Well that was a rather marvellous performance by the Spanish football team, wasn’t it? I should have expected it, but I was seriously impressed with how they dominated every aspect of that game. ¡Enhorabuena! Et toutes mes condoléances aux Français. Vous avez fait un superbe tournoi.

A trip to Suwałki in north-eastern Poland (the coldest spot in the country, apparently) was quite productive for #ManholeCoverMonday moments 😺

This week have been staying in Stork Village (that’s not its official name - there were just a lot about!). As we left, lots of the youngsters decided to put on a show of flying and landing practice 😺 They’ll be off on their travels before long. Good luck to them all 😻

In 1970, the 5th grade students at Hawthorne School in Beverly Hills were assigned to write to someone they admired and ask what makes a good citizen. Joel Lipton, then 10 years old, wrote to Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. Schulz's response is relevant even today:

The cops were at a home searching for someone they KNEW did not live there. They came in thru the back yard and startled his service dog then killed her. She was highly trained and not a threat. But the cops simply love killing. People, dogs cats... Who cares, right? Killing is sport for them.

#PoemsAbout #PowerCuts My wife thinks that I am packing a suitcase to get ready for a holiday... I'll do it in a minute.

When I write an investigation, you only ever get a fraction of the story. There's so much more - context, detail, threads that don't make the final cut. Follow my Substact if you want field notes, opinion, analysis, follow-ups and more! open.substack.com/pub/watershe...

Had a bit of luck this morning in the garden - happened to be looking through some photos when I saw these two posing in the trees outside - an Icterine Warbler and a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker 😻

Quick, before it starts raining again - argh, too late! 😹😾 (Info on the beer & location in ALT text)

A lovely day out at the Biebrza National Park - it’s a fabulous wetland area which in spring and autumn teams with birdlife, but the only one around yesterday that we could hear over the gales and the rain was the Chiffchaff in the woods 😹

Summing up the second half of my summer holiday thus:

My lovely daughter is walking the Camino de Santiago, solo, in memory of her friend Juliette who died so tragically from meningitis earlier in the year. All money raised will go to the Meningitis Research Foundation. Should you be able to help she, and Juliette’s family, would be immensely grateful.

¿Y si una luna tan pequeña que cabría en una ciudad esculpiera olas gigantes en Saturno? Daphnis, de solo 8 km de diámetro, habita en el hueco de Keeler de los anillos. Como luna pastora, su gravedad atrae partículas de hielo y crea ondas de 1.5 km de altura. El tamaño no dicta tu influencia.

This article conveniently doesn't even mention Covid vaccine benefits.🤷🏿‍♂️ Covid is not a pulmonary disease. It's a vascular disease. It damages the blood vessels and the lining of the heart. If you don't get vaccinated, this damage is much worse. Getting the Covid vaccine lowers heart attack risk.

One advantage of the wet weather is that all your frens come out to play 😺

🔴 La FIFA a désigné l'arbitre qui officiera lors de la rencontre USA-Belgique

On my travels in northeastern Poland and here’s a rather splendid design for #ManholeCoverMonday from the rather unassuming town of Ostróda. This quiet town, which is on a lake, doesn’t seem to have a lot to offer, but there’s a surprise! See below and ALT texts for more info 1/2

Long before modern house building, a swifts natural habitat was tree holes, cracks & crevices in rocks, cliffs, stonework & under roofs. But modern building methods, renovations, & cutting down dead trees are removing prime nesting locations. No nests, no chicks, no summer swifts.

Billionaire Thiel Says Pope Leo ‘Working For Chinese Communists’ Because of pope’s grave warnings about the impact of artificial intelligence if the technology is left unregulated by governments Billionaires want AI to replace humans www.forbes.com/sites/siladi...

This is very enlightened. As I have posted before, if you donate to a food bank, don't forget pet food ! If you can't afford to feed yourself, you can't afford to feed your pet.

Whoa this is amazing!

I see it’s #NationalMeadowDay (probably not here in PL but never mind) so here are some meadow moths and butterflies that I saw on my walk yesterday near Wysoka Wieś in NE Poland. Help with ID would be appreciated 😺

Woodbridge Swifts have a walk and talk tomorrow evening, Sunday 5th July meeting at the Brook St car park IP12 1BE at 7pm. Learn about Swifts, their plight and how easy it is to help them. @suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social #SuffolkBirding

The weather’s distinctly dodgy but better a stiff breeze than the 37C they had last week, I reckon. The meadows and rolling countryside around here are lovely.

