Lucy Corrander
@lucycorrander.bsky.social
Wild plants, gardening, allotment, photography. Arrived from the old Twitter. Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. https://looseandleafyinhalifax.blogspot.com/ https://messageinamilkbottle.blogspot.com/ On Twitter too. https://x.com/LucyCorrander
According to Helen Bennet, @helenbennett.bsky.social, today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #FabulousWaders. I think this reddish egret fits well. It was feeding in the shallows of our local wildlife refuge. #photography #wildlife #wildlifephotography #ECK #birds #Birdsky #birders #NikonZ8 #conservation
From David Bentley: "Castle Water, Rye Harbour Nature Reserve, is buzzing with grasshoppers and crickets. This is Roesel's Bush-cricket, with its cream-coloured, curved edge to the pronotum ('collar')."
🐞 Be part of an exciting new chapter for the RES. As either Director of Operations, or Head of Development & Projects, you'll oversee key operational areas while helping create an inspiring, sustainable future for the Society and the wider community. ⏰ Apply by 14 August!
Join the team! Two Senior Leadership roles available.
To apply for either of these roles, please send your current CV and a covering letter of no more than two pages to exec@royensoc.co.uk by 14 August 2026.
buff.ly
None of my Swiss Chard has come up - and I sowed loads. Was wondering whether to try a late sowing - but it was 27 degrees Celsius in the shade at 10am today so assume it still won't be happy with our new version of a British summer. Is there any point in trying?
Jeremy Clarkson has said that benefits claimants should be forced to write a letter to a taxpayer every week, thanking them for all their hard work that allows us to receive the money we need, so I did. Unfortunately I don't think the entire text will fit in alt text, but this is an email to my dad.
Any comments on being a vegetarian or vegan but unable to compost enough material to keep the soil productive?
Blackberries are a mystery. How come they are sweet and ripe and juicy when everything else is dying? And here's a fact. They aren't taking any notice of the calendar either. It's the first of August.
Anyone know German? I'm thinking there might be a useful port-manteau word for 'Trying to pick blackberries which are just out of reach and which one doesn't really need because there are plenty nearer at hand but which one tries to get anyway thus risking falling into the bramble bush'.
My greenhouse shelf rotted and when I removed it today I found a pretty crust fungus eating it, and a SLIME MOLD!!!🐸 The crust is Coniophora puteana I think; the slime mold is my old-growth rainforest friend Stemonitis fusca, who I am delighted to meet so unexpectedly! 🤎🤍🤎 #SlimeMold #FungiFriends
When sweeping litter from outside my house, or working on my allotment, people (men) have said to me 'Gives you something to do' and 'Keeps you occupied'. I've plenty of things to do thanks! And if I were looking for a 'hobby' it wouldn't be picking up litter. Is this an age thing or a gender thing?
Under a Binface government, anyone who doesn’t accept human-made climate change as fact will be sent back to school, from Year 1 right the way to A Levels, to see if anything goes in the second time round. #VoteBinface
Here it is. My manifesto for the 2026 Clacton By-Election. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Join me, clean up Clacton and let's make 13th August Bin Day! #VoteBinface #VoteyMcVoteface #YesWeTinCan
People who know about birds . . . in my apple tree early this morning: small bird with bright yellow tummy, brownish back and pronounced eye stripe - with a song that's a single, repeated, very loud note. Any ideas? Can find candidates with some but not all of these features.
Any #RomanBritain people want to recommend a non-fiction book on Hadrian's Wall (not a walking guide)? We visited Birdoswald Roman Fort from the Lake District last week, and I'm intrigued.
I have an invasion of grasshoppers on one of the paths on my allotment. As I walk along, masses of them fly into the air ahead and sideways. At first I thought they were moths - but no. Grasshoppers. Until today I didn't even know grasshoppers can fly.
Anyone understand horse (mare's) tails. I read that the nutrition sucked up by their deep roots can be released for other plants by soaking in water. I now have a water butt that began by smelling of off-eggs and now smells of rotting manure. The horse-tails look just the same as when they went in.
Wayne Rooney to be new BBC commentator for Eurovision. #VoteBinface
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
Found a Himalayan Balsam plant hiding next to Jerusalem artichokes on my allotment. The leaves are not dissimilar. Seed must have been bird-dropped. It has now gone. Binned.
Outrage as 2.7 million chicken mega 'factory' proposed for quiet North Yorkshire village climatewithbrian.com/2026/06/23/o...
Outrage as 2.7 million chicken mega-farm proposed for quiet North Yorkshire village
Plans to build a large chicken factory farm, capable of producing 2.7 million birds each year in the village of Melmerby, near Ripon, are coming under renewed scrutiny from campaigners. Forest Poul…
climatewithbrian.com
Puzzled enough by this early and not-quite-right 'Rhomboid Tortrix' to keep it and check it out and looks like a good candidate for Fen Tortrix A shepherdana - is that right anyone who knows it? If it is one, certainly new for Portland and seemingly pretty rare anywhere in these parts
‘No matter how bad, it is always fixable’: how Bea Elton cleans up the houses – and lives – of desperate people
‘No matter how bad, it is always fixable’: how Bea Elton cleans up the houses – and lives – of desperate people
She has built an unlikely career in mould, maggots and excrement, cleaning for those who most need it. It can take months building trust with a stranger, before she and her boyfriend go in and transform everything
theguardian.com
If you are wanting roofing work done in the South Tyneside area - avoid John Flowers Ltd - #swift killers.
Help please! This beetle, if it is Serropalpus barbatus, has only one accepted UK record on NBN (Aug 2010). Strangely, well within 10 miles of my moth trap. Entered on iRecord. If I've been misled by the app then plz let me know. Or if you think this is right - that would be good 2 know too!
So enjoy being a grown up. I can eat what I like when I like. Breakfast is peas straight from their pods, along with raspberries, cream and sugar. For lunch there will be newly dug potatoes and real butter. Luxury.
Heard that some of our local Peacocks were already in hibernation on 5th July in Purbeck, deciding 2nd generation was risky. Nettle quality must be low in this heat. A few are still flying and may try to breed. Let me know if you see any larvae, or hibernators @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social
