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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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 🧵 🏺 #Archaeology

Snab Point, Northumberland - is this a Sab's? Help! #NEbirding #UKbirding

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.

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

Yellow-brow in the Holy Island public car park hedge. Plenty of thrushes on the deck, but no Ouzel yet. #NEbirding

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

@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 doesn’t work and they are not answering emails or the phone

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...

"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...

Glossy Ibis N over SMI causeway 1653. #NEbirding

Hoopoe just flew round N half of Whitley Bay Crem! Current whereabouts unknown. #NEbirding

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

Second shot is a good summary of the majority of times this bird showed itself. Not bad for a skulker mind. #NEbirding

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 ♂️ from Wednesday, Eupeodes latifasciatus ♀️ from last Saturday and a Syrphus ribesii ♀️ from last Tuesday. #hoverflies #syrphidae

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. 🤔 #NEbirding

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Some people really are as stupid as they come. #NEbirding

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

“The real conflict is not town v country, but money & power v people.” 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’s next mass trespass: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

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

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

My fairly crap shot of a beautiful ?2nd summer Med hanging out at the top of the bay at Whitley. #NEbirding

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

A pretty Dutch #insect, Rutpela maculata. Never seen one in the UK, seemingly they're present north to Northumberland. #insects

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

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

Missing out for now on bird times on the UK coast, I'll have to make do with this possibly just emerged Brachypalpoides lentus♀️ 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!

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

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. 🤔 #NEbirding

Reposting this on World Curlew Day. I certainly don't have any better photos.

A Beefly ♀️ from Gosforth NR on the 20th April. I believe she's 'flicking' her eggs, presumably having found the burrows of Andrena bees or similar. #diptera

A Cheilosia pagana #hoverfly, a gnarly-lookimg nomad bee, and the Syrphus torvus hoverfly that refused a photo. #bees #diptera

Two Gropper in the Fort House brambles on Old Hartley Cliffs. #NEbirding

Boldon Flats as of rn: Green-winged Teal is sneakily having a kip behind a Shelduck in the channel. LRPs, Blackwits also about.

Another #hoverfly, Epistrophe eligans, this individual spied while taking a circuitous route home through Brandling Park, Jesmond on Monday. A spring gem! #syrphidae #diptera

My first proper visit to Saltholme today. A great centre, lots of spp. present, and especially happy to see an LRP, but possibly even more thrilled to see my first Eristalinus sepulchralis (a #hoverfly). #NEbirding #syrphidae #diptera

More and more variety in the #hoverflies noted in and around Newcastle. #syrphidae #diptera #hoverfly pictures below: Cheilosia pagana f. Platycheirus scutatus m. Eupeodes luniger f. Myathropa florea m.

Retreated to Holywell Dene for some respite from the wind in the late morning, finding a fair few hovers. Pictured, males all: Platycheirus albimanus on Wood Anemone; Syrphus torvus on Lesser Celandine; a Cheilosia sp., on Lesser Celandine.