I didn't used to expect ticks until May but had huge numbers on me in Cambs woodland this weekend. It's been -2C at night and only 13C by day. This hazard for early spring fieldwork is pretty new, not something I worried about in March. Affects fieldwork approach and precautions needed. #BeTickAware

🧵And we're off, ladies and gentlemen! It's "they're banning the word EASTER" week. Regular as clockwork... So here comes a history lesson and media lesson all rolled into one thread! PS, I can't believe there's no easter egg emoji? This was the best I could do - 🗿🥚 🤣 I digress! 1/19

The Telegraph’s political editor is saying, more subtly, what others are saying brutally.

TIL about a memorial ceremony in Iceland in 2019 to mark the end of a glacier, changing the place name from Okjökull to Ok (jökull = glacier). Uncompromising wording on the bronze plaque: "This is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you know if we did it".

I was diagnosed with #HIV in 1998, when I was 30. Many of my friends had died of AIDS. I did not expect to live to 50. I’m 58 now. HIV treatment works. Treatment also makes it impossible for me to pass HIV on during sex. Ensure HIV treatment for all. End HIV stigma. #WorldAIDSDay

This is not a peace plan. It is a proposal that weakens Ukraine and divides America from Europe, preparing the way for a larger war in the future. In the meantime, it benefits unnamed Russian and American investors, at the expense of everyone else. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

The letter the BBC could send back to Trump - brilliant stuff from @davidallengreen.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/emptycit...

Brilliant piece debunking the nonsense claim in the Daily Telegraph. But it’s dangerous nonsense, polarising attitudes & whipping up prejudice. The DTelegraph is such a shit newspaper. Oh, and the photo? Staged - captive eagle, already-dead lamb.

Please RT this so Donald Trump sees.

“A bad escalator and a bad teleprompter” — Trump implies UN tried to sabotage First Lady, while he saved millions.

This makes me very happy

Just to be clear: - Paracetamol does not cause autism. - Sadiq Khan is not introducing Sharia law in the UK - We do not have a massive free speech problem here. - Britain is not on the verge of civil war. These are not controversial subjects or contested, they're just not true.

Exactly this

I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Ignore the haters, London is the 🐐

UK medicine regulator confirms there is no evidence paracetamol causes autism in children www.gov.uk/government/n...

The Dutch rip the hell out of Donald Trump and Disney for the ridiculous Jimmy Kimmel firing. This is what you call Free Speech, Trump.

I’m not saying Britain has gone entirely batshit crazy but a Reform councillor in Wales has just stormed out of a local Torfaen Council meeting in Gwent because it failed to acknowledge the killing of a man in America. In other news, Britain has gone entirely batshit crazy.

A few pics from @oriolebirding.bsky.social tour to Andalucia last week. Amazing day 3 as 17000 Honey Buzzards passed, we personally enjoyed around 8k in an awesome morning mixed with Marsh & Montagu’s Harriers, Booted & Short-toed Eagle, White & Black Storks & hundreds of Bee-eaters! #birding

A superb days seawatching at Hunstanton yesterday with @mochaman.bsky.social @mandymyers007.bsky.social @andyinnorfolk.bsky.social 147 Manx, a Balearic, 10 Arctic, 3 Great, a Pom, 277 Gannet also migrants over the sea 4 Marsh hr, an Osprey, GWEgret plus Yw Wags, Swallow, H Martin & Mipits.

Charlie Kirk’s murder was utterly abhorrent and corrosive to our politics. So was much of the reaction to it- including from his allies. My piece. open.substack.com/pub/goodalla...

