Excellent Young Birders Walk this week for our group of 13-18s around Holes Bay. Highlights of 1 Kingfisher, 1 Cattle Egret, 5 Spoonbill, 15 Pintail and c50 Avocet! Find our next free events for 13-18s: www.birdsofpooleharbourbookings.co.uk/young-birders 📸 by Young Birder @maxluckhurst.bsky.social

Was lucky enough to catch the Portland Wryneck this afternoon, about 4pm. Only a 30 second viewing, but a viewing still and a first for me! @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social #Portland #portlandbirdobservatory #wryneck #eurasianwryneck #birds #bird #birding #birdwatching

Some of the dinosaurs seen around #Dinoconuk back in August, including European Herring Gulls and Eurasian Magpies.

The complete #dinoconuk 2025 haul. Wowzers.

#Dinoconuk day 1 haul. Seriously running out of room, in my room that I got back to, which I can do this year between the days as Exeter is much closer to home than London.

Striking looking erythristic Jackdaw at WWT Slimbridge today #birds #birdphotography #GlosBirds #BirdsSeenIn2025

Utterly unexpected and incredible view of this Otter at RSPB Greylake this evening.

#DinoConUK will be raising vital funds for the #WorldParrotTrust via our #Charity Auction! The World Parrot Trust helps to protect parrots through #conservation, rescue, and education. Every £ raised will go towards promoting a safer world for these modern-day #therapods!

Anyone remember where I parked my locally sourced organic Land Rover ? The Tragic Comedy of Grouse Shooting Lies: presented to you by your elected representatives , at the @wildjustice.bsky.social driven grouse shooting debate earlier this week – enjoy .

MALE SCORPIONFLY, EXCLAMATION MARK EXCLAMATION MARK ONE ONE ONE.

Just getting back from #LymeRegis. Obviously the Fossil Festival was on, but didn't actually associate with it all too much apart from looking around the stalls. Instead though, I ventured from Lyme up round to Charmouth and back across the beach. Saw some wildlife, photos to follow.

Yes, this #Hyphalosaurus fossil REALLY exists! Cover of our new book, by @deanrlomax.bsky.social & me (@columbiaup.bsky.social). Read about 49 amazing #Fossils (not all #Dinosaurs) that tell us about the behaviour of prehistoric animals. Pre-order on Amazon now! #DinosaurArt #PaleoArt #SciArt

Live discussion happening today at Monsters on the Edge! .... www.youtube.com/live/zboXOG3...

Good to see @theguardian.com sticking up for #gulls, which are fantastic, majestic and now vulnerable birds that are only "pests" because of our interference with coastal ecosystems. We need to live with around these birds, not eradicate them. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just finished live unboxing of new #JurassicWorld spinosaurids: a mashup of talking about toys, discussing scientific history, and showing how #palaeoart influences popular depictions of #dinosaurs. This is at TetZooTowers_collection TikTok, link at linktr.ee/tetzoo

Modern animal collection moved to a new shelf, with BotM boxes and a bird phylogeny to the right.

10 weeks to go until #dinocon, so I'm making sure I have an appropriate amount of cash to spend. Considering that last year I spent triple digits at TetZooCon 2024, and DinoCon is meant to be bigger than any of it's predecessors, I'm guessing I'll need another great amount, gulp.

Darren Naish will be joined by expert palaeoartists (Emily Higgs, Julianne Kiely, Bob Nicholls, and Gaëlle Seguillon) for our Palaeoart Panel. They will be discussing the past, present and future of the field. Learn from experts who are on the cutting edge of the palaeoart world.

Finally saw a Scorpionfly in southern Dorset yesterday, albeit a female, meaning it didn't actually have the weird scorpion-like tail. Can say I've at least seen one now, though.

Scenes from around the Golden Cap, Dorset. Wildlife photos to follow.

Nightjar churring from our Young Birders walk this week! All of our group saw and heard their first ever Nightjars as well as Dartford Warblers. A really magical evening for everyone.

NIGHTJARS! Last night I finally got to see European #Nightjars on Slepe Heath. Here's many a terrible-quality screenshot of the videos I managed to get.

