What a great story. Nice work @petemrcooper.bsky.social and everyone at Lower Ure Conservation Trust. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Glowworms shine again in North Yorkshire after larvae reared in garden shed

Volunteer ‘glow-getters’ overseeing reintroduction of endangered beetles at Nosterfield nature reserve

theguardian.com

BlueSky doesn’t have the numbers or life of old Twitter, partly why I’m so quiet. But I’ll round-up the sorts of thing that would’ve gone down well there. On my substack, you can read all 3 parts of my deep-dive into the native status of white storks here petemrcooper.substack.com/p/to-stork-o...

To Stork or Not to Stork? (Part 1)

White Storks are being released into Britain, but the government recently said they aren't native. Is this really the case, and can further releases be justified?

petemrcooper.substack.com

A follow up to my deep dive on the history of storks in Britain - Harvey Tweats provides a guest post looking into why it may have gone extinct in Britain but not Europe, and whether there is another explanation for its absence in folklore. petemrcooper.substack.com/p/what-did-t...

What did the Romans ever do for Storks?

A guest post by Harvey Tweats following the deep-dive into the past status of White Storks in Britain with hypotheses as to why they left little cultural mark.

petemrcooper.substack.com

After attending a lovely event for @dj-acid-reflux.bsky.social’s new book last week, it made sense to start reading it in the landscape that inspired it while staying with friends in Sidbury. Feat the cliffs of Branscombe with Gylly the lab

I thought I’d settle down to write something uncontroversial - so I wrote about stork releases. With Natural England recently declaring white storks non-native, can their releases be justified? A tale in 3 parts. petemrcooper.substack.com/p/to-stork-o...

To Stork or Not to Stork? (Part 1)

White Storks are being released into Britain, but the government recently said they aren't native. Is this really the case, and can further releases be justified?

petemrcooper.substack.com

I thought I’d settle down to write something uncontroversial - so I wrote about stork releases. With Natural England recently declaring white storks non-native, can their releases be justified? A tale in 3 parts. petemrcooper.substack.com/p/to-stork-o...

To Stork or Not to Stork? (Part 1)

White Storks are being released into Britain, but the government recently said they aren't native. Is this really the case, and can further releases be justified?

petemrcooper.substack.com

The temperatures taken in my Glow-worm rearing shed yesterday. Ambient conditions are better for breeding native invertebrates, but thankfully its shaded position keeps the shed at least 2-3 degrees cooler than outside. All are doing well.

A study focusing on interactions between European wildcats and domestic cats found evidence of behavioural barriers for both hybridisation and disease transmission, including larger wildcats excluding domestic cats from their territories, and sexual selection by wildcat females 🐈

A snail puts up a bubble wall to defend itself from Glow-worm larvae, but the paralysis from the toxin is already beginning to take effect - more is delivered in another bit for good measure. 145 Glow-worm larvae have completed their second winter and are due to pupate in the next couple of months

This really does feel like a distant time now. 2 years into Brexit and Trump v0.1, we knew the world had taken a turn. But before that all got to its current extremes, before Covid, and when X was Twitter and it was a busy and generally nicer place to be as we hit the ‘sweet spot’ with social media

The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL)@themerl.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Happy 8th anniversary to the tweet that changed us forever. Look at this absolute unit.

A stonker of a morning on the Mendips - Adders, Green Tiger Beetle and Bloody-nose Beetles all coming out to play

This is what I want on the £5 note. Truly the definition of British nature

Book announcement!! 🎉 CREATURES OF STORY AND SONG looks through Britain’s stories and poems to rediscover our lost species. It’s time to remember what people thought about wolves, lynxes, great whales, great auks, sturgeon & more when they were all still here! 🐺🦫🐳💚 @reaktionbooks.bsky.social

Dreamt I was bitten by a Smooth Newt last night. Not sure what that foretells.

Update - Beavers are now woke! And a dam sight more useful than Farage

Pete Cooper@petemrcooper.bsky.social · 7mo ago

We should be remembering the beauty of the natural world around us in this dark time - it’s more important than any other time that people can find respite and beauty and no what they stand to lose. Also Churchill probably would’ve voted Reform tbh.

We should be remembering the beauty of the natural world around us in this dark time - it’s more important than any other time that people can find respite and beauty and no what they stand to lose. Also Churchill probably would’ve voted Reform tbh.

