Palustris
@palustris.bsky.social
1.1K followers 380 following 920 posts
Ecologist. Meadows, mires & meres. Wetland beetles, fen creation, Teesside birds. Green.
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palustris.bsky.social
Paths were made through bogs on the Somerset Levels using woven hurdles like this in Neolithic times.
palustris.bsky.social
A conversation about hedge-laying led me to the 'A Load of Old Billhooks' website: www.billhooks.co.uk If you're interested in traditional rural crafts, it's an impressive resource, covering Europe as well as Britain. This is what the internet was made for.
palustris.bsky.social
I can't recall an autumn so poor for either sea birds or passerines. Maybe that's good news for the birds in a way: they're just moving through quickly and unseen?
palustris.bsky.social
Slavonian Grebe still off Zetland roundabout, Redcar at 13.30, in shallow water close to rocks. Ca 200 Eider & a few Common Scoter.
@teesbirds.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
Highlight of a 2 hr sea watch at Hartlepool Headland has been a Ring-necked Parakeet - yes it's been that good. 10 Red-throated Divers, 33 Common Scoter, a few porpoises.
@teesbirds.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
I see a lot of consultants' reports where there obviously using phone apps for botanical ID and they tend to be b*llocks tbh.
palustris.bsky.social
Interesting. I'm surprised an app can discern the nuanced combination of characteristics needed for gulls. Soon there'll be an AI device you can attach to a scope which can scan the sea and correctly name all those fast-disappearing specks.
palustris.bsky.social
Pinkfeet heard 3 times this morning from Whinny Banks. Last flock was about 80 birds heading NW, 10:40.
@teesbirds.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
Hartlepool Headland 9-11.30: 1 Great Northern Diver S, 17 Red-throated Divers, 16 Whooper Swans & 97 Pinkfeet (each in 3 groups), 19 commic terns.
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palustris.bsky.social
Dolphn pod close in moving slowly N Hartlepool Headland 10 24
@teesbirds.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
More on Teesmouth seal pup deaths, suggesting sewage effluent and legacy of industrial pollution may have exacerbated natural mortality. Typical comedy response from Northumbrian Water saying they couldn't possibly be responsible for faecal bacteria in estuary.
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/environ...
Pollution kills all Tees Estuary seal pups
Harbour seal pups in Tees Estuary suffer 100% mortality in 2025, prompting MPs to demand a Defra inquiry into the deaths
northeastbylines.co.uk
palustris.bsky.social
Kemi always wondered why Brazil never won the European Cup.
palustris.bsky.social
It's a remarkable case of convergent evolution (presumably) that this beetle can produce mammalian steroids like 1-Dehydrotestosterone as defensive compounds.
palustris.bsky.social
Thanks to @damianmoney.bsky.social for confirming bird in this photo as Caspian Gull, and to the finder. I photographed every large gull there! Looks like same bird posted earlier. Still on Albert Park lake 5 PM so may hang around.
@teesbirds.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
They always look furious
palustris.bsky.social
How 'bout this? Not convinced by the forehead but it seems to have a relatively narrow bill and lacks the angry 'Reform voter' expression of Herrings?
palustris.bsky.social
There had been a Caspian Gull reported so I photographed about 50 gulls but either it had gone or I can't can't distinguish them even from photos.
palustris.bsky.social
Particularly potent in I. fenestratus though, sufficient to deter predatory fish.
palustris.bsky.social
This drake Pintail on Albert Park lake (Boro) seems too tame to be a genuine wild bird, but smart all the same and more aligned with my ID skills than immature gulls.
@teesbirds.bsky.social
palustris.bsky.social
A local species of permanent water, usually lakes, larger drains and canals. I fenestratus secretes a particularly potent cocktail of steroidal chemicals to deter predators, so it's one of the few dytiscids to thrive in fish-stocked waters.
palustris.bsky.social
The large diving beetle Cybister lateralimarginalis from same volume. This species is, in fact, only an extremely rare wanderer to Britain. Curtis's botanical illustrations were mostly decorative and indicative of a species' habitat rather than implying a direct connection between insect and plant.
palustris.bsky.social
Callistus lunatus from Vol 1 of John Curtis' British Entomology. This ground beetle occurred on chalk downland in southern England but is now extinct in Britain. Subscribers received the publication as monthly folios from 1824 on, the superb illustrations being hand-coloured copper-plate engravings.