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Lydia Massiah

@lydiamassiah.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.5K following 1.2K posts

Writer, wanderer, wonderer, always curious to learn more. Knows a smattering about much, but not much about anything. Worried about biodiversity loss. What's happening is one big horror story.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 4h

Footage from October 2015 - 10yrs ago! The male otters look enormous. Best bit is towards the end in daylight with a female & young one.
youtu.be/eMhrYyIqWqE?...

Otters - October 2015

YouTube video by GreeneWild

youtu.be

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5h

Only see one once in Pembrokeshire, but we had a camera trap set up on the Mendips, on the River Axe/Yeo. We picked up masses of great otter footage, plus mink, water rails, green woodpeckers (ants must make them thirsty 😄). Camera was in a rare patch of riverbank cover so everything used it.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 6h

I'd only seen the little Asian short-clawed ones before, so I was very under-appreciative of European otters size. The South American Giant ones must be amazing to see up close!

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 6h

Until you pick one up (& I hasten to add I've only done that to a dead one) you don't appreciate how BIG & powerful UK otters are! They weigh as much as my(small) collie dogs but are obviously much stronger. UK zoos tend to have the Asian short-clawed otters which are ⅓-¼ the size of Eurasian ones.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7h

Your talk looks very much my thing but alas, a bit far to go. Good luck with it!

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7h

Nope!

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7h

Ah yes, Maxwell the famous naturalist, who set up a basking shark fishery on the island of Soay that killed 1000s of sharks & wiped out the local population - so much so they still haven't recovered from being hunted.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 7h

Fascinating, thank you. Sections in H is for Hawk explore this very interesting topic too. I've also always been suspicious of D H Lawrence's attitude to animals & what it reveals about his instincts in pieces like Reflections on the Death of a Porcupine - compared to the poem Snake.

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Reposted by Lydia Massiah

Richard Smyth @rsmythfreelance.bsky.social · 10h

Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.

Title page of a collection of animal stories by Henry Williamson: TARKA THE OTTER, SALAR THE SALMON, THE EPIC OF BROCK THE BADGER, CHAKCHEK THE PEREGRINE.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 1d

Nature's colour combinations are superb!

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 1d

Delightful aren't they? I love finding them at this time of year though they're often tiny - & sunshine is bleaching the tops paler atm

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 1d

There are different types of Amanita in a small space of this beech wood. The Blusher (Amanita rubescens) is clearest when it blushes, but they can be just brown & white so I'm guessing all of these are Blushers. Some are huge! There are also Fly Agarics (more Aminita types). #MushroomMonday

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 1d

Amethyst Deceiver on a fallen beech leaf. The beauty in our woods right now💜🤎
#MushroomMonday

Purple gilled small mushroom lying on a coppery orange beech leaf

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 2d

They such bright fungi - really eye-catching 🍄

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 3d

Beautiful Fly Agarics in vast numbers on Exmoor today. This birch grove led us astray as we wandered from one scarlet patch to another through the birch trees until we had lost the path. A peaceful, enchanted-feeling place.

Three red fungi with white spots in woodland

A large red fungus with white spots & a smaller one

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 3d

I'm not used to seeing waxcaps in woods but Horner Wood on Exmoor had amazing fungi today. These Parrot Waxcaps were a treat!

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 4d

Summer's over but my pots haven't got the memo. The one with white cosmos, vanilla-scented nemesia, magenta geraniums, trailing bacopa & a deep purple aeonium is at it's best ever! Except the cosmos, all the plants survived last winter outside! The other pot has purple salvia, verbena & petunia 💜🤍🩷💚

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5d

A cherry dining table sounds beautiful 😍

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5d

They're such amazing pieces of furniture - so rewarding. You're doing a great job.

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5d

What a transformation! Well done!

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5d

They're both very sweet dogs

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 5d

Buddy and Poppy ready for their walk. The pillow wasn't originally for them but they're enjoying the extra comfort 😄

Two red and white collies in the back of a car, one sitting, one lying down

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Reposted by Lydia Massiah

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 10d

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me.

I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

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Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 6d

Thank you. It makes me love the bureau even more!

Lydia Massiah @lydiamassiah.bsky.social · 8d

How strange 🤔 Like the Glastonbury Thorn (which is twice flowering). You'll have to give these Anemones a special local name - and perhaps religious significance 😄