Ed Davey@eddavey.libdems.org.uk · 7mo ago

Winston Churchill helped defeat fascism in Europe. He deserves better than being replaced by a badger 🦡

🪪 European wildcat (Felis silvestris) One of the UK's rarest mammals | Accomplished mesopredator | Cultural icon | UK's last native cat species | Experienced camera trap model | Working parent | Species reintroduction specialist Cairngorms National Park, Scotland

Maybe it’s a sign of the times we’re in - first time I’ve seen this used as a rewilding justification. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Countries can rewild borders to deter invasions, says EU environment chief

Jessika Roswall cites Poland and Finland, which have made border areas near Russia or its allies ‘more hostile’ to cross

theguardian.com

They also look like Glow-worm larvae you ordered from Wish.

Bernoid@bernoid.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I found a large number of these on a fallen beech on my walk today, seemingly feeding on a fungus. Never seen them before. I looked them up when I got home. Endomychus coccineus - False Ladybird larva. They’re very cool looking.

I will never not adore "and allies" in a fieldguide title. Don't mess with the grasshoppers or the earwigs and crickets and cockroaches will fuck you up

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH)@ukceh.bsky.social · 7mo ago

🦗 This #WorldWildlifeDay, discover Britain's grasshoppers, crickets & allied species in a brilliant new field guide! It's co-written by our former colleague Björn Beckmann with recording scheme coordinator Peter Sutton. Allied species are earwigs, stick insects, mantids and cockroaches 🪳 🧪 1/

When your proposed source of birds comes from a different subspecies from Scandinavia, an area even cooler than the region where you want to release is and warming climate is likely to be the major extinction driver, genetics matters very bugger much actually.

Jamie Dunning@j-dunning.net · 7mo ago

This is a difficult read, considering we all want the same thing. Here's the rewilding view on the feasibility of reintroducing pipilans Twite back to the hills of England 🪶🧪 derekgow1.substack.com/p/the-song-o...

I was really happy to be involved with writing the strategy for Sonja and Perrin’s land in Wiltshire, which contains some absolutely stunning chalk downland. And I managed to find the DoBs last year! www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The farmers fighting to save the Duke of Burgundy butterfly

Sonja and Perin Dineley are working to restore biodiversity to their agricultural land.

bbc.co.uk

I just don't see how this wasn't intentional on the BBC's part

If you zoology folks haven’t found metazooa yet, welcome to your new morning routine. Who needs wordle? 🐜 Animal #937 🐅 I figured it out in 2 guesses! 🟥🟩 🔥 18 | Avg. Guesses: 5.7 metazooa.com #metazooa

Metazooa

Become an evolutionary detective to find the Mystery Animal!

metazooa.com

That guy who wrote The Peace Of Wild Things simply never considered the blue balls of the dunnock in late winter.

Pete Cooper@petemrcooper.bsky.social · 7mo ago

I’ve had a horny Dunnock providing alarm clock services for about three weeks. Poor sod must be bluer than a smurf down there.

If you loved Detectorists and you haven’t yet watched ‘Small Prophets’, get on iplayer and do so immediately. It’s classic Mackenzie Crook with his gentle appreciation of nature sown in subtly and beautifully at times.

A well-run project that restored the north-west European population of Dalmatian Pelican would be a massive boost to the global population of this threatened species and is supported by the chair of the IUCN pelican specialist group. But no, let’s take pot-shots.

James Emerson@norwichbirder.bsky.social · 8mo ago

It's a new month, so lets spin the wheel and find out what species a rewilding company wants to introduce next, as we play "Let's turn Norfolk into a big zoo". Ooh, it's...Dalmation Pelican! www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/r... and pressreleasehub.pa.media/article/inte...

As someone who had past affiliation with Goldsmith, I very much endorse this message. The threat posed by Reform now is too great to ignore any boost given to it ‘within’ our sector. Sitting back and watching is how very dangerous things happen.

Cat Frampton@catframpton.bsky.social · 8mo ago

How about instead of ‘watching with interest’ like this is a fascinating game that you have only passing interest in, you point out VOCALLY, PUBLICLY and OFTEN that you find his politics disgusting, & distance yourself from any past affiliation if you had any. You Have A Platform - use it!

Further indictment that the conservation and rewilding need to drop further involvement with Goldsmith right now. Political allies for nature will not be found in the far right.

Pete M 🌳@pete-m.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Well of course. Ben Goldsmith working with Reform. Red flags waving madly. It is incompatible to be a voice for nature and a voice for Reform. Environmental justice and social justice are intertwined.