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Calybites

@calybites.bsky.social
105 followers 86 following 273 posts

Interested in birds, butterflies, moths and plants. Helping to monitor the movements of migrating Black-headed Gulls 😀

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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This could be the very definition of a “record shot”! 😂 Black-headed Gull 295R has arrived back at Yeadon Tarn, Leeds, after an excursion to Schleswig-Holstein, Germany 🇩🇪 #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfYeadon #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
3cy Black-headed Gull 285S was in Roundhay Park, Leeds, today. It was originally ringed in Otley but has also been seen in Farnworth, Greater Manchester. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfRoundhay
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Black-headed Gull 20JJ is still at Yeadon Tarn, Leeds. It was ringed as a pullus on 13 June 2026 in Flixton, SUFFOLK and arrived in Yeadon on 13 August. #GullsOfYeadon #GullOfTheDay #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Shibden Park, Halifax, today. I get the impression that the migration of European gulls to the UK hasn’t really started yet. 225K is a regular here and has never been seen anywhere else! Coot RX6 is showing its age now.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This Tachinid fly is one of two that emerged from a Comma pupa. They had obviously parasitised the caterpillar before it pupated. #VC64 #Diptera #Parasitoid
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A rather tatty Speckled Wood has appeared in the back garden.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A tiny ichneumon has emerged from this long-lived Luffia lapidella larval case. I suspect the parasitoid might be a female Diadegma naryciae but I will have to get my old microscope out to look for confirmatory features. #Larva aeterna #Campopleginae #Ichneumonidae #VC64
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Andy D. Nunn @andydnunn.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
No light trapping recently as I've been away, but luckily I left the camera trap pointing at the nicotiana plants. Convolvulus Hawk-moth new for the garden! #teammoth @doublekidney.bsky.social @migrantmothuk.bsky.social
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
This morning’s fox didn’t have a white tail tip.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
The Norfolk-ringed Black-headed Gull (2A1Y) is still at Yeadon Tarn. Ringed as a nestling on 27 June at Marlingford Hall, it appeared at Yeadon two weeks ago at the same time as a bird ringed in Suffolk. I wonder how many others are from East Anglia? #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #GullsOfYeadon
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Sunday breakfast at McDonalds 😀
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I have just watched a Speckled Wood lay these two eggs on the underside of a blade of the Cock’s-foot grass that I allow to grow on our old coal bunker. I have found the caterpillars here in previous years and assume that the sunny, west-facing, sheltered location is suitable 😀 #Parage #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
The Suffolk-ringed Black-headed Gull is still at Yeadon Tarn 😀 #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #GullsOfYeadon #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
A parasitoid pupa now lies next to the empty chrysalis of its Comma butterfly host 🙁
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
After weeks of near-dormancy the presumably parasitised Luffia lapidella larva has sprung into action! #Psychidae #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Our garden vixen has a bright white tail-tip despite the rest of her coat being quite melanistic. There are several theories as to why the white tip can be useful. She continues her habit of peeing in the water bowl!
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A strange thing happened. I found my first ever yellow colour-ringed BHG at Yeadon Tarn on Wednesday and discovered that it originated from Norfolk. Yesterday I went back to get a better photo and found another one! 20JJ was ringed as a pullus on 13 June 2026 in Flixton, SUFFOLK #GullsOfYeadon
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
1cy Black-headed Gull photographed at Yeadon Tarn yesterday with a yellow colour ring 2A1Y Email from Kev Leighton today: This bird is from a small colony in Marlingford, Norfolk. BTO ring: EB68969. YN(2A1Y) Ringed 27/06/2026 at Marlingford, Norfolk (TG1207) #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfYeadon
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A 1cy BHG at Yeadon Tarn today has a yellow colour-ring with the number 2A1Y I can’t find the relevant scheme to report it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Derek Parkinson @kanebrides.bsky.social @harrykuipers.bsky.social @bh-wlbirding.bsky.social @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
The metal ring on this Black-headed Gull, at Yeadon Tarn, tells us that it is 5 years old (born on Dallow Moor, Nidderdale, in 2021). This bird also came to Yeadon last Autumn. It doesn’t seem to travel far. I wonder if it has ever even seen the sea! #GullsOfYeadon #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Comma caterpillar on Wych Elm today. This is the first that I have found this year. #VC64 #Polygonia
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
How frustrating! I saw this one on the weir in Otley on Sunday and haven’t been able to find it again. It has a green colour ring ending “X2” I have a feeling that it was just passing through. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #GullsOfOtley
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Black-headed Gull 285R visits Guiseley McDonalds for breakfast but I saw him, one mile away, at Yeadon Tarn yesterday having his lunch! 😀 The McDonald’s flock today: 21 BHGs and 4 Common Gulls. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullsOfGuiseley #GullsOfYeadon #GullOfTheDay
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Black-headed Gull 292R has arrived back at Yeadon Tarn after an excursion which included a sighting in Norway.🇳🇴 🇳🇴🇳🇴 #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfYeadon
