Sunday book review: Wildlife of Middlewick Ranges Publisher: Colchester NHS Review: markavery.info/2026/05/17/s... Middlewick Ranges qualifies as an SSSI yet is not being progressed for designation by @naturalengland.bsky.social. Great book - failure of state nature conservation! #colchester

Sunday book review: Whale by @ashadevos.bsky.social Publisher: @princetonupress.bsky.social Review: markavery.info/2026/05/17/s... 'This book tells the reader a lot about whales - I enjoyed it greatly' #whales #dolphins #porpoises #biology #evolution #marine #conservation

Sunday book review: Future Rural, a volume to celebrate @cprecountryside.bsky.social centenary. Review: markavery.info/2026/05/03/s... Publisher: @littletollerbooks.bsky.social A compilation of essays - some appealed to me more than others. Overall - stimulating and thought-provoking!

continuing with my kingfisher drawing 💠✍🏻

'After the Rain' Artist- Josef Stoitzner (1884–1951)

Exmoor's eagles - my thoughts markavery.info/2026/05/16/e... @forestryengland.bsky.social @naturalengland.bsky.social @lundybirds.bsky.social @exmoornp.bsky.social

Reposting this ⬇️ because of this www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Song Thrush "on point" by the Keills, Argyll

Tonight’s moth du jour is a male Ambiguous Moth, one of the “litter moths” in the family Erebidae. Our Leavenworth, Kansas, USA front porch light. #bugsky #moths #mothing #insects

Review of the Week: 5-10 May 2026 Arrivals of Temminck's Stint and Red-footed Falcon joined a suite of overshooting rarities for an exciting spring period. Sam Viles reports:

Brown Argus Aricia agestis, two of them at Miltor Mator, Ipplepen today, also seen: Swollen-thighed Beetle Oedemera nobilis on buttercup and Dropwort Filipendula vulgaris one of the prettiest of spring flowers and a favourite of mine.

A new survey conducted by Animal Justice Project shows that 57% of 50 surveyed cafés in the UK are open to the idea of making oat milk their default milk. ☕️🌱 https://veganfta.com/articles/2026/05/10/uk-cafes-open-to-default-oat-milk-following-new-survey/ #oatmilk #plantbased #plantmilk

'Generally' Orange-tip females lay a single egg per flowerhead on Alliaria petiolata (Hedge Garlic) so we thought this one with 4 eggs & 2 larvae was unusual. Other plants in same patch also had more than 1 ovum per flowerhead. With the aphids there as well it'll soon be v crowded! #orangetip

The chives are looking beautiful in the garden this week. They’re such a good value herb - for your salads, and the bees’ snacks! #Flowers #Nature

Hare-brained musings of a grass connoisseur: 'Damned fine-tasting May meadow grass'... #Hares #NaturePhotography

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

The Blackbirds of this small woodland shelterbelt have given up a large % of their to time alarm-calling in recent days. It was nice to finally see the focus of the objector's attentions - 2 well-feathered young Tawny Owls - what immaculate plumage they both had. #Owls @staldhelmsbirder.bsky.social

Female nightjar at St Mary's Island Wetland this pm. Just the best birds... #nebirding

Liberal England: More improvements planned for the River Welland through Welland Park, Market Harborough

Essex man charged with various offences relating to illegal theft & trade of wild birds' eggs raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/05/15/e...

Insect of a dull day was this Helophilius pendulas, 'The Footballer' due to it's stripy thorax, or sometimes the 'Sunfly' (but not so much today!)

ANOTHER NEW BLOG! A quick guide to what information to submit to make your birding records as valuable as possible rbbp.org.uk/2026/05/15/w...

