Julian Hughes
@penrhynbirder.bsky.social
880 followers 350 following 590 posts
Nature, and saving it. Editor Welsh Bird Report. https://birdsin.wales/ Weekly BirdNotes in Daily Post. http://www.birdnotes.wales/ Co-editor of The Birds of Wales. http://tinyurl.com/TheBirdsOfWales
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Reposted by Julian Hughes
trevorthebotanist.bsky.social
Have been out this week surveying Goldilocks Aster (Galatella linosyris) on the steep limestone cliffs of Y Gogarth (Great Orme) for Species Recovery Trust. Glad to report it’s in fine fettle, flowering well - if a little late - after the summer drought #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Reposted by Julian Hughes
naturambyth.bsky.social
🌍 Peidiwch â cholli Amrywiol wrth Natur – gweminar sy'n ymhelaethu ar leisiau amrywiol mewn cadwraeth.
✨ 3 siaradwr. Straeon go iawn a syniadau ar hil, arweinyddiaeth a natur.
🗓️ 29 Hyd | 🕡 6:30–8:30pm
🔗 Cofrestrwch: event.swisscom.ch/v/diversebyn...
Reposted by Julian Hughes
naturambyth.bsky.social
🌍 Don’t miss Diverse by Nature – a webinar amplifying diverse voices in conservation.
✨ 3 speakers. Real stories and ideas on race, leadership & nature💚
🗓️ 29 Oct | 🕡 6:30–8:30pm
Sign up here: event.swisscom.ch/v/diversebyn...
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Splashes of yellow and purple amid the greens and browns on Mynydd Mawr, the most westerly point in #NorthWales, yesterday.

Western Gorse, a couple of species of heather and this patch of Creeping Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). #WildFlowerHour
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Turnstones lined up to be counted on today's @webs-gsmp.bsky.social survey on the #Conwy estuary, rather than huddling together.

Made it easy to find each one marked by SCAN ringing group. Except that all stood on the leg with a yellow ring, and kept the leg with an inscribed flag tucked away...
A row of Turnstones (small wading birds that are dark brown above and white below, with bright orange legs) line up on the wooden edge of Deganwy Quay. The photo is taken over the wall from the car park, the birds just a couple of metres away from people out enjoying the seaside.
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
From the summit of Mynydd Anelog, despite the cloud, I could see Strumble Head in Pembrokeshire and @rspbcymru.bsky.social South Stack on Anglesey, a distance of 90 miles.

Not too many places that you can see a greater distance between two points in #Cymru.
Reposted by Julian Hughes
martinswarren.bsky.social
The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...
Front cover of the European Butterfly Red List, showing Polyommatus humedasae. The report can be downloaded at https://www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?name=red-list-butterflies-2025
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Great to see Highland Cattle introduced by @nationaltrust.org.uk to graze Llyn's coastal slopes, improving conditions for invertebrates, flora and Choughs below the @walescoastpath1.bsky.social.

Plenty of Choughs feeding around the cloddiau and crags, including a flock of 20+ on Mynydd Carreg.
A ginger-coloured Highland Cow with large black-tipped horns, lies beside the Wales Coast Path, chewing the cud and watching out to sea, beyond a low rocky island.The opposite side of the valley is a bracken monoculture, and breaking it up by grazing is doubtless one of the reasons that the cattle have been introduced here. New fencing has been installed towards the bottom of the slopes to ensure the cattle remain safe. If the cattle open up the vegetation, the more varied structure (as well as the invertebrates in the cow pats) will help Choughs to forage. A clawdd (plural cloddiau) is an earth bank faced with stones and usually topped with turf. It is the traditional boundary of fields in western Llyn and Ynys Enlli, and provides a great place for Choughs to probe their curved red bills into the soil in search of invertebrates. It's hard to grow a hedge in these parts, and definitely looks better than a fence.
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Migrants in Llyn valleys as elusive as the forecast sunshine for #WorldMigratoryBirdDay (there may be a nano-pixel of Radde's Warbler @bardseybirdobs.bsky.social in the background!).

Plenty of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits airborne and maybe my last Red Admiral of 2025 on Mynydd Anelog. #BirdingWales
Mynydd Mawr rises out of a calm sea, the clawdd-fringed, irregularly-shaped pasture fields in the foreground giving way to the brown bracken and heather-clad slopes. Bardsey (Ynys Enlli) lies offshore in the background.
Reposted by Julian Hughes
steffopp.bsky.social
NEW JOB in #ornithology with @RSPBScience to oversee research in #Wales with #seabirds and #waders: buff.ly/qkTVU6m
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Nice one, thanks for the info. A decent age, and interesting that it switched from Yorkshire to Wales for breeding.
Reposted by Julian Hughes
wadertales.bsky.social
Yesterday, IUCN declared the Slender-billed Curlew to be extinct.
How did we let this happen?
What lessons are there for the future?
WaderTales blog based on paper by Graeme Buchanan et al
wadertales.wordpress.com/2024/12/12/l...
#extinction #ornithology
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
That would be right. Tony is part of the MWRG.
Reposted by Julian Hughes
birdsinwales.bsky.social
🚨WOS’ response to the recent Senedd debated petition calling on the installation of Swift bricks in all new buildings in Wales.🚨
Reposted by Julian Hughes
birdsinwales.bsky.social
🚨Ymateb Cymdeithas Adaryddol Cymru i’r ddeiseb a drafodwyd yn ddiweddar yn y Senedd yn galw am osod briciau Wenoliaid Duon ym mhob adeilad newydd yng Nghymru.🚨
Reposted by Julian Hughes
curlewaction.bsky.social
There is still time to sign up for our next webinar where you will here a round up of the UK Curlew breeding season.

Book your space via Eventbrite:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1673242055...
penrhynbirder.bsky.social
Lovely piece about visitors to @rspbcymru.bsky.social Cors Ddyga's new wetland pools, "slivers of liquid light, their margins still mottled dark with freshly turned mud and root, harbouring long-buried organic treasure, waiting to be snatched".

A @naturambyth.bsky.social project for Curlews
Reposted by Julian Hughes
sarahdalgulls.bsky.social
Wow! Tracking a butterfly with motus!
saskajanet.bsky.social
Look at her go!
#invertebrates 🌿
Screen shot of Project Monarch app map of progress of a monarch butterfly from southern Ontario to Oklahoma.
Reposted by Julian Hughes
nffn.bsky.social
Congratulations to our CEO, Martin Lines, on receiving the prestigious RSPB Medal, recognising his leadership in conservation. 🎉 This award honours his tireless work for both farmers and nature. 🙌 We’re so proud of you, Martin!

👉 https://www.nffn.org.uk/news/nffn-ceo-martin-lines-awarded-rspb-medal