Royal rumble The desire of various wildlife charities to appoint a royal patron leaves Mark Avery slightly bemused given the various scandals over the years:

@bobberzins.bsky.social @tellthetruthsheff.bsky.social heather burning above Strines Res approx SK218898, smoke blowing East towards the city

A truly fabulous reference guide for any birder or naturalist in Sheffield and the surrounding areas. It provides a long-term overview of the state and changing nature of bird life across the city.

Published! So chuffed to have contributed some of the words & images contained within ‘The New Birds of the Sheffield Area’ - Sheffield Bird Study Group’s beautiful new 440 page book detailing all the bird life ever recorded in the region @shefbirdstudy.bsky.social Purchase online at sbsg.org

'The New Birds of the Sheffield Area' Indoor Meeting: Weds 11th Feb 7.15pm Join us to celebrate the launch of our fabulous new 440 page book detailing all 300 species ever sighted in our area. Editors Richard & David will talk us through the project. Copies for sale + complimentary fizz!

Madness squared. Then multiplied by 100 thepathlesstravelled.co.uk/2026/01/22/b...

🧵 An urgent appeal to protect one of the UK’s most important Little Tern colonies at Beacon Ponds in 2026. Without funding for professional wardening, the project may not be able to run this season. ⬇️

Super article in December @britishbirds.bsky.social detailing use of passive bioacoustic recorders to detect Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - thanks to @lesserspotnet.bsky.social @simongillings.bsky.social @hosbirding.bsky.social et al A glimmer of hope? 🙏 Read here: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...

Build it & they will come! Fundraising effort to install more nestboxes for Pied Flycatchers in north Sheffield - an initiaitive which has already shown great success Can you help Wharncliffe Heath Trust get their appeal over the line this winter? www.justgiving.com/campaign/pie... #ukbirding

Lapwing eggs only rarely taken by badgers, new data shows Badgers are often blamed when wader nests fail on British farmland, but new evidence suggests their role may be far smaller than assumed and is largely driven by prolonged cold weather. www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/B...

Ugly duckling news: Society has become so badly detached from the natural world that even ⁦‪ @theguardian.com‬⁩ journalists writing environmental stories cannot spell the word ‘cygnet’ - spelling it ‘signet’ instead 😳 Or has this been written by a machine? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

💛 Brocktober is here! Celebrate badgers this October with events, art, BrockWatch + more. Protect nature, protect our stripy friends: buff.ly/xO8b33S

No evidence for farmers’ claim that Sea Eagles predated Shetland ponies www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/N...

An interesting, informative and digestible issue of @britishbirds.bsky.social journal this month 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This is an interesting record of one of "our" birds exploring the wider region post-juvenile moult. It has moved 18km through the Snake Valley, the first confirmed record of an Eastern Moors juv moving in a westerly direction pre-migration - knowledge only possible through colour-ringing #ukbirding

One of our local colour-ringed juvenile Ring Ouzels has turned up near Glossop. The lower bird in photo, seen feeding on Rowan & Hawthorn. Ringed in the nest at Stanage on 27/6/25 (second brood) - an 18km movement west Thanks to reporter Paul Cole for sharing his photos #ukbirding #yorkshirebirding

Quite a morning by RVCP standards....3 Glossy Ibis, 2 Ruff, with Green and Common Sandpipers. #yorkshirebirds @shefbirdstudy.bsky.social

Scotland just approved the world’s largest offshore wind farm—right through vital seabird habitats. Gannets, razorbills, and kittiwakes could pay the price. This isn’t climate action. It’s nature loss dressed up as progress.

Calling all Sheffield & Derbyshire birders! We're looking to gather as many Ring Ouzel sightings as possible this August & September to aid the work of RSPB Eastern Moors Partnership. Please see our website news item for more details: www.sbsg.org/sbsg-news/re... #ukbirding 📷 Chris Greenwood ©

At last we are delighted to share with you this year's LIVE Hobby nest camera from a site within the Forestry England South Forest District. To view the live stream visit our website blog and click on the image. Enjoy! drsg.co.uk/f/fabulous-f... @dorsetbirdclub.bsky.social @harbourbirds.bsky.social

Massive outbreaks of HPAI in Senegal, Gambia in 2023, none of which captured in WAHIS. >10,000 dead African Crested Terns, >400 Caspian Terns, >2000 Grey-headed Gulls, >200 Sandwich Tern 👉 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The problem with Solar Power is that electricity will be so cheap it is free. And nothing is worse than free to them.

Latest notpaper for #Sheffield #TheOutdoorCity - ta Pete / Ziggy / Chris / + many others … open.substack.com/pub/abitblac...

Scarcely spotted flycatcher Why is a once-common summer migrant becoming so hard to find? Catrin Eden profiles the stark decline of the UK's Spotted Flycatcher population:

Nature-friendly farming delivers some of the key commitments Labour made in its manifesto: lower emissions, restored habitats, and clean energy. Cutting it wouldn’t just be short-sighted - it would be self-defeating. 📢 Write to your MP: https://f.mtr.cool/mflbcligdu #nffn #naturefriendlyfarming

This short film shows three ambitious farmers doing great work for nature through the Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier scheme. We need Defra to provide more access to higher tier ELM schemes that help farmers like these put the colours, song and life back in our countryside.

The National Fire Chiefs Council has reported over 200 more wildfires this year than for the same period in 2022 - the worst year on record for wildfires, and more hot spells are predicted. Most wildfires are preventable, help us to keep people, nature and wildlife safe.

There’s already consensus: we must transition to nature-friendly farming. HM Treasury must, at very least, commit to maintaining the current agricultural budget, or risk sleepwalking into disaster - dragging farmers, food & wildlife down with it. All eyes are on this decision. ‼️

The warning couldn’t be clearer. ⚠️ Slashing the nature-friendly farming budget would be catastrophic for the nature and climate crisis, and for our long-term food security. What's more, it would leave the UK Government’s credibility on climate and nature in tatters.

Labour promised to restore nature. ❌ Instead, their Planning Bill contains a licence to destroy it. We offered solutions. We’re done waiting. Part 3 of the Bill would gut the laws protecting our most precious habitats & species. Without significant change, it must be scrapped.

Is this friendly little Phyllobius a Green Nettle [email protected] Encountered at Westend, Howden Res, Derwentdale

Only 10000 more signatures required. Let’s do this! Please sign. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

My first Brimstone butterfly sightings of the year. East Lincolnshire.

Saturday 15th March, Penrith: Spent an excellent day representing @shefbirdstudy.bsky.social at the annual national Ring Ouzel Study Group meeting Loads of brilliant research presented and ideas for action going forward. Thanks to RSPB for continuing to support the group

1/ New #BTOScience using tracking data shows Nightingales breeding in the UK overwinter in a very small area of West Africa. This unusual degree of migratory connectivity has implications for conservation of this fast-declining species. Read the #OpenAccess paper➡️ bit.ly/nightingale-... #Ornithology

Hello Feb 👀 ℅ Martin Truefitt-Baker Art

First Butterfflyof the year yesterday. Peacock, Lincolnshire, sunny but single digit temperatures.

Bats and Newts ✅ Reeves and Starmer ❌

Schrodinger’s Pheasant

If Steve Reed MP is so upset about a £100 million wildlife protection scheme, wait ‘til he hears about the £90 billion railway that nobody wants! It has destroyed huge swathes of the environment he is employed to protect and could basically be replaced by Zoom meetings 🤯

The Kayak film in last night’s Springwatch was possibly one of the best things I’ve ever seen! 🐟🐬🐋 @chrisgpackham.bsky.social @iolowilliams.bsky.social @jabaddams.bsky.social

Gotcha!

Things you don’t expect to find in the People’s Republic of Spurn @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social

Currently listening to @guyshrubsole.bsky.social LIE OF THE LAND audiobook. It’s like somebody much more eloquent than I has read my mind and put it all in order. Despite all that 😉 it’s rather good!

Important publication coming later this year!

What's happening to the UK’s Hen Harriers... it's a question we've been trying to answer, thanks in a big way to satellite tagging. Now, for the first time, you can see what's happened to each of the RSPB's tagged birds going back to 2014 - explore here: community.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/b/in...

Paul Watson Free 💪💪💪 🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄 El Capitan del Mar ☠️

Monday morning haiku: Winter sun on the underside of a gull’s wing: my silver lining

230,000 badgers butchered. For what? A failing policy that hasn’t solved anything. This is a disgrace. Speak out and sign our petition NOW: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...