@mrandrewclarke
Art. Archaeology. Biomimicry. Birding. Botany. Conservation. Cymraeg. Entomology. Food. Foraging. Gardening. Health. Herbalism. Horticulture. Music. Natural History. Ornithology. Permaculture. Philosophy. Politricks. Spirituality. Sustainability + more
It was superb! I also saw all the above birds you mention but my memory is fading fast.
Sadly I lost all my irreplaceable early nature notebooks when I phased out of birding in my late teens for a few years and got into girlfriends and nightclubs!
Been trying to make up for lost time ever since… 😉
When the Blyth’s Reed Warbler was announced for inspection I must admit I’d never even heard of it! Seeing the crowd increase as the day progressed made me realise the gravity of the find.
A funny memory is a bloke in yellow oilskins in the sea of green waxed jackets chasing it along a hedgerow 😆
Crikey, I was actually visiting the observatory that day but was completely unaware of this avian Mexican stand off!
TBH I was way too busy enjoying my first decent east coast fall with Bluethroat, Icterine Warbler, Red-backed Shrike etc in the mix amongst lots of common drift migrants.
It sounded like a fiasco. I understand the concerns regarding potential disruption to the work of the lifeboat station but surely supervised access could have been arranged?
Here’s the account from the superb book ‘The Birds of Spurn’ by the late Andy Roadhouse.
#UKRareBirds
#YorkshireBirding
Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) on a visit to Sheffield Botanical Gardens today.
It’s Welsh name is Llygad Ebrill which translates as ‘The Eyes of April’.
Climate change means flowers appear as early as January in Wales. Is a rename due?
#shiftingbaselinesyndrome
#signsofspring
#wildflowerhour
My photo shows a museum display with colourful Minoan pottery cups arranged on three clear shelves, one above the other. These cups, known as Kamares Ware, are from Phaistos, Crete. They were made in palace workshops, c. 1800-1700 BC. The cups range in shape and size from conic and cylindrical cups (top and middle shelves) to hemispherical and carinated shaped cups (bottom shelf). They are decorated with multi-coloured geometric motifs; with spirals and swirls painted in red and white pigment on black.
Sipping my coffee ☕️ and thinking about these marvellous Minoan cups!
They look so modern it’s incredible to think they were made during the Bronze Age some 3,800 years ago!
Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete. 📷 by me
#Archaeology
What a gorgeous beast! 😍
Many thanks Alex. Like many formerly regular UK wintering birds it seems that Rough-legged Buzzard is a species in decline as the climate rapidly changes.
The book is a frame of reference that describes the current status of a once scarce but regular bird that is now in steep decline. It’s apparent that this reflects the national trend and gives context to the discussion of records from the wider region eg Yorkshire by several contributors up thread.
I wouldn’t rely too much on this @cornellbirds.bsky.social eBird map as many observers use alternative reporting systems.
@shefbirdstudy.bsky.social latest avifauna ‘New Birds of the Sheffield Area’ will have the answers. Maybe someone could post an image of the species account for clarification?
My photo shows part of a limestone wall panel carved in bas relief from the Fifth Dynasty mortuary temple of king Userkaf at Saqqara, Old Kingdom, 2465-2458 BC. It shows a Hoopoe, a crested bird with black and white wing pattern, and an ibis, with long curved beak, amongst papyrus plants in the marshes of the river Nile. My photo was taken in 2022 at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Lovely naturalistic relief of a Hoopoe and Ibis, carved by an Egyptian artisan some 4,500 years ago!
Limestone wall relief from the 5th Dynasty mortuary temple of Userkaf at Saqqara. Egyptian Museum, Cairo 📷 by me
#ReliefWednesday
#Archaeology
Apply a thick organic mulch (eg seasoned woodchip) at this time of the year to all permanent beds.
Mulch benefits plants, suppresses weeds (any that emerge are easier to remove), builds soil, holds moisture, prevents run-off and looks great.
Either invest time in mulching now or weeding later.
The same site where I twitched my first around 1983/84. Always a few interesting raptors to be seen around Upper Derwentdale 😉
Sadly my earliest birding notebooks were lost but I believe that I saw Rough-legged Buzzard before Common Buzzard in the Sheffield area back in the 1980’s.
Latter species is now widespread (even over the city’s suburbs) with RLB a scarce migrant to the @shefbirdstudy.bsky.social recording area.
The largest flocks of European White-fronted Geese in #NorthWales since the 1980s were driven west by heavy snow in northern Germany last week. These and other sightings in @northwaleslive.bsky.social BirdNotes.
📷 @zoobirder.bsky.social #BirdingWales
www.birdnotes.wales/blog/a-gande...
Considering just how many phone zombies I see shuffling along on a daily basis, their little rectangular devices clutched in hand and heads tilted down, I can only surmise that the greatest demand in the future jobs market will be for qualified chiropractors!
It took me YEARS to gain the trust of suspicious local farmers at an old birding patch.
It took minutes for some selfish twitchers to chase a Woodchat from the roadside onto private farmland.
I’d carefully consider matters prior to releasing #RareBirdsUK news if there’s any chance of disturbance.
Respect! 🤛
Bloody lightweight - just keep them around yer neck at all times! 😉 #BirdingGear
Been thinking exactly the same.
bsky.app/profile/mran...
Having witnessed and experienced countless adverse effects caused by this dangerous drug (drink driving deaths and injury, violence, abuse, hangovers, addiction etc) I find it truly astonishing that the term ‘drugs AND alcohol’ is still widely used.
This must be one of the greatest misnomers ever!
It would be interesting to do a deep search into historical photographs and specimens of UK, Ireland and European Black-throated Divers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pacific Diver had occurred in the days before identification criteria and vagrancy potential was fully established.
#UKRareBirds
As climate change and urbanization intensify flooding in Rwanda, the hilly capital of Kigali has pushed nature-based solutions, reshaping 18,000 acres of degraded wetlands, planting native species to filter and slow runoff and enhancing biodiversity.
One of the highlights of a January visit to the Sheffield Botanical Gardens is the collection of Witch Hazels.
Most begin flowering just after the winter solstice. This truly gorgeous cultivar, bejewelled with iridescent orange-scented flowers, is Hamamelis × intermedia 'Jelena'.
#GardensHour
Little Owl pair
acrylic, 30 x 40 cms
Little Owls may be found in parkland, farmland and at the edge of woods. They feed on small mammals, birds, beetles and worms.
On a sunny day they may perch at the entrance, or beside, their roost site- usually a cavity in a tree or wall.
#littleowl #birdart
Artwork resembling a Japanese woman's face created with black thread twisted around tiny nails to form a life-like portrait
Japanese artist Kumi Yamashita winds a single black thread around a grid of nails on a wooden board to create intricate portraits #WomensArt
I met a traumatised ex-soldier a while ago who had served in the Gulf war.
Having seen both colleagues and innocent civilians maimed and slaughtered, and a nation destroyed, he simply described the invading coalition forces as mercenaries for rapacious multinational oil companies.
#Venezuela
It’s almost like green energy is the only way forward and a handful of oil barons are doing everything in their power to keep that from happening so they can get even richer at the cost of literally everything else in the world.
It's almost like there's something Trump wants to distract us from
Fantastic work as usual @jmjbirding.bsky.social both for your weekly updates and this timely summary. There can’t be many other #WelshBirding or #UKBirding counties which have an annual bird report published on the last day of the same year!
Best wishes and good birding in 2026.