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Chilternbirder

@chilternbirder.bsky.social
681 followers 193 following 1.3K posts

Hanging on to my old social media name although the birding these days is largely very low carbon through my living room window. Anarcho-dandyist folkie into environment and architecture among other things. Vestitus bene vincit omnia 🧑‍💻 www.folkphotos.uk

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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 1h
See…a humanities degree helps you realize that “Cat’s in the Cradle” isn’t a guide to successful parenting.
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Mel Roxby-Mackey @archaeoborders.bsky.social · 4h
We believe that the techbros should accept some bad things happening to their bank balances for the benefits to the rest of humanity and the whole of the planet, in fact.
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Breffni, girly swot 🕷️🍃🇺🇦 @breffers.bsky.social · 3h
🤦🏻‍♀️
Thousands of directors may be fraudulent. New rules require formal identification of company directors. 
Article from FT.
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Dr Claire Millington ✍🏻🏺 @clairemillington.bsky.social · 3h
Lovely readers of our niche books - writing quick reviews of our real human-written books helps readers to see what's real and what's stolen. We don't want you to be ripped off with stolen books. It helps our sales too obvs but also helps you.
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Anne O'Brien @anneobrienauthor.bsky.social · 5h
On This Day 8th October 1403 King Henry IV ordered the arrest of Elizabeth Mortimer, widow of Hotspur, as a traitor's wife. Soon pardoned, and married to Lord Thomas de Camoys. Hotspur's remains re-assembled and restored to her, to be buried (tradition says) in an unmarked grave in York Minster.
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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 7h
Anyone else think having British care homes sold off for over a billion by a very wealthy man to a consortium from California is not a healthy way to provide a service? www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/business/del...
yorkshirepost.co.uk
'Delighted': Yorkshire businessman's care home company seals £1.1bn deal with US firm
A Yorkshire company which develops UK care homes and owned by one of the region’s wealthiest entrepreneurs has sealed a £1.1bn deal to sell 45 properties to a Californian investment firm.
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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 7h
This is not a real person! There are THIRTY TWO books here that 'Andrew V. Smith' has shat out in the last year alone, all of which have AI-generated covers and most borrow or straight up rip off titles from other more popular (and more importantly: human) works like my own
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Greg Jenner (Historian) @gregjenner.bsky.social · 6h
This is AWFUL — it’s exhausting being an author in the age of mass AI copyright fraud. If you can, support Alex (a real historian) against the fake copy 👇
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Alex Harvey @alexharvv.bsky.social · 7h
Oh this can just fuck off An AI-'written' complete copy of my own book is now on Amazon; same title, more-or-less the same blurb, and exactly the same impetus. Reviewers of Amazon, I urge you to absolutely dive-bomb this plagiaristic piece of shit: www.amazon.co.uk/FORGOTTEN-VI...
A hollow copy of my book with a shit AI-generated cover
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Private Eye Magazine @privateeyenews.bsky.social · 22h
Talking to Politico at the Labour party conference, Narayan said he had used “AI-generated synthetic focus groups provided by a private company… to test public opinion on AI and other issues”.
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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 8h
There is incredible waste in the UK defence budget. Before we spend waste billions more on outdated vanity weapons there must be a complete rethink of what weapons work and which don't in an age of cheap drones. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
theguardian.com
UK’s military needs to focus spending on domestic defence, not overseas missions – report
Exclusive: Thinktank says Britain’s drive towards global commitments is symptom of ‘outdated foreign policy’
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Jonesy Cartoons @jonesycartoons3.bsky.social · 8h
This #cartoon is from the previous @privateeyenews.bsky.social and I'm delighted to be in the new issue too - out now. #parentsandkids #mobilephones
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@AlanWalter @alanwalter.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I’m an RNLI volunteer crew member and I invite her to get on a plane from her hideout in Dubai and say that to my face here in the UK
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Cath Hodsman @cathhodsman.bsky.social · 10h
Did u know? Cattle grids are responsible for imprisoning & killing thousands of small animals every year. The solution is simple - instal escape ramps, to enable tiny lives to liberate themselves. Small acts of kindness can make a huge difference - celebrate the small. 🌱🌿🇬🇧🌱🌍🦔🐸🐀
