Next month we will be performing a night of Italian music with a group of great soloists. Please come along if you can. Tickets are now available from Burnley Mechanics Theatre.

Oystercatcher and babies by Discovery Hide at @wwtworldwide.bsky.social Martin Mere today ❤️ #birds

Look, Ma, we’re in the paper!

New music day!

If anybody is in the Burnley area on Sunday, please come along to hear @burnleychoir.bsky.social perform this magnificent work. We are a charity and rely on ticket sales to keep us going. If anybody can share this poster too, that would be greatly appreciated. #music #choir #elgar

Just over a week to go! Grab your tickets online or at the Mechanics theatre box office. We’ve been working our musical socks off and this promises to be a great night!

the fundamental disconnect between the manosphere and reality is that they are incapable of understanding that this is - according to every woman I’ve ever met - the sexiest thing a man has ever done

🚨🌱 The Chancellor is reviewing all public spending from scratch. Please join me in signing the @campaignforthearts.org petition to remind the UK Govt: the arts make our lives happier & our communities stronger. Now is the moment to invest in them. www.campaignforthearts.org/petitions/sp...

The Darwin’s Barberry looking particularly beautiful this morning at Gawthorpe Hall

This evening’s listen. Charles Dickens readings by Prunella Scales and Samuel West. A recording from 1998. It’s as good as you would expect. Both such excellent readers.

We are definitely into ‘chiffchaffs and wrens make it nigh on impossible to hear any other birds’ season. Brockholes was a cacophony of their calls this morning, despite the rain.

They’re back! First proper chiffchaff call of the year for me. At Gawthorpe Hall. #birds

Best ‘unexpected bonus in a second hand book’ I’ve ever had, I think. These were in an old book of Keats poetry which I bought this morning. I wish I had more information.

“Hello. We’d like to talk to you about Geesus.”

Post a pic of when your pet was little. Kono after her first trip out in the rain:

For #TwosDay here are a couple of smooching tree sparrows (Bempton Cliffs 6.3.25) #birds

Is #SeabirdSunday a thing? Whether it is or not, here are some gannets doing their mating dance at Bempton Cliffs last week. #birds

Fluffy tree sparrow - Filey Dams YWT Nature Reserve - 7.3.25 #birds

Hovering kestrel - Filey Brigg 6.3.25 #birds

Gannet - RSPB Bempton Cliffs this morning (4.3.25)

In Bridlington for the week, so naturally have to do my annual pilgrimage to one of the Edward VIII postboxes. This one is on Cliff Street. #postbox #cypher #postboxcypher

Coming up soon…

Two dippers at Yarrow Valley for #twosday #birds

Mr and Mrs Mandarin at Yarrow Valley Country Park Today #birds

Dipper (Cinclus Cinclus) at Yarrow Valley Country Park today. I love these little birds. The white bib, the white eyelids, their bobbing dance. #birds

The mosaics in the Burnley Market Hall stairwell. Like old friends, they’ve always made me smile. I hope they’ll always be there.

Little egret fishing at LWT Brockholes today (9.2.25) #birds

One of my favourite photos I’ve ever taken. Taken two years ago today, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal. A mute swan and it’s reflection. #birds

The Passmore Centre, Borough Road, London. Gorgeous facade. Really grabbed my attention and I had to try and snap a couple of shots of it with my phone. #architecture

Always great to have a good news nature story. A fabulous number of gorgeous marsh harriers at WWT Martin Mere this year!

24 years. How the Hell has it been 24 years? Keith Latham 27.01.1954-26.01.2001.

24 years. How the Hell has it been 24 years? Keith Latham 27.01.1954-26.01.2001.

Did #BigGardenBirdwatch today. I don’t have a garden so I picked a small corner of my local park. Very cold. Hail shower at one point. But worth it as my main sighting was unexpected to say the least - 6 redwings! Also 4 blackbirds, 2 song thrush & 1 of a variety of other birds. @rspb.bsky.social

For #WaderWednesday let’s have one of my favourite birds - the black tailed godwit. (WWT Martin Mere - 19.01.2025) #birds

Got a notification from Royal Mail yesterday that a parcel would be delivered that day… it wasn’t. Today the tracker said the same… I still haven’t received it. Sent as 48 hour. It’s now been nearly a week. It’s not urgent, but it is annoying. Royal Mail is a joke nowadays.

Mr and Mrs Northern Pintail for #twosday #birding (taken at WWT Martin Mere 19.01.25)

Lapwings are such gorgeous birds, with wonderful colours. #birding (WWT Martin Mere 19.01.2025)

Lots of ruff at WWT Martin Mere today. Gorgeous birds. As the sign (at the reserve) says though, they can be highly variable! #birds

Surprising number of Goosander on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal today. #birds

A new rehearsal venue for the choir tonight - St Stephen’s, Burnley Wood.

Stratford-upon-Avon has some great statues and monuments. Here are some covered in frost, and surrounded by fog, on Saturday.

Haven’t had a chance to go birding so far this year, but here are two mute swans in an icy Stratford this weekend for #twosday #birding

New music day! Time to get to grips with The Dream of Gerontius.

Playing Agatha Christie’s Death on the Cards. Bit confusing initially, but it makes sense once you get into it. Would be better with more than two people, but alas that’s all we’ve got. Still, nice to have a game we can play, albeit on a makeshift games table (my tablet balanced on some books).

Weather so far today, in my mad corner of Lancashire - snow, hail, sleet, rain, and also blue skies and sunshine. Mad weather.

If you get the chance to hear my old college mate sing, you won’t regret it. We sang together in The Magic Flute 20(!) years ago, and he’s just got better and better with age.

A couple of snipe for #twosday - photographed at WWT Martin Mere on 29/12/24. #birds