 22, 2025 at 5:24 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
A joy to be recreating a small part of 'Round the Horne' with Apollo Theatre Co. at the Jermyn Street #Theatre in #London. Please come and see us if you can! #comedy #radio #CarryOn #KennethWilliams #HughPaddick
Ooh, look, sixty years later (and a bit of a glow-up)! The OG squad. KW never knowingly understated. Not far from the original recording location at the Paris Studios on Regent Street. New Paddick.
September 16, 2025 at 12:19 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
I live in Australia now so rarely get to join in #wildflowerhour! But I’m in the UK for a few months for work, so here are some I’ve found this week! For comparison, some finds from last week, from our trip from home in Tasmania to our possible new home in Queensland! @wildflowerhour.bsky.social.
First row, left to right: Red clover (Trifolium pratense), common storksbill (Erodium cicutarium), field scabious (Knautia arvensis), musk mallow (Malva moschata). Second row, left to right: Lesser knapweed (Centaurea nigra), mother-of-thyme (Thymus praecox), common vervain (Verbena officinalis), soapwort (Saponaria officinalis). Third row, left to right: Wild carrot (Daucus carota), hedge bindweed (Calystegia sepium), treacle mustard (Erysimum cheiranthoides), wood avens (Geum urbanum). Fourth row, left to right: Green alkanet (Pentaglottis sempervirens), old man’s beard (Clematis vitalba), bird’s-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), common fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica). (Open to corrections; it's a lot to remember plants across two continents these days!) First row, left to right: Orange passionflower (Passiflora aurantia), slender bindweed (Polymeria calcynia), upright bluebell (Wahlenbergia stricta), scurvy weed (Commelina cyanea). Second row, left to right: Purple coral-pea (Hardenbergia violacea), native violet (Viola hederacea), coastal bush-pea (Pultanea maritima), hairy guineaflower (Hibbertia vestita). Third row, left to right: Pastel flower (Pseudanthemum variabile), hairy gardenia (Atractocarpus hirtus), carpet star (Zieria prostrata), native rosella (Hibiscus heterophylla). Fourth row, left to right: Banded fleshy jewel-orchid (Cheirostylis ovata), Cyclophyllum multiflorum, veined helmet-orchid (Corybas diemenicus), Balanophora fungosa (a parasitic flowering plant, despite the fact it looks more like a fungus!)
September 14, 2025 at 7:16 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
How do you answer your phone?
J.B. Fletcher in full OH GOOD LORD mode.
September 11, 2025 at 8:13 PM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
I'm heading to the UK to work for a couple of months whilst Paul is in Cairns looking after his dad, but I already can't wait to be back with the other three parts of myself for another @palnam.bsky.social #adventure! #whippets #dogs #puppies #Australia
Paul and I at Cairns airport; I am forcing a smile because not only do I not like leaving these three, I LOATHE flying. I am what Marla and Jodene of Air Afrikaans would call *a nervous flyer*. Me in Paul's parents' garden in Cairns with Margo, who is looking longingly at kibbles, which she loves *almost* as much as me. Me in Paul's parents' garden in Cairns with Niles, who is so sweet, but never knowingly poses for a photo!
September 10, 2025 at 6:33 AM
alexscottfairley.bsky.social
And lots of other #wildlife, too. #nature #Australia #marsupial #mammal #butterfly #crocodile #reptile #lizard #Queensland @palnam.bsky.social (Names in ALT).
Red lacewing (Cethosia cydippe). Red-legged pademelon (Thylogale stigmatica). Freshwater crocodile (Crocodylus johnstoni). Water dragon (Intellagama lesueurii).
September 9, 2025 at 6:48 AM