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Janet Drew

@jedrew.bsky.social

160 followers 180 following 120 posts

Lifelong astronomer and scientist, with an interest in birds, landscape, geology, and (almost) all things natural. For fun, consumes crime fiction, and tries to play the cello.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 4h

A #colourful #BirdOfTheDay - a trinidadian motmot sitting on a fence (waiting for passing lizards)

This motmot was seen in Tobago. It would frequently visit the garden where we were staying, hoping for food (lizards). One day a golden tegu passed through - and the motmot straffed it unsuccessfully, beak first (the feet on a motmot are pitiful). Rainbow colouired from head down to the tip of its tail.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 1d

For #Black #BirdOfTheDay - a very dapper razorbill. They look a bit strange, face- or beak-on.

A razorbill on the cliffs at Bempton, Yorkshire. The bird's head is side on. The black on the head and back is very glossy black. The tan smudge on the white tummy is just an out-of-focus flowering grass.

...and here, the razorbill face-on - making the white markings above the beak look kind of strange.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 1d

Exactly my reaction - very Shakespearian. (I was actually thinking 'Alas poor Yorick...' - same play of course.) This heron would do the RSC proud ☺️

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 1d

This one took my breath away. Starmer appears pathologically over-sensitive to accusations of anti-semitism. I give up on him. He should know about football-related violence. The police decision was clearly about the violence around the previous Ajax-Maccabi game.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 4d

#birdinthebush x 2 for #BirdOfTheDay - courting southern crested caracaras. They played the imitation game for some time before one of them got fed up and flew off. #birds

A pair of souther crested cararcars perched on a branch in foliage - seen in Torres del Paine in October 2018. Their finely striped chests and yellow beaks show well.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 4d

I was lucky enough to visit the Alhambra first, 40 years ago when tourism was much less of a thing (hence NO people in this photo of the Generalife!). Totally magical, in the quietude of the place. Paradise on earth as per original design.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 6d

11 months ago, I posted a murky photo of what may well have been the same troupe of migrating geese. These #birds are mainly greylags. The problem - last year and this - is what are the 4 white/brown geese in there? ...hybrids most likely, but with what?

Photo taken yesterday, 12 Oct 2025, from Kilcoole Beach looking across onto the coastal flats. A group of 10 geese are swimming along awater-filled channel. 6 of the geese are greylag geese, while 4 of them - showing large areas of white - are a bit of a mystery.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 8d

A day-after #BirdOfTheDay - an arctic tern chick. Dozing between meals?

A very young arctic tern chick, stood in a cleft among rocks on the ground. Seen on Inner Farne, Northumberland. The chick has coral pink feet and a red beak - otherwise a fluff ball of grey with black splodges and a white tummy,

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 12d

Nice photo - shows up the size difference very well. This is a female greenfinches without the 'moss green' (Svensson's description) back of the male. The yellows on the greenfinch and goldfinch aren't quite the same - more in-your-face gold on the goldfinch

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 14d

A squirrel for #squirrelsaturday

A red squirrel in the gardens on Tresco, Scilly Isles. This one has his/her face covered in pollen from the century(?) plant it is perched on.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 15d

Not long since back from an Italian city tour, which included Ravenna and its magnitficent early Christian-era wall mosaics. Here's a detail I love, showing #birds - a convincingly-rendered peacock and peahen, in this instance.

A detail from the mosaics decorating San Vitale, Ravenna. A peacock and peahen are shown in a flower garden. The panel this comes from sits just above the panel showing Justinian and Belisarius.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 18d

This is beyond pathetic.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 26d

Good on them! I hope they find ways to rebut the nonsense widely and loudly.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 29d

The other point to make is that it probably isn't just physic depts under this pressure: the IOP is good at keeping an eye on the health of UK physics.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 18

An example of a historic, but still working, library. Spectacular. The best of human...

A view down the library corridor, from the Stabat Mater room in Bologna's Archiginnasi. Dark wooden bookcases frame the corridor. Above the first opening , some typical Archiginnasi heraldic artwork.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 8

#birds #MallardMonday Two (well-named) spectacled ducks preening at the water's edge, below Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina.

Two spectacled (aka bronze-winged) ducks, standing on bare rock by the water - preening themselves. The photo was taken from the walkway at Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 7

Isn't the shift in population profile to greater age (and growing amounts of sickness) the real problem, though. Article behind paywall- so haven't read it. Recent migrants are mostly young and have to pay annual surcharges for NHS per family member.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Sep 3

Just sharing a photo from the archives, for want of something better to do - an abstract or fantasy take on a lake. See ALT for details.

An other-worldly, abstract photo of clouds reflected in Crummock Water (Lake District) with the superposed contrast of an islet plus a couple of rocks.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 31

Well, yes - have to agree. Loved the jacket and tie near the end.

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

Did it have a crest? (hidden on the photo) Would have to be a juvenile harpy, as adults are much darker. Size is a clue - harpies approach a metre, head to tail. The rarer white-necked hawks are half that in length (and only in SE Brazil).

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

Would that be a white-necked hawk in the third picture. Looks stationary to me (good photo)

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 17

On Friday, got to see the Bridge Theatre's Midsummer Night's Dream production, complete with acrobatic fairies (and Puck) suspended on loops hanging from the ceiling - brilliant idea. Very fresh, and played successfully for laughs.

One of the Midsumer Night's Dream fairies, in a gauzy tutu, suspended on a fabric loop hanging from the ceiling of the Bridge Theatre, London. Photo taken during the interval when the fairies 'hung around' to entertain the audience below. These fairies needed to be acrobats...

Reposted by Janet Drew

Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · Aug 14

Defending US democracy: the role of scientists
@science.org
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · Aug 13

And mine. ..used to read about it too, in TV21 - every week.

Reposted by Janet Drew

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · Aug 13

Making America Great Again Update: US President not in charge of who gets to attend a meeting taking place at a meeting he instigated on a US military base on US soil with a foreign leader whose country has an economy about the size of the New York City Metropolitan Area.

FinTwitter @fintwitter.bsky.social · Aug 13

Trump: It wasn't my call to leave Zelenskyy out of the meeting.

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