Steve Jackson
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atcherleyons.bsky.social
Steve Jackson
@atcherleyons.bsky.social
2.5K followers 1.1K following 1.4K posts
#Genealogy. #FamilyHistory and #OneNameStudy of the Atcherley family. #OnePlaceStudies of Waters Upton and Fawsley, #HouseHistory of Marton Hall. Green. Vegan. Lover of SciFi; #nature and #WildlifePhotography; countryside; puns. Not here to doomscroll.
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atcherleyons.bsky.social
The alternative #BirdOfTheDay theme for today is #YellowEyes, so here is a Tufted #Duck who I photographed at Brandon Marsh back in February 2024.

#Birds #UKWildlife #BirdPhotography #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a male Tufted Duck (or Tufted Pochard, Aythya fuligula) on a pool of water, swimming towards the left of the picture. The head, which has a feathery tuft from which this species gets its name, appears black, but the feathers can reflect green or purple depending on the angle of the light. The eye is yellow with a black pupil, and the beak a pale bluish-grey with a black tip. The neck, chest, wings and rump are black, and the flanks are white.
November 24, 2025 at 9:03 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
#Warblers are the theme for #BirdOfTheDay today. Here’s a Reed Warbler at Brandon Marsh, in May 2024. He was thrown out of the Guild of Reed, Sedge and Cetti’s Warblers for singing in a spot where he could be seen and photographed, contrary to Guild rules. 😉

#Birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
A Common or Eurasian Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), perched on the brown stem of a reed, and almost surrounded by other reed stems. We see him from the back here; his back, wings, tail, and most of his head are brown in colour. The bird's head is turned to the right, beak open in song; there is a pale, faint eye-stripe, and the throat is white.
November 24, 2025 at 3:32 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Just one example of land use change. This is a hay-meadow, not too far from my home. In recent years, packed with wildflowers and insects. I remember it from the 1980s as an unremarkable grassy field. But when the Land Utilisation Survey was carried out around the 1960s, it was a barley field!
Photo of a hay-meadow, a field of grass and herbage (with lots of flowering Ladies Bedstraw adding yellow to the scene, especially on the lower left side of the image), photographed in July before the cutting of the hay. The field slopes, being higher to the left and from the spot where photographed, and there is woodland on the far side. Above, there is a blue sky. I have added three circular images depicting some of the insects living in the meadow: a Marbled White Butterfly with its black and white, chequerboard-patterned wings; a black and yellow Long-horn Beetle on white Cow Parsley flowers; and a green- and brown-coloured Grasshopper nymph.
November 24, 2025 at 2:28 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Another pic from Friday’s Fawsley foray.

#Scape #Landscape #Stunday #BlueSkyMonday #EastCoastKin #Northamptonshire
Photo of the view looking North across The Canal lake at Fawsley. Some lakeside grasses can be seen at the bottom of the image, and on the other side of the water there are several trees at the bottom of the gently rising grassy slope, on top of which sits Fawsley Hall on the left and Fawsley St Mary's church on the right. More trees can be seen on the skyline between the hall and the church. The blue sky above and the trees and buildings just described, are all reflected in the still water of the lake.
November 23, 2025 at 6:19 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Giving us a nice view of his or her underwing and forked tail, the Red Kite continues to fly, against the backdrop of a beautiful blue sky. [3/3]

#FlyDay #Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a Red Kite (Milvus milvus) in flight, heading towards the right side of the image. We see the right side of the bird's head and body, and the underside of the right wing, which is raised up, almost fully outstretched, above the bird. The Red Kite has a hooked bill, yellow at the base and dark at the tip; a greyish head with black streaks; yellow eyes with black pupils; and reddish-brown plumage over much of the rest of the body. The tail feathers are blackish, and there both blackish and whitish patches on the underside of the wing.
November 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
We have lift off! The Red Kite takes to the air. [2/3]

