Lee Raye
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leafyhistory.bsky.social
Lee Raye
@leafyhistory.bsky.social
2.2K followers 1.8K following 200 posts
Associate Lecturer, Research Officer, studies medieval/early modern wild animals & plants.
Author: #AtlasofEarlyModernWildlife
Secretly a fox? 🦊 Slow worm friend. 🧚🏻🐉 they/them. 🍞🌹
(No access to DMs, email me)
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leafyhistory.bsky.social
Here is where I've found DOLPHINS recorded in Britain 250-500 years ago. 🐬💙
Some surprises here - there are populations recorded around East Anglia and far up the Bristol Channel, where dolphins are rarer today! 🙀
#AtlasOfEarlyModernWildlife #OceansPast
Map showing where the coasts where dolphins were recorded between 1527 and 1772. There are records from Cornwall, the Bristol Channel, west Wales, the south coast around Sussex, East Anglia, the Firths of Forth, Shetland and possibly the Firth of Clyde.
November 11, 2025 at 10:27 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Conference day. Lots of familiar names! 😸
A leaflet for the Curious Travellers Conference in the Nat Hist Museum
November 7, 2025 at 10:12 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Quick the books are waiting! 😸💚📚
Selfie - white person in colourful jacket with glasses
October 30, 2025 at 9:06 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Had a delightful time on the #WaxcapWatch survey earlier this week! 😁🍄
A yellow coral fungus coming up like fingers An orange frilly waxcap like fancy slices of carrot a bright red (scarlet waxcap?) with a deep red stipe in the moss Not a waxcap - a puffball fungus which is worty and flexible like a toad's skin!
October 28, 2025 at 10:28 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Here is where the European (sea) bass was recorded 250-500 years ago. 🎣Caught for food, interestingly it seems to have only been common in the south. It has expanded its range up the east coast of Britain with the warming temperatures of the last century. Map / #AtlasOfEarlyModernWildlife
Map of Britain and Ireland showing where the bass was recorded between 1529 and 1772. There are many records from the English Channel, a few from the Celtic Sea, Irish Sea and south coast of Ireland, and some from the east of England (especially East Anglia and Kent).
October 22, 2025 at 2:59 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
But if that's true the ending is cheeky! In the last letter the author says they are sailing back to Tunis and then sign off:
'I remain' (ha!) 'your constant, undisguis'd and sincere Friend'
V. naughty from an author who's writing to himself and using literary blackface for clout!!🙀
'I intend very shortly to set out for my native country, to enjoy the pleasure of conversing with my old hearty friends. Thus wishing you health, happiness, long life, and all the enjoyments the earth can afford. I remain Your constant, undisguis'd, and sincere Friend for ever.
October 13, 2025 at 3:12 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
But let's go deeper... This book is actually not by a Tunisian traveler at all!! But it still tells us something about Black history in Europe. In the early modern period, we know Black and Asian identities were sometimes used by Europeans to speak truth to power without censorship... ✍🏽👑
An Image from 'Letters Writ by a Turkish Spy' with a portrait of the fictional spy with a beard and mustache, wearing a turban holding a spear and wearing a cape with a brooch over an embroidered shirt. He is 'Mahomet L'Imposteur' 'L'Espion Turc' and this is from 'Tome Quatrieme'
October 13, 2025 at 3:12 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
The book is really interesting! From my history of nature perspective there's an account of the fishes caught at Scarborough 🎣, the herrings of Yarmouth ⛵(@projectfishistory.bsky.social), and a fun description of the lions of the Tower of London 🦁 (who were sent by the Emperor of Morocco of course)!
'The town is wall'd and moated round, except where it joins to the castle or the sea. The castle is of a vast extent, and stands on a lofty promontory, which runs far back into the sea. There are computed to be upwards of two hundred sail of ships belonging to this place, emplloy'd in different branches of trade; the fishery upon this coast being very considerable; particularly the herring, turbet, ling, cod-fish, haddock, fluke, whiting, mackrel, and lobsters, great quantities of which are sent every season to London'
October 13, 2025 at 3:12 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Acorrn seasooon 🥳🌰💚🌳
Footpath covered in acorns. The sound of me walking along it goes CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH
October 4, 2025 at 4:49 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Oh and some new friends have found the hedge too! 🍄
Fungi with broad terracotta orange caps growing under a hedge
September 27, 2025 at 11:45 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
The slow worms'll be happy with that compost heap I reckon 😹🐉
A compost area full to the brim with meadow sileage (green hay) with a piece of roofing material over the top
September 27, 2025 at 11:42 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
I did a little pond upgrade today. I don't think I'll be getting hired as a pingo restorer by Norfolk Wildlife Trust anytime soon but it's bigger than it was 🥳🐸🦎 🌊
My new pond (with only a little water) lined with a HDPE liner with my smaller old formed pond sitting beside it for comparisob
September 20, 2025 at 5:55 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Going through some edits today. I thought my original version was fine to be honest. 🤷😹
Edited text in a word document: the original says 'Given William of Malmesbury's obvious boot-licking tendencies and the...'. The editor has crossed out boot-licking and changed it to 'deference'.