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marybeard @wmarybeard.bsky.social · 9h
We have a look (not literally!) at the emperor Galba's hernia, and Augustus' teeth. Instant Classics explores what Roman emperors really looked like. podcasts.apple.com/ie/podcast/w...
podcasts.apple.com
What did Roman emperors really look like?
Podcast Episode · Instant Classics · 8 October · 59min
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Caroline Lucas @carolinelucas.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
“The only sensible solution at this point is a moratorium on datacentres until very basic questions about how many we need, what for, where, and how pollution will be avoided are answered satisfactorily by the government” - @olliehayes.bsky.social 👏
theguardian.com
Drax datacentre could create nearly twice the yearly emissions of all Gatwick flights
Exclusive: Campaign group’s analysis of North Yorkshire plans finds datacentre would have to burn 4.9m tonnes of wood a year
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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 8h
These are two examples of the 30 existing Ain Ghazal sculptures. Discovered in Jordan, they are c.9,000 years old & are the first known example of large scale production of human forms. They are made of lime plaster & reed making their survival all the more remarkable 🏛️📷Amman Museum (L), Louvre (R)
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British Association for Local History @balhnews.bsky.social · 8h
#ICYMI: Explore medieval magic, superstition and belief at the Simon de Montfort Society’s day school in Evesham on 10 October, with talks on royal piety, miracles and witchcraft, alongside weaving demonstrations and living history. Find out more: www.balh.org.uk/event-balh-m...
The Simon de Montfort Society logo, a medieval image and details about the day.
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Women's Studies Group 1558-1837 @wsguk.bsky.social · 18h
Our new seminar season starts soon! If you're interested in the history of women, why not come along? Join us at the Foundling Museum in London on Saturday 17 October. We have four great papers lined up, and you'll receive a warm welcome. Image courtesy Met Museum (Item 17.3.257) /1
An engraving of a woman in profile. She stands on a ship's deck, leaning to the right over the railing and looking out to sea. Behind her we can see the ship's heavy rigging and beyond, on the shoreline in the distance, there's mountain scenery. Sea birds fly behind her. She is dressed in a bonnet and shawl, with a melancholy appearance.
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Canadian Hammer 🇨🇦 🔨 @canadianhammer.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Israeli politicians are OPENLY calling for a Holocaust of Palestinians in Gaza. They do it on their shows and podcasts, as well as OUR media. They have become the Nazis they were once the victims of. @theyoungturks.bsky.social do a really good analysis of this escalation: youtu.be/oUdqCwaS9kw?...
youtu.be
Israeli Politician ADMITS His Country’s Real Goal
YouTube video by The Young Turks
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LSE Library @lselibrary.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
New on LSE Digital Library! The Women’s Freedom League; 1,063 items including minutes, annual reports, pamphlets, banners, photographs and issues of The Vote. @fotwl.bsky.social @womenshistnet.bsky.social #TheWomen'sLibraryat100 View collection here: digital.library.lse.ac.uk/collections/...
digital.library.lse.ac.uk
Collections - LSE Digital Library
Explore our digital collections through curated selections of material according to themes, type or source of material.
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Oceana UK @oceanauk.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
🚨 Overfishing concerns have reached such intense levels that 58 of the world’s largest seafood businesses have just issued warnings to the UK Govt & the fishing industry to act sustainably. It's time to #EndOverfishing 🐟 insideclimatenews.org/news/0610202...
insideclimatenews.org
Retailers Warn Europe’s Fishing Industry to Stop Overfishing - Inside Climate News
European supermarkets say the industry needs a long-term sustainable solution to keep mackerel and herring stocks healthy.
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Surprised Eel Historian, PhD @greenleejw.bsky.social · 22h
Have you seen the news about Andrew Tate, eels, and horses, and wondered, "WTF, man?" Well, friends...I'm here to tell you: it's not new. In medieval & early modern England, horse sellers practiced feaguing: inserting a live eel into the horse's rectum to get the animal to act more lively. 🗃️🧪
Meme. Still from the movie "El Dorado" with a very surprised looking grey horse standing next to a man with long blond hair. The man's arms are crossed, and his head is tilted as if he's looking down. His eyes are not, though. They are cutting towards the horse to gauge its reaction. The horse's jaw is dropped, and its eyes are wide like victorious marbles. The man and the horse are standing in a window or doorway, with heavy red drapes. Behind them, the sun seems to be setting over green hills. It is also setting over the horse's innocence.

