Dave Foster
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pratorum2112.bsky.social
Dave Foster
@pratorum2112.bsky.social
180 followers 250 following 210 posts
Whitburn, NE England. Mostly birds and dreadful photographs, but a bit of other stuff too...
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pratorum2112.bsky.social
Otherwise ad.-male looking Hen Harrier but with dark )brownish, exact pattern impossible to determine due to distance) central tail feathers (at least the central pair) - anyone seen this? @macstronach.bsky.social @helsinkibirder.bsky.social @timsbirding.bsky.social @saloplarus.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
thierryaaron.bsky.social
“Heartbreaking scenes from Elit, Iran, where wildfire is damaging parts of the ancient Hyrcanian forests — a @unesco.org World Heritage treasure and one of Earth’s last temperate rainforests" Kaveh Madani, director of the UN University Institute for Water, Environment and Health

#Iran 🇮🇷
Turkey sends aircraft to help battle Iran wildfires
Two Turkish firefighting planes, one helicopter and eight personnel will arrive in Iran on Saturday to help quell fires in the Hyrcanian forest in the country's north, Iranian environment chief Shina ...
www.iranintl.com
November 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
protectthewild.bsky.social
Hundreds of chicks clubbed to death every year for "tradition" - sign the petition to end it: protectthewild.org.uk/gannet-petit...
November 23, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
barrabirder.bsky.social
Just when we thought autumn was done, birding would be quieter and that was that, this vision of larid loveliness landed in the road in front of us! A cracking adult Franklin's Gull, the first record for Vatersay. #BirdingScotland #RareBirdsUK
November 23, 2025 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
lesserspotnet.bsky.social
Something to celebrate - our 2025 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker report - successful breeding season, the most nests monitored & highest number of chicks fledged per nest since we started in 2015. Acoustic monitoring giving amazing results too, download here www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/images/L_S_W...
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at its nest in New Forest, photo by Steve Laycock Six Lesser Spot young in a Quantocks nest, photo Gus Robin
November 22, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
wilsonjaredm.bsky.social
A write-up of August’s Bridled Tern at Fife Ness, which I’d totally forgotten to post #birdingFife #rarebirdsUK
chatterstanes.wordpress.com/2025/11/23/b...
Bridled Tern at Fife Ness, 23/08/25
We’d selected Saturday 23rd August 2025 for the second all day Fife Ness seawatch, building on the success of the previous years’ which had seen about 40 local birders participate, and p…
chatterstanes.wordpress.com
November 23, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
drclimate.bsky.social
"A voluntary agreement to begin discussions on a roadmap to an eventual phase-out of fossil fuels."

Have you ever read such an absurd sentence?
End of fossil fuel era inches closer as Cop30 deal agreed after bitter standoff
Wealthy countries should triple funds for countries to tackle climate impacts, but deforestation and critical minerals blocked from final deal
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
13sarahmurphy.bsky.social
And this is spot on. No other political figure or party gets so little scrutiny. And it’s not like there isn’t a track record…
Corruption, Russia-links, Trump-christofascist-links, Brexit, racism, total incompetence in Reform-run councils…
A dangerous clowncar revving up to drive us into the wall.
Instead, what we are starting to see is an attempt to sanitise and cleanse Farage ahead of his potential rise to the premiership. We can see this in the many pieces, from the likes of Nick Robinson, to the BBC, trying to portray Farage and his party as being a "serious" prospect for high office, as opposed to the disastrous joke a Reform Government would actually be. You can see this also in the relative lack of media interest in what Reform is already doing in local Government. Just like Johnson, who was only ever covered by the national media from the framing of his personality-based rivalry with his old Etonian school friend, rather than what he was actually doing in London, so too is the substance of what Farage's party is already up to in office being similarly glossed over. The result is that by the time that we get to the next general election, there is unlikely to have been much scrutiny, aside from by a small number of independent publications like Byline Times, of what the reality of a Reform Government would actually look like.
November 22, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
russincheshire.bsky.social
Rachael Johnson: "Boris did his best".

Only because his best has always been fucking awful.

