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butjolly.bsky.social
SE London-based Binocularist. Leaning against the piano is my dad, undated sometime in the early 50s I think.
51 posts 80 followers 180 following
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Fascinating watching the Short-eared Owls on #Springwatch. Did you know a study using remote tracking revealed intercontinental movements of Short-eared Owls? Discover the story ➡️ https://bit.ly/SEOStudy #Ornithology 📷 Short-eared Owl by Liz Cutting/BTO

submitted 3 days ago • 2 comments

It’s #WorldSwiftDay 😀 BTO research into the highly aerial Swift, which spends the non‐breeding period on the wing, found they exhibit a rarely‐found chain migration pattern. Read the study ➡️bit.ly/SwiftsChainMi... #Ornithology

submitted 1 day ago • 0 comments

Great time at Old Lodge NR in the Ashdown Forest today. Lots of Redstarts around - the highlight was watching two fledgelings perched on a branch calling to be fed and seeing both adults arrive and feed them. Also Spotted Flycatcher (pair), Woodlarks, Tree Pipit displaying, Crossbills (12+), etc.

submitted 6 days ago • 0 comments

Didn’t take to long to relocate the adult male Red backed Shrike at Old Lodge, Ashdown early afternoon. It was hunting on the lower boundary fence below the car park all afternoon, joined by 3 Redstarts,Linnets and loads of Stonechats. My 3rd Ashdown RB Shrike.

submitted 8 days ago • 0 comments

It's the leading edge of spring migration here in North Carolina, and that means I'm sometimes lucky enough to see a splash of yellow among the juncos and chickadees. These migratory birds use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate; it turns out they leverage quantum mechanics to do so. 1/6 ⚛️🧪

submitted 81 days ago • 1 comment

xxxx(ers). That is all.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

BTO are looking for volunteers to cover 1-km squares to look for Nightjar. It's a really simple survey to take part in, just two evening visits Find out more: www.bto.org/get-involved... #BirdingWales #UKBirding @birdsinwales.bsky.social

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

Lovely pic. Great playing and some moving words spoken about the blues by Brian alongside Alina Bzhezhinska's HipHarp collective.

submitted 12 days ago • 0 comments

NEW BLOG: A Mid-May Visit to Thursley Common. To view click on seymourbirdies.blogspot.co.uk

submitted 21 days ago • 0 comments

Ruddy Shelduck along Thames at Crossness near outfall.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

It's not a glamorous job, but someone's gotta do it. 💩 Dung beetles are vital to our ecosystem - read about them in our blog! ⬇ buff.ly/z98IyRX 📷Common Dor dung beetle © Vaughn Matthews

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

A couple of blustery days in Dungeness and at Rye last week were a bit challenging but good views of Hobby, Whimbrel, Wheatear, Black Redstart, Cuckoo, Little Terns, Grey Plover, Barwit and others. One Hobby at RSPB Dungeness flew very low overhead and perched obligingly on a close bare tree.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

The Met Office is telling me that pollen is Low in London and the SE. But here in London my eyes and nose are telling me that this is untrue - I note that according to their maps levels in most other regions of England are indeed High. The culprit seems to be early flowering grass pollen.

submitted 29 days ago • 0 comments

Shop owner: "No sign of them swans then" Danny: "There's only one swan actually"

submitted 32 days ago • 0 comments

RSPB Dungeness, this afternoon at Dengemarsh, a decent number of Hobby were feeding over the reed-beds. #birds #birding #kentbirding #ukbirding

submitted 33 days ago • 0 comments

@ms-lupin.bsky.social heard a swift the other day and today I saw 2 flying above Lee High Road #londonswifts are back.

submitted 36 days ago • 0 comments

It seems Vipera berus, the Adder or Viper, are rather like the proverbial bus: you wait around for one for ages and 2 turn up at once! This, my second one in as many days after one in West Sussex was another in East Sussex at @sussexwildlife.bsky.social #OldLodgeNR #snakes

submitted 39 days ago • 0 comments

The Ouse Fen returning Great Reed Warbler yesterday evening putting on quite a show. Unrestricted views from the west side of the canal looking east @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

submitted 40 days ago • 0 comments

I reckon this advert has had more exposure 'because' of Private Eye's decision to ban the other two. Good. The more people that know about the absurd release of 50 MILLION non-native pheasants into the UK countryside every year, the better. #PheasantTat raptorpersecutionuk.org/2025/04/27/p...

