Martin Collinson

After losing last night

Pencil and pen drawing of Spurs player Archie Gray squatting in despair on the pitch after losing 3-1 to Crystal Palace. Writing says 'Bring Archie Home' and there is a Leeds United badge

We interrupt Bluesky to bring you this important message from the Disasters Emergency Committee #lufc #mot #thfc #coys

Full fat patch tick today when a Water Rail broke cover and ran across the reeds at Newtonhill Mill. #patchbirding

Ring-necked Duck on the Loch with a Tufty and 2 Wigeon

Slav Grebe with a cool orange reflection on the water

Ring-necked Duck still at Loirston Loch. Very handsome. And an arty pic of Slav Grebe at Inchgarth

Inchgarth Reservoir, Aberdeen, with a Slavonian Grebe and a Great Cormorant eyeing each other up on the water

Tanks on @inchgarthbirding.bsky.social 's lawn! Slavonian Grebe - pretty certain this is a 10K radius patch tick.

Dorsal view of a deceased Redpoll

His little face

A dead Redpoll in the garden. Much sadness. Breast bone was like a knife.

A drake Ring-necked Duck on the water with 4 Tufter Ducks

Blurry distant view of a European Shag on the far side of Loirston Loch

The weather remains bleak but views of Ring-necked Duck get better at Loirston Loch. A Shag too.

a medieval illustration of an anatomically accurate woodcock perched in the floral margins of a manuscript

the "medieval people didn't know how to draw animals" crowd has been real quiet ever since john siferwas dropped the Perfect Woodcock

It sounds awesome

Not much better but weather not really conducive to photography! 3rd for Loirston (last in 2005). Different bird to the one at Forfar which was still being reported today #birdingscotland

Mortality weighs heavily on me like unwilling sleep.

A long-distance phonescoped photo of a male Ring-Necked Duck sleeping, watched by 2 male Tufted Duck

Prepare for Bird Photograph of the Year - found this male Ring-necked Duck having a kip at Loirston Loch. #patchbirding

🤣

Child's baby doll lying half submerged in flooded sedge/grass, with passing resemblance to 'Ophelia' by John Millais

Wider angle view of the doll from previous pic

Patches birding. Looking for Jack Snipes. Turns out John Millais had beaten me to it.

#lufc

A male Brambling feeding in the snow alongside a male Common Chaffinch.

🧡🤍🖤

A female Brambling sat among snowy Dogwood and Ivy.

Regular as clockwork, a few days of snow cover and Bramblings start turning up in the garden 🤍🖤🧡

Thermal image, a bright yellow and red splodge (Robin) on a dark grey background.

Christmas Robin, 21st century birding style.

The fragment of ND2 DNA that @tessaroo.bsky.social got from Calshot GT Grackle doesn't tell exactly where it came from but it excludes a USA west coast (nelsoni) origin and puts it in the Panama-Central-USA populations. Orange shape overlaid on map from DaCosta et al., 2008 doi.org/10.1525/cond...

Band-rumped Storm-petrels in UK waters | British Birds The taxonomy and identification of the Band-rumped Storm-petrel Hydrobates castro/monteiroi/jabejabe complex is very, well, complex, as are their previous occurrences in Britain.

Short news piece on the Challenger expedition and the Band-rumped fiesta: britishbirds.co.uk/news/band-ru...
#RareBirdsUK

The cover of the November 2025 issue of British Birds, with a Little Ringed Plover sheltering its chicks

The latest report from the RBBP, Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023, is out now in British Birds. It reports on the 104 species and races of rare breeding birds recording breeding, or showing signs of breeding, in 2023. Read the summary at rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-... #ornithology #ukbirds 🧵[1/15]

Ooh, poop sample from the grackle from Calshot, Hampshire, Nov 25, shows it was Great-tailed, not Boat-tailed as thought. Analysis by @tessaroo.bsky.social poop by @wjrpb.bsky.social

@birdguides.bsky.social

Policy Analysis: Why VAT on private school fees will raise more than planned, and why it matters Policy analysis of a debate I was privileged enough to be involved in last year

Some policy analysis about VAT on private school fees, why it is set to raise more than originally forecast, and why this matters.

Please read, share, and subscribe for more!

open.substack.com/pub/barrybla...

The moment an Israeli missile hit a tent in Gaza was caught on camera when a Palestinian girl filmed herself showing her hair clips.

First preprint from my PhD is out!
If molluscan developmental biology and genetics, gene-editing methodology in non-traditional model systems, or the function and conservation of pax6 interests you, please give it a read! 🐚🎉

Meh, I'm calling hybrid. £50 on it 😀

No one could prove me wrong either

It's like a Sooty Shearwater but doesn't tell as many lies.

Must be my latest Sooth Shearwater ever, south at Newtonhill this afternoon.

Beautiful pinwheel patterns of cell migration across the corneal surface visualised by mosaic blue XGal stain so the whole thing looks like a delicious minty humbug.

Magnificent fully funded PhD position available with me, Rastko Sknepnek (Dundee) and Silke Henkes (Leiden) on epithelial cell migration. @physicsoflifeuk.bsky.social @bscb-official.bsky.social @epimechfc.bsky.social

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...