A placid Belted Galloway being combed and plucked by a jackdaw for nesting materials. #birds #springwatch #beltedgalloway #boxmoortrust #cows

My flower painting 🌹

The humble wood pigeon - I wanted him to pose with his pink plumage against the purple foliage but would he play ball 🙄😍 but I had fun practicing with a very ancient tripod - it definitely helps with the full zoomy #birds #birdphotography #woodpigeon

Spring flowers are stunning when they first emerge. This is Herb Robert in all his freshness - Geranium robertianum #springflowers #herbrobert #flowers #wildflowers

I always come late to the party for #wildflowerhour but here are my #woodlandplants Lovely #bluebells in Whippendell woods near Watford #herts

#swanday set by @robcrank68.bsky.social I love the swans at this time of year. This guy had just come belting down the canal after seeing off an interloper - he’s just settling down here with a shake and ruffle of all his feathers. #birdwatching #swan #olympusOMD

The #birdoftheday theme today chosen by @robcrank68.bsky.social is #blackheads I have a pair of black headed gulls- resplendent in their summer plumage. #birds #cassioburypark

@btobirds.bsky.social I’m currently near Cassiobury Park Watford on the grand union canal in my boat and Cetti’s warbler is singing repeatedly (it’s 5.10am or so - it doesn’t sing so much in the daylight) #birdwatching #cettiswarbler #grandunioncanal

Beautiful song thrush - it’s a bit heavily cropped . I was getting closer and not spooking him but then a cheery, noisy family turned up and the thrush took fright #birdwatching #songthrush

@robcrank68.bsky.social theme for today’s photo is #bestofthemonth - I can’t compete with the incredible captures that I love seeing on here but I am pleased with today’s #mandarinduck as you can zoom in and see the truly incredible colours and feathers

I need a fungi expert. I found this parasol? Growing on a heap of leaves and clippings by a golf course near Watford. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Can someone tell me what is going on as it’s entirely the wrong season for this mushroom. Please share to any experts in this field #mushroom #fungi

@lesserspotnet.bsky.social Merlin tells me that I heard a lesser spotted woodpecker this morning in the woods adjacent to the canal at cassiobury park, Watford. I shall be here for nearly 2weeks on my boat and it will now be my daily mission to spot one. #birdwatching

Today’s #birdoftheday from @robcrank68.bsky.social is #adulswithchicks. I have a swan with her cygnets, a Great Crested Grebe and juvenile, a Gannet and her spotty chick perched precariously on a cliff in Scotland and a mandarin duck and her brood #birds #birdphotography #nature

Funny ducks. A Mandarin drake hiding in a willow tree. Mrs. Mallard on the gunwale asking for food and a mallard sitting on the ridge of a roof. # birds #ducks #birdwatching

This just shows how very small Little Grebes are. The moorhen proceeded to see it off 🙄 #birds #birdwatching #grandunioncanal #littlegrebe

What species of Kniphofia is this please - flowering in February in a large tub outside a pub in Berkhamsted. #flower #gardeningquestion #kniphofia

My morning visitor outside my boat. I think this is probably a Canada/Greylag goose hybrid but I would be grateful if someone could confirm this. Currently moored in Hertfordshire #addbirder #birdwatching #hertsbirds #goose

What a show from @dominiehooper.bsky.social last night at Gullivers. Absolutely incredible. I was already a big fan of the album, but seeing it performed live in that way just absolutely elevated it. Amazing.

The #BirdofTheDay alt theme is #blackandwhite set by @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social I have a male goldeneye duck and some guillemots - one with the bridle eye marking, something I only recently learned about #birds #birdwatching

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bird fly by and when I looked it was a female kingfisher on our mooring lines. Grabbed phone for a photo through the Perspex door. Really cheered up my rainy day stuck in the boat. #hertsbirds #kingfisher #birds #birdoftheday #birdwatching

My #favouriteofthemonth for #birdoftheday has to be a wobbly distance shot of 5 Tundra bean geese. It was on New Year’s Day and a lifer for me - I was soooo excited. Near Tring. #tundrabeangoose #birds

If Dominie is playing anywhere near you, then you should definitely go. "In This Body Lives" is one of my favourite records of 2025, and the launch gig at the Drewe Arms was genuinely one of my live music highlights of the year too.

