Thank you

Here's to the transportational powers of curlew song (even for those of us who are "not much of a birdwatcher"!)

Curlew song YouTube video by Merlyn Driver

And if you'd seeking a bit of escapism this morning, you could do worse than immerse yourself in this wonderful soundscape from Merlyn Driver, recorded at Geltsdale RSPB Nature Reserve in the northwest corner of the North Pennines in late April 2021, for his curlew-inspired album

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A fond farewell to the wintering curlew And a race against time at sea

For World Curlew Day today a piece I wrote last year, about the curlews of my native North Pennines, and a race against time at sea

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A very different world indeed, and quite a photo. Thanks for sharing it here.

More info here: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2p...

The text on the memorial reads: To the people of Gelderland. 50 years ago British & Polish Airborne soldiers fought here against overwhelming odds to open the way into Germany and bring the war to an early end. Instead we brought death and destruction, for which you have never blamed us. This stone marks our admiration for your great courage, remembering especially the women who tended our wounded. In the long winter that followed your families risked death by hiding Allied soldiers and airmen, while members of the Resistance helped many to safety. You took us then into your homes as fugitives and friends: we took you forever into our hearts. This strong bond will continue long after we are all gone. 1944 – September – 1994. Photo: Hannah Booth.

"You took us then into your homes as fugitives and friends, we took you forever into our hearts."

The memorial given to the people of Gelderland (NL) by the 1st Airborne Division in Sept 1994 to mark the 50th anniversary of Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Arnhem.

📍Oosterbeek, NL

West Runton aerial image: a North Norfolk coast shaped by constant erosion. These soft glacial cliffs are part of the Deep History Coast, where the famous West Runton mammoth was found ... the oldest and largest fossil mammoth skeleton discovered in the UK #WestRunton #NorthNorfolk #aerial

Sandstone colours and patterns Pathhead Beach #Kirkcaldy #Fife

Map of Europe behind newsreader has shape of Belgium filled in with sea.

Hey, #SNLUK, why is Belgium the sea?

This image, acquired on 14 April 2026 by one of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellites, shows South Holland at the peak of the spring flowering season. Fields arranged in narrow plots display vivid bands of red, yellow, and orange, each corresponding to a distinct bulb variety. Urban areas appear in grey tones, while darker patches indicate water bodies and channels.

🌷 It’s that time of year again!

Tulips in full bloom across South Holland
www.copernicus.eu/en/media/ima...

(European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery)

AWI researchers discover a new island during a Polarstern expedition in Antarctica. 🏝️

The team was surprised by the sudden appearance of an island that had previously only been marked as a danger zone on the available nautical charts. The island is about 130 metres long.

www.awi.de/en/about-us/...

just came back from a trip at sea teaching students about plankton. While spring is still in its early stages on land, in the sea it seems to be in full swing (at least in the southern North Sea). We had a lovely bloom of diatoms - lots of diversity

Scheveningen, april 1602. Simon Stevin was als ingenieur in dienst van stadhouder Maurits, zoon van De Zwijger. Speciaal voor de stadhouder bouwde hij een zeilwagen. Maurits maakte een rit en in een recordtijd van 2 uur reed de wagen over het strand van Scheveningen naar Petten.

Besides the dramatic delivery of the narration, one is struck also by the quality of the writing!

Nice view of 1950s Farne Islands with extremely dramatic narrator
#Northumberland

Thanks! Did not know about this. Shame about the weather for them (and also presumably for you!).

Which Zealand will it be? On navigable waters then and now

Some thoughts from my recent trip to the Dutch port city of Vlissingen — a curious place to be with all the current talk of maritime traffic

Poster for the 1954 film Suicide Mission, directed by Michael Furlong and starring Leif Larsen. Also released under the title "Shetlandsgjengen" in Norway. Billed as "the first motion picture adventure every re-enacted by the heroes who actually lived it".

For his work on the Shetland Bus, Larsen became the most highly decorated Allied naval officer during WWII

He would also go on to star as himself in the 1954 British-Norwegian war film Suicide Mission, appearing alongside many of his previous crew members

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🖼️Poster for the film Suicide Mission

View over Scalloway Harbour, Shetland, with the Shetland Bus memorial shown in the foreground.

Larsen went to sea age 16, growing to know local waters well — useful knowledge for the war to come

From 1941 he made 52 trips across the North Sea, ferrying special agents & supplies between Shetland & Norway, usually under cover of darkness

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📷Shetland Bus memorial, Iain Lees (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Black-and-white portrait photo of Leif A Larsen in uniform. Date unknown.

North Sea Friday Folk #9 — lives shaped by the shallow sea on our doorstep

Today's the turn of Bergen-born Leif Andreas Larsen (1906–1990), also known as “Shetland Larsen” for his work on the secret Shetland Bus operation during World War II

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📷Leif A Larsen, Marit Larsen (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Hugo Grotius, great Dutch jurist, laid foundations of international law, advocated freedom of seas, born in Delft #OTD 1583; author of landmark work on the Law of War and Peace (1625).
Het Prinsenhof in Delft

Dutch weather services are hosting a contest to submit storm names!

Netherlands, Ireland and the UK share a storm name system together :) north sea pals gotta stick together

I return from a few days in Zeeland with the pleasant, satisfied tiredness that only a blast of sea air can provide

Die Landschaft ist flach und von dunklen, feuchten Flächen geprägt. Am Horizont erstreckt sich das Wattenmeer, das in der Dämmerung von einem orangefarbenen Himmel überzogen wird. Die Spiegelung des Himmels im Wasser hebt die natürlichen Strukturen hervor.

Vom Deich aus gesehen ist alles viel schöner. 🌊
Everything looks much nicer from the dike.
#eastcoastkin #ECK #tidesouttuesday

Planning on doing some more research into Dorothy, so will let you know if a Stoke/Staffs connection comes up...

Interesting... what part of the country was that? It seems she was born in Cumbria and died in Herefordshire.

genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ed8e5b0f970b...

England's 1st female sea-going fish scientist, working on a research trawler

As a 1937 BBC radio programme reported:

“This last summer she...has proved successfully that it is worth while to return to the sea undersized plaice which are too small for the market, for...a great many of them live”