www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Large White (I think) on lavender #ButterflyWeek #wildlife #naturephotography #ECK #Butterflies #Macro #wildlifephotography #insects #MacroPhotography

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

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A male Dark-edged Bee-fly feeding from a grape hyacinth flower. He is a large fly with a rounded body covered in mid-brown hair, and a hairy face. He has long, thin legs and a very long proboscis, which he holds out in front like a narwhal's tusk. He has brown eyes, which meet each other on top of his head, and his wings have a dark, scalloped mark along the leading edge.

My first Dark-edged Bee-fly of the year, a week earlier than last year's.
@uk-soldierflies.bsky.social
#insects #invertebrates #Bombyliusmajor #DarkEdgedBeeFly #GardenWildlife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #StingsNWings #SmallWonders #InsectThursday #beeflywatch

An adult Cormorant swims on a river, heading away from the camera with its head turned to the right, showing its profile. It is a medium-sized seabird, largely greenish-black but with brown flight feathers edged in black, and it has a long black bill with a downturned tip. It has thin white plumes on its head and neck and a black crest at the back of its head, indicating breeding condition. Its eye is green with a blue rim, and its face is white, with a patch of bright orange below its eye, and another patch of mixed yellow and black feathers below that.

A Cormorant in its breeding finery on the River Avon at Stratford.
#birds #UKBirds #BritishBirds #Cormorant #PhalacrocoraxCarbo #PhalacrocoraxCarboSinensis #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography#StratfordUponAvon 🪶

A Eurasian Nuthatch stands on the rail of a barrier in a nature reserve, facing leftwards in three-quarter profile. This is a small bird with a blue grey back and wings, black flight feathers, orange underparts shading up to a white throat, and a broad black stripe running backwards from the base of the bill through the eye. The long, sharp bill is also black, and the legs and feet are orange.

A Eurasian Nuthatch at Brandon Marsh, Warks.
#birds #UKBirds #BritishBirds #nuthatch #SittaEuropaea #BrandonMarsh #WarwickshireWildlifeTrust #rspb #bbcspringwatch #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography 🪶

Today, I fettled this board of ceramic birds. Once dry, they'll be bisque fired. Then, when cool, they'll be painted with underglaze colours and glaze fired. They're a labour intensive make. Available in my shop crownstudiogallery.myshopify.com

Two people stand at the end of Aberystwyth's Royal Pier looking at the post-sunset sky in February.

February twilight over Cardigan Bay, seen from Aberystwyth...

Thanks. 😊

A Marsh Tit picking up seed that's been placed on top of a barrier at a nature reserve. This is a small passerine bird with a grey-brown back and wings, buff underparts, white cheeks, a white throat, and a shiny black cap and bib. The photo shows it in profile, facing towards the right of frame.

A Marsh Tit with food in its bill, standing on top of a barrier at a nature reserve. This is a small passerine bird with a grey-brown back and wings, buff underparts, white cheeks, a white throat, and a shiny black cap and bib. The photo shows it in half-profile, facing towards the right of frame.

A Marsh Tit with food in its bill, standing on top of a barrier at a nature reserve. This is a small passerine bird with a grey-brown back and wings, buff underparts, white cheeks, a white throat, and a shiny black cap and bib. The photo shows it from behind, with its head turned towards the right of frame.

A Marsh Tit with food in its bill, standing on top of a barrier at a nature reserve. This is a small passerine bird with a grey-brown back and wings, buff underparts, white cheeks, a white throat, and a shiny black cap and bib. The photo shows it in front view, but with its head partly turned towards the right of frame.

Marsh Tit at Brandon Marsh in Warwickshire.
#birds #MarshTit #PoecilePalustris #BrandonMarsh #WarwickshireWildlifeTrust #UKBirds #BritishBirds #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography 🪶

Rare Iron Age Hoard Found In Norfolk | Historic England A remarkable collection of Iron Age objects has been discovered in West Norfolk.

historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/in...

Brutal. I've read that the female doesn't always survive these gang bangs. ☹️

Snow-covered Mount Etna erupts spewing lava and ash – video Italy's most active volcano erupted on Saturday, prompting scientists to issue a red Volcano Observatory notice for aviation, signalling a potential risk for aircraft

www.theguardian.com/world/video/...

