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Mary-Ann Ochota

Anthropologist, broadcaster, author

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I'm not an expert on hedges so correct me if I'm w

I'm not an expert on hedges so correct me if I'm wrong. But
🌳 flailing a hedge like this, where the main stems get huge wounds surely isn't good
🌳 i don't see a reason for doing this now rather than at the end of winter - as long as its before nesting season. Better to keep vegetation as dense as possible to provide maximum shelter to suburban wildlife over the coldest months?
🌳 it doesn't look 'tidier'
🌳 money is short for estates management but surely a person with loppers and a chainsaw every two or three years rather than a person in a tractor every year would yield better results?! We can't only think about short term budgets when the national we-depend-on-nature-for-our-health-and-prosperity budget is in the red.
#hedgetrimming #hedgecutting #nativehabitat

Kendal Mountain Festival, baby. Me on a wall, baby

Kendal Mountain Festival, baby. Me on a wall, baby. @teambmc shot by the lovely and talented @davemacfarlane

I recently learned that bracken - the brown bits i

I recently learned that bracken - the brown bits in this picture - are an indicator species of where woodland used to grow. Staring out of the train window in Cumbria, the change we need to see in the landscape is writ clear. The fells need more trees and scrub. We sneer at scrub - the messy bushes and patchy bits. Needs tidying up. Not growing properly. But the truth is that mosaic of habitats and all the not-majestic planty bits are ESSENTIAL.
More trees and messy edges. It's a simple recipe.

Watching Jeremy Clarkson revel in being No1 spokes

Watching Jeremy Clarkson revel in being No1 spokesperson for UK's farmers is stewing my brain a bit.
He bought a farm to dodge inheritance tax on some of his millions - the very reason the changes to Agricultural Property Relief have been brought in. Rocketing land prices are the very reason many farmers, market gardeners & horticultural workers can't afford land themselves. Investors bought 40% of farms last year, just 45% were bought by working farmers.
The fact that our land - a finite asset that we all rely on for health, food, nature, homes, climate resilience, energy, travel etc etc - is increasingly accumulated in the hands of a few, who might not care at all about local community, healthy food production, farming in harmony with nature and all the other important things - is a big problem.
Farmers need to be heard. They have legitimate worries. They need to be properly supported - by government, by the food industry, and by us, the public.
But the shouty narcissist on TV does not speak for all farmers.
I'd urge the organisations working in the countryside to speak up and offer balanced and trustworthy leadership on these issues - we all need to understand farming and farmers more. A watching brief and quiet conversations won't cut it. Letting specific organisations with distinct political leanings command an seemingly uncontested platform is problematic.
There is so much more to consider.
Have a read of @LandworkersAlliance and @NFFNUK Nature Friendly Farming Network thoughts to get a broader sense of what's going on...

O I L & G A S L I G H T I N G Oil Exec: Right. W

O I L & G A S L I G H T I N G
Oil Exec: Right. We’re getting more slammed than ever before because our stupid products are killing the stupid planet. Even my own kids think I’m evil now

Morally bankrupt PR twonk: It’s tricky because every time we try to give money to a festival or museum or library or something, those greenie cry babies stand up in the audience and say mean things. True things, but still, not cool things.

Oil Exec: You get hundreds of thousands of dollars to make that go away. So…?

Morally bankrupt PR twonk: [dramatic pause] …we lean in hard to the cognitive dissonance. We go to the places where science types read stuff. They think they’re clever critical thinkers, so if we can bamboozle them, then we’re sorted.

Oil Exec: Love it. We’ll let them ‘make up their own minds’ ha ha ha. But obviously also while lobbying governments incredibly hard to ensure demand doesn’t drop and profit is protected. Full page adverts. Go go go. In the run up to COP29. Ha ha ha, I love it. Very demure.

Morally bankrupt PR twonk: Let’s call the whole campaign ⚡ OIL AND GASLIGHTING ⚡

You can enjoy the whole @equinor Oil and Gaslighting campaign that’s been running weekly in @NewScientist.

New Scientist - you might not want to buy in to the ‘let readers make up their own minds’ BS from the morally bankrupt PR twonks. Unless you're also cool with advertising cigarettes, land mines and lead water pipes?

I have made up my mind - you're taking blood money and you need to stop.

