Today's amazing bird, seen in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, is the quetzal. It was associated in pre-Columbian civilisations with Quetzalcoatl, the bird-snake god of life, knowledge and the winds. Killing one was forbidden so they were trapped and then released for their tail feathers. #Birds

Best shot so far from our Costa Rica trip. All thanks to our guide's spotter scope and his ability to take pictures from it with my phone. A Golden-browed Chlorophonia in the Monteverde cloud forest.

A Golden-browed Chlorophonia, spotted by us today in the cloud forests of Monteverde, Costa Rica #BirdOfTheDay #BranchBirds

Louise V Durham, stained glass and driftwood sculpture, Shoreham by Sea, UK #WomensArt

Jancis revels in the glorious 2025 Loire vintage and her tasting of dry whites identifies some excellent 2024s, too. https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/loire-regains-its-gloire 📷 Emeline Boileau. #jancisrobinson #winereviews #loirewines @ft_weekend @vinsdeloire.officiel

Zone Rouge: An Area of France So Badly Damaged By WW1 That People Are Still Forbidden To Live There More about it: brilliantmaps.com/zone-rouge/

As if things weren’t bad enough …

1938!!! (Alfa Romeo gran turismo)

An interview recorded on the day Christians celebrate the conversion of St Paul on the road to Damascus.

Everything is shit. The mate of the Barnes swan, who every year faithfully raises her cygnets in and around the pond, has died. Most likely cause, avian flu. www.instagram.com/p/DT7WhKoCOl...

If you can, please donate to this important work to keep the memory of Ada alive, and also support a new generation of women in STEM.

Have you visited Paris and wondered where the water which gushes down the streets every morning, pushing dog poo into the drains, comes from? Answer: 19th C reservoirs, built on a hill just steps from the Arc de Triomphe. Water stored from the Seine uses gravity to clean streets and power fountains.

Wondered why rubbish bin in French is 'poubelle'? Today I learned that M. Poubelle, Préfet of the Seine 1883-96, invented the dustbin collection. "7 March 1884 Poubelle decreed: owners of buildings must provide residents with 3 covered containers of 40 to 120 litres to hold household refuse." 1/2

The Little Terns at Beacon Ponds have made a remarkable recovery, but they need urgent help to thrive in 2026. Your support can fund a professional warden, ensuring these birds are protected from threats. Please share and contribute if you can! gofund.me/83bf3bdd8

Fabulous XK140 (I think) parked up by La Rotonde de la Muette #16ème #Jaguar

Some sun in Paris today, and the hyacinths are blooming in the warmth.

We wrote a guide to Japanese politics a few months back which, I guess, we'll now have to wad up into a ball and toss off the balcony. Until we rewrite it, however, you can use it to get a good handle on who's who and how things *used* to be: buff.ly/oipZ00v

What??? And also, what next? 🥺

Yokojiro (mascot for the town of Ochi, in Kochi Prefecture) is a Japanese white-eye bird with a cedar tree on his chest and a hat shaped like the local mountain. The flower in his teeth is a gift for his wife.

Well played, Transport for London

The answer is: More peregrines!

My son, Indy, is doing another epic fundraising walk for Ukrainian refugees via @ukforunhcr.bsky.social. He is walking the 102-mile Cotswold Way in the depths of winter, photographing the Ukrainian flag in the changing landscape as he goes. He's already begun & will post updates regularly.

Pakistani-born British ceramist Halima Cassell, known for her deeply carved, contoured sculptural vessels #womensart

Oh my, this takes me back. Mum had the all-white version. I always worried that the blades would spring out as Dad was carving the roast and cause, well, a bit of a mess.

Too late to start a Christmas Bakes thread? Here's Buches de Noel, Pompadour Patisserie Paris 16éme.

So glad this has migrated from X. One of the best bits of social media.

What happens in Paris on Christmas Eve? Everyone goes food shopping. Oysters, capons, cheese, clementines, and mini buches de Noel.

"London’s restaurant scene is no longer organised by taste alone." Fantastic analysis.

Small dog is all of us on metro Line 9 this evening #crushhour

Brilliant!!

We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.

I. Hate. Chronopost. Yet again: "Commentaire : Point de retrait initialement choisi indisponible. Adresse du nouveau point communiquée (par mail ou SMS) dès la mise à disposition du colis." Which will be a couple of kilometres further away than the pickup point I originally chose.

Autumnal view from the study ....

Minority representation on TV causes outrage From the new Private Eye, in shops now.

Feminist cultural criticism - I’m in.

Hi, if you have fake halloween cobweb outside, please take it down. It's nightmare for birds who get entangled and die. The cases even coming at the hedgehog rescues with hogs getting so entangled it's causing terrible wounds & in one case toe amputations. Please, please keep it indoors 🙏

err ... #NoThanks

www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/at-gails-w... (free to read)

This was my favourite Citroen DS from the 70th anniversary rally yesterday. And yes, those are confused tourists milling aorund outside the Louvre yesterday morning. We were all kicked out, after they discovered the theft, just in time to see the rally. Interspersed with police motorbikes. #Louvre

The BBC are accidentally running the subtitles to Mrs Marple over the Mercury Prize, and it’s rather wonderful. A few of lines could plausibly have been written by Jarvis.

I love using Merlin. It heard (though I couldn’t see) a short-toed treecreeper in the Jardins de Ranelagh yesterday. But I had no idea it was so useful to scientists.

End of week peaceful timeline cleanse.

HEY! I'm trying to raise money to send as many books as I can to a new Mobile Library being set up to support homeless people. It's being organised by Cee, founder of London based charity "PINT Giving". I'm donating £100, but if you can help too, i'd be really grateful. tinyurl.com/37yn63zu

We have to consider who are the stifled people and who are the stiflers before we can be sure of our ground.

I agree! My father-in-law loves their cotton night shirts. Their pyjamas for women are fun, comfy and good value. And their @britishboxers.bsky.social men’s dressing gown was in Saltburn - ooo errr!!😊

More like: “Will the absence of robotaxis confirm to the citizens of Europe that they (generally) have affordable public transport systems, walkable cities and a healthy disregard for stupid ideas?” (Posted by someone who lives a 25 minute walk from the Arc de Triomphe.)

Reading through this, I think there's a lot of similarity with the motivations of Brexit supporters: "Members (of Trump’s base) were expressing their need for status in society and their suspicion of those they believed held power and used it to denigrate them." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...