John Marchant

Gordon Brown is right: we can’t let Reeves’s obsession with her fiscal rules push more children into poverty
The answer is simple: tax wealth fairly
www.itv.com/news/2025-08...

We're getting another e-newsletter together that should be getting sent out in the next week or so. You'll get all sorts of updates from the BTO in sunny Scotland, plus details of training events this autumn. If you don't already subscribe you can sign up here: www.bto.org/about/where/...

Neatly coinciding with Lauren’s triumphant return to North Walsham today! ⚽️ A parade, a bus, and now a Norfolk moth in her honour. #teammoth

A wasteland of rubble, dust and graves: how Gaza looks from the sky The Guardian joins a Jordanian military airdrop for a rare chance to observe a landscape devastated by Israel’s offensive

"Its markets were crowded, its streets were full of children. That Gaza is gone— not buried under volcanic ash, not erased by history, but razed by an Israeli military campaign that has left behind a place that looks like the aftermath of an apocalypse"

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

This is amongst the most impactful two minutes of broadcasting I’ve ever seen.

By Emma Murphy, International Editor, ITV News. #Gaza

Right to buy in England ‘fuelled housing crisis and cost taxpayers £200bn’ Common Wealth report calls discounted sales of council homes one of the ‘largest giveaways in UK history’

Successive governments have watched as Right to Buy hollowed out council housing stock, fuelling chronic shortages and deepening inequality. We cannot wait any longer: end Right to Buy, urgently reinvest in affordable, social homes fit for the future, and secure stability for our communities.

A mural and bus in North Walsham, a homecoming victory parade - and now an eponymous moth! Go Lauren!

The current position of Natural England is that (re)introduction of White Storks should not be supported. Evidence for their historical presence here is sketchy and it is difficult to rule out historical remains as not pertaining to regular vagrancy. Cultural evidence is weak at best #UKbirding 1/2

Sizewell C costs could hit £100bn including financing, modelling shows Total for nuclear power station project set to be billions of pounds higher than official government estimates

The core problem with nuclear power - cost

Via @financialtimes.com

Sizewell C costs could hit £100bn including financing, modelling shows

- Total for nuclear project set to be billions of pounds higher than official government estimates

HT @carbonbrief.org
www.ft.com/content/5f54...

The first page of an article about Cley and Norfolk Rare Bird Archive taken from The Norfolk Natterjack

The second page of an article about Cley and Norfolk Rare Bird Archive taken from The Norfolk Natterjack

The third page of an article about Cley and Norfolk Rare Bird Archive taken from The Norfolk Natterjack

Norfolk birder & photographer Steve Gantlett is collating an archive of photos of rare birds in Norfolk. The aim is to ensure that the best possible pictures of each species are preserved for use in future publications - if you think you can contribute then please get in touch with Steve.

A close-up showing a partly folded hind wing, broadly banded black and outrageous crimson-pink, overlain by a section of upper wing with an intricate pattern of scales in black and several shades of buff and brown.

New favourite moth! Dark Crimson Underwing from the house wall on Saturday. A first for TM18, I believe.

REAL HOPE. REAL CHANGE. WE NEED ACTIONS, NOT WORDS Green Party Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London SE16 9GQ

- Arms embargo - Ceasefire - Sanctions - Access to water, food and aid - Netanyahu in the Hague

Along with other countries, the UK promised "concrete actions" in response to the Netanyahu government back in May.

And still all we have is words from David Lammy.

Words are not enough. We need strong action.

When I was little, the U.S. military came to our home at gunpoint and took me and my family away. We were imprisoned for years in barbed wire camps simply because we were Japanese American. I have spent my life telling that story, hoping it would never be repeated.

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds Reform UK’s oil industry interests are a major turn-off for voters, new research reveals. The think tank Persuasion UK tested five anti-Reform messages on 6,000 adults. According to the research, “by ...

Exposing Reform’s Oil Ties Significantly Reduces Party Support, New Research Finds scl.io/2NVvWR5 via @DeSmog

If the only way you'll ever hear someone call out Nigel Farage's destructive, divisive politics on the BBC is for me to do it, then so be it.

A Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly clings to a stem, silhouetted against a glowing orange sun. Its fragile wings illuminate in the heat-haze of sunset: a striking image of nature’s beauty, and its vulnerability in the face of a changing climate and ongoing wildlife loss.

