One of today’s 2 White-billed Divers again at Pease Bay, Scottish Borders - don’t think it will be going anywhere anytime soon! #moult #BordersBirding #BirdingScotland

Now 2 White-billed Divers in Pease Bay - not associating together but both in view at the same time. First two pics the new bird - not that it makes much difference although it might be a little longer billed? #birdingborders #birdingscotland

Today’s WBD seemed to catching plenty of food items this afternoon- mainly small flatfish by the looks of things. The Great Black-backed Gulls were very attentive - though I don’t think they were successful in stealing any prey. I was glad to see it feeding well given the situation #scottishbirds

Today’s White-billed Diver at Pease Bay, Borders, was a bit more cooperative than last year’s bird in that it hung around all afternoon. I wasn’t planning any birding so was regretting that my camera and phonescoping adapter were both in Penicuik 🤦‍♂️ #birding #scottishbirding

Not the best quality clip - but you get the idea! White-billed Diver at Pease Bay this afternoon #birdingScotland

Look at the size of that protist! The giant amoeba Pelomyxa palustris was today’s best sighting from a nearby pond sample. At first I feared that the little gastrotrich would be engulfed but that didn’t seem to be likely after watching for a while. Easily visible as 2mm across #protistsonsky

I’ve been struck down by this horrible cold that’s going round so I’ve contented myself with some microscopy - here are four testate amoeba I’ve identified: Alabasta militaris, Euglypha strigosa, Difflugia manicata, Quadrulella symmetrica any errors let me know #protistsonsky

This weekend has been all about the testate or shelled amoebas- if you want to see one I suggest a microscope and a drop of water from the bottom of a houseplant pot - they seem to like it there!

Found some Wart Barnacles (Verruca stroemia) washed up on a piece of net yesterday. All of the larger individuals had Foraminiferans on them, mostly Lobatula lobatula which commonly lives on other species apparently - happy to see them in situ #panspecieslisting

Found my first Gastrotrich today - not every day I get to see a new animal phylum 🎉 🥳 So that’s the 16th phylum here at Pease Bay in less than a year which isn’t bad #gastrotricha

Sample from a ditch yesterday and the first 4 things are previously unmapped for Scotland on @inaturalist.bsky.social This PSL is great fun! Ciliate of the Stylonychia mytilus complex; dinoflagellate Perindinium bipes; heliozoan Actinosphaerium eichhornii; ciliate of the family Trachelophyllidae

A first for me today was this Hypotrich - a single-celled organism scampering around on ‘legs’ - far more animal-like than any other protozoan that I’ve seen #hypotrich

Lovely walk to Penicuik House Estate added a species I’ve definitely seen before (Maidenhair Spleenwort) and one that I’ve not noticed before (Broom Fork-moss). Also, though I’m not 💯 confident of either, Scaly Pelt Lichen and Black Witches’ Butter - happy to be corrected #panspecieslisting

The first day of the year and a couple of new species already on the list - both literally on the doorstep of my dune side retreat at Pease Bay: Sand-hill Screw-moss and Sand Couch-grass - both species I clearly stepped all over last year - a nice reminder to look closer and harder everywhere! #psl

So I reverted to an all-round naturalist in July of this year and haven’t looked back at all - here’s my @inaturalist.bsky.social summary of the six months of trying to ID anything and everything- I’d recommend it thoroughly, especially when combined with Pan-species Listing ✅✅✅

Getting my eye in now for the Forams #Foraminifera #marineplankton

Found my first y-larva (Facetotectan) yesterday- a mysterious and parasitic sister group to the barnacles. No-one has seen an adult and no-one yet knows their hosts… This is a naupilus stage and maybe a moulted exuvia #marineplankton

Christmas Day trip out on the paddleboard to collect some plankton at Pease Bay resulted in a whole series of lovely gifts 😁: a couple of foraminifera - Leptohalysis scottii and a species of rotaliida; an acantharian radiolarian; the silicoflagellate Dictyocha fibula #plankton

Only just noticed that my #BWPUC has been offline for a month - generally ignore it due to ID errors. It got the following correct though Whooper Swans (November) and Whimbrel (September). Highlight: a Sandwich Tern at night in September over Penicuik! #birdingScotland @lothianrecorder.bsky.social

@elizabethbeston.bsky.social I wonder if you’d be able to point me in the right direction in the identification of a variety of copepods - all from Inshore plankton trawls from a paddle board in southeast Scotland - no recent samples as the sea’s been a little rough - so I’m trawling pics instead!

My first check for the winter this morning and at least three of the usual Woodcock are in their usual spots - all viewable from the car and all drive-away views - this pic does not do the bird justice… #birdingScotland

Fairly wild seas at Pease Bay this morning- couldn’t pick out any Little Auks offshore but GnD, RtD, RbM and Common Scoters were nice. Best was a Water Pipit on the beach at the mouth of the Pease Dean Burn - it headed high and S before pics unfortunately #scottishbirding

Two highlights at Pease Bay yesterday both patch firsts for me: Cuckoo Ray - sadly dead - but not commonly reported at the shore otherwise as it is a deeper water species. Little Egret rockpooling with me 😁

Not often I see a Ribbonworm but bizarrely managed to see three Nemerteans this weekend. Horsehair worm in the Moorfoots- Gordius aquaticus presumably based on microscopic pic. Then Bootlace Worm Lineus longissimus and Tetrastemma vermiculus at Pease Bay. The last species a first for Scotland?