Here is a nice mushroom

I just saw the first hummingbird of the season!! With bad news coming at us from every angle, it’s nice to experience a simple moment of joy! ☺️💚🥰❤️

Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi nectaring on Sheep's Bit, Rickham Common, Gara Rock south Devon yesterday

Eastern meadowlarks usually best me when I try to get good photos of them. Today was different.❤️ #birds #photographer #birdsofbluesky

American Golden Plover from Warren Gate #spurnbirds @rarebirder.bsky.social

Tree of the Day … Hearts v Celtic everywhere you look!!

Stork releases and a changing @naturalengland.bsky.social view. Should Knepp be an SSSI? Thoughts markavery.info/2026/05/15/n... 📷 Oscar Dewhurst markavery.info/2014/03/30/o...

I’m an admirer of David Blunkett and agree with much of what he says here but it is a typical Labour view of the world which doesn’t even give wildlife a mention. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Consultation on bird shooting seasons closes on Sunday (presumably midnight). It's important that the thrust of proposals for E, W & S) are supported and if possible strengthened through your comments. Advice here markavery.info/2026/04/21/h...

Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, (along Maligne Lake Road)🇨🇦 nationalpost.com/video/d2114a...

Ivy Broomrape, Orobanche hederae. In a known location just off Barrack Street in Norwich. #WildFlowerHour

William Hawkins (1895-1990) American Artist

New for the year this afternoon was a tiny garden visitor, Glyphipterix simpliciella (Cocksfoot Moth). This one is a fan of buttercup flowers, little tiny black-looking dots pepper the buttery petals. A gorgeous micro. @linnetincley.bsky.social #cleymothobs #norfolkmoths #teammoth

Just for the locals that might have been so numbed by recent migration inaction that they're still in bed - there's been a bit of an arrival this morning with multiples of plenty of routine late arrivals

St. John’s-worts, Hypericums: Opposite leaves. 5 yellow petals. Numerous stamens. Features to look for: Stem: round, square, raised lines, smooth, downy Leaves: translucent glands, black glandular dots Petals: black streaks, length related to sepals Sepals: blunt, pointed

Turns out, if you stop tearing up the seabed, wildlife thrives: ten years after banning bottom trawl fishing, there are 3 times the number of sea creatures + double the number of species in the South Arran MPA, Scotland, than there were before the ban 👏🦪🐟 share.google/2M5WqP3CXwSH...

One of my current local target species is the Sapling Sycamore Aphid, Drepanosiphum acerinum. As a result, I have been checking quite a lot of Sycamores, Field Maple etc. so have started to see quite a few other (mostly common) species associated with Acer, including lots of Periphyllus acericola.

YESSSSSS

Early Purple Orchis, Cuckoo-Pint, Wood Sorrel Artists: Edith Hilder, Rowland Hilder

Interesting. I've seen this site a decade ago. Horrendous number of badly-sited turbines on a raptor migration route. Not surprisingly it was used by climate deniers & genuine wildlife conservationists to question value of windfarms - or at least the balance of costs benefits. This may be better...

Imagine the monarch being forced to read out of a Reform/Tory govt's Kings speech: "My government will continue to wilfully ignore all scientific evidence relating to climate change..."

Speeding up airport expansion and making it easier to build new roads. Sounds like the Prime Minister has forgotten we are in a climate and nature crisis. If he ever believed it. #KingsSpeech2026

Japanese Bindweed (Calystegia hederacea) shot the day before yesterday in Whitman. #Bloomscrolling #Flowers #JapaneseBindweed

Oxford museum sees 47% decline in swift numbers www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Our wars do not just kill humans...

Households to be given £15bn in grants and loans for solar panels, heat pumps and batteries to help lower bills under new legislation to boost energy resilience in the UK, and create a new Warm Homes Agency to oversee energy electrification. Richard Vaughan | The iPaper. buff.ly/2r9yx1t

Lynx had got extinct in France but following reintroductions in Switzerland in 1974, there's now a population of 200 animals, deemed too small for viability. Reintroductions are planned “to preserve this iconic species, working with local authorities to create conditions for sustainable coexistence”