#FlyDay #Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a Red Kite (Milvus milvus) who has just taken off from his or her perch in a leafless Oak tree. The bird is heading towards us and slightly to the right side of the image, wings outstretched on either side and legs dangling below. The Red Kite has a hooked bill, yellow at the base and dark at the tip; a greyish head with black streaks; yellow eyes with black pupils; and reddish-brown plumage over much of the rest of the body. The tail feathers are blackish, and there are blackish patches on the underside of the wings; the legs and talons are yellow.
November 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
A 3-part thread for #FlyDay featuring more pics taken at Fawsley earlier today. Now, this Red Kite (one of four who were sitting in an Oak tree close to the Knightley Way) is not flying. But he or she soon will be... [1/3]

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a Red Kite (Milvus milvus) perched on a small branch in a leafless Oak tree. The bird is facing towards the left side of the image, with wings closed. The Red Kite has a hooked bill, yellow at the base and dark at the tip; a greyish head with black streaks; yellow eyes with black pupils; and reddish-brown plumage over much of the rest of the body. The tail, in this image, is in shadow. The feathers on the upper parts of the wing are reddish-brown with blackish markings; towards the wing tip they are largely blackish in colour.
November 21, 2025 at 8:33 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
One week on from my radioactive iodine treatment. It has not been a brilliant week. Tempted by the sunshine today however, I got myself over to Fawsley for a meander with my camera. Very, very tired now but what a joy it was to be out there again!

#OnePlaceStudy #Scape #EastCoastKin #StormHour
Photo of the view looking across a small lake (Horse Pond, by Fawsley Hall in Northamptonshire). Most of the trees around the lake are without leaves now, but two coniferous trees (including a Cedar of Lebanon) with their evergreen foliage stand out. The sky above is a beautiful shade of blue, with hints of thin, white cloud. The sky and the trees are reflected in water of the lake.
November 21, 2025 at 7:45 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
#Mottled is the theme for #BirdOfTheDay today. Here is a female Shoveler duck who I photographed at Brandon Marsh near Coventry on beautiful sunny day in January 2024.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
A female Northern Shoveler duck (Anas clypeata), swimming towards the left side of the image on a pool of blue water in bright sunshine. She has a large bill (shovel-like in appearance) which is pale orange in colour. Her plumage is mottled brown, all the better for camouflage when she is on the nest.
November 18, 2025 at 5:41 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
#StareDown is the theme for #BirdOfTheDay today, so I could not resist sharing this pic again. A Bohemian Waxwing at Brandon Marsh near Coventry in February 2024, who seemed to be giving me a hard stare that Paddington would be proud of.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
A Bohemian Waxwing (Bombycilla garrulus) perched on a twig, looking directly at the photographer (me!) with what seems to be a very stern look on his or her face. The bird has a pinkish-coloured chest, a whitish belly, black wings with white markings, black legs and feet, a tail which is red below a yellow tip, a tuft of pinkish-coloured feathers on the head which are a richer reddish-brown colour at the base (just above the eyes), black eye-stripes, and a large black throat patch.
November 17, 2025 at 1:00 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
The alternative #BirdOfTheDay theme today is #BeakOpen, so here is a #HolidayRobin / #FestiveDailyRobin singing away at Brandon Marsh, near Coventry, at the end of March 2024.

#birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
A singing European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) perched on a twig in a Hawthorn bush. The bird's body is facing us and turned slightly to our left, with the head turned further to our left with the beak open. The face, throat and breast are orangey-red in colour, bordered with grey. The belly is white, the cap, upper body (what little we can see of it), wings and tail are brown, the beak dark, and the legs and feet pinkish.
November 16, 2025 at 7:20 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
That has reminded me of a screen capture I ever-so-slightly modified a few years ago...
A still image from an episode of the TV series "Father Ted" in which the housekeeper Mrs Doyle is holding a sign on which is written her favourite saying, "Ah go on." Well, the sign did say that, but I modified it to read "Ah guano." Toilet humour I know.
November 16, 2025 at 4:32 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
For today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme #ShadesOfGrey I’m quoting a post with a Jackdaw photo from one of my #PlumeScrolling threads and adding a close-up of the subject’s head.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of the head of a Jackdaw, a small member of the Crow family with a shorter, stubbier beak than its relatives. The front of the head and the crown are black in colour, but the back of the head is grey. The eye is a pale blue colour, with a black pupil. This bird is facing towards the right side of the image, with a mixture of green colours in the background.
November 16, 2025 at 3:50 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
For those of you unfamiliar with Jilted John and his hit record of the same name, which charted at #4 in the UK in 1978, it included the refrain "Gordon is a moron!" three times in quick succession.

