Jesika5555
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jesika5555.bsky.social
Jesika5555
@jesika5555.bsky.social
1.6K followers 550 following 1.5K posts
Doggie mummy living in York, England. Interested in lepidoptera, all insects, birds and trying to learn about the night sky. Any and all Astro help gratefully accepted. Brilliant OM1 mark 2 camera & lenses, rubbish "L" plate operator.
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jesika5555.bsky.social
Jesika5555 @jesika5555.bsky.social · Nov 14
A rare Wormwood moth on my shed July 30th 2024. It's the very first to be recorded in Vice County62 (141124) OM1
jesika5555.bsky.social
081225 Millennium Fields. #York #Yorkbirding #ukbirding #ukbirds #naturelovers #ukwildlife #uknaturalists SISKIN, fewer seen than Saturday but a bit closer so slightly less rubbish pics. Not sure how many & again they were with Goldfinch and Blue Tits. No sign of Redpolls, hope they'll be back soon
December 8, 2025 at 4:22 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
061225 Millennium Fields. #York #yorkbirding #northyorkshirebirds #uknaturalists #naturelovers. Kestrel and here they are SISKIN!!!! About 40 Siskin & Goldfinch. Too high for good pics with a bad left shoulder & damaged neck but so happy they are here at last. Also 4 Cormorants crossing the Ouse
FALCO TINNUNCULUS, Kestrel looking down on its world. Wingspan 65-80cm. I think this is male, blue grey head and dark spotted light brown chest. At least THIS shot is reasonably clear! CARDUELIS SPINUS. Small winter visitor. Male is yellow & green with black forehead. Yellow chest visible in this very distant shot. Apologies for a rubbish shot with wings wide spread. Black forehead visible with yellow stripes to the sides Head down feeding and so not visible but the pale abdomen and dark & yellow side stripes above the abdomen can be seen.
December 6, 2025 at 7:44 PM
Reposted by Jesika5555
neilpollyticks.bsky.social
Alt text for those who need it. This is amazing.
Saved by Stoppard Sir, In 1993 my wife and I went to see the first production of Arcadia by Tom Stoppard (obituary, Dec I), and in the interval I experienced a Damascene conversion. As a clinical scientist I was trying to understand the enigma of the behaviour of breast cancer, the assumption being that it grew in a linear trajectory spitting off metastases on its way. In the first act of Arcadia, Thomasina asks her tutor, Septimus: "If there is an equation for a curve like a bell, there must be an equation for one like a bluebell, and if a bluebell, why not a rose?" With that Stoppard explains chaos theory, which better explains the behaviour of breast cancer. At the point of diagnosis, the cancer must have already scattered cancer cells into the circulation that nest latent in distant organs. The consequence of that hypothesis was the birth of "adjuvant systemic chemotherapy", ", and rapidly we saw a striking fall of the curve that illustrated patients' survival. Stoppard never learnt how many lives he saved by writing Arcadia. Michael Baum Professor emeritus of surgery; visiting professor of medical humanities, UCL r.
December 2, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Jesika5555
19thnews.org
Seventy years have passed since Rosa Parks refused to surrender her seat on a Montgomery bus, and her legacy is often shrunk into that single moment.

Detroit, the city where she chose to continue her life, insists on remembering her differently.
Rosa Parks’ story didn’t end in Montgomery. These students are proof of that.
The Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation aims to tell the story of Parks' life beyond the bus while helping Michigan students devoted to service and social change.
19thnews.org
December 1, 2025 at 1:37 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
301125 Millennium Fields. 3 Redpoll & sadly only hopeless shots. So added some memories and hopes for visitors soon🤞 #York #yorkbirding #ukbirding #ukbirds #uknaturalists #naturelovers #OMSystem #naturalists
Redpoll back in the little wood on Millennium Fields. Little brown bird, looks very much like a Sparrow until you see the red markings on the head from which it gets its name. Hopefully more will soon arrive and I'll get better shots. Male Siskin. They haven't arrived yet but hopefully soon. Yellow bird with dark stripes on the wings and tail. We don't get Waxwings very often and these were very distant. Exquisite birds with a crest, dark throat. Wings have white, yellow and red patterns Redwing. It's the under wing which is red. From a distance it looks quite like a Thrush, Feeds on berries.
