Jonny Ritson
@jpritson.bsky.social
Research fellow at The University of Manchester
Data starting to come in from our Bezos Earth Fund project looking at sphagnum and methanotrophy.
If nothing else we had fun playing with the bubble columns!
If nothing else we had fun playing with the bubble columns!
December 4, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Data starting to come in from our Bezos Earth Fund project looking at sphagnum and methanotrophy.
If nothing else we had fun playing with the bubble columns!
If nothing else we had fun playing with the bubble columns!
Wrapping up the GGR-Peat project just in time before the gas collars were subsumed into sphagnum hummocks!
October 16, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Wrapping up the GGR-Peat project just in time before the gas collars were subsumed into sphagnum hummocks!
The most intriguing door sign in the University of Manchester. Sadly, the door is locked. These are private holes in the floor.
September 29, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The most intriguing door sign in the University of Manchester. Sadly, the door is locked. These are private holes in the floor.
Remnants of a lowland raised bog. Left is still under agricultural production, right at ~50cm higher was abandoned in the 60s. Just under 1cm lost per year.
September 26, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Remnants of a lowland raised bog. Left is still under agricultural production, right at ~50cm higher was abandoned in the 60s. Just under 1cm lost per year.
Without delving too much into the stats - it's safe to say our trial to speed up sphagnum colonisation of restoration pool was successful
September 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Without delving too much into the stats - it's safe to say our trial to speed up sphagnum colonisation of restoration pool was successful
It's that time of year again
September 18, 2025 at 5:07 PM
It's that time of year again
Some highlights from a summer of fieldwork - lots of sphagnum (natural and planted) and the occasional sunny day on the bog
September 10, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Some highlights from a summer of fieldwork - lots of sphagnum (natural and planted) and the occasional sunny day on the bog
In my ongoing tests to see which parts of my job AI can automate I asked ChatGPT to create a map for me of my plots using a satellite image basemap and a pop out showing where the site was in the UK.
Close. So close.
Close. So close.
August 18, 2025 at 10:58 AM
In my ongoing tests to see which parts of my job AI can automate I asked ChatGPT to create a map for me of my plots using a satellite image basemap and a pop out showing where the site was in the UK.
Close. So close.
Close. So close.
Welsh duolingo really going for the sterotypes
July 14, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Welsh duolingo really going for the sterotypes
The extent of these clubmosses was such that there are: “rope like stems trailing on the ground for a great
distance, and actually setting a trap for the feet of the incautious sportsman or rambler” (Taylor 1879).
Some clubmosses still on the peaks but nowhere near as described in 19th century.
distance, and actually setting a trap for the feet of the incautious sportsman or rambler” (Taylor 1879).
Some clubmosses still on the peaks but nowhere near as described in 19th century.
June 16, 2025 at 7:58 AM
The extent of these clubmosses was such that there are: “rope like stems trailing on the ground for a great
distance, and actually setting a trap for the feet of the incautious sportsman or rambler” (Taylor 1879).
Some clubmosses still on the peaks but nowhere near as described in 19th century.
distance, and actually setting a trap for the feet of the incautious sportsman or rambler” (Taylor 1879).
Some clubmosses still on the peaks but nowhere near as described in 19th century.
I seem to have ended up on a bog on my day off... does this mean I can expense my picnic??
June 13, 2025 at 3:58 PM
I seem to have ended up on a bog on my day off... does this mean I can expense my picnic??
Another dreary day at the office
June 11, 2025 at 5:57 AM
Another dreary day at the office
Three years into our mowing and sphagnum planting trial and the plugs have nearly met to form a lawn
June 10, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Three years into our mowing and sphagnum planting trial and the plugs have nearly met to form a lawn
Reading the 'Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities' report that suggets that sphagnum planting is pointless. Erm, is that actually sphagnum?
June 4, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Reading the 'Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities' report that suggets that sphagnum planting is pointless. Erm, is that actually sphagnum?
Lot of different colours for one hummock!
June 3, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Lot of different colours for one hummock!
At least they're being honest about the workload...
May 29, 2025 at 1:19 PM
At least they're being honest about the workload...
Well worth a read to anyone teaching in the environmental sciences
May 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
Well worth a read to anyone teaching in the environmental sciences
Speaking at the @pintofscience.uk festival last night explaining how bogs are 1. weird, 2. horrible to work in, but 3. important.
May 20, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Speaking at the @pintofscience.uk festival last night explaining how bogs are 1. weird, 2. horrible to work in, but 3. important.
Squinting down the lens looking at the collection of moss slides at the Manchester Museum herbarium as part of the #Mossworlds project.
May 19, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Squinting down the lens looking at the collection of moss slides at the Manchester Museum herbarium as part of the #Mossworlds project.
Doing some moss protest art with @em-shuttleworth.bsky.social as part of the #mossworlds project
May 16, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Doing some moss protest art with @em-shuttleworth.bsky.social as part of the #mossworlds project
Random Easter egg in supplementary info of Sterk et al 2022... deer symbols to mean no data!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
May 14, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Random Easter egg in supplementary info of Sterk et al 2022... deer symbols to mean no data!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
At the BES peatland resilience workshop we discussed the role of AI. I just asked Chat-GPT what the research needs for peatland resilience are. Amusingly, it came up with the same answers as the meeting. I guess not surprising seeing as it's scraping the papers of the people at the meeting!
May 9, 2025 at 10:17 AM
At the BES peatland resilience workshop we discussed the role of AI. I just asked Chat-GPT what the research needs for peatland resilience are. Amusingly, it came up with the same answers as the meeting. I guess not surprising seeing as it's scraping the papers of the people at the meeting!
Update on establishing #sphagnum in scallop bund pools on #peat. The 'Sphagnum magic carpet' works!
Sphagnum plugs were planted into a jute fabric to provide scafollding for growth and placed over a bund. 18 months on and the jute is completely colonised, creating a site for spore dispersal.
Sphagnum plugs were planted into a jute fabric to provide scafollding for growth and placed over a bund. 18 months on and the jute is completely colonised, creating a site for spore dispersal.
May 2, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Sadly the recently planted clough woodland did not make it- planted and destroyed within six months... a stark lesson for investing in carbon financing in a hotter world where wildfires are more likely.
May 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Sadly the recently planted clough woodland did not make it- planted and destroyed within six months... a stark lesson for investing in carbon financing in a hotter world where wildfires are more likely.
Scallop bunds designed to limit fire risk did their job, but only in the ~3m around the bunds. This is a bund in the foreground where molinia and cottongrass remain unburned
May 1, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Scallop bunds designed to limit fire risk did their job, but only in the ~3m around the bunds. This is a bund in the foreground where molinia and cottongrass remain unburned