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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 5d

Love it - nice idea - couldn’t make it to the sea yesterday - if I had probably would have found a few Pleurobrachia pileus at my local bay. Maybe this event could be biannual? 10th April and the 4th October?… World Ctenophore Days…

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 11d

Couldn’t refind the LWFG this evening. Lots of PfGs around and at least 30 Barnacle Geese in the area. Best was this Scaup on Rosebery Reservoir #birdinglothian

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 12d

Like the PfGs it was clearly very hungry - head down feeding almost all the time. Didn’t manage a head-up shot 🤷‍♂️ - just the long wings and dark tail giving it away here. Some good shots on ebird by the original finder here ebird.org/checklist/S2...

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 12d

It’s the tiny one just above the wall btw

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 12d

Here’s a distant pic of today’s v unexpected Lesser White-fronted Goose (found at Caspian Pool by another observer earlier today). This pic from half a mile away when @denmor77.bsky.social and I were relocating it - we saw it much closer later on and Den’s got some great flightshots #birdingscotland

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · 19d

Looks like a goshawk to me

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Sep 7

Minke Whale distantly from Pease Bay yesterday morning

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Sep 3

Was very pleased to find this massive Stentor coeruleus in a pond in Edinburgh yesterday- it’s not often you see bright blue single celled organism that’s visible to the naked eye #protist #panspecieslisting

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 27

Very helpful thanks

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 26

That’s what I was thinking but I couldn’t find anything even remotely similar at first - having a bit more success now

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 26

@elizabethbeston.bsky.social Any idea what this is? In a plankton trawl that I took from my paddleboard in Scottish Borders at the weekend

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 26

As usual at this time of year I’ve been enjoying seawatching through the scope - only difference is that it’s the microscope 🔬 this year! Here’s some recent sightings: a Foraminifera, an Arrowworm, a Dinoflagellate - all of these were new Phyla for me…

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 23

Couldn’t agree more

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 11

Nothing of note in the moth trap this morning so went off for a rock pooling session as the tide dropped - and bumped into a Rush Veneer (NFM) Pease Bay, Scottish Borders #teammoth

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Aug 4

I was looking at barnacle exuvia through the microscope today when I noticed these (protozoa?) crashing around - wondered whether they are Ebria tripartia- anyone know? #plankton

Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 23

A few more coelenterates from Pease Bay, Scottish Borders: the first Lion’s Mane Jelly of the year have appeared and the kelp is now covered in the hydrozoan Obelia geniculata. Last few days the sea is full of the small hydroid Leuckartiara octona - a couple of pics to show variation #jellyfish

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 15

I have got into the habit of checking NBN, iNaturalist *and* iRecord - here’s the three of them for Aceria erinea- it’s a faff but gives a better picture…

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 15

I saw quite a few Spotted Boxfish and they were almost all female being black with white spots (first three pics here). The blue and yellow male colouration apparently develops slowly as as older and larger females transition into males later in life

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 15

Rather than the subtle change to cryptic stripes or mottling, pufferfish can also change to an all yellow form (as in the Black-spotted Pufferfish here). I didn’t see this change happening so am not sure how rapid it is but it is said to be rapid from sources online

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 15

It turns out that this rapid colour change has only been documented relatively recently: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Physiological color change in guineafowl puffers (Arothron meleagris) - Marine Biodiversity

Marine Biodiversity -

link.springer.com

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 13

As a birder I was just snapping away building up a list of the local species and I was aware for example that the Guineafowl Pufferfish has a yellow and a black form shown previously, but I was surprised to see that the black form could move from uniform spots to a subtly mottled camouflage mode

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jul 13

I was lucky enough to spend some time in Mauritius recently and was snorkeling every day. I’ve seriously have had my mind blown by how many species of fish have different colour forms and how some literally change colour in front of your eyes! I’m going to (slowly) make a thread of some examples…

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jun 25

That Grasshopper Warbler looks like one of those that have black inside the bill - always like seeing those ones - they look quite different when singing. Don’t know why some of them are like that

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jun 24

Want an ID challenge and an under-recorded group? Try aphids! Hack: ID plant, take phone pics, use InfluentialPoints website, request help from @norwichbirder.bsky.social on FB (thanks!…). All these from last week or so: Willowherb Aphid, common Lime Aphid, Italian Alder Aphid and Wooly Beech Aphid

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Geoff Morgan @moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social · Jun 22

Great snorkeling at Pease Bay in calm sea - four more #coelenterates photographed today: the Northern Comb Jelly, and the hydrozoans Laodicea undulata, Melicertum octocostatum and Tima bairdii. None of the latter is recorded frequently- probably because they are small, transparent and in the sea!

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