Nigel Monaghan
@nigelmonaghan-nh.bsky.social
Geologist / palaeontologist in Dublin, retired museum curator National Museum of Ireland, still digging... mostly in 18-19th centuries
Time to visit the Smithsonian then for a great Arthropleura model a yard long
November 11, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Time to visit the Smithsonian then for a great Arthropleura model a yard long
Coming 26 November. Includes my favorite #fossil #Megaloceros in another groundbreaking series, this time on the ice age
November 8, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Coming 26 November. Includes my favorite #fossil #Megaloceros in another groundbreaking series, this time on the ice age
While Irishman Sir Roger Casement was exploring colonial atrocities in the Peruvian Amazon he was also collecting butterflies that are now in the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History. He was later executed in London for treason. Paper just published revue-colligo.fr/index.php/vo...
November 4, 2025 at 6:44 PM
While Irishman Sir Roger Casement was exploring colonial atrocities in the Peruvian Amazon he was also collecting butterflies that are now in the National Museum of Ireland - Natural History. He was later executed in London for treason. Paper just published revue-colligo.fr/index.php/vo...
ASIAN HORNET ALERT
📅 Date: Sat, Nov 01
🕒 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
📍 Online – Free to attend!
Important information session for beekeepers, educators, biodiversity recorders in Ireland on this recently arrived alien invasive species
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d33bf9...
📅 Date: Sat, Nov 01
🕒 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
📍 Online – Free to attend!
Important information session for beekeepers, educators, biodiversity recorders in Ireland on this recently arrived alien invasive species
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d33bf9...
November 1, 2025 at 9:08 AM
ASIAN HORNET ALERT
📅 Date: Sat, Nov 01
🕒 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
📍 Online – Free to attend!
Important information session for beekeepers, educators, biodiversity recorders in Ireland on this recently arrived alien invasive species
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d33bf9...
📅 Date: Sat, Nov 01
🕒 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM GMT
📍 Online – Free to attend!
Important information session for beekeepers, educators, biodiversity recorders in Ireland on this recently arrived alien invasive species
events.teams.microsoft.com/event/d33bf9...
Happy #Halloween from Ireland where a carved turnip started a craze. We celebrate ‘Samhain’ from sunset as an ancient Celtic tradition to mark the end of harvest and beginning of winter. Plaster replica of carved turnip in National Museum of Ireland - Country Life #samhain @nmireland.bsky.social
October 31, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Happy #Halloween from Ireland where a carved turnip started a craze. We celebrate ‘Samhain’ from sunset as an ancient Celtic tradition to mark the end of harvest and beginning of winter. Plaster replica of carved turnip in National Museum of Ireland - Country Life #samhain @nmireland.bsky.social
I can confirm Inchicore exists, where else could you learn to bounce a non-spherical ball?
October 30, 2025 at 7:45 AM
I can confirm Inchicore exists, where else could you learn to bounce a non-spherical ball?
For #PostboxSaturday here’s a wrapped postbox that’s part of an Irish ‘Love Your Postbox’ series www.anpost.com/Post-Parcels...
October 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
For #PostboxSaturday here’s a wrapped postbox that’s part of an Irish ‘Love Your Postbox’ series www.anpost.com/Post-Parcels...
This #exhibition of changing Ireland over the last 100 years includes lost wildlife such as this White-tailed Sea Eagle, driven to extinction but now reintroduced. Free admission museum.ie
October 16, 2025 at 7:07 AM
This #exhibition of changing Ireland over the last 100 years includes lost wildlife such as this White-tailed Sea Eagle, driven to extinction but now reintroduced. Free admission museum.ie
On sale in Barnes & Noble, Washington DC. Good to see it there a couple of weeks ago
October 5, 2025 at 11:25 AM
On sale in Barnes & Noble, Washington DC. Good to see it there a couple of weeks ago
Metal version on open display where touching is encouraged. US National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, Washington DC.
September 30, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Metal version on open display where touching is encouraged. US National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian, Washington DC.
