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Martin Collinson
@docmartin2mc.bsky.social
Britain's Top Vicarious Birder. Aberdeen Wildife DNA lab. Aniridia research. Likes birds, stamps, ghosts, art, and wasps. Leeds United #lufc because I was bad in a previous life. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/aberdeendnalab
Two Minke Whale lunge-feeding off Newtonhill this evening were quite the treat.
Al-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk. “The idea that we could maybe use those [Facebook] photos to help us understand where species are in space and time is very difficult”, said @alexanderlees.bsky.social in the science journal Nature.
Al-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk
Experts warn increase in enhanced photos on birding platforms creating fake sightings, threatening credibility of tool used by scientists
theguardian.com
I'm not posting Odyssey memes because one must be wary of GIFs bearing Greeks.
The appropriately named Dark Green Fritillary on the clifftops today.
The immune system is just a myth invented by Big Pharma to make us buy more drugs. There, I said it.
A Quail calling in barley field at the back of Newtonhill. Today has been a good patch day.
Loirston Loch on fire today, metaphorically. The Great Crested Grebes have a stripy chicken, an Osprey circled for a bit, and the Little Grebes have families.
With Download Festival then a trip to Scarborough I missed the last 2 weekends at Loirston Loch and while I was away *Great Crested Grebes moved in!!* My first at this site and less than annual in my 10K radius. Occasional fly-bys on seawatches. #winning
Cheer my pot of self-seeded Northern Marsh Orchids
PeopleWhoHaveTwoSpeciesOfOrchidGrowingInTheirLawnSayWhat?? What?
![Screenshot of title page of 'Moeliker, C.W., 2001 - The first case of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard Anas platyrhynchos (Aves: Anatidae) - DEINSEA 8: 243-247 [ISSN 0932-9308]. Published 9 November 2001](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bve2xsd6yxtnl646pgbuvywh/bafkreibxcn65fm4lduhcblgz5zb775asrrqexf2mmgriryij26ptym5cxi)
Plenty of Cuckoo action at Red Moss of Netherley this morning. 4 birds including this shifty-looking female, surveying the Mipits quietly.
The art world was shocked today by a new analysis of John Constable's iconic painting 'The Hay Wain'. Confocal X-ray imaging of the canvas revealed that Constable originally intended to portray the mill pond populated by cute little ghosts. #art #thehaywain
I too would risk it all for a landfill seedsnipe. Peak birding. www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...
Hantavirus cruise ship outbreak ‘possibly caused by couple’s birdwatching trip’
Eight suspected cases of hantavirus have been linked to the boat, which sailed from southern Argentina
independent.co.uk
Found a long-dead Little Auk behind the dunes today. One from winter wrecks. A6 notebook for scale. #HolyIsland
Black Guillemots off the Heugh, Holy Island, this evening
Behold! My beautiful genotyping PCRs. So clean. Many beauty. Much science.
An old fashioned used-to-be Mealy/Common Redpoll in the garden today. Digi-binned.
In Llandudno hotels you have to pay the bill by passing biscuits through the window to the rent collectors.
I've never seen one before, but presume this monster is Queen of the Tree Bumblebee people. Found on our kitchen floor.
Friday on the Great Orme, Llandudno. Sheep and Chough
Black Redstart poops from 'eastern' birds from Spurn (Nov 25) and Sheringham (Dec 25) have cytb sequences that clade with birds from west/central China and from Tyva (Russia). Distinct from western DNA. Consistent with subspp phoenicuroides/murinus. @birdguides.bsky.social 1/2
A Pochard at the other side (can you tell) or Loirston Loch was a very handy 10K radius year tick. Ring-necked Duck still here.
They say they'll stay there "for days if we have to." protectthewild.substack.com/p/breaking-a...
BREAKING: Anti-Guga Hunt Activists Chain Themselves to Roof of NatureScot HQ
They say they'll stay there "for days if we have to."
protectthewild.substack.com
Still tidying. Behold school exercise book from age 13. Religious education - 40 pages of blood-curdling military history
