Sir Ian McKellen performing a monologue from Shakespeare’s Sir Thomas More on the Stephen Colbert show. Never have I heard this monologue performed with such a keen sense of prescience. Nor have I ever been in this exact historical moment.TY Sir Ian, for reaching us once again. #Pinks #ProudBlue

Bit of Wood Mouse action at North Cave Wetlands today. #woodmouse #mammals #rodents #mammalwatching

Time this one did the rounds again I guess… youtu.be/jSQ5fsW-MbE?... #ICE #abolishICE #Minneapolis #Trump #BeccaGood #uspolitics

The Ring-necked #Duck at Straws Bridge (Ilkeston) at close range today, livening up a slushy kind of day. Visible even before getting out of the car - luxury! @derbyshirebirds.bsky.social #derbyshire #birds #birding

We have to listen to bigoted handwringing about how we have to abandon trans people and marginalized communities and immigrants while the clearest election winning message is right there.

Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door. This is who it was:

Cheeky Sunday lifer in the fog at Rutland Water - my first Baird's Sandpiper. #birds #birding #wildlife #rutland

Last 3 months I can't get near the #Yorkshire coast without running into #dolphins. Been regularly visiting this stretch for over 10 years on shore and by boat and never seen them before. Porpoises, often. Minke Whales twice. But not the dolphins. Now - can't escape them! #wildlife #mammalwatching

How is this repeatedly made into a policy issue - by *all* parties - when the blunt fact of the matter is that grown adults who are obliged to pay for their own education, and relentlessly pursued to repay their loans, should be able to study whatever the fuck they want.

A slow day for migrants at Flamborough and Bempton yesterday but amply counteracted by the antics of the local 'regulars'. Pictured are Grey Seal, Common Bottlenose Dolphin, and Northern Gannet. #wildlife #mammalwatching #birding #birds #seals #dolphins #Yorkshire

What Reform are promising is abhorrent, as is the fact that we’re at a point that a mainstream political party in the UK could even consider it as a policy position, as is the fact that Labour are seemingly only arguing against the fact that the sums don’t add up

Excellent treat today before the rains came - the juvenile Eurasian Dotterel near Fox House. #birds #birding #derbyshire #wildlife @derbyshirebirds.bsky.social

NOTHING will prepare you for this 45-second story arc. From "I'm just doing this because I love the flag, it's totally grassroots, and I'm not part of anything political"... to who actually gave him the flags the night before. Anyone who believes it is an innocent movement needs to see this.

Question to Zach Polanski at the leadership announcement: "Q: How can you take on Nigel Farage when your policy on immigration is so different?" Everything wrong with British politics and media summed up so succinctly in a single absolutely unhinged question.

Full day of #Anglesey #mammalwatching today - European Red Squirrel and Risso's Dolphin the targets and both lovely and showy. #dolphins #squirrels #mammals #ynysmon

Posted a thing

Furthest I've been: S: OR Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg E: Near Mt. Kinabalu, Sabah W: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco N:... The public toilets by the station car park in Lossiemouth...

Farewell to the brilliant Tom Lehrer. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/27/a...

Check out Goodnight Sweetheart: Many Happy Returns by Idiot Box Books on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/idi...

"I asked ChatGPT" "I asked Grok" ok well I asked Gandalf and he said he has not passed through fire and death to bandy crooked words with a witless worm

The non-animally parts of a glorious Easter weekend in #Czechia across Prague and Pilsen. The Easter markets were a great surprise and an excellent place to stock up on green beer and sausages.

Former Supreme Court judge Lord Sumption explains why @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social has got it completely wrong when she says trans women must be placed in danger by using the men's toilets.

This is kind of important: he is saying the law allows you to be a bigot, but it doesn't require you to be. Anyone, including the government, who chooses, say, to stop trans women using female toilets is doing so because they want to, not because they are forced to.

The people who don't or can't experience empathy, who say empathy is a "woke virus" spreading in other people's minds, are like color-blind people declaring that the colors red and green don't exist and people who "believe" are crazy. And then tearing apart the world to take out the "fake" colors.

Photographically confirmed sighting of the New Britain Goshawk Tachyspiza princeps | afo.birdlife.org.au/... | Australian Field Ornithology | #ornithology 🪶

We can upload 3 minute videos now. YOU KNOW THE RULE

The biggest reason why I dislike the idea of respectability in dress is because it conflates the *appearance* of virtue with *actual* virtue. Wearing a suit doesn't make you respectful, intelligent, or capable, just as wearing a leather jacket doesn't make you rugged.

So close! DNA is the DNA of life.

Word of the Day is ‘quockerwodger’ (19th century): a puppet individual whose strings are pulled entirely by someone else.

