Great to see a grey wagtail at the entrance to Festival Gardens earlier. All in all, it was a lovely morning with lots of foraging birds including a jay with a beak full of green acorns, mixed tit flocks, goldcrest, robins, GSW, and moorhen pair, with blackcap and chiffchaff still present, too 🪶

A game of two halves at Festival Gardens today: a misty morning where the birds were mostly only identifiable by sound (esp the skein of pinkies!), then a sunny afternoon with a stunning pale buzzard, sparrowhawk, 3 pairs of common (?) darter ovipositing and a female emperor (?) the highlights.

Sunrise song. You'll want the volume up for this one, but not too high. Every coyote within a half kilometre radius decided to make themselves known this morning while I was enjoying the sunrise from the kayak. A truly magical moment. #mammals 🌿

Managed to catch up with the bar-tailed godwit by The Britannia Inn this morning; it was feeding with a couple of blackwits (as is very clear in the video 🙄). Buzzard and sparrowhawk the highlights at Festival Gardens 🪶

No luck with the bar-tailed godwit near The Britannia Inn this morning, although the blackwit was there, as were curlew, redshank and turnstone 🪶 Festival Gardens was all about the fungi - IDs welcome - and a pretty pink cyclamen 🌸

Sunshine and showers at Festival Gardens this morning, with kestrel, goldcrest, chiffchaff, lots of singing robins, singing Cetti's and skeins of pinkies the highlights 🪶

Lots of birds were drawn to this pond & surrounding trees at Festival Gardens this morning, both bathers & foragers: juvenile blackbird, m & f blackcap, blue tit & great tit, chiffchaff, dunnock, robin, woodpigeon, wren and - my 1st ever - a juvenile bullfinch (took a few long moments to ID it 😂) 🪶

Delighted to hear my 1st pinkies of the autumn, over the #allotment this morning 🪶

All the streams and ponds in Festival Gardens are holding some water again, which is great to see after they completely dried out over the summer. Birding highlights: flyover raven pair and a party of foraging LTTs 🪶

We’ve just collected some stunningly fresh organic produce from @kindlingtrust.bsky.social farm, ready to sell on the Queenofgreens.co.uk @feedingliverpool.org @sustainweb.org @betterfoodtraders.bsky.social @foodrise.bsky.social

Traps for the farm's Small Mammals Survey this morning held five wood mice (inc. juvs) and a field vole. Barn owl pellet dissection added evidence of the farm's 1st shrew. Birding highlights: hobby hunting hirundines, sparrowhawk, kestrel, buzzard, covey of 9 grey partridge, and chiffchaff 🪶

Something different for volunteering weekend at the farm this time: picking, processing and pickling various amazing organic produce for the winter 💚

Visited the Vivienne Westwood exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery this morning - some fabulous designs on show 🧷

'Safety first' when sacking Rome.

It’s shocking how water companies have gotten away with polluting our waterways with sewage. A petition is being handed in next week, can you add your signature? you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/en...

End the sewage pollution scandal

It’s shocking how water companies have gotten away with polluting our waterways with sewage. That’s why more than 319,000 of us have signed the petition demanding an end to the sewage scandal. We’re...

you.38degrees.org.uk

I became a hater by doing precisely those things AI cannot do: reading and understanding human language; thinking and reasoning about ideas; considering the meaning of my words and their context; loving people, making art, living in my body with its flaws and feelings and life.

It's Wednesday! It's "Buy A Stranger a Book" day! Today, to celebrate & honour Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, i'll give out 5 books FOR FREE. If there's a book you want let me know. If YOU want to #buyastrangerabook too, get in touch! www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi... UK only.

🤞 this beautiful bird survives here - and visits Liverpool Marina 💛 www.birdguides.com/news/first-b...

First British Yellow-throated Warbler docks at Liverpool

A Yellow-throated Warbler was photographed at Liverpool Docks, Lancashire, on 13 August 2026, potentially representing the first British record of this North American songbird.

birdguides.com

Please sign Cheshire Wildlife Trust's petition calling for an independent commissioner to scrutinise tidal energy generation in the Mersey Estuary: actionnetwork.org/petitions/we...

We need an independent commission to scrutinise tidal energy generation in the Mersey Estuary.

A planned tidal barrage could soon potentially sever the River Mersey from the sea with very little public scrutiny. It doesn’t have to be that way. Sign our letter calling for greater independence an...

actionnetwork.org

The solar eclipse on Wednesday will be the most lunar coverage since 1999, and won’t be repeated until 2081! Here are the times and totality % you can expect across the country. Great graphic by the @metoffice.gov.uk

Proud to present this book with Hilary Birks & @informed-enviro.bsky.social focused on the use & importantly identification of aquatic plant seeds & fruits. 10 yrs of work! Major uses in palaeoecology, archaeobotany, seed bank & diet studies @bsbibotany.bsky.social link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Seeds and Fruits of Aquatic Plants of Northern Europe - A Handbook

This book offers essential insights for identifying aquatic plant remains, enhancing research in palaeoecology and freshwater biology.

link.springer.com

Kingfisher at Liverpool Marina just now 🩵 🧡 #UKbirding

You don't need to travel far for great birding. 🐦 The Complete Guide to Patch Birding by Ed Stubbs shows how your local park, woodland or coastline can become a source of discovery all year round. Out today!

A massive plastic pellet spill is threatening North Sea wildlife 🌊 Coastal communities are stepping up, but we need action. Join us and ask @andyburnham.bsky.social to launch an emergency response & hold polluters accountable! #NurdleSpill #StopPollution action.friendsoftheearth.uk/petition/tyn...

Tell Andy Burnham: Save the North Sea from plastic pellet disaster

One of the UK's biggest spills of plastic pellets (or “nurdles”) is flooding the North East’s coastline. It could harm wildlife in the North Sea for decades. Thousands of volunteers – including Friend...

action.friendsoftheearth.uk

'You'll choke too' - an aerial embroidery landscape inspired by all the wildfires happening right now... I'm upset every time I smell smoke outside and somehow we have people starting them maliciously too! But we all breathe the same air so they'll choke too (1/2 - see thread for close-ups)

Microsoft wants to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...

Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!

Microsoft want to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.

you.38degrees.org.uk

“…the same mechanisms that drive people to grow wary of — and hostile toward — friends, co-workers and family members with different political beliefs are beginning to shape attitudes toward AI.”

AI Adoption Is Dividing Friends, Families and Co-Workers

As artificial intelligence becomes ingrained in daily life, disagreements over the technology are increasingly becoming disagreements over values.

bloomberg.com

Great to watch Andrea Ku 🐝 perform some climate catastrophe comedy (stealthily engaging people with the topic through bee facts and humour) at Squash Nutrition this evening - and to see Kindling Farm produce for sale 🥒

✨💚Four orphaned young Barn Owls are now back in the wild! After two weeks in one of our release aviaries, they took their first flights into freedom. They're still returning for food and shelter as they build confidence before finding homes of their own. 🦉💚

IT'S WEDNESDAY! It's #buyastrangerabook day! The grooviest day of all. I'll give out TWO books. FOR FREE. If you'd like one, let me know. Also, if you'd like to #BuyAStrangerABook too, let me know. It's a thing! Look. www.biggreenbookshop.com/stuff-you-mi... UK only.