The Clacton MP and the constituency house mystery…

Ooooh, some actual scrutiny …. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Sitting on Cley beach this morning and what I thought was a bird landed just behind me. Soon realised it was in fact a bat. Was very mobile amongst the pebbles looking for food. After 2-3 mins it flew off. Can anyone help with ID please? Thank you. #bat #bats #batid #norfolk

What a truly amazing days birding in the Straits of Gibraltar on @oriolebirding.bsky.social tour - c9000 Honey Buzzards, hundreds of Booted, Short-toed Eagles, 1000+ Bee-eaters, 25 Montagu’s Harriers, Black Storks & over 1000 White Storks, the latter performing this mesmerising sight overhead!!

Beyond shameful

not seeing 'concerned mums' here, more like 'thugs threatening violence'

We are watching, in real time, the destruction of the CDC. Our kids' and families' health is going to be put at risk because Trump and RFK Jr. are running a money-making conspiracy racket instead of a public health agency. Another result of Trump's corruption machine.

MPs vote to decriminalise abortion in UK ~ www.channel4.com/news/mps-vot...

A rash can signal Lyme disease—but not always. 1 in 3 won’t get one. Don’t wait for a rash: watch for flu-like symptoms, joint pain, brain fog & more. Lyme can affect every system if left untreated. Know the signs. Act early. #LymeDiseaseUK #BeTickAware #LymeAwareness

Sir David Attenborough’s new film calls for ban on destructive fishing methods www.channel4.com/news/sir-att...

I’m extremely chuffed by just how well the below article has done - who knew public procurement frameworks could be so popular! Thanks to @bylinesnetwork.co.uk and @eastangliabylines.co.uk for sharing it so far and wide, and for all the lovely comments and DMs.

via Wild Bird Scoop

2/2 their population has been increasing within their natural range for several decades. Finally, it’s debatable that their presence is an indicator of clean water. Their diet is highly variable & includes ground nesting birds & eggs! More poorly researched sound bite media.

@BBCRadio4 @BBCr4today @isabella_tree whilst Knepp is a wonderful rewilding project. It’s completely inaccurate to use released White Storks as an example of nature recovery. There is just one historical breeding record 1416, they’ve never bred regularly in UK.

A council, a £350m contract, and a Twitter scandal. Except... it’s not really a contract, or a scandal. 🙄 The Bear explains the very basic mistake Reform UK just made ⤵️

White flight ☠️😂

What an extraordinary, beautiful thing. Sometimes the only sensible response to scientific discovery is wonderment and awe.

"Imagine flattening an irreplaceable grade I listed building like the Royal Albert Hall, replacing it with karaoke machines in various towns and then telling the public this is a ‘win-win’ for architecture and music." @ruthtingay.bsky.social on threats to wildlife www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Irreplaceable habitats are on the line. This is the reality if an unamended Part 3 of the Bill passes. It must not.

Welcome to Round 1 of Nature or No Nature! Keir Starmer, you were elected on a promise to meet legally binding nature targets. Now, funding for nature, and laws protecting species and habitats, are at risk. So, for a chance to win back public trust, your first question:

Public consultation closes this Sunday (25 May 2025) at 11.59pm. There are only 10 relevant questions & Wild Justice has provided an easy-to-follow guide for each one. raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/05/22/h...

Lyme disease... my wife had ticks on her legs today, despite wearing long trousers. Always check for ticks. I had Lyme disease, with long term consequences. You really don't want it. Pass it on, please, if you can. Thanks 🙂 @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

There's no placating the Brexiters, no reasoning with them, no basic comprehension or adulthood. You can't debate papers behaving like the Sun or the Mail this morning. There's nothing to debate with. They view all trading relations with Europe as humiliation.

The U.K. fishing industry - weaponised & then betrayed & then abandoned, by Johnson, Farage & the rest of them - is better off under Starmer’s deal than it was under Johnson’s. That’s not an opinion. It’s counting. Anyone claiming otherwise is a liar.

Coverage of idiots claiming ‘betrayal’ or ‘surrender’ isn’t just bad journalism, it’s a dereliction of our duty to explain things. I’d actually forgotten just how bad it got but here we are, straight back to treating liars & spivs like authorities of equal weight to experts & honest brokers.