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Palustris

@palustris.bsky.social

1.1K followers 380 following 910 posts

Ecologist. Meadows, mires & meres. Wetland beetles, fen creation, Teesside birds. Green.

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Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 12h

I see a lot of consultants' reports where there obviously using phone apps for botanical ID and they tend to be b*llocks tbh.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 12h

Interesting. I'm surprised an app can discern the nuanced combination of characteristics needed for gulls. Soon there'll be an AI device you can attach to a scope which can scan the sea and correctly name all those fast-disappearing specks.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 17h

Pinkfeet heard 3 times this morning from Whinny Banks. Last flock was about 80 birds heading NW, 10:40.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 1d

Hartlepool Headland 9-11.30: 1 Great Northern Diver S, 17 Red-throated Divers, 16 Whooper Swans & 97 Pinkfeet (each in 3 groups), 19 commic terns.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 1d

Dolphn pod close in moving slowly N Hartlepool Headland 10 24
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Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 2d

More on Teesmouth seal pup deaths, suggesting sewage effluent and legacy of industrial pollution may have exacerbated natural mortality. Typical comedy response from Northumbrian Water saying they couldn't possibly be responsible for faecal bacteria in estuary.
northeastbylines.co.uk/news/environ...

Pollution kills all Tees Estuary seal pups

Harbour seal pups in Tees Estuary suffer 100% mortality in 2025, prompting MPs to demand a Defra inquiry into the deaths

northeastbylines.co.uk

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

Kemi always wondered why Brazil never won the European Cup.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

It's a remarkable case of convergent evolution (presumably) that this beetle can produce mammalian steroids like 1-Dehydrotestosterone as defensive compounds.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks to @damianmoney.bsky.social for confirming bird in this photo as Caspian Gull, and to the finder. I photographed every large gull there! Looks like same bird posted earlier. Still on Albert Park lake 5 PM so may hang around.
@teesbirds.bsky.social @nybirdnews.bsky.social

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

They always look furious

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

Thanks Damian

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

How 'bout this? Not convinced by the forehead but it seems to have a relatively narrow bill and lacks the angry 'Reform voter' expression of Herrings?

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

There had been a Caspian Gull reported so I photographed about 50 gulls but either it had gone or I can't can't distinguish them even from photos.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

Particularly potent in I. fenestratus though, sufficient to deter predatory fish.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

This drake Pintail on Albert Park lake (Boro) seems too tame to be a genuine wild bird, but smart all the same and more aligned with my ID skills than immature gulls.
@teesbirds.bsky.social

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 3d

A local species of permanent water, usually lakes, larger drains and canals. I fenestratus secretes a particularly potent cocktail of steroidal chemicals to deter predators, so it's one of the few dytiscids to thrive in fish-stocked waters.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 4d

Correct 👍

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 4d

The large diving beetle Cybister lateralimarginalis from same volume. This species is, in fact, only an extremely rare wanderer to Britain. Curtis's botanical illustrations were mostly decorative and indicative of a species' habitat rather than implying a direct connection between insect and plant.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 4d

Callistus lunatus from Vol 1 of John Curtis' British Entomology. This ground beetle occurred on chalk downland in southern England but is now extinct in Britain. Subscribers received the publication as monthly folios from 1824 on, the superb illustrations being hand-coloured copper-plate engravings.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 5d

This ditch on a windy cliff-top in East Cleveland was bone-dry all summer and only refilled with water after recent rains. It's been recolonised by 6 water beetle species: 2 predators on small midge larvae (already abundant) & 4 scavenger water beetles which feed on plant detritus and algae.

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 6d

Hartlepool Headland 10-11.30: exceptionally quiet apart from a small pod of BN Dolphins heading N. 7 Red-throated Divers, 3 Common Scoter.
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Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 6d

Completely agree but worth noting that commons-based economy was undermined by economic changes starting in late medieval and enclosure wasn't always a top-down process: by late C18th, some farmers held 30+ arable strips, scattered over several open fields, must have been hideously inefficient.

Reposted by Palustris

Joni Askola @joniaskola.bsky.social · 7d

1/5 Elon Musk and David Sacks are attacking Wikipedia again.

They say they will replace it with “Grokipedia.”

Why? Because quick, free, independent fact-checking is their enemy.

They cannot control it. And that terrifies them

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 7d

Elimination of ague was presented as a reason for draining the inland carrs in Yorkshire but, as I understand it, this probably wasn't malaria as Anopheles atroparvus is found mainly in brackish water. Perhaps public health was a handy pretext for the enclosure and drainage of commons?

Palustris @palustris.bsky.social · 7d

Yesterday's coastal trip reminded me of the tale of the Skinningrove Merman. This story was first told in an early edition of Camden's Britannia in 1607. The extract below is from John Graves’ History of Cleveland (1808).
NB: ſ = s in old typography