November 30, 2025 at 5:12 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
291125 OM1ii #astro @salopchris.bsky.social @sjbastro.bsky.social @davidbflower.bsky.social #startrails @omsystem.bsky.social after earlier success with Polaris trails tried to find celestial equator. Cloud and rain affected play last night but Thursday OK. #astrophotography #york
Thursday 27th set up OM1ii and left him to do his clever thing. This is 1440 15 second exposures stacked in camera. I think the yellow streak from bottom left up to the right is probably cloud. If I used the 9mm lens f4 I would have got slightly more of the downward trails but much more of neighbouring houses. At least I was able to wait until Luna had moved west. Friday 28th 621 15 sec exposures. Camera positioned slightly more accurately but in the bottom right corner is a house roof. Bottom third of trails is cloudy and top right leading down to the centre is something I cannot explain, a wide band of grey. It's too high and dark to be the Moon. 28th 1440 15 sec exposures basically a waste of time but OM1ii valiantly tried his best through cloud and rain. Yellow with a few white star streaks! OM1ii is frost proof to -10C and also waterproof. He didn't mind getting soaked but I wouldn't put him in a bath! I've done a few quick shots and everything's working properly.
November 29, 2025 at 4:31 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
261125 OM1ii #ukbirds #ukwildlife #yorkbirding #uknaturalists #OMSystem birds and ice crystals on the window.
Danesmeade Wood, Fulford, York. First photo taken for many months, an almost co-operative Blue Tit feeding on red berries. Tiny yellow bird with a blue head and a dark streak running from beak to back of head. Wings are a grey blue colour. Gregarious birds and in winter other species of Tits will join them and congregate in large flocks. The Redpolls are here! 3 seen today on Millennium Fields. Hopeless distant shots, couldn't get very close but delighted to see them. Maybe the Siskins will arrive soon too. Small brown bird with a little red patch above the beak between the eyes. Not sure what the seeds are that they and the Siskin eat. 261125. Woke to decidely nippy conditions with ice crystals making wonderful patterns on the south facing back door. OM1 mark2 with 90mm macro lens, 9 images stacked in camera. Every pattern is different, intricate and beautiful.
November 26, 2025 at 7:23 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
261125 1st visit to #RowntreePark for months in search of the gynandromorph Mallard #ukbirds #ukwildlife #uknaturalists #yorkbirding #wildlifephotography #omsystem OM1ii
Male Mallard, shiny green head, dark eyes and yellow bill, mottled brown chest. He's standing on the frozen lake. Female Mallard swimming in the small area of open water. Shes mottled brown with a dark headm yellow bill with distinctive markings and a white chest. This bird, I think the gynandromorph, has the male's green head but the female's white chest and yellow bill with a dark pattern. The bird is standing on the ice. This I believe is the hybrid, but I don't know if this is correct, it could just be a very dark female with the patterned yellow bill and white chest.
November 26, 2025 at 7:04 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
251125 OM1ii out for the first time in months! Astro playtime, the only astro I can do and that's because of the clever #OMSystems computer that calls itself a camera @sjbastro.bsky.social @salopchris.bsky.social @davidbflower.bsky.social
Looked outside to check the sky WAS clear as forecast & saw the space station overhead. Rushed inside, changed lens and attempted hand held in extremely cold conditions. 12.83 seconds isn't TOO bad as the ISS zooms between the bushes. 6pm and still clear, a few stars visible but still a bit too light for trails. At least I've got the tripod pointing in the right direction because Polaris lives right above my chimney. A bush and a couple of late roses in the bottom right corner. Clear skies promised but promise not kept. 1440 15 second exposures blended together in clever OM1 mark 2. Polaris above TV aerial on my chimney. I think a plane's red light running from top left to centre bottom. Odd colours ? because of cloud. Red roses bottom right. Exposure ran from 10pm to 4 am
November 26, 2025 at 6:04 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
10 Nov a beautiful Red Admiral flying over Broadway, York, at 11.15 #entomology @savebutterflies.bsky.social @bcyorkshire.bsky.social #bugsky #ukwildlife #inverts #uknaturalists
November 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
2 Nov. 2.30pm, Heslington Lane, York. Clear blue sky and a gorgeous Red Kite circling above my head. Of course no camera! #yorkbirding #ukbirds #ukwildlife #birds #uknaturalists
November 2, 2025 at 7:57 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
80 times around the Sun. At 02.25 Wed Sept 19 1945 the stork delivered me to my parents in a tiny West Riding village. all these years later, I've changed a bit, grown taller, travelled, grown shorter. Made some wonderful friends who are treasured beyond words.
Not sure how old I am in this, the only photo I found of my baby years. The hair was already deciding to do its own thing. My very favourite photo, strangely for my new passport after I married. I'm 22. Still managing to tame the hair, 65th birthday, Girls' Night in Posh Frock Dinner Party, a very special occasion because she who became The Twin was with us. We hadn't seen each other for 39 years but picked up just where we left off. Deeply missed and greatly loved. If there's an after life she'll be waiting as the 17 day older bossy big sister. Decided I lacked the energy to fight the hair so I'll grow it into submission - that's the plan! How did I manage to become 80?
