Palustris

Hartlepool Headland 8.30-11.00: Quiet - 29 Red-throated Divers, c 120 v distant ?Pinkfeet S, 4 Goosanders, 1 Mediterranean Gull. Harbour Porpoise, Grey & Harbour Seals.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

The diving beetle Deronectes latus was described as new to science by J.F. Stephens in 1829 from specimen collected by L. Rudd of Marton Lodge (now Stewart's Park, Middlesbrough). Ormesby Beck, a short walk away, would have been nearest likely habitat for this running water species.
📷U Schmidt, CC.

There is a universality to Dictator Kitsch: this would not have looked out of place in Mussolini's villa, or the palaces of Saddam/Ceausescu/Kim Jong-un/Erdogan. The incredible thing is that millions of people losing their health care and food stamps will still vote for Trump.

Dictator Kitsch: this wouldn't have looked out of place in Mussolini's villa. See also Ceausescu/Saddam/Gaddafi/Kim Jong-un. A few years ago, Erdogan (Turkish MAGA and in many ways Trump's model) had to deny that the toilet seats in his presidential palace were gold-plated.

Ceausescu/Saddam/Gaddafi/Kim Jong-un/Trump: Dictator Kitsch is back in style.

Kim Jong-un is his interior designer.

Out on the estuary, wildfowlers would conceal themselves in wooden casks buried in the mud, as described by R. Lofthouse in his essay 'The River Tees: Its marshes and their fauna', published in the Proceedings of Cleveland Naturalists' Field Club in 1907.

The "war on woke" is about making this kind of hateful discourse mainstream again.

A duck decoy operated on Coatham Marsh (Redcar) up to 1872. Mallard, Wigeon, Pintail, Shoveler, Pochard, Scaup, Shelduck were trapped, with a Ferruginous Duck caught in 1850. The area south of Marsh House has long since been tipped over.
Below: extract from 1st edition OS 6" map, surveyed ca. 1850.

Hartlepool Headland 8.15-10.45: highlight was Great Northern Diver flyby v close in. 17 Red-throated Divers, small numbers of various duck, still a few Gannets and Guillemots but numbers much diminished. Several small flocks of Starlings in/off.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

"Levelling Up"

Greenshank, Peregrine on saltmarsh N side of Greatham Creek. @teesbirds.bsky.social

Hartlepool Headland 8.45-10.45: 2 Great Northern Divers, 10 Red-throated Divers, 4 Whooper Swans S, 1 Mediterranean Gull, 1 Arctic Tern.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Back in the days when the EA would test water samples cheaply, I got some very high nitrate readings from top-quality sites (curiously including a couple of floating vegetation rafts). Never came to any conclusion except that still waters work in mysterious ways in terms of nutrients!

Almost certainly a kettle-hole or similar but one of the problems is they're often not mapped (which is why it's important to understand the invertebrate indicators of antiquity).

Hartlepool Headland 8-10: Quiet, 1 Velvet Scoter N, 1 Woodcock in/off, 12 Red-throated Divers, Harbour Porpoise, Grey Seal.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Besides, why would any Conservative contemplate going into politics if not to rob the peasants blind?

Hartlepool Headland 7.45-10.15: highlight was a Little Auk N at 09.13, close-in. Also 3 Arctic Terns, 3 Little Gulls, 2 Long-tailed Ducks. Ca 500 geese S at 9am, v distant.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Hartlepool Headland 8-12: 6 Great Skuas, 12 Little Gulls, 10 Arctic Terns, 3 Goldeneye, 4 Long-tailed Ducks. @teesbirds.bsky.social

Some are active fliers, some are a mixture of flying/non-flying, some don't seem to fly at all but still get about and others are sedentary. In one species it's known that eggs can survive digestion and excretion by birds but v little is known about dispersal via other animals.

Didn't expect much from this reedy, urban-fringe ditch nr Stockton-on-Tees but 13 water beetles included Hydroporus figuratus, an uncommon small diving beetle of shaded fen. This species can occur in both boldly-marked and almost completely dark forms. It was abundant in this ditch.

2 Whooper Swans flying up the Tees at Bowesfield Marsh NR 14.45, Cetti's Warbler calling.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Maybe he's going to host Miss Teen USA there and hang out in the changing rooms like the old days.

Leaves change colour in autumn because, as days shorten, trees stop producing chlorophyll; the green pigment responsible for photosynthesis. This allows other pigments already in the leaf to become visible. Some trees produce new pigments (anthocyanins); creating vibrant reds and purples...

Hartlepool Headland 07.30-10.00: Disappointing, 1 ?Arctic Skua N, 1 Mediterranean Gull, several Little Gulls & commic terns, 13 RT Divers.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Bioabundance: A Tudor account of insects washed downstream by a winter flood on the River Severn, in such vast quantities that they jammed up water mills for four days and had to be dug out by the shovel load.
Source: Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, vol 1, 1812.

Is this a record of a living animal, or does it refer to fossil statoblasts extracted from sediment? I covered the latter in a review of invertebrate records for the Foss which is on the River Foss Society website.

Sadly it all went downhill after the sunrise.

Hartlepool Headland 07.45-9.15: quiet. Little Gulls still feeding offshore. 2 ?Arctic Skuas N, v distant. 4 Arctic Terns S.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Useful to know, thanks.