Anyway, as you may have gathered, my brother is clearly a glutton for punishment. 😉 2/2
An image of the vinyl single "Jilted John" released on the EMI International label. Superimposed on that, three times, is the lines "Gordon is a moron!"
November 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
My brother @robcamera.bsky.social hopes I'll soon be well enough for us to get together again for days out combining #NaturePhotography and general silliness. Like that time we saw a certain waterbird and I started singing "Gordon is a Moorhen!" 1/2

#BirdOfTheDay #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) on the surface of a pool of water. The bird, a type of Rail, is swimming towards us and slightly to our left, with his or her head turned to our right. The Moorhen is mostly black or dark grey in colour, with dark brown wings, some white along the flanks, and white on the underside of the tail. The beak has a yellow tip; the rest is red, and that red colour extends from the base of the upper part of the beak onto a 'shield' on the front of the face. The eye is a dark red-brown colour, with a black pupil. The water on which this Moorhen is swimming is reflecting the bird itself, some of the green lakeside foliage, and the blue sky above.
November 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Looking forward to adding this eBay acquisition to my Atcherley Archive when it arrives. A press pic of Richard “Batchy” Atcherley as Professor Charles Beresford-Smythe of Oxford University, who performed his ‘crazy flying’ routine at the National Air Races in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1931. #OneNameStudy
A monochrome photo of a man standing in front of a biplane. The man is wearing a top hat, a bushy fake moustache, a long, black jacket over a white shirt and waistcoat, and pin-striped trousers. He is holding an umbrella in one hand, and a pair of pince-nez glasses in the other.
November 15, 2025 at 1:15 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Coots and Moorhens are the subjects for #BirdOfTheDay today. I’m starting with diving #Coots, sharing one pic that I posted as part of a #PlumeScrolling thread a while back, and one that I haven’t posted here before, both taken at Brandon Marsh.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a Eurasian Coot (Fulica atra) almost completely out of the water, moments before he or she plunges below the surface. The body is raised upward at an angle of around 45 degrees, the rear end and the feet are submerged, and the head is pointed down with the tip of the beak almost touching the surface of the water. That beak, which is fairly short, is white in colour, with a small white 'shield' extending from the base of the upper part, onto the bird's forehead. The eye is red, with a black pupil, and the head, neck and body are black. The rest of the body is grey. There are water droplets falling from the briefly-exposed belly. The water, reflecting the foliage surrounding the pool, looks greenish.
November 15, 2025 at 11:57 AM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
My reworking of the 'Tiny Piece of Paper' meme, in which a man wearing a red, short-sleeved shirt holds a tiny piece of paper in front of face while squinting at it. I have replaced the tiny piece of paper with a tiny photo of a Swan.
November 14, 2025 at 10:19 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
One more #Swan 🦢 (OK, I admit he or she doesn't exactly fill the frame). On Horse Pond, at Fawsley, my local #OnePlaceStudy parish, in April 2024. Because it has been a while since I have used the #SwanPlaceStudy hashtag. 😄