September 19, 2025 at 2:27 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
2 Sept 2025. On this day in 1945, the beautiful baby who became my bossy, a few days older, Twin was born. It took us almost 23 years to find each other but the bond was instant and lasting. If there's an after life...
I don't know how old she was was here but already her beauty is obvious. Ma must have spent hours taming that long black hair. I only got this photo after her death and am not sure of the event, possibly her High School Prom, but isn't she stunning in her black dress with goves and a flower on her wrist? A studio portrait in 1994. 2010, my house. We hadn't met for 39!!! years. Twin came over for what she thought was MY 65th birthday party. Little did she know she was the star of the show and what a wonderful party it was. We'd picked up at the airport just as we'd left off, so close was the bond, not just friends, but sisters and twins. She explored Yorkshire in the camper van, met mother, first time since 1970!!! and then the party. Posh frocks, my cooking (we all survived). I remember her face when the cake, studded with candles was brought to her. "It's for ME?" she asked. Tears all round, a night to remember. Happy Birthday, my beautiful, wonderful, bossy, big sister (by 17 days) Twin.
September 2, 2025 at 8:00 AM
jesika5555.bsky.social
150825 Memories. 2015 California Dreaming. Panasonic FZ1K @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #monarch #monarchbutterfly #inverts #aurelians #wildlifephotography #entomology #naturalists #ArdenWood #PacificGrove #naturelovers #bugsky
Pacific Grove, Monterey, Monarch Sanctuary. We saw about 15,000 of these beautiful butterflies there. Her Majesty is feasting on a white flower. A docent lead our party explaining the work done by the sanctuary and the West Coast migration. These butterflies don't go to Mexico to overwinter. Arden Wood Monarch Sanctuary, Fremont, California. Much smaller than Pacific Grove we saw about 1500 butterflies including His Majesty who kindly posed for photographs from his many admirers. WE know he's male because of the black spot just showing on the vein on the underwing where it meets the upper. The docent here was called Chris, a lovely young woman, who explained the migration, the work done on the farm to protect not just the Monarch but all wildlife. Arden Wood again. Clusters of Monarchs just hanging around, soaking up the sun, too tired to open their wings Arden Wood, another cluster, this one much busier, a lot of fluttering and jostling for position. I don't have words to describe my joy at seeing these magnificent butterflies in such numbers. Only the 1996 irruption of Painted Lady in York, a once in a life time experience, surpassed these 2 visits.
August 15, 2025 at 8:04 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
080825 OM1ii Beautiful Painted Lady was feasting on Buddleia. She'll soonset off on a VERY long journey. @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #lepidoptera #york #naturelovers #aurelians #inverts #wildlifephotography #macrophotography #ukwildlife #uknaturalists
Buddleia cross to the path and very fresh Painted Lady sitting on the purple flower Noe soaking up the heat from the path, wings extended Enjoying breakfast! From the side showing the intricate pattern of the underwings
August 8, 2025 at 7:30 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
050825 FZ1K a bit upset by the lost flowers on the grass verges this morning after the cuttermen but delighted to have Stripey come for breakfast at 9.15pm. HH is growing nicely and hopefully will be big enough to overwinter #york #naturelovers #hedgehog #wildlifephotography #uknaturalists
Young Hedgehog with white stripes In this hot it's climbed up to the breakfast bar and is feeding hungrily. There is food next door too and a safe 4 garden run.
August 5, 2025 at 8:59 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
030825 FZ1K 8th July 1st saw tiny Stripey Hedgehog. Last night 2 arrived while I was star gazing, don't think either in shots 2&3 is Stripey. Pic 4 probably is. #nature #uknaturalists #hedgehogs #wildlifephotography #york #naturelovers #mammals ##britishwildlife
Poor shot with TZ200 camera, tiny Hedgehog with a broad white stripe across its back Out star gazing last night and heard VERY loud noises from the side of the house. 2 Hedgehogs in deep conversation. Tight crop of the one hiding under the Marjoram, no sign of white stripe. A few minutes later heard them at the breakfast bar. I think the one at the back is Stripey, the front one much too big, I don't think the tiny HH could have put on so much size in less than a month. This could mean we still have at least 3 on our safe 4 garden run. I also heard a lot of scrabbling around under the big Ivy later in the night. Had a wonderful star gazing time last night, trace of Milky Way and Hedgehogs - magic!
August 3, 2025 at 8:08 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
1st August.
"Sons and daughters of Yorkshire, lift your voices to sing our wonderful anthem"
If I knew how to do it, I'd get the Band of the Grenadier Guards to accompany us with their very stirring rendition of "lka Moor bah't at."
Happy Yorkshire Day, Three Ridings and York for ever.
