Steve Preddy

eBird Checklist - 15 Oct 2015 - 台北--野柳IBA(Yeliu IBA) - 11 species (+1 other taxa) Submitted by Maggie Chen.

Hi Max, there’s a photograph of an adult male Siberian Thrush in this October eBird checklist from Taiwan: ebird.org/checklist/S2...

This looks very different from the Shetland bird. What’s your thinking as to why the latter is an adult?

Screen grab of a 2010 news article with the headline and stand first: "Sausage-addicted kookaburra too fat to fly BIRD became so obese from barbecue handouts she was unable to escape mauling."

I will take no further questions

Monmouthshire dragonfly newsletter number 12 is now available, with news on Willow Emeralds, Scarce Chaser, Lesser Emperors, Red-veined Darters, Common Hawker and Hairy Dragonfly. DM me if you’re not on the mailing list but would like to be. #gwentdragonflies
cc @britishdragonflies.bsky.social

I’ve just found another absurd one: ´Wryneck head twisting’ gave me this:

It got itself completely tangled up in knots when I asked about “phalarope underwing patterns” (try it) and as for “large white-headed gull identification”, well …

///escape.unrealistic.silly This is the what3words address for a 3 metre square location near Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot.

Six juv Sabine’s Gulls and 2 Grey Phals off the end of Jackstone’s pier, Aberavon currently.

w3w.co/escape.unrea...

Is that doughnut as in the thing I eat more often than I should, or the thing that the youth do in their cars in the Sports Village car park?

Zitting cisticola
Walberswick, Suffolk, 23/08/2025
I thought I was having a good day with an image of one of the juveniles from the 1st recorded breeding of Zitting cisticola in the UK. On review I found four juveniles and the adult female🤯
@suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social #suffolkbirding #ukbirding

Glos B-w Kite showing on & off this am, up to c1km N & c500m S of Splatt Bridge. Unlikely to be visible from Slimbridge hides when perched though gets quite high when flying so may be visible from estuary tower / summer walkway, but for now, Frampton’s the better bet. Cc @glosterbirder.bsky.social

Excellent, thanks, I’d appreciate that. I’ll be there Dec to Jan with @andyfmears.bsky.social

Thanks Shaun. Is that the same as Napo Wildlife Centre or are these different?

Where did you connect with Zigzag and Agami Shaun?

Thanks Martin, I thought that was the answer - it just seemed very early for a juvenile to be migrating, so wondered whether I had misremembered the tertial feature.

Hi Martin, were you able to age this Pied Fly?

A Lesser Emperor at Wentwood reservoir this evening along the west shore. #gwentdragonflies

This is pertinent: www.erikkleyheeg.nl/ruddy-shelduck

A male Scarce Chaser was seen and photographed on Tuesday just southwest of Magor Marsh: a first record for the county. #gwentdragonflies

Another one of those has to be on the cards at some point. Julian just has to intercept the next one off Burnham on Sea prom before it decides to have a nap on a driveway in Brean.

Just over 30 years since @julianthomas19.bsky.social and I saw it. Where did that time go? And who’d have thought that after all the effort involved to make it to Hermaness, a twitchable mainland bird would turn up a couple of decades later.

The highlight of a day of dragonflying on the Gwent Levels today was a copulating pair of Variable Damselfly on Pont-y-cw-cw reen near West Usk lighthouse, a new site for this species.
w3w.co/scrubbing.ru...

#gwentdragonflies

///underway.reworked.chickens This is the what3words address for a 3 metre square location near Hirwaun, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

Cefn Cadlan Dotterels still present this afternoon chilling out at

w3w.co/underway.rew...

Botany peeps: it’s way too early for Fairy Flax (Linum catharticum) to be flowering, isn’t it? If so, I’ve got some head scratching to do over a plant that I’ve found by the River Usk in Newport this afternoon.

The first Monmouthshire dragonfly newsletter of the year is now in your inbox if you’re on the mailing list. If you’re not, and would like to be, please get in touch.

Caroline, the main problem with this proposal is that it would have allowed the teaching of creationism in schools by the backdoor. This was pointed out to Mary on multiple occasions.

Green Hellebores (Helleborus viridis) in flower in woodland near Lower Kilcott in the Cotswolds in South Gloucestershire yesterday.

The Path to American Authoritarianism What comes after democratic breakdown.

"U.S. democracy will likely break down during the second Trump administration, in the sense that it will cease to meet standard criteria for liberal democracy: full adult suffrage, free and fair elections, and broad protection of civil liberties"
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

LGBTQ+ Survey

Hi Polly, the link above is to a page on LinkedIn which links to the survey. The survey itself is at:

app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bathreg/lg...

I was surprised Patrick didn’t mention this too, as he’s one of the better environment journos. He’s on here @patrickbarkham.bsky.social and might like to comment.

Congratulations Jonnie and Alex. To amuse you, this is how the job ad for two of your predecessors was written: from BB, as recently as Aug 1980.

Help make lead history Lead has been poisoning our wildlife and communities for decades – but now we have a chance to turn things around. With a crucial review into lead ammunition finally at an end, will you join me in c...

There’s an opportunity to bring about a ban on lead shot in the next few weeks. You can support a ban by emailing Steve Reed, the environment secretary, at the page below.

Please also share here and on other social media. Thanks.

act.wwt.org.uk/page/160992/...