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Pen Insole

@birdsblooms.bsky.social
452 followers 748 following 519 posts

Nature lover who dabbles in blogging about my discoveries. Always looking to learn more about the natural world and share my wonder at it. My blog is at: birdsbloomsandbumbles.com

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Reposted by Pen Insole
WHAT A FUCKING RECORD @whatafuckingrecord.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
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CURE JUST LIKE HEAVEN
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Postcard From The Past @pastpostcard.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I was doing first-aid all day yesterday which was really relaxing as I was a casualty & just laid about all afternoon.
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Heronry, 2022, etching by UK printmaker Janis Goodman #WomensArt
Print in blue and white featuring a tree lined still river or pond  with reflections and a flying heron to the top right in silhouette
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Our local male eiders are getting back into their breeding plumage after that scruffy moult, or eclipse, garb. And very smart they look, too. #birds #ducks
A black and white male eider duck floating on a blue seaA black and white male eider duck viewed side on floating on a blue seaA black and white male eider duck viewed from the rear floating on a blue sea
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Robin Ince @robinince.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
Moomins on a mission #poetrychallenge
tove, did you know 
Your Moomıns Missıon
Would be unending
While other books
Slide inte the shadows
As what was "contemporary"
(Thankfully)
Becames archaic
The Kindness of your curiosity 
 The width of your acceptance
The brightness of your
Imagination 
Not afraid to question the 
winter dark
Leaves your creatvity inked
on Limbs
knitwear , lapel pins
his is not "Just" for children 
 I Trust those  Still besotted
by a Moomin
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Icelandic government to introduce bill to end whaling uk.whales.org/2026/09/11/i... Finally some good news
uk.whales.org
Icelandic government to introduce bill to end whaling - Whale and Dolphin Conservation
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It's that time of year when it feels like ruff can turn up anywhere. This handsome individual was in Orkney last week #migration #waders
Light brown and cream medium sized wader in a grassy fieldLight brown and cream medium sized wader in a grassy fieldLight brown and cream medium sized wader in a grassy field
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Most birds in the UK will have finished breeding by now, but fulmars are always one of the last to fledged their young. These juveniles were still on the nest last week in Orkney and have at least a couple of weeks until flying. #seabirds
Young white and grey fulmar sitting on a sandy ledge in front of a stone wallYoung white and grey fulmar sitting on a sandy ledge in front of a stone wall with grass stems in frontYoung white and grey fulmar sitting on a sandy ledge in front of a stone wall
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... Chilling, heartbreaking but essential viewing. And it is increasingly happening in the UK
bbc.co.uk
Storyville - The Librarians
A Storyville documentary that explores how librarians across the US are risking their safety to defend free speech as book bans and censorship threaten democracy from within.
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
The frog orchids near Golspie have had a really good year with hundreds there when I went yesterday. Maybe not the showiest orchid, but one of my favourites #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/roth... Just one month left to secure this incredible area for The Wildlife Trusts
wildlifetrusts.org
Donate to Secure The Rothbury Estate | The Wildlife Trusts
Stretching over 3,800 hectares, the Rothbury Estate in Northumberland is abundant with opportunity. It’s the largest continuous area of land to appear on the market in 50 years. Its sale creates a uni...
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Mr and Mrs Trellis @thenorfolkcoast.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Rothbury Estate Match Appeal. A generous donor has now pledged a further £500,000 in match funding, extending the appeal until 30 September 2026... www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/roth...
wildlifetrusts.org
Rothbury Estate Match Appeal | The Wildlife Trusts
The Rothbury Estate is more than a beautiful place. It's 3,800 hectares of rivers, woodlands, grasslands, peatlands and open moorland, where wildlife still has the chance to thrive at a scale rarely s...
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Time to prompt your MSPs again... Coul Links is a beautiful and unique wildlife habitat in the Scottish Highlands. But it is threatened once again with development. Join me in urging Scottish Ministers to say no to this damaging application. action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...
action.rspb.org.uk
Save Coul Links!
Your voice could help save this precious habitat from a new threat of development.
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The dry conditions meant there wasn't a huge amount in flower #bythesea at Dawlish Warren today, but there was lots of common restharrow and lovely to find the tiny flowers of what I think is lesser centaury #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
Small pink and white flower of common restharrow Tiny pink five-petalled flowers with thin green stems
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Ian Denton @iand777.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Scammed by a #RSPBHamwall Robin? They know all the tricks: >They target those who sit to eat their sandwiches in the shade >They appear on top of the sign describing which species you might see >They glance down to emphasise their non-inclusion! >You share their indignation & then your sandwich... 🦉
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Bluemoose Books @ofmooseandmen.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Our social media handle is a riff on Of Mice and Men. And to see @ronanhession.bsky.social novel Leonard and Hungry Paul alongside Steinbeck As a set text on The Irish Junior Certificate is just brilliant. From Dublin via Hebden to Ireland. Marvellous. @irishtimes.com
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The Life of Sharks @thelifeofsharks.com · 27/07/2026
Love is Love. Let them stare all they like.