The Yorkshire white rose on a blue back ground as it is on our flag. The rose is made of white roses, the centre I believe is yellow Tansy flowers. The banks of the River Ouse which flows through York is the stronghold for the highly threatened Tansy Beetle, known as the "Jewel of York." Victorian ladies thought the beautiful green wing cases made even more beautiful sequins and now thanks to TBAG - Tansy Beetle Action Group - the beetle is fairly secure around York and I think another colony has been found on the Fens where it also used to be prolific.
August 1, 2025 at 7:26 AM
jesika5555.bsky.social
280725 OM1ii My garden A Gatekeeper on Tangutica seed head one of 3 today & attempts at Milky Way @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #inverts @salopchris.bsky.social @sjbastro.bsky.social #inverts #astrophotography #naturelovers
Clematis Tangutica has beautiful yellow flowers and wonderful seed heads, perfect for a sun bathing Gatekeeper. It's Milky Way season and I stayed awake until daft o'clock playing astrophotography. This is unedited other than a crop to remove unwanted bits and pieces. It's 12mm f2 17.62 seconds at 1000 ISO. I have convinced myself that the trace of MW originally detected by Steve Brown is still visible but from a different angle. A bit of playing and I THINK it's a little clearer. There's a white flash centre left and another further down, just above the tree. If there's another clear night I want to try the hand held hi res settings which stacks several images, improving detail.
July 28, 2025 at 7:58 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
260725 OM1ii 60mm stacked in camera I wonder if this tired moth that escaped from a Sparrow this morning is a Dark Arches. @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @mothiduk.bsky.social #gardenmothscheme #teammoth #muchadoaboutmothing
Sparrow was determined to capture the moth which was equally determined not to be caught. Sparrow had got it by the left wing but it managed to flutter away It was exhausted from its ordeal so I brought it inside, kept it cool for a couple of hours and then put it in a very safe place. It's had a tough time.
July 26, 2025 at 9:36 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
260725 OM1ii Definitely a Hummer! 1 &2 Common Wainscot and 3 a Smokey (I hope) @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @mothiduk.bsky.social #inverts #gardenmothscheme #muchadoaboutmothing #york #teammoth
A very red looking Common Wainscot. Pink rather than red Wainscot - Common. Soft beige, the Smokey Wainscot Just one precious minute with the Humming Bird Hawk Moth today. I've been given permission to go into the garden where the very large Buddleia attracts masses of butterflies and the Hummer too.
July 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
260725 OM1ii 60mm stacked in camera @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @mothiduk.bsky.social #teammoth #gardenmothteam #muchadoaboutmothing ?Dark Arches and Double Lobed. Riband Wave (had 2 types) & Willow Beauty #inverts #naturelovers
Dark Arches with many scales missing on the head I've only seen Double Lobed once before and it was very bruised and battered. This is in better condition but I'm reasonably confident. A very pretty Riband Wave, almost transparent with age Willow Beauty resting on the shed wall as they always seem to do
July 26, 2025 at 8:24 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
260725 OM1ii 60mm stacked in camera @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #gardenmothscheme #york #inverts @mothiduk.bsky.social #teammoth #muchadoaboutmothing #aureliansI think a Dot, a Light Emerald and I have no idea about this nameless little creature.
Dark wings with white patch towards the outer edge of the upper wing. I'm reasonably confident about this - says she... A very pretty very pale green with a darker line running across upper and lower wing and another line just on the upper wing. There's a very slight hook to the tip of the upper wing Not sure this actually IS a moth but it has impressively long antennae and big brown eyes From the side the head and thorax look red and the wings quite iridescent. It's a pretty little insect.
July 26, 2025 at 7:49 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
250725 OM1ii 90mm +x2 ext Millennium Fields York First Dragonfly to pose for me this year, Mrs Common Darter #odonata #inverts #naturelovers #insectmacrophotography #aurelians #york #bugsky #bugfriends #uknaturalists
Mrs C D in profile, gold and brown body, wings outstretched as is usual with dragonflies Look at those big brown eyes. Wings outstretched and slightly tilted own. The tip of the left wings are bent back just a little but not enough to affect her ability to fly. In this shot she looks as if she's standing on her head, gold and brown body straight up.
July 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
jesika5555.bsky.social
250725 OM1ii Millennium Fields, York. Very few butterflies seen today & no Skippers? Should be dozens. Just 1 Green Veined White 1 Meadow Brown 4Gatekeeper 2 Speckeld Wood @bcyorkshire.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #inverts #lepidoptera #aurelians #naturelovers #york#uknaturalists
Gatekeeper with chunks of lower wings missing. May have escaped from a predatory bird Just one Green Veined White Speckled Wood enjoying a blackberry. I would expect to see far more of every species on this site at this time of year.
July 25, 2025 at 7:13 PM