Andrew Weston
@groatbury
Earthling, retired ecological surveyor, environmentalist, lefty, internationally unrecognised nature photographer, guitarist, obsessive O'Carolan arranger, early musicke aficionado, Yorkshire droll exiled to Raspberry Republic of Scotland.
Thanks. A slow response, but I listened to Brett Polegato & quickly bought a new 🦭d CD on eBay & am delighted with it, although my collection is far too big & recent purchases are disordered in shoe boxes pending buying more furniture. I imagine he would be excellent in Dowland and Purcell too.🐢
#WorldBeeDay White-tailed Bumblebee Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea Dornoch, Sutherland
Rhodanthemum hosmariense 'Marrakech' Died after few years but I took a heel cutting when it was moribund & rooted it in water initially, then a pot (2), planted out last summer, & the clone is about to flower along with a bought 'Casablanca'. Note weird focus of perspective control lens in photo 2.
@waderstudy.bsky.social #Waders #Shorebirds #Birds 1 & 2) Tagged (2KV) & ringed Ruddy Turnstone, with others & Purple Sandpipers, Embo beach below pier, Sutherland, Scotland (20.03.2026) 3) Turnstones, Embo quay (18.03.2025) 4) Turnstone on Bladderwrack, Embo Beach (09.03.2026)
#DumpTrump Egregious & puerile whataboutism. Wrongs justifying worse wrongs in the wazzock's amorality.
I was surprised to see an autumn Swift in Dornoch, Sutherland on 01.09.2024, although they were regular at dusk throughout August that year, with 12 on 18th & 4 on 28th. Poor photo here is of a late Swallow, one of c. 6 (!) I saw in east Dornoch 03.11.2024, possibly a late brood from up north.
The most common wildlife anachronism I hear on TV is pre-war Collared Dove in England.
#Birds Ten hours & four seconds of Siskins, enhanced by Jackdaw, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Spider Monkey, etc.
I agree. I would add that over 1/3 of food, from source to table, is wasted in profligate western world, consuming land, habitats, energy, fertilisers, packaging, animal mortality, time & effort, & increasing CO2, pollutants & landfill. Little food waste I have is fed to the birds or compost bin ♻️.
Separated from other immoralities, I'm unsure if it is the biggest environmental crime but it's certainly near the top. Very few species indirectly benefit from war. 📷 Collared Dove.
I look forward to your 'epic thread' on Creeping Willow Salix repens, abundant on 📷 Coul Links. 👀 #SaveCoulLinks from golf developer's ecologist who proposed scouring slacks on Coul Links, Loch Fleet Ramsar SSSI, to reduce abundance of Meadowsweet & unspecified willows. 1 & 2) Male 3 & 4) Female
Herpetological sexing Common Toads (Bufo bufo) in amplexus (NB smaller male on top) Holme, Norfolk (Kodachrome scan).
Herring Gull adult & chicks, one yawning (note smiley back of head in 2, left), & fully grown fledglings, two calling parents for food.
Daffodils do not naturally belong in sand dunes but are often artificially introduced by planting or dumping of garden waste. Plant introductions displace native vegetation & (non-cultivars) & can confuse natural distribution. Here are some natural & native daffodils in Farndale, North Yorkshire.
#Birds #Waders #Shorebirds Oystercatcher, Sutherland, Scotland 1) on my roof, Dornoch 2) Dornoch Cathedral graveyard 3) Embo Beach rocks 4) Loch Fleet Bladderwrack
This is a less compressed & better optimised Jpeg of Coul Links, avoiding sky banding posterisation. I fumbled in cold with neutral density graduated filters before realising that I had forgotten part of the attachment, so resorted to a polariser, causing unequal darkness in the sky & more edits.
#Birds Redwings & Fieldfares haven't been as plentiful this winter as last in SE Sutherland but 7+ of each visited t'garden Cotoneaster lacteus in recent January snow & frost, with bonus resident Woodpigeon pair; & in November there were 4 Waxwings briefly on a neighbours' Sorbus pseudohupehensis.
#SaveCoulLinks from golf. Haar approaching Embo beach, Sutherland, Scotland: