Wed, 22 April 2026 A busy day checking River Tyne kittiwakes with > 1,500 at Newcastle-Gateshead quays. Some rested quietly, others called together or collected nesting material. Recorded 790 on Tyne Bridge, 248 at @balticgateshead.bsky.social (photo: today). Enjoyed tea & scone at the Glasshouse.

An upland wader survey made a welcome change from Breeding Bird Surveys yesterday. The lunch stop venue on the way home offered some smart Yank Aythya views and a Coronation Chicken seeded bap followed by Turkish Delight. #livingthedream

Doughnut Economics says: feed everyone, protect the planet, stay in balance. Prof Richard Murphy asks – why is our system built for endless growth? @eastangliabylines.co.uk @richardjmurphy.bsky.social

Nursery Web Spider enjoying the Spring sunshine on an old weathered length of wood in garden earlier.

Go Samba!

At 60 times around the sun I did something new today. My 25 year old fence partially collapsed with a tree-fall during Arwin and went further some time later. After having some tree work done last week I retained the brash and began to lay a dead hedge. Needs doing in stages to keep dog in so 1/3.

One flight can wipe out the carbon savings from many everyday changes. For people who fly, it’s often the biggest part of their carbon footprint. Choosing trains, ferries or coaches can make a huge difference. #FlightFree

Six of Britain’s wild bird species are set to be better protected under proposals set out by the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments. The new rules would restrict the shooting of Woodcock, Pintail, Goldeneye, Pochard and Snipe, and introduce a close season for Woodpigeon. www.gov.uk/government/n...

Stopping gas dictating UK energy price could cut bills by £200. Renewables are the cheapest but Ofgem's pricing links electricity price to gas, enables profiteering. Gas produced energy must be decoupled from the rest. Public ownership is even better for ending profiteering and lower bills

Europe's Common Buzzards may be losing their remarkable variation in plumage colour, according to a new study:

I’m spending the night sleeping out to raise money and awareness of homelessness. Exeter City Communtity Trust have helped fund homes for those who find themselves without a safe place to spend the night. Any donations gratefully received. #ECFC www.justgiving.com/page/paul-br...

A birding version of Mortimer & Whitehouse’s Gone Fishing incoming. 🪶

Bit of birding sandwiched between family visits added Black-tailed Godwit and this 2nd-winter Caspian Gull to the year’s efforts today. #lowcarbonbirding

FACTS: Net Zero barely nudges your bill. Fossil‑fuel wars send it through the roof. So when Farage and his ilk slags off renewables while fanning conflict, remember who actually hikes your costs.

Local authority through their ‘Advance Green Futures’ BNG vehicle are working on a 350ha site that covers one of my local patches. It’s always been an interesting area with some decent birds over the years such as Glossy Ibis, Crane, Great Egret, passage Whinchat & Wheatear etc (1/2)

The main reason UK energy prices are so high is not net zero but the fact the price of gas still sets the price of electricity. Breaking that link should be the priority.

The Internet Cuckoos are arriving, Spring is here.

Well done @wildlifebcn.org for taking this stance. At Hayley Wood. Rights of access do not mean right to ignore the owners requests. share.google/XRixh4Dbq7oD...

UK Government confirms ban on sale & use of toxic lead ammunition for 'live quarry shooting' from 1st April 2029 raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/03/05/u...

Measures to protect pelagic megafauna are now "unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens" 🧪🌎

Dear Humans, Stop blaming me for all your bullshit. I don’t even exist. Grow up.

Oh, and well done Hannah Spencer. What a beacon of positivity she is. Let’s hope a lot of our media outlets see what’s developing and ensure the *legitimate* environmental concerns many millions of us have begin to get the wall-to-wall coverage that the snivelling racists have enjoyed for so long.

Woke up to a Green Spring arriving, all sorts of hopes spread out from here. Well done @zackpolanski.bsky.social and the Green Party.

Ringers, bit of help needed. Washed up colour ring with no corpse on tideline, three alpha code (SDI), dark green ring white letters, ring diameter 18mm. Options appear to be Great Egret, Herring Gull, White Stork or Griffon Vulture. (HG most likely?) any insight?

A local adventure northdownsandbeyond.blogspot.com/2026/02/old-...