#BirdOfTheDay #Scape #EastCoastKin #NaturePhotography
Photo looking across a small lake. on the far side of which is a grassy bank with a few shrubs and trees and , standing alone in the middle, a large and majestic Cedar of Lebanon. There are more trees further away in the distance. The lakeside trees and the blue sky above are reflected in the water of the lake, and where the trunk of the Cedar tree is reflected there is a Mute Swan, swimming from left to right (and also reflected in the water).
November 14, 2025 at 9:23 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
An early influence on my sense of humour was a book from Mum’s childhood – her Mickey Mouse Annual, published in 1946! Today, for some reason, I have been thinking about this one. 🌧️🌧️🌧️
A black and white cartoon drawing featuring Walt Disney characters Mickey Mouse and Goofy. It is raining, and Goofy is joining Mickey, who is sitting down having a picnic. Their conversation, in speech bubbles, is as follows. Goofy: Hope this rain keeps up. Mickey: Why? Goofy: Well, then it won't come down!
November 14, 2025 at 8:36 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
#Swans are the subject for #BirdOfTheDay today so here is a male Mute Swan in full-on ‘Angel of Death’ mode, heading at full speed towards a couple of Swans who were trespassing on *his* family’s part of the lake. Brandon Marsh, May 2025.

#Birds #BirdPhotography #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin 🌿
Photo of a male Mute Swan swimming towards the camera (actually, towards two other Swans who are not in the picture) in full threat display mode. His neck is angled back so that his head is held low, and his wings are held up with the wingtips arched over his body, making him look bigger than he really is – kind of angelic, but in a scary way! A 'bow wave' gives an impression of the speed at which he is moving across the water; ahead of him, his reflection is broken up in the rippling green-blue water. Like others of his species, this one has white plumage, which is a little brownish on parts of the head and neck; the tip and the base of his beak are black (a colour extending to the eyes) and the rest of the beak is orange.
November 14, 2025 at 5:52 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
At first I wasn’t sure that I had a photo for today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme of #DucksOutOfWater, but upon reflection yes, I have! A favourite of mine, from Fawsley in 2007.

#Birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #Reflections 🌿
Photo of four Mallards standing on a branch, reflected in water which is also reflecting the blue sky above. The ducks appear to be largely brown in colour, but there is a male with a green head and yellow bill. I could not see the actual ducks when I took this photo, as they were hidden by foliage, only their reflection was visible and I could not resist capturing that on camera.
November 13, 2025 at 12:01 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
This gorgeous Grey Wagtail has one foot in the water—if that isn’t paddling then he or she qualifies for the alternative #BirdOfTheDay theme today: #yellow. One of a Peak District pair who were busy catching flying insects for their young in May 2024.

#Birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #Photography 🌿
Photograph of a Grey Wagtail standing on a tiny, grassy 'island' in a river. The bird is facing towards the right side of the image. He or she has a slim, medium-length bill and a fairly long tail - which, the the name Wagtail suggests, was constantly in motion, being wagged up and down. The bird has a grey head (with two white streak running backwards from the beak, one past the eye and one down the side of the neck) and the upper part of the back is also grey. The chest and the rump are yellow, and while the flanks look whitish hints of yellow can be seen on the belly. The wings are mostly black with some white markings, and the tail has black and yellowish feathers in the centre, with white feathers on the edges. The legs are pinkish and the beak blackish.
November 12, 2025 at 9:51 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
#Paddling is the theme for #BirdOfTheDay today. Here is a Eurasian Oystercatcher who I photographed at Brandon Marsh near Coventry, at the end of April 2024.

#Birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #Photography 🌿
Photo of a Eurasian Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) walking in shallow water alongside a shoreline. We see the bird's left side as he or she heads towards the left side of the picture, right leg in the water and left leg raised with foot reaching forwards. The Oystercatcher is a wading bird, which has black upperparts (including the head, neck, and the upper part of the chest), white underparts, a long orange beak, and pink legs and feet. The eye is red, with an orange rim and a black pupil.
November 12, 2025 at 4:45 PM
atcherleyons.bsky.social
Will have to have a listen to this! That path looks familiar – I think it is heading to Winspit below Worth Matravers. Here’s a pic I took when I visited in 2021, looking the other way along the coast from Winspit.

#BlueSkyMonday #Coast #Scape
Photo of a coastal scene. Here, on the Isle of Purbeck, green fields grazed by sheep and cattle roll down from low hills to rocky cliffs. In the foreground is the inlet of Winspit, the site of a former quarry which created shelves, caves (not in the picture) and piles of rocky waste.
November 10, 2025 at 1:53 PM