Henry Cook
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hcbirding.bsky.social
Henry Cook
@hcbirding.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.4K following 2.6K posts
Birder, naturalist, conservationist, hodophile. Views mine.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8327273@N08/albums/

🌍 Suffolk, UK
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Henry Cook
rspb.bsky.social
Poll after poll shows people care deeply about wildlife and want it protected.

Instead, we’ve had months of nature-blaming rhetoric and pushes to sidestep environmental law.

This flies in the face not only of what the public wants...but the Government’s own manifesto.
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
rspb.bsky.social
Last night the Government steamrollered its Planning Bill through, slamming the door on vital protections for nature.

They said it would be a ‘win-win’ for the economy and nature.

But in reality, they’ve pushed nature into last place.
A lone Golden Plover stands alert on a low, mist-covered mound, silhouetted against a pale grey sky. Its speckled plumage blends with the muted landscape, giving a sense of vulnerability and quiet resilience: a single bird holding its ground as its world shifts around it.
November 25, 2025 at 4:13 PM
hcbirding.bsky.social
Last night the Government pulled the rug out from under what little nature remains in the UK. Please tell your MP that this is not OK! #Planning&InfrastructureBill #P&IBill
action.rspb.org.uk/page/180990/...
Tell the UK Government they must do better for nature!
I've just emailed my MP to tell them what nature means to me and that I want it to stay protected. Will you take action too?
action.rspb.org.uk
November 25, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
A million mile Manxie...? I will never not be in awe of the ocean distances travelled by a bird weighing the same as three large bananas. News from #Uruguay, @bardseybirdobs.bsky.social and other parts of #NorthWales in @northwaleslive.bsky.social. #BirdingWales

www.birdnotes.wales/blog/travell...
Travelling Shearwaters never cease to impress
While we shiver in shorter days, Manx Shearwaters that left their nest burrows on Ynys Enlli/Bardsey just 10 weeks ago are rafting off the South American coast. The Bird Observatory reports one...
www.birdnotes.wales
November 24, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social
Planning and Infrastructure Bill - sadly about to clear its final hurdle. With disastrous implications for our already nature-depleted land

#Biodiversity #Planning
November 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
suffolkbirdgroup.bsky.social
SUFFOLK BIRD GROUP November 27th Indoor Talk #SuffolkBirds
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Henry Cook
tfinch.bsky.social
Are you an MSc student based at a UK university? Or do you know one?
RSPB @rspbscience.bsky.social have just released their list of research projects for 2026:
www.rspb.org.uk/helping-natu...
#ornithology #conservationscience 🌍
Postgraduate opportunities
The RSPB is offering a variety of exciting research projects for postgraduate students in 2026.
www.rspb.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 2:22 PM
hcbirding.bsky.social
The immature shrike at North Warren RSPB. Identification of birds this age to species is not often possible, but a suite of features visible suggest Daurian Shrike (Lanius isabellinus) in this case IMHO - comments in alt text #RareBirdsUK #SuffolkBirding #UKBirding
A shrike, a predatory passerine, sits on a bramble stem amongst bracken and bramble. It is a small, sandy-coloured bird with a darker mask behind the eye and a hooked bill. Features supporting Daurian Shrike as an identification for this bird include: extensive buffy flanks stretching from rear flanks to ear coverts, coverts weren't very dark, crown concolorous with upperparts, rusty red tail throughout, weak brown ear covert mask, almost non-existent supercilium and limited markings on the crown.
November 16, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
carolinelucas.bsky.social
Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇
Housing secretary tells Labour MPs to vote down planning bill amendment
Amendment restricts protection for animals to allow faster house building
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
This is what many of us have been saying. Part 3 of the Planning & Infrastructure Bill is based on a myth: that we don't have enough homes because wildlife and green spaces are protected. It will solve nothing, and inflict terrible harm on our remaining ecosystems
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
Nature not a blocker to housing growth, inquiry finds
Commons committee report challenges ‘lazy narrative’ used by ministers that scapegoats wildlife and the environment
www.theguardian.com
November 16, 2025 at 12:12 PM
hcbirding.bsky.social
This Pallas's Warbler at Landguard Bird Observatory showed inside the compound the other day. #SuffolkBirding #UKBirding 🪶
November 16, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Reposted by Henry Cook
waynedawsoneco.bsky.social
Pirri-Pirri Bur, Pampas grass, Wireweed: all plants from the S Hemisphere that are establishing in the UK. Can we explain current and predict future invasions by S Hemisphere plants? Apply for this NERC ACCE+ PhD project to find out: tinyurl.com/374ty2b7
Please Repost! @acce-dla.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
batconservation.bsky.social
Amendment 130 is the best chance to reduce the Planning and Infrastructure Bill’s risks to bat conservation. You can read more here: buff.ly/ACYQzDY