Great to be on @skynews this morning with Anna Jon

Great to be on @skynews this morning with Anna Jones & Allyson Stewart-Allen.
Talking British farming, military & defence, Harrods scandal, Trade tariffs, and the shortage of Santas 🎅 🧑‍🎄 😳
#newsreview

Mix up your diet - head to a different channel, newspaper, website or app for your news every now and then. Quickest way to get out of the echo chamber.

Thanks to @marcelmyricktoday for the screenshots

I went for a barefoot paddle at the source of the

I went for a barefoot paddle at the source of the River Thames - the water was clear, flowing from the earth from a spring known as Lyd's Well.
By getting in the water I was committing the civil offence of trespass. I didn't do any harm. I drank some of the water, stayed in til my toes went numb, and embraced the autumn colours.
🦹‍♀️TRESPASSER☠️
I think that's stupid.
We need to change the law so everyone can enjoy responsible access to the countryside. That's what @right.2roam is campaigning for and I'm proud to support them.

Hey @guardian - chimpanzees are not monkeys. Monke

Hey @guardian - chimpanzees are not monkeys. Monkeys are not apes. If you want to publish info on how likely it would be for a monkey to randomly type the word 'bananas' (5% chance in 30 years when hitting one random key per second) (Not sure if the monkey gets to sleep at any point), thats cool.
But INTRIGUING though this statical conundrum is, kindly ornament it with a picture of a monkey. There are more than 330 species to choose from.
Chimpanzees, like humans, are apes. Not monkeys.
Both monkeys and apes are types of primate.

I, Homo sapiens, would also have a 5% chance of randomly typing 'bananas' in 30 years.

#scicomm
#primate

In Leeds? Near Leeds? Like old stuff, people, land

In Leeds? Near Leeds? Like old stuff, people, landscapes, social history, archaeology, family history, genealogy, military history, urban and industrial history? Want to know what archives & experts are available, what stories they hide and how to explore them?
JOIN US on 7th November at Laidlaw Library
Pay What You Feel
EVERYBODY welcome, you can be a pro, a student, an amateur expert or just sort of interested.

Vibe today Bought @dope.magazine_ from a man on th

Vibe today
Bought @dope.magazine_ from a man on the tube. I'm not an anarchist, I generally do my fighting from within the system (which is compromising at times, I know). But to engage with people who are thinking really hard about the issues, and who've come to different conclusions about what to do? I have time for that. A lot of time.
Art by Amanda Priebe @synecdocheberlin

Dope is printed and distributed for free for anyone who wants to sell it on the street. Vendors keep all the money.

➡️ homelessness is a political choice. We have the resources to take care of everyone in society. Everything for everyone

All the textiles today, as I head to the @naturale

All the textiles today, as I head to the @naturalengland reception at Westminster.
Ikat weave scarf from Hyderabad, India, bag from my aunt in Assam, India & an astonishingly lovely pair of feathered earrings gifted to me by @voidstudios_uk for my help in supporting Manari Ushigua, leader of the Sapara people of Ecuador, at the recent Blue Earth Summit.
If I can rep a tiny sliver of this wealth of indigenous wisdom in the room tonight....

One more gig in this mega busy week! Off to see th

One more gig in this mega busy week! Off to see the ancient town of Royston to talk about why old paths matter. As patron of the @ridgeway_national_trail, and as passionate about ensuring people care about nature and our landscapes as well as our history and archaeology... This is 100% my bag

Alas no time to pay my respects to the WEIRD CAVE full of WEIRD CARVINGS
Next time #Spookyarchaeology
#,roystoncave
#icknieldway

Tonight to @rgs in London for the always excellent

Tonight to @rgs in London for the always excellent journey through geography - 7 speakers, 10 mins each
#micros is TONIGHT. Tickets available on the door or join us online. Kicks off at 7pm
#geographicaljourneys #geographymatters
Ft @thebighoof @louis.d.hall @wildblueyondah @_iamchiyasmi @seannasworld and @eatyourenvironment

Produced by @rupertsagarmusgrave and the London Regional Committee

Over to the Blue Earth Summit @blueearthsummit in

Over to the Blue Earth Summit @blueearthsummit in London

A short stroll from the @dunstabledownsnt visitor

A short stroll from the @dunstabledownsnt visitor centre you can explore 5000 years of history

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Signed Books

Signed copy of Secret Britain £19.99
Signed copy of Hidden Histories £19.99
Signed BOOK BUNDLE: Secret Britain & Hidden Histories £37.00

© Mary-Ann Ochota 2023-2025

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