We’re in a nature and climate emergency, and we welcome Ed Miliband and Steve Reed’s recognition of that yesterday.

Tackling nature and climate together is essential.

But facing the crisis means acting on it, and the latest EIP progress report is a reality check...

(1/2)

So today my @birdtrack.bsky.social account passed 300,000 records of bird species in Britain. The data are there to support bird research and monitoring at county, national and international levels - but I think 300k is enough to have a little fun with at a personal level, too…

A short notice detailing the tens of thousands of birds, birds' eggs and nest destroyed annually in farming villages around the country just over a century ago. Re-reading chunks of 'The House Sparrow' New Naturalist monograph last night -one still known to be operating in Kent in 1963 (Elham)

I do like going rogue and getting lost among the backstreets and alleyways in old towns:
What I found in Whitstable yesterday #2:

An in the window pop-up display on the sad history of 'Sparrow Clubs'. Still some when I was young, but had forgotten about them, had me reading up lots last night.

How polluters create a Circle of Denial on the climate & nature crisis.

We need politicians with vision and courage to break it.

UTAH… this is not a game…

FOUR WAYS TO SAVE WATER! - Turn the tap off while you're brushing your teeth - Use a watering can to water plants instead of a hose - Invest in leaking infrastructure instead of paying big bonuses to owners - Bring water companies back into public ownership REAL HOPE. REAL CHANGE. Green Party Promoted by Chris Williams on behalf of The Green Party, both at PO Box 78066, London SE16 9GQ

Remember, the best way to save water during a drought is to...

T̶u̶r̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶a̶p̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶w̶h̶i̶l̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶'̶r̶e̶ ̶b̶r̶u̶s̶h̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶ ̶t̶e̶e̶t̶h̶

BRING WATER COMPANIES BACK INTO PUBLIC OWNERSHIP

"Why doesn't the government just create the safe and managed routes?"

@elliechowns.bsky.social discusses Labour's new Anglo-French deal on small-boat crossings.

BEHOLD! One of Earth's greatest lineages of life: the lil wiggle arm guys, Meteora.

These single-celled critters, originally found in deep-sea sediments, are SO DIFFERENT from other lifeforms on Earth that they're likely in their own kingdom (as in, the Animal Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom etc). 🧪🌿

22 tonnes of microplastics spread on farms every day via sewage sludge, investigation reveals <b>The Sludge Files:</b> Twenty-two tonnes of microplastics per day are estimated to be spread on English and Welsh farmland through contaminated sewage sludge fertiliser sold by water companies, with...

“Farmers are being deceived by the water companies. They're being misled" - @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

22 tonnes of microplastics are dumped on farmland PER DAY via sludge - read this snapshot of my investigation outside the paywall (for a limited time!)

www.endsreport.com/article/1924...

Thank you to everyone who records their bird sightings on BirdTrack. It means we can view the latest trends and the data contributes to BTO science. If you’d like to get involved in recording the birds you see, visit @birdtrack.bsky.social via www.birdtrack.net/

‘Like fly-tipping’: ministers ignoring pleas to cut sludge fertiliser use Exclusive: Defra warned three years ago of farmland contamination by water firms’ sewage-derived product

Our Co-Founder @georgemonbiot.bsky.social isn't holding back:

“Farmers are being deceived by the water companies … they’re being misled, and this could have very serious implications for their future livelihood, that their land could become unusable..." www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Fantastic! @btobirds.bsky.social

Millions of tonnes of toxic sewage sludge spread on UK farmland every year Exclusive: Experts call for stricter regulation as current rules set in 1989 require testing for only a few heavy metals

At @fightingdirty.bsky.social, we sued over this issue, and lost on the grounds that the Environment Agency couldn't be in breach because the government had issued no direction. An absurdity, which means that poisons continue to be spread on farmland every day. 🧵
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

We have a Tree Snipefly in our kitchen! Just a handful of Norfolk records, I think. #ukdiptera #panspeciesrecording @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

The cases of int'l athletes barred from entering or expelled from the US keep piling up. Brazilian table tennis player Hugo Calderano was just denied entry for a tournament in Vegas, with the reason that he recently went to Cuba for...an Olympic qualifying tournament.

ge.globo.com/tenis-de-mes...