Email your MP in less than 2 minutes here: buff.ly/r43w7vE
November 8, 2025 at 11:45 AM
hcbirding.bsky.social
Staggeringly beautiful colours from the Silver Birches during the golden hour at #RSPBLakenheathFen
November 6, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
ukrbbp.bsky.social
Hoopoes bred in Leicestershire & Rutland in 2023, the first confirmed breeding record in the UK since 1996. Here’s the family - parents and three offspring. Can you see them all? Read more about rare breeding birds in 2023 at rbbp.org.uk/2023-report-...

📸 Carl Baggott
Five Hoopoes - the pair that bred in Leicestershire in 2023 with their three fledged young
November 5, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
guyshrubsole.bsky.social
This is absolutely appalling.

"The UK will not contribute to a flagship fund for the world’s remaining tropical forests, in a bitter blow to the Brazilian hosts on the eve of the Cop30 climate summit."

Absolutely pathetic.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
UK opts out of flagship fund to protect Amazon and other threatened tropical forests
Decision is bitter blow to Brazil ahead of fund’s launch at Cop30 – and an embarrassment to Prince William
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 6:33 PM
hcbirding.bsky.social
A Red-legged Partridge from #RSPBLakenheathFen yesterday. Not a regular bird on the reserve. #SuffolkBirding #UKBirding
A game bird faces left. It has a plump brown body with flank striping going on, red bill and white supercillium.
November 5, 2025 at 6:56 AM
Reposted by Henry Cook
debbietann.bsky.social
👉 Last chance to influence the Planning and Infrastructure Bill.

Yes, I know, you may be sick of reading about this or feel you’ve already written to your MP several times or are running out of energy on this long running saga - BUT - please, for nature’s sake, write one more time. 1/3
November 3, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
alexanderlees.bsky.social
The eBird taxonomic reshuffle is still underway, but Lagopus has been processed, and Red Grouse is now a UK species-level endemic #UKBirding
macaulaylibrary.org/asset/609783...
November 2, 2025 at 6:43 AM
hcbirding.bsky.social
Cetti's Warblers never perch up in the open! #UKBirding
November 1, 2025 at 6:33 PM
hcbirding.bsky.social
Whilst unloading the moth trap at #RSPBLakenheathFen I was thoroughly distracted by this Ichnuemon Wasp, which I think is Eutanyacra picta, with only 1 confirmed UK record on the NBN atlas! #PSL #PanSpeciesListing
A parasitic wasp with white-banded black and orange abdomen, plus yellow and black legs and antennae.
October 31, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
rspb.bsky.social
The Planning Bill is back in the Lords today - and it still falls short of the win-win for nature the Government says it wants.

We’re grateful to the Peers that have stepped up with vital fixes.

But today’s votes help decide whether this Bill truly delivers for nature & people. 👇
A Wren perches upright on a thin branch, singing with full force, tiny but defiant. Its wide open beak and stance capture the spirit of a voice raised for nature, echoing the urgency of today’s vote on the Planning Bill.
October 29, 2025 at 10:12 AM
hcbirding.bsky.social
Check out the ovipositor on that! A sizeable Dolichomitus wasp seen at #RSPBLakenheathFen today.
A large parasitic wasp perches on a log
October 28, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Reposted by Henry Cook
birdguides.bsky.social
A new proposal from a group of peers could disarm the most damaging aspect of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and reduce the risks that it currently poses to the UK's wildlife:
Nature charities urge backing of amendment to planning bill
A new proposal from a group of peers could disarm the most damaging aspect of the Planning and Infrastructure Bill and reduce the risks that it currently poses to the UK's wildlife. The bill, as it currently stands, represents one of the largest dismantling of protections ever seen for the most precious wildlife habitats and species.
bit.ly
October 27, 2025 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Henry Cook
rspb.bsky.social
Today, the Planning Bill returns to the Lords. And the future of nature in England’s planning system is on the line. 🌳⚠️

Peers must back the amendments* that protect wildlife, ensure accountability, and build nature back into our homes & communities.

*130, 140 & 245, 114, 148
A Robin perches upright on a branch, chest puffed out and beak open mid-song. Its stance and expression convey urgency: a symbol of nature’s voice calling out as the future of England’s planning system hangs in the balance.
October 27, 2025 at 10:00 AM