An alternative reading of the scene might suggest that the horse isn't surprised at all, but rather is singing lustily. The man, rather than having just delivered bad news, is waiting to come in. The curtains suggest a stage, and the two of them are are singing a duet to an enraptured audience; perhaps "I Got You, Babe" or "Islands in the Stream."

Meme text reads:
"When you explain feaguing
to your trusted steed"
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Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust @bbowt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The problem is clear - our water isn't. The UK's water system needs fundamental reform. As the UK Government develops a new Water Bill, we can take this opportunity to create a water system that works for both people and for nature. Email your MP today: buff.ly/9STWFmz
buff.ly
Ask your MP to back water system reform
Our water system is a mess. And that's putting it mildly! Your MP can fix this: tell them you want new reforms, and why clean water is necessary to you and to nature.
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
@jonesycartoons3.bsky.social
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Nest @nest69.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Hopefully with a superb bit of tailoring (age is immaterial), a well cared for pair of leather shoes, and smelling like a seductive warm embrace. Dress as if you love the world and are glad to be in it.
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Jeremy Wall @jpcw.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Badenoch saying that when she left university in 2003 there was a choice of jobs, who was in government at that time? Oh, it was Labour.
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Dr Jo Edge 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 @hagenilda.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Today: rain, prepping for my London Archives talk on 21 October. Come along! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/evening-ta...
eventbrite.co.uk
Evening Talk: Witchcraft, Necromancy, Politics -Eleanor Cobham’s 1441 Trial
Eleanor Cobham faced trial in 1441 for plotting against Henry VI with occult methods. Explore the crime, the people and the places.
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hookland.bsky.social @hookland.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Bloody kids of today. They aren't satisfied with manglewurzels or turnips for their Haggedy-Raggedy lanterns. Oh no, they want something non-traditional, something a bit different. Something a bit too bloody orange if you ask me. The spirits won't like it. – Sam Buckle, 1982 #VOH
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Squeezy John @johnspiers.co.uk · 07/10/2026
Fucking Hell … Badenoch going in hard on the totally discredited equivalence of the nation’s finances with household finances … presumably advocating for more austerity? That’ll go down well!!!
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Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Wrong answers only. My bet: thanks for all the fish.
Newspaper headline: Queen Elizabeth’s Final Diary Entry Contained Only Five Words.
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Little Missenden Festival @ltmsdnfest.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Our friendly volunteer IT team needs someone to help maintain the festival website and keep our database and communications running. Familiarity with Joomla CMS would be helpful. Could you commit around 2 hours/week? (Busiest period July-Sept). Please contact info@little-missenden.org or share
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Andy Marshall @fotofacade.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
✨ It wasn’t until I first saw the Saxon crypt at St Wystan’s, Repton, that I understood John Betjeman’s words: ‘Holy air encased in stone.’ I’ve never felt the past so close, or found such comfort in feeling rooted in a longer story. A real hidden gem, a must see.
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Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust @bbowt.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Does this count as ultra-processed food? 🤔 🦦 Incredible scenes from Waterstock Local Wildlife Site as this kingfisher takes a break from its fresh-fish diet and attempts to eat an otter spraint! Thank you to our friend Henry Manisty for sharing his wonderful trail cam footage with us.
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Chilternbirder @chilternbirder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
All changed since I worked around there 40 years ago.
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Iain Philpott @iainphilpott.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Former RAF Air Command deputy commander Air Marshal Greg Bagwell said £10 billion might protect some key sites (e.g. London) but not the whole UK, and cited US “Golden Dome” concepts in the $200 billion-$1 trillion range. #Badenoch is away with the fairies! #BritanniaShield
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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Things in Popeye, a Japanese menswear magazine: — Interview with a "freelance pie advisor" who claims to have tried every pie in London. He names the city's top three pies. — Recurring column from writer who updates everyone on his cats for some reason. — Feature on Parisian grandfather style.
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Amelia @ameliaearhart2.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Cats are the reason the internet was created. All part of the feline plan for world domination. 😸😸😸
Brown mackerel tabby, Maine Coon Leo, stretched out on an orange floral duvet, shows his fluffy belly while plotting world domination.
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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
These plaques are from an Etruscan tomb. The sphinxes flanked the interior of the doorway, while the three plaques show Greek myths - the Judgment of Paris (left), with Paris & Hermes; Athena, Hera & Aphrodite behind him; & Helen, with three attendants. This is worth a zoom 🕰️c560-550BC 🏛️BM 📷mine
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David M. P. Freund @mpeterf.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
You can't parody them anymore. They've jumped the shark-force.
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yvonnecouch.bsky.social @yvonnecouch.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Sciocoris sideritidis has spread from its known site in Purfleet, Essex, half a mile to the wildlife garden and car park of RSPB Rainham Marshes TQ5478. I found 3 specimens here on 2 October. #Shieldbugs @britishbugs.bsky.social @rockwolf74.bsky.social
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Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust @buckshealthcare.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Flu vaccinations are coming to High Wycombe Library from Wednesday 7 October. High Wycombe Library sessions: ➡️ ow.ly/7SbN50ZUPOS Check NHS flu vaccine eligibility: ➡️ ow.ly/VowH50ZUPOR #Flu #FluVaccination #WinterHealth #JabDone
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Leonie V. Hicks @lvhicks.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
My sister studied Zoology at Nottingham, but the music department was her real home where she was involved in many ensembles. It gave her an excellent grounding before she did postgrad performance at the Royal Northern. She's now principal bass with Royal Northern Sinfonia. Awful news. 1/
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Chilternbirder @chilternbirder.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
A shot from my visit to Lewes in July for #TuesdayTerrace
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Jonesy Cartoons @jonesycartoons3.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Here's a #cartoon from @privateeyenews.bsky.social #parentsandkids #farming #careerchoice
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Andy Brown @andybrown1951.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Those who bully women also bully other vulnerable people. The black shirts represent the worst of Britain and are traitors to every decent value the country stands for. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Bully in every way’: domestic abuse survivors say ex-partners behind far-right UK street patrols
Seven women share their stories to make people aware of patterns of violence behind anti-immigration street patrol movement
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Ruth Siddall @pavementgeology.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
#urbangeology of the century on the Finchley Road, north London 🧵
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Svetovid @svetovid.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Well, that's a hell of a thing to leave next to a statue of Joan of Arc.😏
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The Mouthy Renegade Writer @mouthyrenegade.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
This gets my vote for the best thing I've seen on the Internet today:
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Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
That entire panel is just astonishing. I have to post my recent higher res photos, but all I have is this one, taken with an older iPhone. Still … wow.
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