Clare Rainsford
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littlebonelady.bsky.social
Clare Rainsford
@littlebonelady.bsky.social
3.8K followers 180 following 300 posts
Zooarchaeologist and Yorkshire import. Owned by a lurcher called Baz.
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littlebonelady.bsky.social
Something a bit different for #StandingStoneSunday... Back in 2011 my aunt, Di Cope, visited Rudston, E. Yorkshire, with my grandma and drew this from a photo she took. If you've not seen actual Rudston, it's a single monolith, the tallest in the UK, and looks a lot like this, minus the grin.
A sketch in ink and watercolour of the church at Rudston, Yorkshire, in the snow, with the Rudston monolith looming in the foreground, reimagined as a snowman with a carrot for a nose, twig arms, and a striped woolly hat. It looks a little like Olaf from Frozen. Next to it stands an elderly lady dressed in blue with a small handbag and a walking stick, in a blue bobble hat. The caption reads "Rudston in Winter, DMC 2011".
December 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Someone put a hat and scarf on LongBoi!
A bronze statue of an extremely long duck with a knitted hat and scarf on him stands in front of grass and blocky sixties buildings. It looks to be a very damp afternoon.
December 7, 2025 at 3:41 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Every so often it's worth getting out on a grotty winter's day. That's two egrets, a heron, a bunch of weird ducks (pochard?) and a kingfisher, an actual kingfisher, all on this stretch of campus lake.
A stretch of water, fringed by trees and modern, blocky buildings, under a broken cloudy sky. Contrails show the presence of ducks on the water.
November 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Went to hang out with my local standing stones, the Devil's Arrows in Boroughbridge, for Samhain. The last remaining fragments of a much wider ritual landscape, now swallowed by farmland and settlement; standing in conversation with the local trees. #StandingStoneSunday
A large, tan standing stone with a ridged top stands in scrubby grass. Behind it rises a glorious mature tree, its leaves half-fallen and the remainder orange; the stone looks like a trunk, crowned with the tree branches against a clear blue sky.
November 2, 2025 at 10:23 AM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
When you go out to photograph standing stones but the trees are doing this... #winter
A very handsome tree, leaves orange and stripping from the branches, by the side of a very ordinary road. The sunlight is slanting through the clouds and backlighting it, so it looks like it's glowing.
November 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
No idea why this has come up but yes, can confirm.
A slightly withered sunflower in a vase with two small googly eyes on it. It looks cheerful, if a little anxious.
October 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Whenever I do any work on oysters, I am reminded of the decidedly-nameless "specialists" I once inherited an assemblage from, who decided that the left valve of an oyster was a "marine oyster", and the right valve was a "river oyster". Pro tip: Don't do that.
Two valves of oyster shells on a grey background, one rugged and the other smooth. They may look like different species, but nope, OYSTERS ARE ASSYMETRICAL.
October 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
I really do love winter skies, and the way artificial light catches in the trees. I mean, just look at that...
October 27, 2025 at 1:25 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Alas, it appears they were beheaded, not burnt to a... well, you know.
An extract from the Anglican prayer book: red text on white background reads, "Saturday 25 October 2025, Crispin and Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome, c.287 [Commemoration]"
October 23, 2025 at 10:32 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Lazy Sunday morning vibes.
A headshot of a black and white whippet, fast asleep on a pale duvet.
September 14, 2025 at 12:01 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
So your life might be strange, but is it "stringing a rabbit backbone onto leftover knitting wool" strange?
A ball of blue wool trails off into a curvy animal backbone; the end of the wool is tied around the sacrum. It sits on a grubby red rug.
September 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Moonrise over Cardiff Bay
A distant yellow moon throws a beam of light across a darkening sea. In the foreground, a rocky shore.
September 8, 2025 at 8:20 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
From the Ouse to the Severn. Hallo Wales, it's been a while.
An uninspiring muddy estuary under a grey sky, with hills visible in the very far distance. It's still weirdly beautiful. There ought to be some wading birds out there, but it's hard to see them from the train.
September 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Good morning, York station, how are you?
A view from Platform 3 at York railway station, with the tracks and the ornate Victorian brickwork and pillars curving to the left and vanishing. Sunlight is filtering in through the metal roof girders.
September 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Talking about ancient technology, I've just resurrected my very first CD / radio / tape player for the refurbished workroom. It must be getting on for 25 years old and it still bleeding works.
A Sony silver and black boombox-style player sits on top of a set of Kallax shelving. On the shelf below is a faded collection of CDs propped up against a blue mug with the words "Vela Luka" on it.
September 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Question: how much compost is left in my compost bin? Is it all just potatoes in there? 😳
A grey compost dalek stands in front of a brick wall. Out of the bottom is growing an enormous leafy potato plant. It's probably getting on for a metre in length and is almost as wide as it is long. It is healthier than any other vegetable I've ever managed to grow.
August 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
I'm heading south-west today, so for #StandingStoneSunday here's a photo from 2022 of the Setter Stone on Eday, Orkney. Covered in lichen and on an island with a population of around 160 people, a daily ferry and one flight a week, it stands alone.
A single standing stone, looking a little like a hand, stands in the centre of the frame overlooking a loch. Two-thirds of the stone is covered in a thick fluffy coat of green lichen. The sky overhead is grey and there is no-one and nothing else around.
August 10, 2025 at 10:15 AM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Oh I should not be writing a PowerPoint on a Friday afternoon.
A bad photo of a PowerPoint slide about dog gnawing. It involves a picture of a saluki, curled up on the sofa with a guilty expression, next to an empty dinner plate. A speech bubble reads: "Was that not my dinner?"
July 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
I dug this blue vase out of the back garden when I was in my early teens. Still holds water!
A blue vase filled with sweetpea flowers which have faded from pink to blue, sits on a tiled sill in front of a dark window.
July 25, 2025 at 5:24 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Images from Schmid, annotations my own. Works for most molars but not quite all.
Also, horse teeth tend to be really square, whereas cow teeth aren't quite as square.
A drawing of the top of a horse lower molar. Text reads: Horse. Butterfly. Snoopy. and refers to the shape of features on the molar. A drawing of the top of a cow molar. Text reads: Cow. Sad Face.
July 25, 2025 at 1:59 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Can confirm.
July 12, 2025 at 2:30 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Taken almost a year ago to the day, standing in the centre of the main circle at Callanish, Lewis. Imagine being cold enough in the wind and the clean air to need hiking boots, three layers, and a hat. #StandingStoneSunday
A huge grey standing stone dominates the right of the image, distinctively squared-off at the top and lichen-encrusted. Around it cluster several smaller stones, and in the distance there are hills and the sea.
June 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
I think my bone assemblage loves me. ❤️
An unfused vertebral epiphysis, stained dark brown and shaped like a perfect heart.
June 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Am cranky, here's a lovely sunny afternoon view of Bootham Bar, York.
A medieval gateway built in grey/yellow stone rises above traffic light and roadworks against a brilliant blue sky with a few wispy clouds. A cyclist with panniers is just heading under the arch of the gate.
June 11, 2025 at 3:16 PM
littlebonelady.bsky.social
Every time I learn something about the private life of molluscs I end up feeling mildly outraged that I didn't know it before.

Today: Who among you knew that oysters change sex repeatedly across their lifespan and never told me?!
A rather eroded, innocuous-looking valve of an oyster shell on a black background. I've assessed plenty of these without ever really thinking much about the critters inside them.
June 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM