LurkyMclurkface
@lurkymclurkface.bsky.social
π€ 126
π₯ 166
π 158
Hobby birdwatcher and insect-botherer, Suffolk-born, Newcastle-based.
Can't really prove it, but it seemed to me that this Palomena prasina in Darlo was rather actively sunbathing, angling its shield to catch the most rays.
#bugs
#NEbirding
6 days ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Emma
7 days ago
Gull at Saltholme yesterday - seems to have more head colour than the usual black-headed, but too brown for Med - possibly a hybrid?
@teesbirds.bsky.social
#birdingNorthEast
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
about 1 month ago
The Black-throated Diver in Hartlepool Marina. Note the lesions on the web foot. Are these barnacles?
@teesbirds.bsky.social
@teeswildlife.bsky.social
@whitbynats.bsky.social
@clevelandnats.bsky.social
@scabz1.bsky.social
@rspb.bsky.social
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Redhead Smew still present at Ladyburn, not far from the metal and concrete bridge.
#NEbirding
about 1 month ago
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I need goose help - I don't have enough experience to be confident about them. In the pics below (Cresswell, Saturday) what are the birds with the largely plain pinky/orange bills? I was thinking young White-fronts, but they looked v dark-headed compared to the adults.
#NEbirding
#UKbirds
Thanks!
about 1 month ago
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Plenty of Kittiwakes in close at Druridge/Cresswell plus two unphoto'd Little Gull. This before I was informed of the eagle and hurried back the way I came. ππ»
#NEbirding
about 1 month ago
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I've been let loose with an old 70-300mm lens that's been in a box for more than a decade at work. Don't think I'll be using it all the time, and it's probably not really good enough for mid-long range birding, but I had fun this morning at SMI.
#NEbirding
about 2 months ago
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Am I imagining things or has the Beeb used a picture of Coquet Island for this 'volunteers wanted' piece on Skomer?
#NEbirding
about 2 months ago
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There's been a reasonable Caspy candidate flying around the office (near Rye Hill campus) this morning. Gangly, very pale head, bit of a shawly thing going on, pretty pale underwings from what I can see. Not guaranteeing it though.
#NEbirding
about 2 months ago
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4+ Willow Tits between Gosforth NR and Big Waters today, with the American Wigeon, Iceland Gull and a Whooper all present at the latter, and visible Cetti's and a mad Water Rail party at the former.
#NEbirding
2 months ago
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An experience on the ferry from Hoek to Harwich yesterday - at 14:05-ish British time, about an hour west of Hoek, a flock of about 30 Lapwing was flying due west, low over the sea. Not quite the stuff of SuperSeabirdSunday, but perhaps
#WaderWednesday
?
#UKBirds
#Birds
3 months ago
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BlackWit Y,G,R-O,L,O if I'm reading it right, on the Deben at Melton, Suffolk. Orange maybe a bit faded, but with ref to the schemes, I think that's it. Any metal ring below the knee, right leg remained submerged. I think this is a Pete Potts scheme, PP7. Am I right
@edkeeble.bsky.social
? Cheers!
3 months ago
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My parents' closest "custodian of the countryside" has for about a year left this plastic crap pile where there's usually just a good muckheap that attracts Green Sandpipers. I strode up to it incautiously, expecting nothing, and flushed a well-camoflagued Green Sand and a PieWag.
#UKbirding
3 months ago
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I just walked out of my door, looked up, and there was a woodcock flying east over the terraces, presumably fresh out of Heaton Park.
#NEbirding
3 months ago
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Arse-end of a Woodcock that couldn't decide if it wanted to land on the moving blue and white landmass (the DFDS ship). For ten minutes, it was high and low, flying around all sides. It decided against the empty 'Skybar' and flew two metres past me.
#birds
#UKbirds
4 months ago
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Nervous-looking Water Rail currently on the steps into the water north of Cullercoats lighthouse station. Seems trapped between fear of anglers above and the waves.
#NEbirding
#UKbirds
4 months ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Antiquity Journal
4 months ago
NEW In the heart of the Eurasian steppe, a
#BronzeAge
metropolis has been unearthed, showing that the settlements of nomadic steppe societies were just as sophisticated as contemporary, more traditionally 'urban' civilisations.
#AntiquityThread
1/14 π§΅ πΊ
#Archaeology
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Snab Point, Northumberland - is this a Sab's? Help!
#NEbirding
#UKbirding
4 months ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Jules or Ξ€ΞΆΞΏΟ Ξ»Ο ποΈπ
5 months ago
Israeli settler & 3 soldiers taking turns beating & assaulting Ahmad Shakarneh 65 yrs old - he was harvesting olives with his family in the town of Nahalin near Bethlehem. The IDF is cooperating with the settlers in the West Bank to evict Palestinians from their homes, land & communities.
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I lucked into great views of the SMI Water Pipit today on a very brief visit. My Wabi-sabi bin-phone photos aren't worth sharing, but just wanted to say, in its current state, it really is a *gorgeous* bird.
#NEbirding
5 months ago
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Yellow-brow in the Holy Island public car park hedge. Plenty of thrushes on the deck, but no Ouzel yet.
#NEbirding
5 months ago
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Ivy is pretty much the place to be for hovers right now. Not a particularly diverse species list, but these plants near to a site I'm working at West Denton-ish had literally hundreds.
#hoverflies
Sprawk crossing the A69 a few times, probably based locally somewhere, I've seen it a bit.
#NEbirding
6 months ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Colin Conroy
6 months ago
@teesbirds.bsky.social
does anyone know if Northern Experience Wildlife Tours (that run pelagics out of North Shields) are still operating? Their website is showing trips with spaces available but the booking system doesnβt work and they are not answering emails or the phone
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Prof Bill McGuire
6 months ago
Smoke and mirrors drivel There is no such thing as sustainable aviation fuel We need a prohibative levy on the minority that flies for fun every other weekend No new airport expansion and a ban on private jets And train not plane for domestic travel
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
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βThis is real progressβ: airlines on sustainable aviation fuels and the chances of net zero flying
The EU and UK have imposed mandates, and investors see its value β but the industry has mixed views
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/03/net-zero-aviation-sustainable-fuel-mandates-eu-uk
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Jolyon Maugham KC
6 months ago
"For the next 15 years, give us a subsidy from public money, and remove the disincentive for us to stop dumping raw sewage, so our creditors are rescued from the consequences of their own greed" is not, I have to say, the world's most appealing pitch.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...
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Thames Water creditors ask for up to 15 yearsβ leniency from river pollution rules
Lenders say a βfull return to legal, regulatory and environmental complianceβ under new rescue plan would not be completed until at least 2035-2040
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/02/thames-water-lenders-submit-new-rescue-plan-to-stave-off-collapse
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Glossy Ibis N over SMI causeway 1653.
#NEbirding
6 months ago
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Hoopoe just flew round N half of Whitley Bay Crem! Current whereabouts unknown.
#NEbirding
6 months ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Paul Weddle
10 months ago
I'd appreciate it if this could be re posted by as many people as possible to highlight this greedy firm. Apparently if your Husband is rushed to hospital and you get there urgently (following the ambulance) you still have to read the conditions on the sign & appeal failed.
@england.nhs.uk
use them
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Second shot is a good summary of the majority of times this bird showed itself. Not bad for a skulker mind.
#NEbirding
add a skeleton here at some point
6 months ago
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Hovers getting less frequent in the NE, with some rainy days like today featuring zero records. Nevertheless still some pretty ones around. Here's an Eristalis arbustorum βοΈ from Wednesday, Eupeodes latifasciatus βοΈ from last Saturday and a Syrphus ribesii βοΈ from last Tuesday.
#hoverflies
#syrphidae
6 months ago
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SMI seawatch and island-watch at 12:30 onwards featured 60+ Wigeon S, 4 Whimbrel heading S then in over the island and a Shag S. Most notable though was a large bat making its way NW over the causeway at c. 14:00. π€
#NEbirding
7 months ago
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A small Grebe present in Druridge Bay, level with Chev. I'm a bit optically challenged, but it looks a bit too elegant and long to be 'just' a Little Grebe. Or am I underestimating both their elegance and seagoing tendencies? Answers pls
#NEbirding
7 months ago
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Cavenham Heath NR this morning: 6+ Stone Curlew present in the heather and a young Cuckoo still wafting around. A massive Pompilid (spider-hunting wasp) with orange abdominal banding wouldn't allow me to photograph it properly, so I'll post this beautiful silver birch texture instead.
7 months ago
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Suffolk insects: Volucella inanis (a
#hoverfly
); Sphaerophoria rueppelli (also hoverfly); the
#butterfly
(two photos) is I think a Purple hairstreak, although it wouldn't open its wings for me.
8 months ago
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BLOOD/INJURY WARNING, don't look too closely if you don't like [mild] animal suffering. Seal TSH78 looking a little worse for wear this evening at SMI. Looks like blood/flesh rather than a man-made item. I don't think it's food either, it appeared to be coming from a nostril.
8 months ago
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1-2pm, Castle Island had, among regular gulls, Lapwing and Redshank, 10+ Common Sandpiper, 1 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin. The Wansbeck from Castle Island to the mouth, a minimum count of 20 Little Egret.
#NEbirding
8 months ago
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Some people really are as stupid as they come.
#NEbirding
9 months ago
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I bought this phone well before getting back into insects and really lucked out with the camera. Some NE hoverflies of late: - Cheilosia illustrata, m - Scaeva pyrastri, f - Eupeodes, probably corollae, f - Pyrophaena (or Platycheirus) rosarum f
9 months ago
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reposted by
LurkyMclurkface
Guy Shrubsole
9 months ago
βThe real conflict is not town v country, but money & power v people.β Profound piece by
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social
on the forthcoming eviction of an entire village by a faceless plutocrat, the enclosure of access, &
@righttoroam.bsky.social
βs next mass trespass:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
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An entire village in Dorset is facing eviction β proof that private money holds all the power in rural England | George Monbiot
This scandalous story gives lie to the claim that the biggest threat to country life comes from city dwellers, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/28/village-dorset-eviction-private-money-power-rural-england
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Insects of Druridge yesterday evening: a smart Morellia sp. male; Panorpa communis male; Common Blue
#butterfly
male; my first record of
#hoverfly
Sphegina sibirica, a female. On the ponds, 2 Green Sandpiper and 3 Wood Sandpiper, my first ever chance at direct comparison.
#NEbirding
9 months ago
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If anyone wants to watch a male Xylota jakutorum, a weird leaf-walker hoverfly, give itself a clean and hop about on its established bit of fence, THIS is your video.
#hoverfly
#diptera
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9 months ago
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My fairly crap shot of a beautiful ?2nd summer Med hanging out at the top of the bay at Whitley.
#NEbirding
9 months ago
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A few hovers from the River Lark, near Bury St Edmunds yesterday. In order: - Xylota sp., possibly florum, male - Volucella inflata, male - Xanthogramma pedisequum, female - Xylota segnis, male
10 months ago
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A pretty Dutch
#insect
, Rutpela maculata. Never seen one in the UK, seemingly they're present north to Northumberland.
#insects
10 months ago
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DFDS ferry out from Shields last night. Felt lucky to see two Manxies SE really not very far out. Ten minutes later, there was a flock of 50+ circling around, followed three minutes later by a Minke NW. A greatly above average evening on this crossing!
#NEbirding
10 months ago
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Finally found Portevinia maculata in Armstrong Park, having not found any in April and having then spent the next ten days down south/abroad. A garlic specialist
#hoverfly
, this one's a male - the females tend to be difficult to find.
#hoverflies
#diptera
11 months ago
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Missing out for now on bird times on the UK coast, I'll have to make do with this possibly just emerged Brachypalpoides lentusβοΈ that landed on my back near Utrecht. We placed it on a garlic flower, which to my surprise, it gratefully sucked at. Look at that shrively left wing!
11 months ago
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Some stunning
#insects
at Tynemouth Haven yesterday. Pictures in order: - Eupeodes luniger f - Ancistocerus sp., poss nigricornis, idk the sex - poss. Anthomyia procellaris m - Gymnocheta viridis m
#diptera
#hoverfly
#hymnoptera
11 months ago
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Working in upper Coquetdale again. Looked up from my lunch to see this beaut. Also saw something I can only think was a littoralis RPipit on passage - peachy breast with top half darkly streaked, blue-grey head and upperparts. Seem plausible? I can't think of owt else that fits. π€
#NEbirding
11 months ago
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Reposting this on World Curlew Day. I certainly don't have any better photos.
add a skeleton here at some point
11 months ago
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