Robert Phillips

Dennis Lillee

Dire wolves remain very extinct Despite what you are being fed, de-extinction is a con, full of gloss, bullshit and ghoulish greed.

The resurrection circus keeps clowning, but make no mistake, Dire wolves remain very extinct.

An angry, sweary piece by a frustrated geneticist.

arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...

Thorley Advent post day 24. Final post in the series is a compilation of the previous posts, celebrating Thorley Wash Nature Reserve. Merry Christmas.
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Thorley Advent post day 23. Water voles again, showing the size difference between the adult and young voles. This was a few years ago in early July, so the young vole is likely to be from the first, or possibly second, brood of the year.
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A group of water buffalo, shoulder deep in a field of sedge, grass and wildflowers, with meadowsweet and purple loosestrife particularly evident

Thorley Advent post day 22. Water Buffalo. Part of the management of Thorley Wash includes conservation grazing. For the last two summers, we have brought water buffalo onto the reserve. Here they are in August early in their residency, with plenty still to do!
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Winter beauties 😍

A carder bee - a bumble bee with ginger coloured hair on its abdomen gathering nectar from a dandelion flower, with sunshine reflecting from the flower petals

Thorley Wash Advent post day 21. Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, so a picture with some sunshine from the Spring. A carder bee on a dandelion.
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A group of 5 small (approximately 7 mm by 4 mm) shiny black insects with flattened bodies and 3 coloured spots in a line towards the back of the abdomen. Individuals in the picture have either red or white spots (other colours are found in these shield bugs). Two of the pairs of individuals are mating.

Thorley Wash Advent post day 20. Some of the smaller inhabitants of the reserve: Brassica Shield Bugs in May.
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A Little Egret, a small white heron, with black bill and legs and, not easily visible in the picture, yellow feet. It is perched on a hawthorn branch with buds but no flowers or leaves,

Thorley Wash Advent post day 19. Little Egrets are regular visitors to the reserve and are most often seen flying up when disturbed from the watercourses. This was taken in March.
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True - like so many other things in these posts!

Close up of a hawker dragonfly on a dried comfrey leave. I had this listed as a blue version of the southern hawker, but am veering towards it being a migrant hawker. Dragonfly ID not my strong suit!

Thorley Wash Advent post day 18. A September picture, when dragonflies, both hawkers like this and chasers, are particularly numerous at Thorley.
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A purple flower spike of a Southern Marsh Orchid against a green background including rush and sedge. Early Marsh Orchid and Southern Marsh Orchid were both included on the original SSSI citation for the site in 1986. The two species have a range of variants and also hybridise, which can complicate identification.

Thorley Wash Advent post day 17. Southern Marsh Orchid, both Southern Marsh Orchid and Early Marsh Orchid are found at Thorley Wash, generally well hidden among the sedge, rush and other vegetation.
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A young water vole sitting up on its hind legs, perched on water weed in the middle of a ditch, eating vegetation held in its front paws. There are water droplets on its nose and the reflection of its whiskers are visible in the water.

Thorley Wash Advent post day 16. Time for another water vole. This is a young vole, probably only a few weeks old. They first venture out of the nest from around 25 days and are noticeably smaller than adults. Next week there will be a video of young and adult together.
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Thorley Wash Advent post 15. More often heard than seen, Water Rails regularly appear all year round on the trail cam footage from the reserve.
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A bright green damselfly perched on a dried stem of false oat grass, which is bent into the shape of a shepherd's crook by strands of a spider's web. The damselfly is a female Banded Demoiselle (or Banded Agrion)

Thorley Wash Advent post day 14. We had a male Banded Demoiselle on day 4, this is a female taken on the same day in July this year.
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Thorley Wash Advent post day 13. Barn owls can often be seen hunting over the reserve in the early morning and evening. This is a favourite clip from a few years ago, particularly for the moment the owl spotted me.
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A magenta flower spike of purple loosestrife with a background of sedges and the yellow flowers of birdsfoot trefoil. A honey bee is flying in from the right.

Thorley Advent post day 12. The spring and summer months at Thorley Wash reveal a wide range of flowering plants that thrive in the wet grassland habitat. This is a spike of Purple Loosestrife in August, with approaching bee.
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Juvenile mute swan just losing the last of its brown plumage, with reflection; water dripping from its bill where it has been plucking vegetation from the riverbed.

Thorley Wash advent post day 11. One swan a-swimming. The eastern side of the reserve is bounded by the River Stort navigation, home to a variety of waterbirds throughout the year.
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A peacock butterfly feeding on the nectar from a dandelion flower, nest to the leaves of a stinging nettle, the food plant of peacock caterpillars

Thorley Wash advent post day 10. A bright picture for a gloomy day - a peacock butterfly, which can be seen on the reserve throughout spring and summer. This was in late April, so it will have overwintered prior to mating and egg-laying on the nearby stinging nettles
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Sunshine on wet grassland with a full rainbow overhead

Thorley Wash advent post day 9. The calm after the storm. Thorley Wash this morning - the Reserve at the end of the rainbow!
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Thorley Wash advent post day 8. As promised, more of the Thorley water voles. This is part of some video I took a couple of years ago, demonstrating the typical 45 degree angle on the sedge leaf, often left by feeding voles.
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View across misty grass and sedge with the sun rising above distant trees

Thorley Advent post day 7. For a wild and windy day, a picture of the sun rising over Thorley Wash on a calmer late winter/ early spring morning.
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Kestrel sitting on an electric cable

Thorley Advent post day 6. Bird on a wire.
Kestrels are regular visitors and can often be seen perched on cables or hovering over the reserve.
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Two common lizards flanked by two flies on a wooden post

Thorley Advent post day 5. Common lizards basking in the sun, with accompanying flies. August at Thorley Wash.
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Male banded demoiselle on a sedge leaf at Thorley Wash

Thorley Advent post day 4. A male banded demoiselle on a sedge leaf in July. Damselflies (and dragonflies) are seen across the reserve throughout the spring and summer months; banded demoiselles were particularly prolific this year.
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@hmwt.bsky.social

Sticky follicles are certainly a concern, but as a beard wearer and marmalade maker of more than 40 years, I can vouch for the efficacy and beard-friendliness of the home-made preserve.

Male banded demoiselle on a sedge leaf at Thorley Wash

Thorley Advent post day 4. A male banded demoiselle on a sedge leaf in July. Damselflies (and dragonflies) are seen across the reserve throughout the spring and summer months; banded demoiselles were particularly prolific this year.
#thorleyadventpost2024_4
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Ragged robin growing among sedge and rush at Thorley Wash

Thorley Advent post day 3. Ragged robin was one of the named species on the SSSI citation in 1986. It is still thriving and a lovely sight in the Spring. This is a picture from early April
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Day 2 of the Thorley Advent post. Thorley Wash 'a reserve filled with birdsong' . Here is a male blackcap singing from a willow in May, with some shaky camera work.
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Young water vole feeding among the sedges

Day 1 of this year's Thorley Advent post is, of course, a water vole. Reintroduced at Thorley Wash in 2015, the water voles have established well and spread along the surrounding waterways. This is a young vole, there may be more in future posts.

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