Steve Dudley
@stevedudley.bsky.social
3.5K followers 660 following 13K posts
Birder #WestrayBirding | Orkney Bird Recorder | #birdingScotland #ornithology 🪶 | #TeamMoth | #wildlife #art | 🎶 Punk, Post-punk| PUFC | MUFC | Pro-EU | ✊🏾🏳️‍🌈 ally Feeds - Birding Gear, Orkney Birding, UK Patch Birding and BirdWeather PUC.
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stevedudley.bsky.social
I've long been a gear geek - optics, tripods, clothing - I'm obsessed with it all. I've helped design optics, jackets and more and I love to share and hear others' views on their birding gear. So, I've set up this Feed, Birding Gear, for just that. Tag your posts #BirdingGear to contribute!
The poster wearing a beige shirt (Lesvos Birding logo on the arm featuring a stylised Little Owl), black and white cammo neck scarf (buff) and khaki green peaked hat with a pair of green binoculars around his neck on a wide, black neck strap. I am using my iPhone with an adaptor on my tripod-mounted spotting scope to film Crag Martin in Lesvos, Greece.
stevedudley.bsky.social
I mean. It does not get better than this.

🪶 #UKbirding
andyhood75.bsky.social
Oh lawdy...!!!
White-throated Needletail showing a bit well here at Bempton RSPB reserve @rarebirder.bsky.social @birdguides.bsky.social
Reposted by Steve Dudley
cleyspy.bsky.social
Join us in-store this weekend, for the best optics deals that you'll find anywhere!
We'll have significant discounts across all brands that absolutely will not be beaten. Offers will be available on 11-12 Oct and will be available in-store only (not online or via phone). #BirdingGear
stevedudley.bsky.social
Still the best bird I’ve ever seen in Britain (I was working at Fairburn Ings on 27 May ‘85 when John Glendinnning found that bird). To find one tho 🤯 THE dream. And it’s not like Orkney doesn’t have Needletail form 🤞🏼
stevedudley.bsky.social
OMG! Super proud of our Louie making the step up in the crazy world of professional football. I’ve always been footie mad. Right from a nipper. Unlike my bro who really couldn’t care less about it! Yet his kids, Louie and his three sisters, all ace players. He might not be the last Dudley to go pro.
Louie Dudley signs first professional contract - Leeds United
Young defender pens two-year deal.
www.leedsunited.com
stevedudley.bsky.social
Some of them wouldn’t have enough room on their jackets for all their ‘interests’. They’d have to go Formula 1 and wear all in one body suit!
stevedudley.bsky.social
Aye. Winter is long here and spring, summer and autumn all short. We’re a couple of weeks ahead of normal mind this year cos of Storm Amy. Island looks ravaged and near winter-like cos of it.
stevedudley.bsky.social
This is all known yet government after government fault to implement what is actually needed by society. Why? Self interests. They follow the donor money and not their social conscience. Not that many Tories have a social conscience but it’s galling to see Labour fail on this key doctrine too.
Reposted by Steve Dudley
rhi.bsky.social
Dad’s books are full of empathy, common sense, and a healthy suspicion of the powerful. But at its heart his work is also about how systems keep people poor while pretending it’s their own fault. So I hope Kemi’s taking notes as well as reading the jokes.
paulhaine.bsky.social
Kemi Badenoch claiming Terry Pratchett as her favourite author is wild
stevedudley.bsky.social
An excellent read, Marc. Oflactory responses in birds has long fascinated me. Thanks.
Reposted by Steve Dudley
marcgilles.bsky.social
Want to know everything about bird smell?
I wrote an "Ornithological masterclass" on Avian Olfaction for BTO News @btobirds.bsky.social #ornithology
Link to the article 👉 www.researchgate.net/publication/...
stevedudley.bsky.social
Exactly. When I heard Jenrick’s racist comments my first thought was, there are countless communities across the entire UK where you’d struggle to see a non-white face in a week let alone his 1.5 hours in Handsworth. The UK has been ghettoed for decades. And he’s only just noticed.
stevedudley.bsky.social
It’s already been and gone up here at 59°N ☹️
A leafless sycamore tree, Westray, Orkney Isles.
Reposted by Steve Dudley
janh1.bsky.social
Autumn’s beginning 😍
Close up of beech leaves turning from green to yellow/russett with out of focus background of dark tree trunk and autumnal yellows/oranges
Reposted by Steve Dudley
carbonbrief.org
Daily Briefing: Climate action at the Hague | US ‘slashing’ more green funding | China ‘stockpiling’ oil

