Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/09/2026Wild grown Quercus robur and meadow ant mounds on the University of Reading campus in an area left unmanaged since 2019. This being mostly a landscaped park we also have an area with Quercus robur, palustris and ilex saplings popping up alongside each other 🤷 Two hobbies over calling, fantastic. 031
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 26/09/2026Plenty of bees both Ivy and Honey but flies and wasps feel very thin on the ground this flowering ivy season 150
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 30/07/2026Even last summer the more heathy parts of the reserve just upslope were looking very dry indeed 000
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Pleased with this portrait of the bug Liorhyssus hyalinus, with eggs, in our garden this evening. Another species new to me elsewhere locally in the last week or two. 060
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/07/2026My first Comfrey Ermine a few mins walk from home at the weekend, first for the garden briefly resting on our out of control sage this evening. What a splendid little animal. 150
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Course looks great but I hope the AI graphic was inserted by EventBrite (it's not on your website) 010
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 27/07/2026I completed the survey since I do live in one of the relevant catchments. The thankyou page has more, featuring these lovely fin-nosed fish and mysterious animal rearing out of the water, Anaconda perhaps? 121
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 26/07/2026So much for the rain. It wasn't going to be enough anyway. 110
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 25/07/2026Presumably these just keep growing back so you don't need to buy another packet 160
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 18/07/2026Finally a nice temperature in the middle of the day. Now for some rain please 😫 170
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Now with additional extraordinary, average air temperature for July running a whole 5 degrees above the 1991 - 2020 average for Reading 001
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 09/07/2026Shaping up to be the most extraordinary run of warm months as recorded on the @unirdg-met.bsky.social field station. 031
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 21/06/2026I thought we might become climate refugees in a decade or so but actually how about by Tuesday? 020
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Excellent day out in the New Forest with @unirdgento.bsky.social students yesterday. Lots of nice finds including Golden-haired Longhorn (Leptura aurulenta), something of an old oak specialist. 2132
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 26/05/2026Ugh (from the University of Reading Met observatory @unirdg-met.bsky.social ) 040
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 27/04/2026Splendid evening walk from home yesterday turned up two Grasshopper Warblers reeling, roding Woodcock, juv. Tawny Owls and a Cuckoo on the night shift calling after dark. 020
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 25/02/2026Bit disappointed the butterfly is not named! May as well have a picture of a flower that says 'flower'. It's not very informative. 010
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Many things waking up in the neighborhood today. 1122
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 15/02/2026On a cheerier note at least one pair still in evidence...plus Crossbills in the larch at the top end and excellent prolonged views of a Goshawk tussling with Ravens. 110
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 15/02/2026Plenty of nice woodland left but it's for sure wholesale felling, not mere coppicing. Ash yes but also mature oak. Take the point that no woodland management at all would be equally bad for Willow Tit, but losing extensive areas of habitat on one go can't be good for such a small population. 310
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 15/02/2026Bit shocked by the heavy handed felling in parts of Combe Wood though! Once was a Willow Tit nest there 😢 232
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 15/02/2026What a gorgeous day it was yesterday for one of my favourite views 😁 110
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 08/02/2026Distractions while finally catching up with some winter pruning in the garden. 010
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 02/02/2026For local folk I'll be talking @carabidaeuk.bsky.social at Kintbury Wildlife Group tomorrow, 7:30pm 🪲https://kintburywildlife.co.uk/Current-programme.html. If I'm organised enough might have some specimens to look at...possibly live ones too! 042
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/01/2026Spot the birder who can't read or thinks their views or photographs outweigh bird welfare 130
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 26/01/2026It certainly is.. good thing about non-native introductions is I feel a little less guilty about posing them for selfies! Nonetheless the majority we found went back into overwintering sites, have retained some to try and breed 🤞 020
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 26/01/2026Specially for @kitenet.bsky.social here at last is a picture of me with ground beetle! More to come later to see which you like best 😆 160
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 25/01/2026Happy Burns Night! With thanks for Scotland and her fine culture, food and drink. Not my home country but I feel at home whenever we go 🏴🥃 001
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 25/01/2026A slow @rspb.bsky.social garden birdwatch. 3 Feral Pigeon (strictly speaking these were on the roof, not in the garden), 3 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Woodpigeon. Benny the cat may have seen something we missed but he'll never tell.... 130
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Poor urban foxes, always being vilified by the press 011
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 10/01/2026Starlings at Speen Moor, attracting plenty of admirers from nearby Newbury every evening. 020
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 10/01/2026On the major plus side, here's our local Starling roost. They may only count once for #footit but I feel mega abundance should get bonus points....Great White Egret flying through and a very overdue first Grey Heron of the year make it 54 species on foot since January 1st. 141
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 10/01/2026My favourite scrubby accidental 'wilding' field for spring warblers in the middle of Newbury has fallen victim to a 'conservation' project. I will enquire about the intended replacement but I can't imagine it being an improvement on what was a nice mosaic of scrub, small trees and tall grassland. 150
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 06/01/2026Another delightfully wintry day. Somebody forgot to order a white Christmas so we got a white Epiphany instead! Went out for just 15 minutes and 4 Snipe dropped into the (very ordinary) field nearest our house for #footit 49. Meanwhile the cat continues to enjoy walking across the garden pond 🙃 170
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 05/01/2026A distractingly beautiful morning meant I couldn't resist a much longer walk from home than planned. Siskins *everywhere* glowing in the low sun. Lapwing and Golden Plover flocks going over bring #footit total to 47 species. 051
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 05/01/2026With a light snow dusting! I assume there was a bit more out your way? He wasn't sure about the cold white stuff underpaw... 110
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 01/01/2026Abundant Hawthorn and abundant Redwings on a 2 hour tramp from home at lunchtime. Otherwise slow going, 36 species but Redpoll and Stonechat were nice patch ticks. #footit @footit.bsky.social 073
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 03/11/2025I'd wondered what that on earth that packet of 7s I found in our lab was for...maybe still not big enough for Norman! 030
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 18/10/2025One of my favourite bird songs! Woodlark gave a wonderful close flypast in full song then continued to sing from a perch for a while. 020
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 18/10/2025Splashes of October colour on Greenham Common this morning while a Woodlark sang (listen below! 👇) 161
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Ah, happy memory of a formative and necessary experience as a politician at any level - being slightly misquoted out of context by the press 😆 030
Chris Foster @chrisfoster.bsky.social · 29/09/2025Great Green Bush Cricket from a park in Potsdam earlier this month. Strikingly yellow legs on this individual 060