A couple of eriophyoid mites from the underside of leaves - Acalitus essigi on bramble and Phyllocoptes gracilis on wild Raspberry. Two truly tiny species but both seemed fairly abundant on those species. Happy to take feedback on the identifications…

Had a look under a bramble leaf through the microscope- not only my first Sitobion fragariae aphids in amongst the Phragmidium bulbosum rust but also some larvae that look like Aphidoletini and some predatory Acari running around… it’s a jungle out there!…

Some fantastic local wildlife this week hitting +2000 on my PSL and with my first sightings of an aeolid nudibranch (the Crowned Aeolis) and a pseudoscorpion (the Moss Neobisid) - both on my most wanted list. Honorary mentions to the Flabby Bristle-worm and the Red-cracking Bolete - crazy names! 😁

Anyone able to put a species to this louse? It looks as though it should be straightforward but I’m not managing to nail it and I’m wondering if I’m barking up the wrong tree @persmiseth.bsky.social @norwichbirder.bsky.social @thegibster.bsky.social

Surprised to see a Great Northern Diver in Pease Bay this afternoon looking pretty smart and spangled above. Maybe the great northern Aurora Borealis that we had here last night brought it south 🙃 #aurora

Here is another snail living in the plankton - though this one lives its whole life as pelagic plankton. It is a pteropod or sea butterfly and is actively swimming about in these pictures. I’ve identified this species as Limacina lesueurii #pteropod #plankton

A strikingly yellow veliger in yesterday’s plankton trawl off Pease Bay - presumably bioluminescent. Not sure if this larval snail is identifiable to species but it was pretty stunning to look at #plankton #veliger #bioluminescence #gastropods

Finally, I’ve seen a Mervielle du Jour! To the MV last night in the dunes at Pease Bay #teammoth

Couldn’t refind the LWFG this evening. Lots of PfGs around and at least 30 Barnacle Geese in the area. Best was this Scaup on Rosebery Reservoir #birdinglothian

Here’s a distant pic of today’s v unexpected Lesser White-fronted Goose (found at Caspian Pool by another observer earlier today). This pic from half a mile away when @denmor77.bsky.social and I were relocating it - we saw it much closer later on and Den’s got some great flightshots #birdingscotland

Minke Whale distantly from Pease Bay yesterday morning

Was very pleased to find this massive Stentor coeruleus in a pond in Edinburgh yesterday- it’s not often you see bright blue single celled organism that’s visible to the naked eye #protist #panspecieslisting

@elizabethbeston.bsky.social Any idea what this is? In a plankton trawl that I took from my paddleboard in Scottish Borders at the weekend

As usual at this time of year I’ve been enjoying seawatching through the scope - only difference is that it’s the microscope 🔬 this year! Here’s some recent sightings: a Foraminifera, an Arrowworm, a Dinoflagellate - all of these were new Phyla for me…

Nothing of note in the moth trap this morning so went off for a rock pooling session as the tide dropped - and bumped into a Rush Veneer (NFM) Pease Bay, Scottish Borders #teammoth

I was looking at barnacle exuvia through the microscope today when I noticed these (protozoa?) crashing around - wondered whether they are Ebria tripartia- anyone know? #plankton

A few more coelenterates from Pease Bay, Scottish Borders: the first Lion’s Mane Jelly of the year have appeared and the kelp is now covered in the hydrozoan Obelia geniculata. Last few days the sea is full of the small hydroid Leuckartiara octona - a couple of pics to show variation #jellyfish

I was lucky enough to spend some time in Mauritius recently and was snorkeling every day. I’ve seriously have had my mind blown by how many species of fish have different colour forms and how some literally change colour in front of your eyes! I’m going to (slowly) make a thread of some examples…

Want an ID challenge and an under-recorded group? Try aphids! Hack: ID plant, take phone pics, use InfluentialPoints website, request help from @norwichbirder.bsky.social on FB (thanks!…). All these from last week or so: Willowherb Aphid, common Lime Aphid, Italian Alder Aphid and Wooly Beech Aphid

Great snorkeling at Pease Bay in calm sea - four more #coelenterates photographed today: the Northern Comb Jelly, and the hydrozoans Laodicea undulata, Melicertum octocostatum and Tima bairdii. None of the latter is recorded frequently- probably because they are small, transparent and in the sea!

Bordered Straw at Pease Bay, Scottish Borders today @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Some great jellies in Pease Bay at the weekend: here’s Blue Jellyfish, Cross Jellyfish, Sea Gooseberry and the Melon Comb Jelly #coelenterates

In amongst work and life in Penicuik and Edinburgh yesterday I bumped into five new micromoths yesterday- including these four: Yellow-barred Gold, Strawberry Cutter, Firethorn Leafminer and Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner. The other was the Fern Moth Psychoides filicivora. What a day! #teammoth

Given that I found this at the edge of a stand of Hazel this evening, I’m guessing that this is the Hazel Leaf-miner Phyllonorycter nicellii… #teammoth Penicuik, Midlothian

Pretty pleased to see this Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn beetle at Pease Bay today- only a very small number of Scottish records of this species AFAIK

Some fantastic birding this afternoon in the Moorfoots - my first decent views of Ring Ouzels, Wheatears and Cuckoo this year #MidlothianBirds