Tour starts on Wednesday! Dates & Tix here - dominiehooper.com/live

Bristol last night 💥

Last night in Margate 🖤 Touring now: dominiehooper.com/live

‘No Name’ by @dominiehooper.bsky.social spectralnights.com/2026/01/26/d...

My first trip to the Petworth sessions last night & a great show from @dominiehooper.bsky.social for her #InThisBodyLives album tour. An excellent set from beginning to end plus a lovely opening set from #RubyTaylor made it a very enjoyable evening all round. 🎸🎶🙂 #LiveMusic #SupportLiveMusic

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a musician put as much of herself into a gig as @dominiehooper.bsky.social at The New Adelphi in Hull tonight. If the audience were quiet after a couple of the songs it was because they were stunned. Just “Wow!“

Leaving the @dominiehooper.bsky.social gig on a real high. Just the most wonderful singer with wonderful songs. And her bass player Twm is from my hometown! Madness.

As in Bristol, so in Hull. I fully endorse this review of a Dominie Hooper gig - particularly the frequency of the use of the word ‘Wow’. www.bristol247.com/culture/musi...

I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free

The #BirdOfTheDay theme is #eyecontact. I have this lovely duck - a male silver Carolina duck. I photographed him somewhere on or near the River Lee navigation. Near Waltham Abbey but I can’t pinpoint exactly where - foggy brain 🙄

I’m a day late but #BirdOfTheDay yesterday set by @robcrank68.bsky.social is #paddling I have and Egyptian goose #birds

The theme for #BirdOfTheDay is #swans . We see so many swans as we go up and down the canals. They are really beautiful birds. First photo is cygnets getting a lift on mum and second photo is more grown up cygnets being like Mum and Dad 😆 #birds

www.instagram.com/reel/DTxB559... Dominie Hooper is on tour - kicking off tonight in Bristol - it’s going to be amazing @dominiehooper.bsky.social #livemusic #newmusic

www.instagram.com/reel/DTxB559... Dominie Hooper is on tour - kicking off tonight in Bristol - it’s going to be amazing @dominiehooper.bsky.social #livemusic #newmusic

Moored up the boat and just as the light was fading we were lucky enough to see this dear #littegrebe We are beginning to see them on the canal now - we never used to. #hertsbirds #boxmoortoplock #birds

My #BirdOfTheDay #TwoOfAKind are guillemot, great crested Grebe, 2 Gannets and their chicks and two king fishers - how lovely this occupation is - to look back through one’s photos and see other people’s wonderful captures too #birds

Oh it’s #SquirrelSaturday I saw my first red squirrels last year in Scotland - I felt unbelievably emotional at the sight of them. Unfortunately I didn’t have my camera with me. But here are a couple of greys in Devon

I doubt I shall add to this list today as it’s foggy and wet here in Berkhamsted. Moving the boats to a new location tomorrow 🤩 #birds #birdwatching #birdlist

A tiny bird with a big song - #SmallBirdSaturday #wren #birds

A beautiful pair of kingfishers on our mooring lines #perfectperch #BirdOfTheDay

I have another #BirdOfTheDay for #LongBeaks a lovely Great White Egret #birds

Today’s #birdOfTheDay theme is #LongBeaks set by @robcrank68.bsky.social I have a gannet and a little Egret #birds

The government sits and watches as Heba dies. It's heartbreaking, horrible, almost impossible to compute. Didn't people vote in the hope (however forlorn) of ending the Tories' psychopathic mode of government? Yet on it goes, under Keir Starmer. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Very pleased to see a male and female Redpoll feeding in a birch tree in Kitchener’s Bowls Club carpark in Berkhamsted #birds @hertsbirds.bsky.social #redpoll

So excited to see my first Tundra Bean Geese today. In a field next to the Wendover canal arm at Bulbourne. Also a Great white Egret on Tringford reservoir. Other goodies included Marsh Tit, chiffchaff and Goldcrest. #birds #birdwatching #beangoose

It's Boxing Day, but if you're heading to a Hunt Parade, then it's no better than being a fox hunter. Skip the parade or join the protest against them.

Happy Winter Solstice, where we celebrate the returning of the light, on the shortest day and longest night. On the solstice, when the land feels closest to its oldest stories, we’re reminded how much of England’s past remains out of reach.