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Janet Drew

@jedrew.bsky.social

150 followers 170 following 120 posts

Lifelong astronomer and scientist, with an interest in birds, landscape, geology, and (almost) all things natural. For fun, consumes crime fiction, and tries to play the cello.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 1d

A day-after #BirdOfTheDay - an arctic tern chick. Dozing between meals?

A very young arctic tern chick, stood in a cleft among rocks on the ground. Seen on Inner Farne, Northumberland. The chick has coral pink feet and a red beak - otherwise a fluff ball of grey with black splodges and a white tummy,

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 5d

Nice photo - shows up the size difference very well. This is a female greenfinches without the 'moss green' (Svensson's description) back of the male. The yellows on the greenfinch and goldfinch aren't quite the same - more in-your-face gold on the goldfinch

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 7d

A squirrel for #squirrelsaturday

A red squirrel in the gardens on Tresco, Scilly Isles. This one has his/her face covered in pollen from the century(?) plant it is perched on.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 8d

Not long since back from an Italian city tour, which included Ravenna and its magnitficent early Christian-era wall mosaics. Here's a detail I love, showing #birds - a convincingly-rendered peacock and peahen, in this instance.

A detail from the mosaics decorating San Vitale, Ravenna. A peacock and peahen are shown in a flower garden. The panel this comes from sits just above the panel showing Justinian and Belisarius.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 11d

This is beyond pathetic.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 19d

Good on them! I hope they find ways to rebut the nonsense widely and loudly.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 22d

The other point to make is that it probably isn't just physic depts under this pressure: the IOP is good at keeping an eye on the health of UK physics.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 24d

An example of a historic, but still working, library. Spectacular. The best of human...

A view down the library corridor, from the Stabat Mater room in Bologna's Archiginnasi. Dark wooden bookcases frame the corridor. Above the first opening , some typical Archiginnasi heraldic artwork.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 8

#birds #MallardMonday Two (well-named) spectacled ducks preening at the water's edge, below Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina.

Two spectacled (aka bronze-winged) ducks, standing on bare rock by the water - preening themselves. The photo was taken from the walkway at Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 7

Isn't the shift in population profile to greater age (and growing amounts of sickness) the real problem, though. Article behind paywall- so haven't read it. Recent migrants are mostly young and have to pay annual surcharges for NHS per family member.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 3

Just sharing a photo from the archives, for want of something better to do - an abstract or fantasy take on a lake. See ALT for details.

An other-worldly, abstract photo of clouds reflected in Crummock Water (Lake District) with the superposed contrast of an islet plus a couple of rocks.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 31

Well, yes - have to agree. Loved the jacket and tie near the end.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

Did it have a crest? (hidden on the photo) Would have to be a juvenile harpy, as adults are much darker. Size is a clue - harpies approach a metre, head to tail. The rarer white-necked hawks are half that in length (and only in SE Brazil).

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

Would that be a white-necked hawk in the third picture. Looks stationary to me (good photo)

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

On Friday, got to see the Bridge Theatre's Midsummer Night's Dream production, complete with acrobatic fairies (and Puck) suspended on loops hanging from the ceiling - brilliant idea. Very fresh, and played successfully for laughs.

One of the Midsumer Night's Dream fairies, in a gauzy tutu, suspended on a fabric loop hanging from the ceiling of the Bridge Theatre, London. Photo taken during the interval when the fairies 'hung around' to entertain the audience below. These fairies needed to be acrobats...

Reposted by Janet Drew

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Aug 14

Defending US democracy: the role of scientists
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 13

And mine. ..used to read about it too, in TV21 - every week.

Reposted by Janet Drew

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · Aug 13

Making America Great Again Update: US President not in charge of who gets to attend a meeting taking place at a meeting he instigated on a US military base on US soil with a foreign leader whose country has an economy about the size of the New York City Metropolitan Area.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · Aug 13

Trump: It wasn't my call to leave Zelenskyy out of the meeting.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 11

Yes, absolutely. To me: 'great northern diver'. A grander name, as it happens. Once heard, never forgotten.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 8

...time someone with a platform threw back the accusation of Lysenkoism at these people.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 2

Agreed. She would have been wise not to express a view. The real point here is Musk is not a scientist, and latterly has become a destroyer of science.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Jul 30

#birds Social birds, socialising. Some of the garden's house sparrow tribe, on a warm day. You can tell who has already been in the water.

8 house sparrows in and around a bird bath. One of them has clearly been in already.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Jul 24

Lean out of the window (silver) hair...

Two samoyeds watching the world go by from an upstairs window - today in Greystones, Wicklow

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Jul 19

Kilmacurragh National Botanical Garden this afternoon - a flowering bromeliad. Not what you expect in Wicklow, Ireland.

Close up of central composite flower - many little sky blue flowers, surrounded by fiery red fronds.

A large flowering bromeliad on a tree, in a Wicklow garden (Kilmacurragh). Both tree moss-covered tree are big - the bromeliad would be about 3 feet across.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Jul 13

#birds. Now a regular visitor to our garden birdfeeder. Just like a grown-up robin, this youngster only ever shows up on its own.

A young robin, with its mature plumage starting to appear. On our garden birdfeeder today