Cheers Rob!

Thank you. 😊

A female Mute Swan swimming towards the camera in partial right-side profile. Her neck is bent and her head lowered because she has just taken a drink - there are water droplets dripping from the end of her bill and bouncing on the surface of the water. The river surface all around her is bright orange, reflecting the setting sun.

A Mute Swan drinking from blazing sunset water on the River Avon at Stratford, for Rob Crank's (@robcrank68.bsky.social) alternative #birdoftheday theme of #drinkers.
#birds #swan #MuteSwan #CygnusOlor #UKBirds #BritishBirds #EastCoastKin #BirdLife #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography 🪶

A Canada Goose flies low over a river, moving from right to left through the frame with both wings angled downwards. This is a large goose with a black head and neck, a creamy white chin and breast, and mottled brown back and wing feathers, darkening towards the flight feathers. Its bill and legs are black.

Tension:
www.blipfoto.com/entry/344514...

#birds #goose #CanadaGoose #BrantaCanadensis #flight #StratfordUponAvon #UKBirds #BritishBirds #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting 🪶

Great culture can save lives. Literally.

Amazing letter in today’s @thetimes.com about Tom Stoppard

The picture shows six needles of different sizes. They were made of bone resemble their modern descendants with an eye at one end and a tapered end.

Things used in everyday life are the real archaeological treasures! These sewing #needles were made from animal bone some 15,000 years ago. Some designs simply don't need to be improved, because form and functions were perfectly matched from the start. Form follows function! 🧵1/2

🏺

It's the satirists I feel sorriest for.

Rob and Alan’s #Birdoftheday is #Gannet which I’ve not yet seen as we have none on the west coast of North America. But we do have Tufted Puffins, so I’m hoping a substitution will be allowed in this case.

Fine with me because we don’t have them and I’ve never seen one before! Thanks for sharing. 😊

A Mute Swan bathing on the River Avon at Stratford. As part of the bathing routine they thrash their wings down alternately onto the surface of the water, to drive it up into their feathers. The twisting of the bird and the splashing they generate give good photo opportunities.

A Mute Swan bathing on the River Avon at Stratford. As part of the bathing routine they thrash their wings down alternately onto the surface of the water, to drive it up into their feathers. The twisting of the bird and the splashing they generate give good photo opportunities.

A Mute Swan bathing on the River Avon at Stratford. As part of the bathing routine they thrash their wings down alternately onto the surface of the water, to drive it up into their feathers. The twisting of the bird and the splashing they generate give good photo opportunities.

A Mute Swan bathing on the River Avon at Stratford. As part of the bathing routine they thrash their wings down alternately onto the surface of the water, to drive it up into their feathers. The twisting of the bird and the splashing they generate give good photo opportunities.

I love the absolute abandon with which Mute Swans take a bath. River Avon, Stratford, 23/11/25.

#birds #UKBirds #BritishBirds #swan #MuteSwan #CygnusOlor #StratfordUpnAvon #birding #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography #NatureWriting 🪶

I haven't seen a Kent Shore Lark since Jan 2022 but found one today at Sandwich Bay

A cheery alpaca, drawn in Brazil by Dutch artist Frans Post. He was born in Haarlem on this day in 1612.

Pelican captured in flight from above over a beach

Beach fly-by captured from balcony

#BirdOfTheDay #shadesofgrey

#NaturePhotography #BirdWatching #Wildlife #NatureIsBeautiful #WildlifePhotography #ExploreNature #Birds #Photography #Nature #Canon #photography #photos #photoart #EastCoastKin

Ah why not? Here's another Barn Owl picture I have taken. This beauty was flying right towards me.

#birds #birdphotography #photography #wildlifephotography #wildlife

Old fishing nets from France become vital protection against Russian drones in Ukraine Fishers from the Brittany coast are sending horse-hair nets to catch weapons and shield civilians and soldiers

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

SUPERB and angrily unvarnished response, by former BBC chairman, Lord Patten.

"I don't think that we should allow ourselves to be bullied into thinking that the BBC is only any good, if it reflects the prejudice of the last person who shouted at it." ~AA

As I can't measure the 96 unread ebooks currently on my Kindle in proper book inches, they simply don't count.