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Portland Bird Observatory @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
Wacky and very unexpected addition to the Portland ringing tally - a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull lured in with stale bread rolls from last weekend's Obs AGM and caught in our giant drop-door trap (constructed years ago in a futile attempt to catch Ravens but now repurposed for gull catching)
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
BHG 2N42 among a flock of 21 birds at Guiseley McDonalds today. Ringed as a juvenile at Bowness in Dec 2018, it has spent every winter there since. Probably now on the way back to Windermere from its breeding ground. #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfGuiseley #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #Windermere
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Black-headed Gull 299S has arrived back in Otley. It seems to have visited Leighton Moss in June 2025. Do BHGs breed there? #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Hooray! Otley favourite 235H is back! 😀 #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
There were approximately 70 Black-headed Gulls on the River Wharfe at Otley today including two juveniles. The colour-ringed birds included 2K18 which was originally metal-ringed at Rother Valley Country Park a few years ago. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullsOfOtley
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Yay! A Comma butterfly egg on a leaf of the Hop that grows up the front of our house. #Polygonia #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Tumbling Speckled Woods in the back garden this morning as two males compete for the best territory. #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
It is uncomfortably hot for Homo sapiens but butterflies seem to be thriving! Small Tortoiseshells, Gatekeepers and second generation Holly Blues have appeared this week. I am pretty sure that a Comma laid eggs high up on the garden Hop yesterday so larvae should appear soon. 😀 #VC64
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Tom Scott @tom--scott.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Enjoying the spectacle of Count Binface explaining to #Newsnight's political editor & Therese Coffey that by voting for him & not Farage the people of Clacton can avoid the likelihood of a 2nd by-election & save the taxpayer £350,000. "And you can put that on the side of a bus."
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
After two weeks of complete inactivity the Luffia lapidella case has started twitching and has possibly even moved position. Something is alive inside the case. Hoping for a healthy moth but it could be battling with a parasitoid.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
A very blustery day today but Painted Lady caterpillars are now easy to find on thistles. Look for the woven tents halfway up the stems.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
A thirsty Jay in the garden this afternoon.
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
A Comma butterfly visited the Wych Elm in my garden this afternoon 😀 #Polygonia #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Confirmation received that the Lesser Black-backed Gull, currently residing at Redcar Tarn, Keighley, was ringed as a nestling in Bowland 2024. I wonder where it will turn up next. #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfKeighley #Larus #fuscus
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
A rather scruffy Painted Lady butterfly in Baildon today. A more pristine one was also seen on the same bramble patch but disappeared before I could get a photo. My first Hummingbird Hawkmoth of 2026 was nectaring on the flowers of a Lime Tree in a Guiseley car park yesterday. #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Redcar Tarn, Keighley, today. The younger bird has been colour-ringed by the North-West Gulls Group so likely originates from the Bowland Fells. I have reported the sighting and am awaiting the details but would anyone like to estimate its age? @harrykuipers.bsky.social
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
A larval case of Luffia lapidella found today feeding on the lichen encrusted bark of my favourite Sycamore tree on Hollins Hill, Baildon, West Yorkshire. #VC64 #Psychidae
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
The garden fox, caught in the early morning light, is less red than expected. 🦊
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Black-headed Gull 2E72 has arrived back in Otley amongst a flock of twenty on the River Wharfe today. Likely to breed in Yorkshire because it always returns in June. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #VC64 #GullsOfOtley
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Can anyone help me to identify the plant that this butterfly is perched on please? #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Brimstone caterpillar on Alder Buckthorn and a female Common Blue butterfly at Ben Rhydding Gravel Pits today. #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Otley today. Common Blue Damselfly, Large Skipper butterfly and the return of Black-headed Gull 255J #VC64 #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullOfTheDay #GullsOfOtley
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Wharfedale Moths (Aidan Smith) @eggboxenvy.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
Narycia duplicella (White-speckled Bagworm) has emerged from cases found by @calybites.bsky.social on a tree in Ilkley #VC64 #teammoth
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
Blue tits have successfully fledged this week from a nest box that was commandeered by Tree Bumblebees last year. Bee moths (Aphomia sociella) are also emerging now from the sticky mess attached to the ceiling of the box. I can’t help but wonder if the Blue tits ate a few!
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Common Blue butterfly in the wildflower meadow created by the Otley Flood Alleviation Scheme yesterday. #VC64
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Calybites @calybites.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Black-headed Gull 297S is currently residing on the River Wharfe at Otley. It is two years old (3cy) and presumably too young to breed yet. #Chroicocephalus #ridibundus #NWBHGs #GullsOfOtley #VC64
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