Let's consider Boris Johnson, a moral man and a great politician: I'd love to talk about all three of them, but I only have space for Boris.
November 22, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
northeastbylines.co.uk
Durham will scrap full council-tax rebates, forcing 26,000 low-income working-age residents to start paying for the first time | Peter Morris
Council tax shock for thousands of Durham’s poorest – thanks to Reform UK
Durham will scrap full council-tax rebates, forcing 26,000 low-income working-age residents to start paying for the first time
northeastbylines.co.uk
November 22, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
gpcbirding.bsky.social
Compare these images with those of L l melanuroides from Japan www.instagram.com/reel/DOuYs0A... - images taken N Lincs August 21sta nd 29th 2010 and suggested at the time as L l m by RM at B World but mag folded before it was moved forward - forgot it until seeing images linked above -
November 22, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
macstronach.bsky.social
A video from earlier in the autumn during some particularly heavy Pheasant migration in Highland! #highlandbirds
November 21, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
kyle-horton.bsky.social
Take three minutes to look at pretty birds, explore radar data, and see how we connect the structure of skies to MacArthur's ideas of niche partitioning. 📡🐦☁️🎧
November 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
macstronach.bsky.social
A truly mind blowing 🤯 study into migration in the US using vast amounts of radar data! 👇
kyle-horton.bsky.social Kyle Horton @kyle-horton.bsky.social · 4d
Take three minutes to look at pretty birds, explore radar data, and see how we connect the structure of skies to MacArthur's ideas of niche partitioning. 📡🐦☁️🎧
November 21, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
weownit.org.uk
NHS private finance diverts money away from healthcare, towards the pockets of private shareholders.

Cat Eccles MP’s motion can force the government to drop their NHS private finance plans from the Autumn Budget.

✉️Take 2 mins now to email your MP to sign the motion and protect patients.
November 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
drjennings.bsky.social
It is indisputable that Brexit has been an economic disaster, and notable that none of its political architects have paid any price.
bloomberg.com Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 4d
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist
Brexit Hit to UK Economy Double Official Estimate, Study Finds
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist.
bloom.bg
November 21, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
meinel.bsky.social
November 21, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
defendourjuries.bsky.social
Police must end Palestine Action arrests, says former UK counter-terror chief

Richard Barrett condemned the UK government's designation of Palestine Action as a terror group and the amount of police time/resources used to arrest people holding signs.

www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/20...
Police must end Palestine Action arrests, says former UK counter-terror chief | The National
Richard Barrett tells The National that activists who feel strongly about Gaza are 'not terrorists'
www.thenationalnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
thenorfolkcoast.bsky.social
Insect Declines and the role of pesticides with @davegoulson.bsky.social online talk...

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wsrt-wet-w...
WSRT Wet Wednesday Webinars: Insect Declines with Dave Goulson
Join Dave Goulson for a deep dive into the role of pesticides in driving insect declines in our next WSRT Wet Wednesday Webinar!
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 20, 2025 at 11:50 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
birdingprof.bsky.social
OTD 25 yrs ago: A Small Whitethroat (Curruca minula) at South Gare. When did it become Small over Desert?
‘Just’ a subspecies back then. Unfortunately it was never trapped, nor was DNA ever obtained, so it’s all moot. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A female Pied Wheatear at Gibraltar Point on the way back was very nice too.
Almost certainly a Small Whitethroat (Curruca minula) but seems unlikely to ever be accepted as such. When I saw it, in the salubrious setting of the industrial works in the area. It was covered in soot from feeding in the bushes nearby. 📸 unknown Pied Wheatear at Gibraltar Point. 2000. 📸 unknown
November 20, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
stevedudley.bsky.social
There's been a few Taiga Beans in the county since late Sept but nearly all (all?) have moved on. So 19 (min) here on Westray today is a surprise! Hard to get close to tho as they're by a road in amongst some flitty Greylags. iPhone and Leica APO Televid 82 to the rescue 🙂 #WestrayBirding #PWC2025
Eight of the 19 or so Taiga Bean Geese in Westray, Orkney Isles, 20 November 2025. A large grey-brown goose with darker head and neck, two-tone dark grey and pink/orange bill colour and orange legs (just see one leg of bird on right).
November 20, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
greenparty.org.uk
At the Budget, the Green Party's message is clear: Cut Bills. Tax Billionaires.
November 19, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
georgemonbiot.bsky.social
The catastrophic illegal waste dumping in Oxfordshire (see next post) is a direct result of the deregulation-by-stealth I wrote about in 2021, when my dead goldfish became a registered waste disposer. I warned it would let the mafia in. And here we are.🧵
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Britain through the looking glass: my dead goldfish is now a registered waste disposer | George Monbiot
Algernon Goldfish is long gone, but I was able to sign him up. No wonder so many crooks are illegally dumping and ruining our environment, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
November 19, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Reposted by Dave Foster
jonathanpienews.bsky.social
Trump vs The BBC.
Love or loathe the BBC, recent events have put the UK's journalistic sovereignty in peril.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCMn...
Trump vs The BBC
YouTube video by Jonathan Pie
www.youtube.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Dave Foster
robertvaughani.bsky.social
A 1st winter Ring-billed Gull was reported near one of my survey sites, so a slight diversion after work yesterday resulted in great views as it fed amongst the gulls and mallards in a small park.
November 19, 2025 at 11:06 AM