Too modest, Andrew. Your Coolpix pix are very cool!
BTW Would it be OK if I used your marvellous Green Hairstreak pic for a post on FB?

Any chance of a “Morning Date Palm” Lindsay?

Experts call for restrictions on pet flea treatments that harm UK songbirds Chemicals known to affect brains of common garden birds, and to kill unborn chicks, found in most feather samples

It’s not just freshwater invertebrates that are being poisoned by this awful stuff. And pet owners are encouraged to splash it on their dogs & cats every month! 💀🤬
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Broads national park warns of impact of flea treatments for pets Chemicals treatments for pets can harm aquatic life if it gets in the waterway network, experts warn.

My MP (in Derbyshire) is fully briefed on this … yours should be too!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Our dog (springer spaniel) hosted a few fleas - but was never really infested with them. One or 2 were seen every other year. Early on, we treated her and within 48h all the shrimps in our tropical aquarium died. After that we never treated her again and the occasion flea was never a problem.

Should say: 11 year mean = 15/04.

Ammonia pollution hotspots found in areas of UK with most pig and poultry factory farms Map reveals most severe concentrations of ammonia emissions, which are dangerous to health and environment

Ammonia pollution hotspots found in areas of UK with most pig and poultry factory farms

I really hope this happens!
And prophylactic use of this awful stuff has got to stop.

Is the tower block still standing? That always seemed a bit odd!

I chatted with Paul Harding in the queue for coffee at a conference and ended up working as “casual labour” in the BRC for 3 months, which became 6 months & before I knew it I’d worked there for a whole year!
I learnt so much.
Used to hum Johny Cash “I walk the line” doing the butterfly transect!

I walked the Monks Wood butterfly transect in 1989. My year working at the Monks Wood Experimental Station with naturalist ecologists who could identify almost any insect or plant species at a glance was a revelation for me after doing a BSc and PhD in a university which did not possess such people.

Alderflies’ wings remind me of leaded windows.
Now there’s a project … a leaded window comprised (mostly) of insect wing venation patterns!

Like it!
… but it doesn’t make a summer!

Honey Buzzard was here?

Enjoy the warmth.
Send a few warm country morning views!

Rabbits are cute …
… but if you watch wild rabbits you will discover:
a) territorial disputes between neighbouring dominant males are brutal, with parallel runs of kick-scratching +fur flying;
b) dominant females relentlessly bully subordinate females.
Richard Adams knew a thing or 2 about rabbits!

My Spring phenological marker "blossom max day", when the 1st loose petals fell under our cherry tree, was last Thursday.
A slightly early Spring
2026:09/04; 2025:11/04;
2024:06/04; 2023:14/04; 2022:20/04; 2021:20/04; 2020:12/04; 2019:09/04; 2018:25/04; 2017:08/04; 2016:02/05 (11 yr mean=15/5)

A good day to begin a new project!

My son starts a new career tomorrow. I will copy this post to him tomorrow morning! (including the radiant, steadfast morning oak).
Thanks Lindsay & thanks Johann.

Bright & breezy

Hoping you see some fireworks at Carrow Rd this afternoon! 🔰
COYY! ⚽️⚽️⚽️

🐝 The whole of our Derbyshire garden was humming yesterday! ☀️
3 sp of bumblebee, female hairy-footed flower bee, tawny miner bee, several little ginger jobs, honeybee …
Butterflies galore, incl. 1st Orange Tip & Speckled Wood.
No Holly Blues yet … 👀

19/20 for that sky.
Carpe diem!

Good to see
… the tree.

Last time Lincoln City were in the 2nd tier (1960-61), my dad was playing for them! ⚽️
Were he still alive today, he’d be SO proud!
A small club, on a small budget, but with big ambition and a plan.
They’ve only gone and done it!
Congrats to everyone at LCFC!
Up the imps!
@lincolncityfc.bsky.social

Kingfinisher! Splendid work.

Butterflies crossing oceans, moths navigating by the stars: unravelling the mysteries of insect migrations Trillions of insects embark, largely unnoticed, on epic journeys every year across mountain ranges, deserts and seas, and it is only now, as their numbers suffer huge declines, that scientists are tra...

"The air was full of magic." ~ Dr Will Hawkes, biologist

A stunning, multimedia exploration of insect migration, from butterflies crossing deserts and oceans to bogong moths navigating hundreds of kilometres by the celestial spacing of the Milky Way.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Among projects singled out as “key successes” in the previous round of funding was that really good grasshopper reintroduction project …. 👍

We lucky few.

In a previous life, I worked as an entomologist in some pretty remote parts of Africa. Many a time I slept out on a mat on the ground next to a camp fire. The stars above, the crackling of the fire and the sounds of the night! Primeval.👌
Just had to wake once approx 02.00 to add a couple more logs.🔥