Things from the 19th century which have no place in the present: cholera, slavery, hunting wild animals for fun.

While it takes a while, here's a chance to tell the government what you think about shooting red-listed birds: consult.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-cri...

#ProtectWildlife #NatureMatters

Bee Wilson · The Irreplaceable: Palm Oil Dependency Cheap palm oil is part of an interlocking late capitalist system. When we say there is a demand for RBD palm oil, we...

Long read about palm oil. Yet another human insanity.

www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Help Stop the Criminal Killing of Birds of Prey Despite more than 70 years of full legal protection, raptor persecution remains a serious and persistent wildlife crime. The Yorkshire Dales is one of the UK’s worst-affected areas, with 152 confirmed...

The hen harrier - one of the most persecuted birds of prey in the UK - especially in the #YorkshireDales
The average lifespan of a hen harrier in UK is 121 days - whereas worldwide it is 7 years.
Sign our petition for 3 key law reforms to protect #birdsofprey
actionnetwork.org/petitions/he...

Say hello to the UK’s most successful growth industry: organised waste crime | George Monbiot Thanks to a sustained ideological assault on regulation, our country has been turned into a literal dump, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Moving to the UK, the amount of garbage everywhere was one of the things that struck me the most. This article puts it down mainly to deregulation. In my mind, when criminals make money and the government looks the other way, it's called corruption.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Had a lovely redwing foraging in our back yard this morning. Might be the last one I see until autumn.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Shooting restricted for six British wild birds to halt population decline Woodcocks and pochard, pintail and goldeneye ducks among threatened species protected by proposals

Stop hunting red-listed bird species, what ingenuity! It immediately makes sense once you hear it, but to come up with such an out-of-the-box approach, kudos.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

WeBS at Bràgar today was a stark reminder of just how wildlife-poor the area is. 28 bird species. Other places, that's a leisurely garden bird count.

‘A real dark situation to be in’: thousands of starving seabirds stranded in biggest ‘wreck’ in a decade Puffins, guillemots, razorbills and terns are washing up on shores across Europe, after a string of storms affected their ability to find food

I find it hard to believe that the main trigger here is storms, and not overfishing. Maybe I'm too prejudiced.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Back at Flachsee during a visit to Switzerland, these grebes were waving the winter goodbye.

I'm 99% sure these were Greater White-fronted geese flying past Bragar this morning. I'll leave the Russian / Greenland distinction to the experts.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Don't think I've ever had a white-tailed eagle too close to fit in the frame. There's a first for everything, I guess. Taken this morning at Loch Stiapabhat.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

We've only ever seen one or two glaucous gulls, and never an adult, so we were very happy to connect with this one at Loch Stiapabhat this morning.
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#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Went to look for dippers in Stornoway today, instead we came across a pair of bullfinches. Absolutely delighted, as we haven't seen bullfinches for ages.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbirds #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Petition: Stop the Guga Hunt Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend Section 16 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to remove the power to grant licences for taking Gannets on Sula Sgeir.

petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE...

World’s richest 1% have already used fair share of emissions for 2026, says Oxfam Richest 1% took 10 days while wealthiest 0.1% needed just three days to exhaust annual carbon budget, study shows

Don't want to say anything illegal, so I'll just leave this here uncommented.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

It’s now 2026. Are Nature Scot still going to allow a bunch of men to club baby Gannets to death on a remote Scottish island in the name of tradition?

Purple sandpipers

Bar-tailed godwit

Twite

Goldeneye

T'was a lovely solstice birding Sunday at Bragar today.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Goldeneye on Loch Geal (Breacleit) this late afternoon.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Hanlon's Razor

Redwing in our garden

Snow bunting on the Pentland road

Long-tailed tit in our garden

Some lovely birds around these past few days. Esp. the snow bunting along the Pentland road was rather unexpected.

#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Stornoway Castle grounds was in the hands of goldcrests today, they were everywhere!
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

That's quite a different beak! Thanks @wiwildlife.bsky.social

If someone comments 'tundra' or 'taiga', I'd be interested to know what to look for to make that distinction.

First time we've come across a bean goose without someone pointing it out to us. The orange legs stood out among the small group of pink-footed geese at Sandwick this morning.

#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Some more images of the interesting redwing from this morning. Remarkable bird.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

This was an interesting redwing this morning, never seen leucism so localized.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Taking a picture of a firecrest is hard! Chuffed to have one in our garden today.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

I trust they get to take their slaves with them to Sula Sgeir. Traditional, you know. Maybe burn a witch, too

We get a blackcap in our garden maybe once a year, seeing two today was exceptional. I'm not sure how much they enjoyed the rosehips.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides

Garden birds from today. I'm very happy the bramblings are sticking around.
#nature #wildlife #birds #birding #birdwatching #birdsofscotland #ukbird #isleoflewis #outerhebrides