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I saw lots of great sundews looking glorious in Sutherland this week. Sadly, it was too overcast for the notoriously shy flowers to think about opening, but lovely to see these carnivorous marvels, nonetheless #wetlandplants #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Bright red and pale green leaves of great sundew with insect-catching droplets on thin hair like structures Bright red and pale green leaves of great sundew plant growing above moss
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/qr/VyYXMG9...
crowdfunder.co.uk
Jenny Sturgeon - new solo album fundraiser
To record and produce my new solo album.
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Floofs! Just two of four ringed plover chicks on a local beach last weekend. #birds #babybirds #waders
A small, white, brown and black ringed plover chick standing on a sandy beachA small, white, brown and black ringed plover chick standing on a sandy beach
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Scalliewags @trollingstones.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
After Hours (1985), screening on SBS, is my favourite Scorsese movie. Free of his fixation with ultra violence, it’s funny, odd, got a tremendous cast and keeps you on edge. #MovieSky
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Specially adapted to the dry conditions of dunes and other coastal habitats, it's not surprising that this sea-holly is #StillFlowering and will do into September I saw these in Tiree this week #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Pale purple sea-holly flower surrounded by its silvery green, spiky leavesPale purple sea-holly flowers surrounded by their silvery green, spiky leavesPale purple sea-holly flowers surrounded by their silvery green, spiky leaves
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The Folklore Library & Archive @folklorelibrary.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
We've added a few more books to our second hand folklore bookshop this afternoon, including a couple of rare and unusual items. Mostly folk tale works today www.thefolklorepodcast.com/store/c17/Se... All sales support our charitable work
Irish Folk Tales bookWelsh Legends and Folk Tales bookHighland Fairy Legends
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
It's not often you get prolonged views of the usually prone to skulking sedge warbler but this individual was uncharacteristically showy as we watched him sing from a fence wire last week. #birds #warblers
A brown and cream sedge warblers perched on a barbed wire fence line in front of a hogweed flowerA brown and cream sedge warblers perched on a barbed wire fence line in front of a hogweed flower
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Jo Stephen @jostephen.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The tiny white flower of a Round-leaved Sundew, Drosera rotundifolia #WildflowerHour
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Not an aquatic plant, but I saw it by the sea so water adjacent! I have a spot not too far from home that is good for carline thistle and so I went to pay homage to them today. A beautifully weird and wonderful species #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
A green, gold and bronze spiky unopened bud of a carline thistle The golden, opening bud of a carline thistle surrounded by three unopened prickly gold, bronze and green buds of the same plant
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Baby swallows...that is all #birds #babybirds
A young barn swallow with dark blue head and back, red face, white breast and a yellow gape on its beak perched on a fence wireA young barn swallow with dark blue head and back, red face, white breast and a yellow gape on its beak perched on a fence wireFour young barn swallows with dark blue heads and backs, red faces, white breasts and a yellow gape on their beaks perched on a fence wire with white hogweed flowers nearby
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
Moonwort is one of our stranger ferns, but always exciting to find. I found quite a large patch of plants in the dune grassland near Golspie a week or so ago. It only emerges above ground when conditions are just right, so even more of a treat to see #ferns #grasslandplants
A green plant with half moon shaped fronds and brown grape-like fruiting bodies at the top of the stem, growing in grassland A green plant with half moon shaped fronds and brown grape-like fruiting bodies at the top of the stem, growing in grassland A green plant with half moon shaped fronds and brown grape-like fruiting bodies at the top of the stem, growing in grassland
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
rspb.org.uk
UK’s oldest Avocet discovered at RSPB Middleton Lakes
36-year-old bird marks a remarkable success for species once lost from the UK as a breeding bird.
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Manx shearwaters are one of my favourite seabirds. I mean, c'mon; those cute little faces! We got these great views from the ferry to Islay recently #superseabirdsunday #seabirds #shearwaters
A dark brown and white Manx shearwater flying low over the blue seaA dark brown and white Manx shearwater flying low over the blue seaA dark brown and white Manx shearwater flying low over the blue sea
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John 望 @johnrsa.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
If you attended a rave in 91/92, at they very beginning of rave culture, it might open with this track. This sound of progressive house is very much still with us.
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Big Meadow Search @bigmeadowsearch.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Today is National Meadows Day. What better way to mark the occasion than doing a Big Meadow Search. You can do one in a meadow, churchyard, road verge, amenity grassland, business park, coast path, forestry track or wild garden. www.bigmeadowsearch.co.uk
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Plantlife @plantlifeuk.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
It’s National Meadows Day! Let's put meadows where they belong - at the heart of our story.💚 They are living links to our past, part of our culture and communities, and vital homes for wildlife. 🌱 But they’re in decline — under pressure from development, pollution and intensive farming. 🧵[1/2]
A person holding a tool called a scythe in a wildflower meadow. The title reads 'National Meadows Day' and there is a  Plantlife logo in the top left hand corner.
