I've done a couple of Black Grouse surveys this year, and decided this weekend would be ideal opportunity to head out with Ros Green to enjoy the spectacle at a good lek, it didn't disappoint (sound on!)

Near Twinlets Skokholm Island Wheatear male C46 is hopping around with mate D28. He seems caring & attentive. However, he’s ‘mate guarding’. D28 is becoming fertile and neighbouring males will be looking to steal a copulation. Clutches often contain eggs fathered by other males.

Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum galebdolon) marddanhadlen felen, an ancient woodland indicator, very, very close to flowering in the hedge for this evenings #WildFlowerHour .

Call in to see us at the Floral Marquee at the Malvern Show next week from 9th-12th May.
Both our 'Pollinator Packs' & 'Bird Packs' are selections of native wildflowers supporting our pollinators & feathered friends.

rb.gy/pofh36
rb.gy/mzsau4

#malvernshow

I'm forming a support group for newly redundant satirists.

independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-n…

And we're off... first pied flycatcher clutch of the season, first egg laid on monday just as the cold spell eased. This is adjacent to a stream, so always some fly activity there.

We are entering a very sensitive time for our marsh fritillaries in the rearing pen as they are starting to pupate. In the wild they do this under leaves of scabious and other plants, but in the rearing pens they love to pupate on the sides of plant pots. Photos: Vaughn Matthews

A spot of self promotion - but I am proud of this - not me but our groups focus on #people and their relationship with nature and #wildlife - whether it's the public - business or in this case the local ecological knowledge of oystermen in restoring #nature 🦪🐟🦆

Despite heavy overnight & morning rain Skokholm Island, some female Wheatears were nest building this afternoon. Here C29 is gathering nest material. She was fledged in 2019 and has bred in the North Fields territories each year since. At five she is one of the oldest females.

There are several unpaired male Wheatears Skokholm Island due to the low rate of returning females. Here D82 is holding a territory near Little Bay Point. And C39 is near Howard’s End hide - discovered by visitor Katie, it now boosts the male return rate close to its norm.

New Video! 🌳🐦🌿Birdsong in the Celtic rainforest, taking a closer look at identifying Wood warbler, Pied flycatcher and Redstart song. It's SO GOOD to spend time listening to these beauties again! Full video on YouTube: youtu.be/9AvQcGQ_CHA?si…

#PlantPotParabolic

Pied flycatcher nesting season is well and truly underway in Ceredigion!!
Nestboxes checked at WildlifeTrustSWWales 🦡🐬 Cwm Cletwr reserve yesterday found an average of 3/4 eggs, but one box contained a female sitting on 7 eggs! 🪺

This week saw me witness a magical wildlife spectacle which left me feeling depressed.

If you didn’t know, elvers glow green in UV light. That night the water under my UV torch was a dazzling display of thousands of glowing elvers. Simply breathtaking. The problem - a 🧵1/

This year, on the Severn, there has been no shortage of elvers but a severe shortage of accessible waterways.

It would be illegal for me to catch them and move them to the other side of the gate, the true crime is in blocking their access. We must do better. 6/6

Delighted to see our U.K. moorland burning paper has been published in Remote Sensing in Ecology & Conservation today.

Paper is OA and can be found here - doi.org/10.1002/rse2.3…

A great experience working with some fantastic RSPB Science folks. David Douglas

Miserable today here today. But its been brightened by a female green woodpecker and an increasing gaggle of starlings foraging on the lawn

We did some analysis looking at the potential impact of the wet winter on the harvests of key crops

We estimated a net decline of 4m tonnes, driven by a 26.5% drop in the wheat harvest

All based on Defra UK yield data & AHDB crop area forecasts

Here’s a thread on it 🧵

Very interesting thread by Philip Amies (as always).

Returning adult Wheatears Skokholm Island are usually loyal to the previous year’s territory if possible. Male C59 has been at Wallsend for 2023 & 2024 and next door at Windmill Gully for the previous two. He’s had four different mates in four years.

A short 🧵 about Box Moth (Cydalima perspectalis).

This non-native moth arrived in Cardiff in 2018, having spread rapidly across southern England since 1st record in Kent in 2007.

It didn't appear in my garden until 2020. By 2023 it was the commonest species in the moth trap!