The Blyth White-billed Diver had clearly had enough of the assorted beards and camo today so it decided to steam upriver and took a while to re-find. Fittingly for a bird built like a battleship it was in the aptly named Battleship Wharf.

Brainwashing, 2026 edition. This paper shows how X's algorithmic feed shifts people's views rightwards. It's a sophisticated, highly effective form of reorientation. And it is utterly chilling. If you're still on that platform, unhook yourself now. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plus ca change..

One of the most striking things we noticed living in New Zealand is that littering and fly-tipping just doesn’t happen. I believe this is because caring for the environment is such an integral part of kids’ school education there.

After an exceptionally wet start to 2026, two climate scientists explain what’s going on.

Loose group of five adult Little Gulls in a short patch seawatch early afternoon.

Last Winter Bird Survey visit for @btobirds.bsky.social was a quiet affair though a flock of 40 Yellowhammers was decent. Strange sight of a large mystery golden orb in the sky, hope it doesn’t result in local airspace closures. #winterbirdsurvey

Dashed out to Newbiggin to catch up with a Bean Goose found earlier in the day. My first Tundra since 2011 there (I’ve missed a few) the wait for Taiga goes on… #nland2025 #lowcarbonbirding

You have to admire Dunnocks, minutes after the rain stops and they’re shagging.

“We’re already experiencing changes in UK winter rainfall that global #climate models predict for the 2040s – we’re 20yrs ahead. @metoffice.gov.uk data show that since the 1980s the UK... has been warming at a rate of ~0.25°C per dec –so we’re seeing almost 9% more rainfall that we did in the ’80s"

We’re letting this guy’s companies into the heart of our government and NHS. fortune.com/2026/02/04/p...

Unprecedented flock of up to 38 Common Cranes in Northumberland this afternoon. From the continent? Cambridgeshire birds flooded out? Only managed 30 of 38 on show, t*at of the day award to landowner who refused permission to park safely off-road on hardcore field entrance.

What looks like a dark morph Lapwing seen at #RSPBGreylake #Somerset this morning. It was very aggressive to any other Lapwing that came to close.

Morning Bluesky.

UK also has massive issue of SGAR poisoning: virtually every barn owl, kite, kestrel ingests rat poison. If invented today they'd never be licensed. But they're not banned because food/hygiene industries can't yet do without them. But to have them available in supermarkets/garden centres is insane.

Lovely dry day walk up at Boulmer/Longhoughton Steel/Sugar Sands today with Suzanne. Quiet bird-wise with a confiding juv Merlin a bonus, lots of Rock Pipits and the ever-evocative sound of calling Curlews whilst picking our way through a Cuttlefish-apocalypse.

Trump still thinks cold weather means climate change is a "hoax." Here's my response... substack.com/@climatehuma...

“For the authoritarian, culture is the enemy. The uncultured and ignorant and tyrannical don’t like it. And they take steps against it, which we see every day.” (Salman Rushdie)

As the 2026 Big Garden Birdwatch begins, why is dedicated birdwatcher David Jobbins staying away? He wonders, what's the point when the government’s growth-at-all-costs policy rides roughshod over our impoverished natural environment. Read his analysis ⤵️ @eastangliabylines.co.uk

First Chinstrap Penguin for Greenland (if it wasn’t AI Junk). President of the supposed greatest country on earth 🤯🤦🏼‍♂️

Help us make hope normal again. Join the Green Party now.

Pick up the nearest book. Turn to page 42, post the second sentence. “I was alive and profoundly inspired.”

🚨 BREAKING 🚨 The UK Govt has quietly published - without announcement - the Joint Intelligence Committee/DEFRA report it suppressed last October. They tried to sneak it out in the midst of crisis. Read and share: “Global Biodiversity Loss, Ecosystem Collapse & National Security.” (link below)

It’s the little things. A female or juvenile Goldeneye late afternoon as I plodged about the E end of Northumberland’s new massive habitat bank in heavy mist was the 101st species I’ve recorded on the site. Looking forward to see how the site develops and what else might occur.

It just goes on, and on! Satellite-tagged Hen Harrier Edna "suspected illegally killed". Was she killed & dumped at a windfarm in Northumberland? raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/19/s...