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Protect the Wild @protectthewild.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Campaign group Protect the Wild described the report as "the most crushing blow to the Guga hunt yet". www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...
dailyrecord.co.uk
Controversial guga hunt 'cannot be carried out humanely', ScotGov watchdog says
The Scottish Animal Welfare Commission has raised concerns over the welfare implications of the annual Guga hunt, as campaigners urge NatureScot to refuse this year's licence.
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The Guardian @theguardian.com · 04/07/2026
Overseas education project for women and girls axed by UK after two years
theguardian.com
Overseas education project for women and girls axed by UK after two years
The programme, aimed at keeping 1m girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, withdrawn after aid cuts A leading higher education programme, aimed at keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has been axed by the British government just two years after it was announced. The scheme, Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), which was unveiled with some fanfare two years ago by the outgoing Conservative government, had a £45m budget to increase access to higher education for 1 million students worldwide. It has now had its tender withdrawn, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said. Continue reading...
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Darby @dashingdarbs.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I am this cat
Photo of a tabby cat and a cream coloured small dog, both digging holes in a forest.
The text explains that the dog is a trained truffle hound, finding truffles. The cat is not trained, just likes to dig holes with the dog, does not find or care about truffles.
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JuneSim63 💚 @junesim63.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The Guardian has recreated an audio landscape from across the past 50 years to try to portray the variety and plentitude of birdsong we have lost since tens of millions more birds were in full voice. #Birds #Ornithology #UKBirds www.theguardian.com/environment/...
theguardian.com
Listen to Britain’s dawn chorus of 1976: the dramatic loss of birdsong in 50 years
Guardian recreates audio landscape of past filled by loud morning symphony before 73m wild birds were lost
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Prem Sikka @premnsikka.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Defra breached law, with Tory govt was in office, when it let farmers use bee-killing pesticide, watchdog says. This is one outcome of capture of the state by corporations, and secrecy. Govts pursue economic growth, not resilience, at almost any cost.
theguardian.com
Defra breached law when it let farmers use bee-killing pesticide, watchdog says
Office for Environmental Protection finds failures by department when it granted emergency authorisation in 2023 and 2024
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Danica Priest @danicapriest.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
We need to talk about poor journalism and blatant misinformation. Tom Howard published this article in The Times today with the rage bait title ‘Scrap newt and bat rules to ease London housing crisis ministers told’ which is more than just bad journalism, it’s actually an embarrassing mistake🧵
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
Kenojuak Ashevak Birds from the Sea, 1960 Inuk artist #WomensArt
Print featuring birds flying left with bodies that morph into greenish blue seaweed or sea water droplets, all against a white background
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Brett "Solidarity 2026" Banditelli @banditelli.org · 28/06/2026
Omg volunteer crab flippers!!! 🦀
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I've hardly managed any moth trapping this year for far too many reasons to bore everyone with. But last week on Skye for work, I got a chance so went for it. I'm so glad I did! These are just some of the highlights: poplar hawkmoth, pebble prominent and buff tip #teammoth #mothsmatter
A brown and grey poplar hawkmoth with leaf-like wavy wings perched in an egg boxA brown and white pebble prominent moth perched on an egg boxA silver and brown coloured buff tip moth looking like a silver birch twig perched on a white plastic pot lid
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I have a huge soft spot for great skuas, or bonxies despite their bully boy reputations. They may look superficially plain brown, but individuals sport varying amounts of fetching blonde highlights, too. This pair, one of which was colour-ringed, was on North Ronaldsay recently #superseabirdsunday
A great skua, a large brown seabird with white wing flashes, in flightA great skua, a large brown seabird, standing on grassA great skua, a large brown seabird, standing on grass
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YOLOBirder @yolobirder.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
“Onwards we ride, hawk! Onwards… INTO HELL!!!”
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Dave Goulson @davegoulson.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Consider signing this petition calling on Andy Burnham to reverse the current rollbacks in environmental protections, and narrow the health and nature inequalities that have been widening under recent Government policy. Link in first comment:
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Joe_Ted_Jerome @joetedjerome.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
#NowWatching for the thousandth time. Just one of the best ever. Tremors (1990) Dir. Ron Underwood "See, we plan ahead. That way we don't have to do anything right now." #Filmsky #horror #comedy #adventure
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Pen Insole @birdsblooms.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
It's taken me a few years to get to the right pinewoods at the right time to see twinflower in bloom, but I finally managed it last weekend. No prizes for guessing how it got its name... #wildflowers #scottishwildflowers
Pair of small, pink, bell-like twinflower blooms on slender stemsPair of small, pink, bell-like twinflower blooms on slender stemsSmall, pink, bell-like blooms of twinflower growing out of moss on a woodland floor
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Arieh Kovler @ariehkovler.com · 25/06/2026
I wouldn't say that coprolite is my favourite fossil, but it's a solid number two
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womensartbluesky.bsky.social @womensartbluesky.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Octopus Teapot by Japanese ceramic artist Keiko Masumoto #womensart
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