Clare Rainsford
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littlebonelady.bsky.social
Clare Rainsford
@littlebonelady.bsky.social
Zooarchaeologist and Yorkshire import. Owned by a lurcher called Baz.
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.
December 14, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Someone put a hat and scarf on LongBoi!
December 7, 2025 at 3:41 PM
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.
November 24, 2025 at 2:51 PM
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
November 2, 2025 at 10:23 AM
When you go out to photograph standing stones but the trees are doing this... #winter
November 1, 2025 at 4:01 PM
No idea why this has come up but yes, can confirm.
October 29, 2025 at 6:22 PM
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.
October 28, 2025 at 6:00 PM
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
Alas, it appears they were beheaded, not burnt to a... well, you know.
October 23, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Lazy Sunday morning vibes.
September 14, 2025 at 12:01 PM
So your life might be strange, but is it "stringing a rabbit backbone onto leftover knitting wool" strange?
September 12, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Moonrise over Cardiff Bay
September 8, 2025 at 8:20 PM
From the Ouse to the Severn. Hallo Wales, it's been a while.
September 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Good morning, York station, how are you?
September 7, 2025 at 8:35 AM
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.
September 4, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Question: how much compost is left in my compost bin? Is it all just potatoes in there? 😳
August 21, 2025 at 7:38 PM
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.
August 10, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Oh I should not be writing a PowerPoint on a Friday afternoon.
July 25, 2025 at 5:35 PM
I dug this blue vase out of the back garden when I was in my early teens. Still holds water!
July 25, 2025 at 5:24 PM
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.
July 25, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Can confirm.
July 12, 2025 at 2:30 PM
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
June 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
I think my bone assemblage loves me. ❤️
June 16, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Am cranky, here's a lovely sunny afternoon view of Bootham Bar, York.
June 11, 2025 at 3:16 PM
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?!
June 9, 2025 at 12:59 PM