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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · 3d

Tiny (~2mm) wingless ichneumonid wasp wandering around in the kitchen this evening. Possibly a Gelis species?
@norfolknats.bsky.social

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Reposted by Phil

Stephen Collins @stephencollins.bsky.social · 15d

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Nurse:
It’s become a real problem in this area

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Nurse:
We’ve seen the whole community lost to addiction

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Show a building sign posted:
Westminster ‘X’ Addiction Clinic
With various Westminster people or looking at their phones outside it

Nurse:
Ministers, Spads, Researchers…

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Nurse:
Most mornings we’ll get a call about someone acting strangely

[Nurse on phone taking a call]
Ok - we’ll be right over

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Nurse:
We just have a gentle chat

[Nurses approach a minister –Robert Jenrick? - standing in the Palace of Westminster

Minister:
I understand your concerns…

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Nurse:
Are you OK love?

Minister:
Yes I’m just hearing legitimate concerns from real voters

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Nurse:
That’s a robot, a Nazi and a poorly-disguised Russian

[Show that the people he is talking to are precisely these characters]

Nurse 2:
Give us your phone, love

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Nurse:
At the clinic we put them in a Grass-Touching Pod, with a real voter to talk to

[We see them back at the clinic, holding the minister's head and pushing him into a glass isolation booth with a grass floor. And it is a baffled looking woman, on a chair, ready to talk to him.]

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Minister:
YOU MUST BE WORRIED ABOUT THE COMING CIVIL WAR

[woman looks baffled]

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woman:
I just want a bus service

Minister:
LOOK AT MY FLAG
[produces a St George's flag]

[ends]

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Oct 4

“I am become Death, the destroyer of worms.”
Smooth newt with eyes bigger than its belly in the garden.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Sep 29

Sunrise on a misty autumn morning. Golden plover calling overhead and a badger casually crossing the road in front of me.

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Reposted by Phil

Jan Rosenow @janrosenow.bsky.social · Sep 20

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.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Aug 30

Smooth newt retraining as a gecko on the back door window. Impressive!

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 15

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.

Simon Evans @drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · Jul 14

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
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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 14

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!

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 12

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.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 6

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

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 6

Quick video of a quail going “quickquickquick” quickly. Nice addition to the patch list.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jul 5

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

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Mar 27

Adder shedding its skin to reveal a sharp new outfit underneath. Never witnessed this before! @norfolknats.bsky.social

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Mar 22

Vocal ravens on the local patch recently. Looks like someone has been taking potshots at this one.

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Reposted by Phil

Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group @norfolknorwichbats.bsky.social · Feb 9

Looking for bats certainly takes us to interesting places. Good counts of Daubenton's and Natterer's in hibernation sites underneath Norfolk today.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Feb 8

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

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jan 19

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

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Reposted by Phil

Chris Stringer @chrisbstringer.bsky.social · Jan 10

Reconstruction of a scene at Happisburgh about 900,000 years ago. (Copyright AHOB/John Sibbick.)

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Reposted by Phil

Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group @norfolknorwichbats.bsky.social · Jan 10

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

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Jan 10

Nice sleetbow this afternoon. #Weather

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Reposted by Phil

Rob Yaxley @robyaxley.bsky.social · Jan 3

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Back from the dead: the ‘zombie’ ponds repumping nature into Essex farmland

A conservation project is helping identify and restore wildlife-rich sites previously degraded and dried up

www.theguardian.com

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Dec 21

Winter? What winter?

Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Dec 20

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

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Reposted by Phil

Norfolk and Norwich Bat Group @norfolknorwichbats.bsky.social · Dec 3

Don't forget to join us tomorrow evening for the first of our Winter talks from Norfolk River Trust.

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Phil @philfarndon.bsky.social · Nov 25

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

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