September 17, 2025 at 8:42 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
FREE SPEECH for the Little Englanders only I see! 😬🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿
Signpost on the wildlife around Point of Ayr, with the Welsh crossed out and 'FREE SPEECH' written undermeath
September 10, 2025 at 1:17 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
That beautiful time of year when the Canada geese fly south to be even further away from Canada 😸🪶
September 9, 2025 at 7:15 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Reading 18th century agricultural manuscripts today. The authors describe water fowl 🦢, wood pigeons 🕊️, rooks 🐦, and fay 🧚 coming to steal their wheat. So relatable. 😮‍💨
Thank for sharing these @royalsociety.org 💙
makingscience.royalsociety.org/items/clp_10...
(CC-BY-4.0)
Text from a manuscript: Infinite flocks of wildgeese are our greatest annoyance with ye wood pidgeon, fay and rooke
September 7, 2025 at 12:05 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Slow worm rolled on its back like a cat, must be sunny today 😹 🐲💛☀️
Juvenile slow worm on its back, except the head which is twisted around
September 6, 2025 at 2:59 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
250-500 years ago, the grayling 🐟 had this surprisingly stark S-shaped distribution - mainly the Rivers Wye, Severn, Trent & Avon!
Since then, 'The Lady of the Stream' has become popular among anglers and has now been introduced to lots more rivers across Britain.🎣
Map/ #AtlasofEarlyModernWildlife
Map shows where the grayling was recorded between 1529 and 1772ish. There fish was mainly recorded in the Midlands of England, and the Welsh border counties, together with Hampshire, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire in the south and Yorkshire and Lancashire in the north. There are also unreliable (prob incorrect) references from the Forths of Firth and Tay and Dublin.
September 6, 2025 at 12:15 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
The local swallows are so excited today! - I bet the rain is getting all sorts of delicious bugs moving 😸🦟🪽
August 30, 2025 at 3:48 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Bat Waterway Survey night! 🦇🦇🦇🏞️💙
Hand holds a bat detector on a clipboard. A torch beam shows grass beyond.
August 23, 2025 at 7:57 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Today I've been reading the responses to 'Dean Milles' Questionnaire' - a 1753 Devon survey kept in the Bodleian Library... 🤓
It's a right proper job! One of the best early modern sources for early modern fish distribution I have ever seen!! Here's a before & after trout distribution map!! 🙀🎣
Map showing where trout were recorded in the South West 250-500 years ago, based on synthesising records from every other book and manuscript I have ever read. There are records dotted across the map. Including 2 records in Cornwall, 1 in Devon, 1 in Somerset, 1 in Dorrset, 3 in Wiltshire, 1 in Gloucestershire Map showing where trout were recorded in the South West 250-500 years ago, now also including the Bodleian questionnaire manuscripts. Devon is now so covered in dots it is impossible to separate them - the whole county is one black spot!
August 20, 2025 at 8:41 PM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Here is where sperm whales were recorded in 🇬🇧+🇮🇪 in the early modern period
Diamonds = generic 'whales'🐳
Shading/dots = 'sperm whale'🐋
WHY such an eastern distribution? Did the North Sea act like a natural sperm whale trap (as per Smeenk, 1997)? 🤔
Map adapted from #AtlasofEarlyModernWildlife
Maps shows Britain, Ireland, and part of north & west Europe. Around Britain & Ireland some areas have been dotted / shaded to show sperm whale records. There are many more of these on the east coast of Scotland / England (from Orkney down to Aberdeenshire, the Firths of Forth & Tay, Northumberland, East Anglia and Kent), even though whales today are more often recorded in Atlantic waters to the west of Scotland / Ireland. The reason for this might be the shape of the North Sea, which is open at the top (with a big distance between Shetland and Norway, but closed at the bottom (with a short distance from Kent to France where the Channel Tunnel is). Away from the east coast there are generic whale records from north Scotland, the Western Isles, Co Cork, Cornwall Devon, Dorset and Cardigan Bay.
August 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Stopping by to hit some manuscripts 😸📚
White person in glasses, tunic, hat standing outside round classical Radcliffe Camera, with Corinthian columns
August 15, 2025 at 11:17 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
First bat waterway survey of the season last night, with @batconservation.bsky.social super successful 🦇🦇 I'm supposed to ignore the pipistrelle bat sounds and check when I hear the daubentons bats come past. Got it! 😸🩵
August 10, 2025 at 7:44 AM
leafyhistory.bsky.social
Soo many common lizards and slow worms out and about in south Wales today! 🦎💚
Adult common lizard (on right hand edge) in leaves and twigs Dark juvenile common lizard in grass. Its body is curved in an r shape A hoard of slow worms (gold, silver, brown) on dead bracken under an onduline refugium
August 6, 2025 at 7:57 PM