Spotted #Sandpiper at Herriot's Mill Pool this afternoon.

White-spotted #Bluethroat just showed briefly at WWT Slimbridge.

Various #spider species seen on the Somerset levels at this time of year. Silver Stretch, Furrow Orb Weaver, and Nurseryweb.

Similarly to #Bitterns, one of the blessings of living where I am is how common Western Marsh #Harriers are for me. Also like Bitterns, Marsh Harriers were fundamentally extinct in the UK, with I believe only one individual left.

Great Crested #Grebe, Podiceps cristatus. I really like watching these birds, especially on the occasions where you see their 'weed dances'. Here's an individual I managed to capture having a good shake about.

Living in Somerset, I am lucky enough to be quite frequently exposed to Eurasian #Bitterns, Botaurus stellaris, a species of bird once extinct from hunting and habitat loss in the UK. Here are some photos I took of an individual in flight only a couple weeks ago.

The House Sparrow nest in the garage roof. Pretty much every year we get them nesting there.

Brief look around for whatever few species reside in the garden. I believe they consist of Brown-lipped Snail, False Oil Beetle, some Sawfly species and Fourteen-spotted Ladybird.

Despite living in the UK, a country completely derelict in its biodiversity, I am blessed with the fact I live in a small village on the Somerset levels, meaning I do get an appropriate amount of what wildlife we do have. All these scenes are taken from my village or areas of walkable distance.

I once made an account on Instagram which consisted of these 'collection spotlight' posts. Due to lack of motivation only 11 posts were ever made. However, I'd be interested in reviving the idea here, as I could most likely do more and in quicker succession due to this platform not having...

#DinoCon is going to be amazing solely based on the inclusion of this tiny little terror.

Confirmed. Yes he is.

Going through Wiltshire and I'm yet to see a single Kite or Pheasant. Something is afoot.

New #paleoart posted to #Patreon for #FossilFriday: #sauropod Atlasaurus walks through glowing phytoplankton on a pleasant Jurassic evening. The hi-res painting, WIPs and scientific rationale for the scene can be found here: www.patreon.com/posts/129695... #sciart

Dec 31st 1853 Just before midnight. Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, bloated and drunk from the feast in the Iguanodon - stumbles back into his workshed, having missed the last carriage home from the Crystal Palace He takes another look at his sculptures, and begins sketching hastily on his blackboard

Fox scat I think.

Some days a duck follows you around and is very polite about it

Camera trap results, week 1! Is British suburbia REALLY as lifeless as it seems? Is is true that people are doing EVERYTHING they can to strip-mine the earth of all greenery and wildlife? .... and will I get a British black panther on film? Let's find out! tetzoo.com/blog/2025/5/...

New big plastic thing.

A couple of new species I saw over the weekend, Purple Heron 𝘈𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘢 and Red-footed Falcon 𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘤𝘰 𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘴, both seen at separate but fairly close points across the Avalon Marshes in Somerset.

Hello from Crystal Palace Park. A classic face-off this morning: ‘Plesiosaurus’ macrocephalus vs Gallinula chloropus

Most episodes of the Tetrapod Zoology podcast are a chaotic mess and I don't rate them very highly. But I DO like the #LochNessMonster special (ep 72) we recorded in 2019, maybe because John doesn't talk that much .... tetzoo.com/podcast/2019... #podcasting #podcasts

Some guy who likes to take photos of birds has a birthday today...

New at The Plover's Prattle, Gulls of The World: Part 1. Have a creeping suspicion that these articles will get quite tedious... wp.me/pgiPzd-S

B logging like a mad man at the moment 'Booby-sucking Vampires of the Galápagos Islands' wp.me/pgiPzd-J

The Plover's Prattle first ever blog post, relating to American Minks, a summary to their introduction to the UK, and why they are a controversy here (whilst mentioning a couple other problems with them elsewhere). wp.me/pgiPzd-D

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!111 I am now the proud author of the brand spankin' new blog, The Plover's Prattle! One post is already up, simply regarding my primary aim with the blog and how I got into zoology. Please do check it out! theploversprattle.wordpress.com

Thought I'd further bless Blue Sky with some of my past aminal photos.