Both the Red-spotted and White-spotted races of Bluethroat try to breed in the UK occasionally but breeding has only been confirmed on five occasions, in 1968, 85, 95, 2016 (Red-spotted) and 1996 (White-spotted). There were single possible breeding records of both in 2023 #ukbirding #ornithology

Another species returning to breed in 2023 was Temminck's Stint; a pair laid a clutch of four eggs in Highland, although the nest was later flooded out. This tiny wader bred regularly in the 1970s, 80s and 90s, but this was the first confirmed breeding since 1997 #ornithology #BirdingScotland

In @elife.bsky.social: Sox9 prevents retinal degeneration and is required for limbal stem cell differentiation in the adult mouse eye doi.org/10.7554/eLif...

Coming through! Important ptarmigan stuff to do! #birds 🌿

It's happening #fieldsofthenephilim

8 year anniversary of my best ever but sadly ignored tweet

At a fancy-pants conference where everyone's a professor and let me tell you the timetable is not holding up well.

There really is a Half Man Half Biscuit song for every occasion. spotify.link/XyMqMeeQCXb

The sound of October.

I can never tell if Eiders are really interested in what I say, or whether they're just being sarcastic.

Behold, a Lindisfarne Helleborine in all its October glory.

Blimey you don't bump into these every day

So many treats offshore today, including a Merlin chasing incoming passerine over the sea, juv Sabine's Gull, Little Gull, Whooper Swans and Barnacle Geese, and patch-rarest of all, 3 Shelducks going south.

Thank you to everyone who continues to contribute to our fundraiser. Recent greatest hits from samples sent in by ringers and birders for ID include an Atlas Flycatcher in Spain, and a Ménétries's Warbler in Poland! www.justgiving.com/fundraising/...

Top birds for yesterday were Treecreeper and (honorary bird) Minke Whale - both less than annual in Newtonhill despite no lack of trees or sea.

Is it just me or is beer getting sillier?

10,000 have joined us as paid-up members! Some people have experienced issues due to such high traffic! It is a safe and secure platform so please keep trying: www.yourparty-membership.uk

48 years ago, on the 18th of September 1977, space probe Voyager I took the first long distance photograph of earth and the moon together from 7.25 million miles (11.66 million kilometres) away. #otd #history #space 🗃️

My first Pinkies of the autumn flying south out at sea. Still quite a few Little Gulls in this corner of the North Sea too.

The @nhmdk.bsky.social is offering a #PhD position in collections-based taxonomic or similar research, ideally focused on 'dark taxa' occurring in Denmark. The call is a broad one. Get in touch with a relevant curator if you're interested! 🧪🐝🪰💐🪱 candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationI...

Persistent SW winds have churned up the sea off Newtonhill and I've been getting flocks of feeding Common and Arctic Terns with Little Gulls - 60 LG yesterday and 25 today. Not massive numbers but prob more than I've had on the patches in last 20+ years.

The sea looked very quiet this afternoon, and indeed there weren't many burbs around, but 2 Sabine's Gulls were among them. Top Gullage.

C'mon Celtic, it's time #Bamford #patrickbamford #celtic #lufc #coybig #cfc

Ménétries's Warbler in Poland this spring. DNA work by @tessaroo.bsky.social

Hey bsky friends, I need your help! I've made a GoFundMe for top surgery, which I ideally want to do early next year (funds allowing). Because I'm only able to work part-time due to disability and PhD, any little bit helps towards this goal. Please share far and wide! gofund.me/639f4a03

No Gannt Chart survives first contact with the project.

Who are these people that play pianos left in public spaces? What do they want? Why don't they leave air guitars in public spaces. I could get behind that.

Such a treat when 2 skeins of Canada Geese, 135 birds total, flew along the coast going north. Not common at all here. Birders with normal local patches might not relate 😄

The haar made seawatching a challenge this evening but saw a Sooty Shearwater and a great Skua plucking a Kittiwake out of the air and drowning the poor sod.

Bit of juvenile/ swee-oo Common Chiffchaff action in the garden this morning.

Join us as Assistant #Curator of Vertebrates @ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿NMS! Large collections of #birds & #mammals + very active specimen prep = cool place! The ad doesn't say, but I say there's a good chance of prolongation beyond 1y. Hurry up and apply/spread the word: careers.nms.ac.uk/job/748553! 🪶🧪 #museumjobs #job

Evolution’s eye game is wild, but mollusks take it to another level CRISPR in apple snails gives us a new model to dissect how nature rebuilds complex organs like the camera-type eyes we humans possess It turns out Evolution doesn’t just innovate, it rewinds, remixes, & regenerates rdcu.be/ezw0t

REVIVE - the coalition for grouse moor reform, has joined Bluesky! Please give them a follow: @revivecoalition.bsky.social

~10 White-beaked Dolphins offshore at Newtonhill this evening. 60 Manxies in 2 hours but no Sooties.

This is what environmental injustice looks like. But it’s also social injustice. www.standard.co.uk/comment/heat... #Heathrow #HeathrowExpansion @zackpolanski.bsky.social once again hitting the nail on the head.

My first 3 Sooty Shearwaters of the year past Newtonhill this evening. Autumn is on.

An English phrase for describing two things (or people) that are completely different is “like chalk and cheese.” A similar phrase in Czech is jako nebe a dudy. It means “like heaven and bagpipes.”

We hosted a wasp at our lab picnic that helped itself to a bit of chicken.

Thanks to Starmer and Labour Friends of Israel. Absolutely ridiculous. This needs repealing immediately.

Labbie Alaa Alshwayyat did a science and is presenting it to the Anatomical Society. We are studying the vascular problems that occur in spinal muscular atrophy, a very nasty disease #spinalmuscularatrophy #sma 🧪

Modelling migration of cells that regenerate the eye's cornea 📷 made with @leicamicrosystems.bsky.social by Kaja Kostanjevec et al @docmartin2mc.bsky.social @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social, Henkes lab @unileiden.bsky.social in @elife.bsky.social ➡️ bpod.org.uk/archive/2025... with John Ankers

Tony Marr 1939-2025: a fine birder who invested time into maintaining the structures which support birding, ornithology & conservation. Blog: markavery.info/2025/07/11/t... #sussex @bou.org.uk @rspb.bsky.social @britishbirds.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social @scottishbirding.bsky.social

I was saddened to hear Tony Marr had passed away. A lovely man & a real gentleman. I got to know him while surveying on the island of Lewis. He was a real contributor & will be greatly missed by those who were lucky to know him. I am sure much more will be written about his many achievements. 🌟

Mosses have a complicated breeding system... the gametes swim through the damp substrate and when they combine the baby moss stays with its parents for several months. #science

There's news on the Nechisar nightjar (Caprimulgus solala), named for a single wing found in Ethiopia in 1990. DNA analysis - as yet unpublished - shows that it's a previously unreported thing among Old World nightjars... a hybrid! www.aba.org/has-the-nech... #ornithology #birds #nightjars

Tree Bumblebees have gone from 'OMG a Tree Bumblebee' to nesting in our old toilet outflow in 3 years.

Seven-spot Ladybird sat next to the exuvia it presumably recently emerged from. And I only just noticed the weird spider, if anyone fancies telling me what it is...

The unedifying spectacle of four Herring Gulls tearing apart a chick. The Herring Gull floofs are more advanced so this may be a Kittiwake, example on right

Ka-chowww!!! One of two Northern Brown Argus along the clifftops at Newtonhill. My first here for about 10 years.