Chris Foster

Bit disappointed the butterfly is not named! May as well have a picture of a flower that says 'flower'. It's not very informative.

A soggy Green Shieldbug rescued from a bucket of water, springtails climbed aboard to hitch a ride out too!

Scarlet Tiger caterpillar - a black bristly caterpillar with a yellow and blue stripe down the centre

A hedgehog picked out by phone light on the pavement

Many things waking up in the neighborhood today.

Combe is SSSI yes: "This ancient woodland SSSI remains in favourable condition. There has been no loss of woodland." (2019) designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk/SiteFeatureC...

Ah I missed the 'weak evidence' part of your reply @richardkbroughton.bsky.social. That makes more sense. For better cheer, I could hear three Chaffinches singing at once in one part of the wood. I'd almost forgotten what a February chorus of Chaffinches sounded like!

It's at once both the biggest draw and biggest drawback of the area! I treasure the rare lack of road noise. At one point on the walk down yesterday I encountered a minute or so of complete silence.

I've tried to look for the felling license but forestry commission data that's public only goes to 2024. And interestingly shows nothing for the previous blocks clear felled at Combe.

I need to read your book!

On a cheerier note at least one pair still in evidence...plus Crossbills in the larch at the top end and excellent prolonged views of a Goshawk tussling with Ravens.

Plenty of nice woodland left but it's for sure wholesale felling, not mere coppicing. Ash yes but also mature oak. Take the point that no woodland management at all would be equally bad for Willow Tit, but losing extensive areas of habitat on one go can't be good for such a small population.

It's Combe for sure. Broad swathe either side of the track here. maps.app.goo.gl/BGQ1h1dLFedy...

Bit shocked by the heavy handed felling in parts of Combe Wood though! Once was a Willow Tit nest there 😢

What a gorgeous day it was yesterday for one of my favourite views 😁

Crosskey, nice bit of nominative determinism for a frustrated taxonomist!

Hazel catkins with blurred suburban garden beyond

Male hazel flower - delicate deep pink star emerging from a brown bud

7-spot Ladybird starting to wake up in the mild weather

White-lipped Snail quickly tucking their head in - no photos, please!

Distractions while finally catching up with some winter pruning in the garden.

We got a bag of these last week 😆The Acoustic Potatoes would also be a decent band name

😱

For local folk I'll be talking @carabidaeuk.bsky.social at Kintbury Wildlife Group tomorrow, 7:30pm 🪲https://kintburywildlife.co.uk/Current-programme.html. If I'm organised enough might have some specimens to look at...possibly live ones too!

Not looking forward to seeing the damage at Slapton and Torcross when we're back for 1st year zoology/ecology field course in August.

Final January total for birds seen on foot from home stands at 69, Buzzard finally showed up yesterday (three at once). Strong start to the month was followed by endless rain and the fact my workplace is not realistically close enough to walk to! #footit @footit.bsky.social

Oh absolutely. And I find checking what's on the recorder quite addictive - have had some nice garden records too - but I definitely underestimated the amount of manual verification and therefore time investment needed!

I've had a group of students running recorders on the Reading campus over the winter. Some nice new records for the site (Brambling, probable overnight Bittern) but also e.g. an alarm classified with high certainty as Whimbrel, car engine starting as Collared Dove...etc!

Spot the birder who can't read or thinks their views or photographs outweigh bird welfare

Wonderful afternoon with @unirdgento.bsky.social students, @chrisfoster.bsky.social & @wetconservatrix.bsky.social from @uniofreading.bsky.social

The @nhm-london.bsky.social has joined forces with the teaching & the @royentsoc.bsky.social are providing financial support (👋@simon2ward.bsky.social )

Need a big last week because the previous one is one giant blank!

No owls here either! 😔

It certainly is.. good thing about non-native introductions is I feel a little less guilty about posing them for selfies! Nonetheless the majority we found went back into overwintering sites, have retained some to try and breed 🤞

Specially for @kitenet.bsky.social here at last is a picture of me with ground beetle! More to come later to see which you like best 😆

Happy Burns Night! With thanks for Scotland and her fine culture, food and drink. Not my home country but I feel at home whenever we go 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🥃

Killing with kindness: Does widespread generalised provisioning of wildlife help or hinder biodiversity conservation efforts? Provisioning of wildlife with food, water and breeding sites is a globally ubiquitous phenomenon. While some provisioning is targeted at single specie…

I do wonder how much additional feeding the birdwatch encourages and whether @rspb.bsky.social have attempted a cost-benefit analysis considering the increasingly well-understood risks to wild birds from feeding, e.g. this paper from @alexanderlees.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

...one reason he doesn't have free access outdoors (we walk him on a lead 3 x a day) is to protect wildlife, which is also why we've pretty much stopped providing artificial food. As a result birds shun our garden and go for the free hand-outs elsewhere in the neighbourhood 🙄