➡️ Read today's full briefing here: buff.ly/86qizgG

➡️ Sign up to our email briefings: buff.ly/3kFciAO
Reposted by Steve Dudley
itsmeio.bsky.social
Resistance to genocide is not terrorism.

The genocide itself is terrorism.
Reposted by Steve Dudley
guyshrubsole.bsky.social
Plans to weaken protections for national parks will have ‘disastrous consequences’, say environmentalists

Pleased to have signed @campaign4parks.bsky.social's letter urging Ministers to drop plans to remove the Protected Landscapes Duty on public bodies 1/

www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Plans to weaken protections for national parks will have ‘disastrous consequences’ say green groups
Exclusive: Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law
www.theguardian.com
stevedudley.bsky.social
Remember, we need to build the equivalent of six new Milton Keynes - that’s around 210 sq miles of housing - just to stand still. Labour are ripping up planning laws simply to speed that process up with absolutely no linked up thinking and bugger the consequences. It’s about votes not homes.
stevedudley.bsky.social
The bleeding obvious and sensible option is to build within and around existing urban areas where it will be cheaper to extend infrastructure to support an increased population. Where most people actually want to live and work. Have easy access to everything they need.
stevedudley.bsky.social
We need affordable housing. So let’s build in areas where people need cars. Even if they can afford to live there they can’t afford to go anywhere, you know, like to town for shopping, cos they can’t afford to run a car. And there’s no bus service cos that’s already been cut. Madness.
stevedudley.bsky.social
Forget environmental implications (altho most national parks are already trashed by overgrazing, etc) the sheer idiocy of choosing the most expensive option to deliver housing is breathtaking. Build new homes where there is no infrastructure to support them. No jobs. Poor connectivity. It’s moronic.
premnsikka.bsky.social
Treasury pushing for weakening of protections for England’s national parks & national landscapes to make it easier for developers.

Once lost, they are lost for ever

Rehabilitate empty homes.

Ever thought about building houses on the estates of the rich? Can't they live in smaller houses?
Green groups criticise plans to weaken protections for English national parks
Exclusive: Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Steve Dudley
premnsikka.bsky.social
Treasury pushing for weakening of protections for England’s national parks & national landscapes to make it easier for developers.

Once lost, they are lost for ever

Rehabilitate empty homes.

Ever thought about building houses on the estates of the rich? Can't they live in smaller houses?
Green groups criticise plans to weaken protections for English national parks
Exclusive: Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law
www.theguardian.com
Reposted by Steve Dudley
stevedudley.bsky.social
Despite nowt extraordinary a good days birding showcasing the variety of birds here in Westray. Increased numbers of Whooper Swans. A feeding flock of Sooty Shearwaters. Sandflats full of waders. Four different Hen Harriers. A male Merlin. Wheatears. Swallows. And a few Redwings in. #WestrayBirding
Redwing, Westray, Orkney Isles, 7 October 2025 Redwing, Westray, Orkney Isles, 7 October 2025
Reposted by Steve Dudley
alexanderlees.bsky.social
"The causes of insufficient reproductive success in our two study populations were low rates of whole-nest survival, which were only sufficiently high to maintain population size for nests in gardens. Low nest survival rates were mostly the result of egg or chick predation."
bou.org.uk
EARLY VIEW in IBIS

Inadequate reproductive success is a potential cause of Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata) population decline in England | onlinelibrary.wiley....

Malcolm D. Burgess et al | #ornithology 🪶