Flattypus in National Museum of Ireland for comparison
September 19, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Flattypus in National Museum of Ireland for comparison
One of many artistic strengths is the use of familiar Irish landscapes in his paintings of past life. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
August 30, 2025 at 9:06 PM
One of many artistic strengths is the use of familiar Irish landscapes in his paintings of past life. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
Typical modern Irish Wolfhound
August 13, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Typical modern Irish Wolfhound
Irish wolfhounds today are a reimagined breed from the late nineteenth century. Compare Watson’s hound with the shaggy modern breed which has the square head attributes of a Great Dane
August 13, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Irish wolfhounds today are a reimagined breed from the late nineteenth century. Compare Watson’s hound with the shaggy modern breed which has the square head attributes of a Great Dane
Wolves were treated as a threat to livestock and hunted to extinction in Ireland, aided by bounties. Portrait of John Watson with hound at his side and skin of ‘last wolf in Ireland’ 1786 under their feet. Royal Dublin Society collection #InternationalWolfDay
August 13, 2025 at 1:38 PM
Wolves were treated as a threat to livestock and hunted to extinction in Ireland, aided by bounties. Portrait of John Watson with hound at his side and skin of ‘last wolf in Ireland’ 1786 under their feet. Royal Dublin Society collection #InternationalWolfDay
Mid 1980s Dublin, pizzas were six inches of grillable frozen discs in bags of six. My kids eventually worked out that when Dad cut them into stars or windmills there were missing pieces… nom
August 12, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Mid 1980s Dublin, pizzas were six inches of grillable frozen discs in bags of six. My kids eventually worked out that when Dad cut them into stars or windmills there were missing pieces… nom
Stunning images by Julian Friers of extinct and lost Irish animals from #Megaloceros, #Mammoth, to Great Auk, with the full story of Ireland’s ice age animals and human impacts on the fauna by Mike Simms. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
August 8, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Stunning images by Julian Friers of extinct and lost Irish animals from #Megaloceros, #Mammoth, to Great Auk, with the full story of Ireland’s ice age animals and human impacts on the fauna by Mike Simms. Published by National Museums Northern Ireland August 2025 ISBN 0-900761-69-5
Caninia benburbensis
August 8, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Caninia benburbensis
A lateral key for the identification of the commoner lower carboniferous coral genera. By Murray Mitchell. This holds the answers but I haven’t got a copy and can’t find one online. Possibly Siphonophyllia garwoodi which has simpler structure than Caninia
August 8, 2025 at 9:11 PM
A lateral key for the identification of the commoner lower carboniferous coral genera. By Murray Mitchell. This holds the answers but I haven’t got a copy and can’t find one online. Possibly Siphonophyllia garwoodi which has simpler structure than Caninia
More likely a bivalve, look closely for symmetry. Brachiopod shells are very symmetrical, bivalves usually not so much. Here are some examples of bivalves
August 5, 2025 at 8:13 AM
More likely a bivalve, look closely for symmetry. Brachiopod shells are very symmetrical, bivalves usually not so much. Here are some examples of bivalves
The Irish Times @irishtimes.com does better with zoological identifications through their Eye on Nature column than with this fossil which is clearly a colonial coral (not a “cluster of crinoid stems”), very common Burren fossil of Carboniferous age
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
August 2, 2025 at 11:52 AM
The Irish Times @irishtimes.com does better with zoological identifications through their Eye on Nature column than with this fossil which is clearly a colonial coral (not a “cluster of crinoid stems”), very common Burren fossil of Carboniferous age
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
www.irishtimes.com/environment/...
Paolo Viscardi, Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland @paoloviscardi.bsky.social stares death in the face every day! Front page of Irish Independent magazine Saturday 2 August 2025
August 2, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Paolo Viscardi, Keeper of Natural History at the National Museum of Ireland @paoloviscardi.bsky.social stares death in the face every day! Front page of Irish Independent magazine Saturday 2 August 2025
The RDS booklet from 1830 (2nd edition) had an accurate drawing but must not have been seen by the artist in 1837 who was rather wide of the mark
July 18, 2025 at 9:59 PM
The RDS booklet from 1830 (2nd edition) had an accurate drawing but must not have been seen by the artist in 1837 who was rather wide of the mark