"It was found that 85% of the tracked dogs were walked off-lead in the breeding season despite signage requesting owners not to let their pets run free due to ground-nesting birds. At Snelsmore Common, Berkshire, more than 90% of the site was disturbed by dogs, reducing its conservation value"

And I do think loneliness is responsible for more of the poor public mood than we give credit for - particularly among the young, and it's impact goes beyond individual mental health. So there is probably a social good from in person working beyond debates about productivity.

But the biggest reason i've shifted is because of the charts above, WFH has accelerated the retreat from social spaces, it's hard to make meaningful connections with your colleagues over Teams, Zoom team building just isn't as fun. Greater isolation is bad for social bonds.

🧵This from @jburnmurdoch.bsky.social links to probably biggest thing I've changed my mind on in last 5 years: the merits of working (or study) from home. Initially in post pandemic rows on it I tended to think loud critics of WFH were opening another culture war front & many did frame it that way!

Can a headline alone be eligible for a Pulitzer?

A very pleasant wintry day at Yorkshire Wildlife Park today, in which I encountered a (wild) Stoat, and found that Polar Bears are less confident on the ice than Maned Wolves are, when it comes to it. #zoo #wildlife #mammals #mammalwatching

It's nearly time to reveal my Quote Of The Year 🥳 In preparation, here's last year's one: a corker, from The Guardian 🤣

One last batch of photos from #India, and it's the very last 'new' mammal of the trip. Dhole! A pack of four at a point in the reserve where it is crossed by a former public road, hence the tarmac surface..! #mammals #mammalwatching #wildlife #dogs #Nagarahole @naturetrek.bsky.social

Some #India arthropod action today - Indian Wanderer, Nephila pilipes orb-weaver, Giant Pill Millipede (Arthrosphaera sp.), and Indian Ornamental Spider. #spiders #insects #millipedes #butterflies #wildlife #Nagarahole @naturetrek.bsky.social

Ante-penultimate #India post. Today it's #lizards, and a toad that visited us at dinner - Bengal Monitor, Asian House Gecko, Keeled Grass Skink, and Black-spined Toad. We did see one snake as well, an Oriental Ratsnake, but photo, not so much..! #wildlife #Nagarhole @naturetrek.bsky.social

I'll be selective with the birds of #India but about 150 species over the eight days with some real gems. Pictured are White-throated Kingfisher, Malabar Pied Hornbills, White-cheeked Barbet, and Plum-headed and Blue-winged Parakeets. #birds #birding #wildlife #Nagarahole @naturetrek.bsky.social

A few Indian small-and-furry jobs. Two mongooses (Stripe-necked and Ruddy - we also saw Indian Grey) and two squirrels (Jungle Striped and Indian Giant). #mammals #mammalwatching #wildlife #Nagarahole #India @naturetrek.bsky.social

Back to India photos; a few of the raptors of #Nagarahole - White-rumped Vultures, Changeable Hawk-eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Crested Serpent Eagle. #birds #birding #India #wildlife @naturetrek.bsky.social

At last! On a damp and breezy Filey lunchtime, one of my longest-standing avian nemeses has yielded..! #littleauk #birds #birding

Oh, go on. We'll have some more big cat action. A lazy Indian Leopard and some more of the two Bengal Tigers we saw. Three great cat sightings! #leopard #tiger #bigcats #India #Nagarahole #wildlife #mammalwatching @naturetrek.bsky.social

Axis/Chital/Spotted Deer were ubiquitous in #Nagarahole - it was unusual to go 10min without a sighting. Sambar rarer, but still almost-daily. We also saw a Malabar Red Muntjac, but it didn't hang around to be photo'd..! #wildlife #deer #India #mammals #mammalwatching @naturetrek.bsky.social

Some of the larger avian delights of #Nagarahole - Indian Peafowl, Painted Stork, Grey Junglefowl, and Red-naped Ibis. #birds #birding #wildlife #India @naturetrek.bsky.social

Two monkeys and some lovely big bats from #Nagarahole, #India today - Black-footed Grey Langur, Bonnet Macaque, and Indian Flying Foxes. #bats #monkeys #primates #mammals #mammalwatching #wildlife Thanks to @naturetrek.bsky.social once again!

Today's dose of #Nagarahole in #India comes in the form of the mighty Gaur, the world's largest wild cattle (and as such largest bovid of any kind). Also a bonus boar! #mammals #mammalwatching #wildboar #gaur #wildlife @naturetrek.bsky.social

An assortment of Asian Elephants from #Nagarahole in India with @naturetrek.bsky.social - really good views of these, and good numbers of calves are nice to see. #mammals #mammalwatching #elephants #wildlife