Kelsey J.R.P. Byers

Alas, no - I've seen them at Cley Marshes NWT and a few times at Titchwell Marsh RSPB, and one flyover at Strumpshaw Fen RSPB (apparently a first for that site!) but never inland besides the one time at Strumpshaw. They are super neat birds - so fun with their spoony bills!

Interesting, thanks for the info! I know seronegative Sjoegren's exists but good point re: common chronic illness symptoms. Aggressive hydration I need to be more consistent with, good to know it helps you!

A Eurasian Coot strides across grass and dirt. This odd bird has a grey body, black head, and thick greenish grey legs ending in oddly lobed long toes. The bill is pointy and white and it has a white shield on its forehead and red eyes.

A Black-headed Gull floats on open water. This bird has a black head, reddish black bill, white neck and chest, and light grey wings with black tips folded along its back.

A Carrion Crow sits on a wooden park bench in front of a forest full of bare trees. This large songbird is solid black with a thick black bill.

A Great Cormorant stands on a wooden pillar in front of out of focus bare branches. This large bird has a black body with a white patch on its flank, thick black legs, and a peppered white and black head. The bill is long and hooked and has some orange skin at the base.

Nice day out at Whitlingham Great Broad to take advantage of a sunny and warm afternoon. Saw 28 species of birds - tons of gulls, cormorants, and waterfowl.

Here a Eurasian Coot, Black-headed Gull, Carrion Crow, and Great Cormorant - all monochrome edition!

If anyone on here has Sjoegren's Disease/Syndrome and is willing to chat privately about the diagnosis process and symptoms, would be much appreciated! (feel free to repost)

I've had dry mouth for a year or so & dry eyes for at least 5-10 years, plus more fatigue, & thinking they may be connected.

How a rare chronic illness left me unable to play my bagpipes Katie Robertson went back and forth to her GP and local hospital before being diagnosed with postural tachycardia syndrome.

So pleased to see so much BBC coverage of PoTS/hEDS these days - surprisingly common conditions that aren't well understood by most practitioners in the medical field and that can be quite disabling, as in my case!

Very recent examples:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Unexpected Elements - Seeing double - BBC Sounds A pair of twins on trial for murder has us wondering about all things identical.

Separately, I've been quite quiet here! Alas.

I was recently able to be on an episode of the BBC World Service's "Unexpected Elements", where I responded to a listener question about why Gorse flowers smell like piña coladas (I agree!) - minutes ca. 36:30 - 42:00 :

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Bluesky Map Interactive map of 3 million Bluesky users, visualised by their follower pattern.

Friend found this and it's quite neat to explore one's Bluesky connections/area!

bluesky-map.theo.io

Works best in Chrome, bit slow in Firefox.

Ahh, that makes sense! "Wheelchair-bonded" does sound lovely with that association, actually, even if "wheelchair-bound" still rubs me personally the wrong way. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I was just thinking myself also that tasks other than directly digging themselves might be suitable - e.g. rough processing of samples (sifting is what I thought of too!), sorting, initial scouting, sketching/site description, and so on. But it depends on what the student wants to do, of course

Personally I like the terms "wheelie" or "wheelchair user" or "wheelchair-based" - they carry the "this person uses a chair" meaning while avoiding the negative connotation that the chair is somehow hindering rather than freeing their mobility.

Individual preference does apply for sure! But I've (at least personally) yet to meet a fellow wheelie (speaking as a majority-time wheelie myself), entirely chair-based or not, who prefers the term "bound" - agree 100% that it's because our chairs give us freedom, they don't take it away.

Also dropped you an email just FYI!

I'll drop you a line via your email below!

I've replied, thanks so much for putting us in touch!!!

Hi there Sarah! I'm a wheelie who does biology fieldwork, though admit I often do my fieldwork with limited walking ability and by sitting on the ground, which won't quite match your student's needs. However, I think this can be done & would be up for chatting if you'd like some help brainstorming!

The Latest Kate

I have her daily affirmation calendar and weekly planner and am in love - you can view her art here: www.thelatestkate.art and it's available on some custom printing websites (I have some magnets that she drew for example).

(not affiliated w/ her but wanted to spread the lovely affirmations & art!)

In case anyone else needs it right now, The Latest Kate (who does amazingly lovely affirmation messages with cute sparkly animal drawings) has an email list that sends three daily affirmation images M-F for free. You can sign up here:

subscribepage.io/t5sS4p

Like... usually you can see the blinky lights from planes; on this plane I saw the fiery orange light of his afterburners, and it was only just after sunset so they shouldn't have been /that/ obvious if he hadn't been flying super low!

Sorry, that was a bit nonsensical!

The pilot who fucked up this time was flying so low and with such high velocity/power that it was overwhelming even at ground level, and made me want to plug my ears.

Starting to be tempted after this to (a) keep a diary for a little while about noise levels and (b) talk to my MP if the diary looks problematic...

I wish - it's been quite bad the last six months, and the pilot who fucked up this time was so loud outside our house when the sonic boom happened was so low and loud that I wanted to plug my ears just from being outdoors.

They also often are practicing after dark, and it's hard to fall asleep...

/but the pilot was making a small mistake and it's totally necessary that we not blame them for making a small mistake right!?!?!?!/

ugh

Sonic boom heard in Norfolk and Suffolk was inadvertent A USAF F-35A, based out of RAF Lakenheath, was in the area at the time, it is confirmed.

Welp, the USAF have at least admitted it, though not with a great apology or any promises to avoid it in the future... www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Buuuuut the RAF has just confirmed they weren't involved (no Quick Reaction Alert aka scramble), and won't speculate either way on whether USAF stationed in the UK were, which is the only other viable option. So thanks USAF, I guess, but no thanks for terrifying people for no reason!

Yeah... I can definitely see why! Fun in a chair with sufficient braking confidence too!

and there's an awfully suspicious RAF intel/recon plane track that got to Norwich around 4:15pm (15 minutes before the boom) and circled until 5:15pm before heading back to its base...

'Huge sonic boom' heard over Norfolk and Suffolk, say residents People are reporting the sound of an explosion and buildings shaking.

Beeb now covering it, but no updates yet other than "it happened": www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I do recall my visit there being fun, in that I took a taxi to the uni from the rail station but then wheeled from the uni to the station - was worried about missing my train until I realized how lovely and steep the downhill was! Made it in plenty of time haha!

Not a surprise there! I visited Bristol and my colleague got me a taxi for a literal 1-mile wheel and I asked him why not just walk/wheel, he insisted on the taxi, and then I saw /why/ and went "... I see. I'm not sure that is even a safe angle for me to wheel uphill at."

Valid! I miss mountains and hills but we are, as you say, flat as a pancake. At least Norwich has something that pretends to be a hill, unlike Cambridge where the biggest hill I ran into was a bridge over a rail line...