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

I can't comment on the validity of the claims made by Patrick Galbraith in his new book or the counter claims made by the campaign group @righttoroam.bsky.social but this rebuttal letter from them is a masterclass in how to stay objective, focused & rational. www.righttoroam.org.uk/patrick-galb...

submitted 42 days ago • 5 comments

Masked hunters have ambushed and beaten up a team of international ornithologists on the Greek island of Zakynthos:

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Whinchat - Tyn Llan, Cemlyn, Anglesey - 26/04/25. I was heading out to look for Wood Sandpiper, when @zspaull.bsky.social reported a male Whinchat at Tyn Llan. Plenty of water on the fields so hopefully that will bring in a wader or two. @angbirdnews.bsky.social #birdingWales

submitted 42 days ago • 1 comment

Broad-billed sandpiper from Goldcliff this evening. A rarity I’ve always wanted to see. We’ll done to finder #gwentbirds

submitted 42 days ago • 0 comments

Jay is the lead author on a fascinating paper I was involved in, about how male mimicry by female hummingbirds provides the first example of a type of signaling system that we predicted from theoretical principles over a decade ago. This is infuriating. And I believe it's due to anti-trans bias.

submitted 43 days ago • 11 comments

My NSF PRFB on the genetics of female polymorphism in hummingbirds was terminated yesterday. I don't have much to say, I'm just sad. We've discovered so much, and could have gone so much further. If anyone else is in the same boat, esp postdocs, please reach out, it would be good to connect.

submitted 43 days ago • 75 comments

Nightingale, Lesser Whitethroat along Flamingo Pool path. At top of pool Whimbrel (3) on grass flew off. Wheatear (m) also still there.

submitted 43 days ago • 1 comment

Lots of St Mark's flies at Cliffe.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

RSPB Cliffe Pools car park closed. Cuckoo calling at entrance.

submitted 43 days ago • 0 comments

Vast numbers of pheasants are released for shooting in Ireland too. Each one survives by constantly devouring native wildlife alive. They artificially boost fox/mink populations, impacting vanishing native ground-nesting birds. They help spread Lyme disease to people, etc. This madness MUST end.

submitted 43 days ago • 11 comments

Fencing is to be installed on a Suffolk beach in order to safeguard a Little Tern colony:

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Good trip to Rainham RSPB, apart from seeing the badly vandalised (and closed) hide. Greenshank, Swallows, Swifts, Sand Martins, Black Tern, Red-Crested Pochard, Common Terns, Marsh Harriers, Kite, Hobby, Great White Egret, Yellow Wagtails, Cuckoo.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Rainham Cuckoo calling and flying along top path. Crested Pochard visible Spink's viewing point.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Rainham 4 Yellow Wags amongst cattle by Butts, path works

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

Rainham RSPB Greenshank in front of Visitors Centre. Multiple Swallows and Swifts coming through.

submitted 45 days ago • 0 comments

#UKBirding

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

Wheatear (2), Whinchat and Cuckoo at Crossness.

submitted 48 days ago • 0 comments

Great visit to Old Lodge, Ashdown Forest today. Redstarts (2M+2F), Woodlarks (4) two on the ground on the MOD land near the bench, two displaying along the top path. Dartford Warblers (2 singing on the gorse) also Nuthatch, Green Woodpecker, Cuckoo (heard), etc.

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

Old Lodge Ashdown Forest. First cuckoo (h) and first female Redstart.

submitted 50 days ago • 0 comments

"London Winter" by Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson 1889-1946. Such a great birthday card to receive yesterday from @ms-lupin.bsky.social

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

On the basis that it is #GoodFriday I thought that this one might be appropriate, at a stretch: it is the nearest that I can get! This is "St John the Baptist Church, Islington" by Elwin Hawthorne from 1932 It is in the collection the Harris Museum & Art Gallery. #ElwinHawthorne #EastLondonGroup

submitted 51 days ago • 1 comment

A University of Oxford building has been closed for almost a week after a gull broke a glass roof by repeatedly dropping a stone on it. #Seabirds www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

submitted 51 days ago • 2 comments

Cliffe Pools (10-2pm) highlights: Nightingale singing in full view, Swallows (2) flying north over the Thames, Wheatear (3M&1F).

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Cliffe Pools. Wheatears (3M, 1F) Meade Wall by water troughs

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Cliffe Pools. Nightingale singing openly in a small tree at top of Flamingo Pool path (River End).

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Watched a Pied Wagtail hawking over the Quaggy River from platform 4 at Lewisham. #stationbirding

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Stunned to see two White Storks flying over Crossness heading SSW late this morning (11.15?). Had to pinch myself.

submitted 55 days ago • 0 comments