Phil
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philfarndon.bsky.social
Phil
@philfarndon.bsky.social
87 followers 110 following 17 posts
Looking for wildlife in Norfolk and anywhere else I happen to be.
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“I am become Death, the destroyer of worms.”
Smooth newt with eyes bigger than its belly in the garden.
Sunrise on a misty autumn morning. Golden plover calling overhead and a badger casually crossing the road in front of me.
Reposted by Phil
Electrification is vastly more efficient than combustion technologies:

🚘 An electric car uses about 75% less final energy than an ICE car.

🔥 A heat pump delivers about 4x more heat for the same energy input.

Note: Of course the exact efficiency and saving will differ between models and context.
Smooth newt retraining as a gecko on the back door window. Impressive!
The reality of owning an electric vehicle?
You can have a large family car with the performance of a hot hatch and the running costs of a moped.

8 years in and we have saved thousands of pounds on fuel and never had a breakdown. The current onslaught of poorly researched journalism is baffling.
Given widespread UK misreporting on EVs it's worth noting…

* New EVs only cost ~14% more than petrol
* New EVs to reach "price parity" by 2026-28
* 2nd hand EVs already cheaper
* EV drivers can save £1,000/year on fuel
* The vast majority of EV drivers save money overall
1/2
Purple hairstreak posing on a rose brings the garden butterfly list up to 22 species. Any new additions now will have to be something pretty unusual!
I have been using a Mk1 Panasonic FZ1000 for 10 years now and still can’t fault it. It is a close 2nd to the Sony RX10 MkIV as a birding camera but has the advantage of being lighter and much cheaper! Don’t be put off by it only zooming to 400mm, the pictures crop really well.
This fly hanging around the knapweed in the garden finally sat still for long enough to get a photo. I think it’s Acanthiophilus helianthi or knapweed ghost. @norfolknats.bsky.social
Quick video of a quail going “quickquickquick” quickly. Nice addition to the patch list.
Nice hopper on the garden gate. Probably the more common Issus coleoptratus but I don’t know enough to rule out Issus muscaeformis. Unfortunately didn’t manage to get a better head-on photo. @norfolknats.bsky.social @britishbugs.bsky.social
Adder shedding its skin to reveal a sharp new outfit underneath. Never witnessed this before! @norfolknats.bsky.social
Vocal ravens on the local patch recently. Looks like someone has been taking potshots at this one.
Reposted by Phil
Looking for bats certainly takes us to interesting places. Good counts of Daubenton's and Natterer's in hibernation sites underneath Norfolk today.
Brown long-eared bat hibernating in the classic pose with ears tucked under wings. Nice to see boxes being used, in this case a Schwegler 1WQ bat box. @norfolknorwichbats.bsky.social
Finally got pictures of a rather striking fieldfare that turned up on the patch this week. It will be interesting to see how it moves around the area if it can avoid the attention of the local raptors!
#birding #Norfolk
Reposted by Phil
Reconstruction of a scene at Happisburgh about 900,000 years ago. (Copyright AHOB/John Sibbick.)
Reposted by Phil
January is the month for National Bat Monitoring Programme hibernation checks. Our bat group members are busy counting across Norfolk. The recent cold weather seems to have brought the bats inside. @batconservation.bsky.social @philfarndon.bsky.social
Nice sleetbow this afternoon. #Weather
Winter? What winter?
Treated to close views of three ravens on the last winter bird survey of 2024. This one won the rat tail they were squabbling over.
#birding #ecology #nature
Reposted by Phil
Don't forget to join us tomorrow evening for the first of our Winter talks from Norfolk River Trust.
A winter bird survey that actually felt like winter last week. -4°, sunny and best of all, frozen mud! Perfect. Good numbers of snipe in the ditches and cover crops.
#birding #winter #ecology