Coupe du monde : les influenceurs d’extrême droite sont si racistes qu’ils ne supportent pas l’équipe de France

A friend of a friend, Ihor Khodzhaniiazov, a musician and folklorist from Vinnytsia who was killed in a drone strike this past week. a tragic loss for folk music and ethnomusicology😢 ua.news/en/war-vs-rf...

🚀 10,000 Reposts for Universal Basic Income in 3 Days! Every repost helps more people learn about Universal Basic Income and builds momentum for the movement. 📅 July 4, 2026 If you support UBI, repost. basicincomeaction.org/sharables/6a...

It strikes me that far too few teams in this tournament have even the most basic understanding of the fundamentals of football youtu.be/__G4RrlGmVk

Swifts don’t stop to feed their chicks one insect at a time. Instead, they collect hundreds in a special pouch in their throat, then head back to the nest with a little insect-packed parcel. It can contain up to 1,000 insects. 🤯 Check out that throat pouch 👇 📷 @mart-the-gooner.bsky.social

❗️Due to a single Russian missile strike, 64 apartments were destroyed. Rubble clearance is ongoing at the site, — Zelenskyy. The President reported that in Kyiv, more than 130 such damaged buildings have been affected in total.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

A European capital is on fire because Russia spent the night firing missiles at civilians in their beds. Kyiv is full of smoke. People are buried under rubble. This is terrorism.

On the terrace at a hotel and even with the background music (never quite understood why we can’t just be left to ‘enjoy the silence’) the Golden Oriole is giving it some 😻

A good start to the holiday 😺

It’s a lovely evening over Park Andersa in #Szczecin The swifts are slowly going to bed 😺

All this time I’ve been worrying that the barrier is too high, or that the awnings get in the way, when it’s the swifts that get in each others’ way and cause the crash landings. Twits. #ŚląskaSwifts

You are never too old to learn and I was pleased to learn this weekend about Black Poplar trees and a the galls that appear on their leaf stems, Pemphigus spyrothecae, or the poplar spiral gall aphid #WildWebsWednesday

#ŚląskaSwifts update - after the heatwave, in which I thought I was going to melt, I am pleased to report plenty of peeping continuing in the boxes & no fallen babies. I think the trick is being in the shade. Even though the boxes here are south-facing, they’re out of the sun 1/2

Been a busy Monday today but thank god the heatwave has broken and we’ve had some rain and there’s a nice cool breeze. As a reminder of cool weather, here’s something for #ManholeCoverMonday from a nippier Rønne on Bornholm 😺

It’s Swift Awareness Week! Sadly, the iconic Swift (Apus apus) dropped in numbers across the UK by over two thirds between 1995 and 2024. Find out more about this aerobatic species on our BirdFacts pages: www.bto.org/learn/about-... @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social

Barcelona prueba un asfalto con huesos de aceituna que reduce un 76 % las emisiones. ecoinventos.com/barcelona-pr...

@hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social says … First bird of my day: the sound of curlew flying overhead towards the moor, as the mist slinks through the wooded valley below.

#firstbirdofmyday Robin , it’s song as clear as can be after the storm

Please repost @tonyskerl.bsky.social's posts quoting @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social #FirstBirdOfMyDay. Let's show @bsky.app that we want her allowed back on the platform.

‘PV panels significantly lowered indoor temperatures during daytime…maximum reduction of ~2.3 C (4.1F) during critical afternoon heat stress period (14:00–16:00)…modules installed parallel to roof slope, 0.10 m ventilated air gap between panels & roof surface, covered 60% of south-facing roof area’

Disaster strikes the #ŚląskaSwifts (not for the first time and it won’t be the last, sadly, but hey ho, c’est la swift vie)! Big scuffle in box 3 and half the nest along with two eggs are ejected. The babies inside didn’t survive 😿😿😿 There’s still a pair nesting there though … Will they try again?

Nearly nine o’clock in the morning and all #FingerPostFriday signs point to the breakfast bars in town. OK, so this is a lunch one - people queue outside for their pancakes (I think it’s cause they’re cheap) 😺 #Szczecin

Blink and you miss ‘em 😹 #ŚląskaSwifts

Went for a ‘bird walk’ in town and ended up in Żeromski Park, which has some magnificent specimens. As I was looking for a treecreeper scaling this horse chestnut’s trunk, I was struck by its beautiful foliage #ThickTrunkTuesday