iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Oh dear! ...the human propensity to see faces can be disturbing at times!

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

...and they're not small birds - at about 9 inches length.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

...editing photos, this morning, from recent trip to Banff and Jasper. This one, of Maligne Lake taken 5th September, is an early favourite. #nature #Canada #photography #ECK #landscape #mountains

Looking south along Maligne Lake, Alberta, during the evening golden hour. The lake occupies the lower half of the frame, with soft-focus reflections of partially-sunlit peaks lying in a band across it. The sky in the upper half of the frame is a light baby blue, with just a few small clouds present. Across the middle, the mountains around the lake, with a hint of snow on some peaks. The forested banks of the lake are in deep shadow. The photo was taken September 5th this year.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The two programmes have been very good - open and non-judgemental. Favourite shot: Bruce in his RNLI gear. Most impressive statistic: Symon and spouse's 130 foster children (amazing!).

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

What about the NHS surcharges immigrants have to pay per year per member of each household? These are 1035/adult, 776/child. Are they included? (These are not paid by similarly lowly-paid non-immigrants - making the locals 'more expensive'...) Yes, interesting piece.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

For #birdoftheday #birdsinabstract - two out of focus greylag geese, taken during the golden hour one fine November evening, in Norfolk (always good for geese!), a few years back. I've a soft spot for this impressionistic photo, despite the evident problem. #birds #nature #ECK #photography

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Peyto Lake, Canadian Rockies this morning. The astounding turquoise is for real... see alt for more detail #nature #ECK #photography #Canada #Rockies

One end of Peyto Lake, of The icefield parkway, Alberta. Once upon a time (around 100 years ago). The ice of Peyto Glacier would have reached into this photo. Now, it is well off to the left up the valley it has ground out. The variation in the beautiful colour of the lake water is caused by passing cloud. Photo taken a few hours ago (10 Sept 2026).

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

These swallows are gorgeous little birds. We once had to rescue one, when we were living in Boulder Colorado. The memory remains warm and vivid. Definitely iridescent. Nice photo!

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Reposted by Janet Drew

AraInfo @arainfo.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

📹 VÍDEO ACELERADO | Así se ha visto el eclipse solar sobre Zaragoza, condensado en unos segundos. El cielo oscurece mientras la Luna cubre por completo el Sol: arainfo.org/todos-los-de... Video: Ayuntamiento de Zaragoza

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Here's an eclpse offering - illustrating the way we interpret everything as faces... This looks like two happy faces nose to nose. It is, of course the projection of two images of the sun through a pair of binoculars (held by my son) onto a cream wall. #nature #eclipse #photography #ECK

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Here's a california gull getting ready to sprint along the shore of Mono Lake for a delicious? mouthful of brine flies. An offering for #birdoftheday #bestfootforward. The brine flies are everywhere in the photo - including on the water surface, showing as black pin-pricks.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

...love the word, and the smell! None here, sadly, in central St Albans. (The word 'geosmin' is also a favourite -- the component of petrichor responsible for the smell). The prettiest words come from Greek!

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This is an old one from 1992 - probably taken with my second-hand nikkormat (and since scanned). For #birdoftheday #Firsts. An alert eagle owl, with glowing amber eyes. Photo taken at the Ringwood Owl Sanctuary next to the New Forest.

An eagle owl readying itself to fly around the room in which the guy running the Ringwood Owl Sanctuary 1992 is telling his audience about the sanctuary's owls. When it was let loose ...deeply impressive! The owl is perched on a heavily gloved hand, some talons showing. The beautiful tan-and-dark breast feathers are fluffed up. The bird is face on, with both the rich amber-coloured eyes clearly visible, and the long ears flattened onto the head.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

It looks like a black-bellied whistling duck to me. They seem to live quite comfortably in the UK - I used to see them regularly in Barnes Wetlands. Pretty ducks. Could it be an escape from somewhere close at hand? ...or a deliberate introduction?

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

Thank you. (And I thank the light that winter's day...)

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Public libraries were the happy place of my young self - and physical academic libraries, also, through my later education and early career. There's just something wonderful about the serendipity of what you might find to browse on a shelf. Online is NOT the same.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

See the story in 'alt'. An encounter between two rock doves. A slice of avian daily life. #pigeonsky #nature #photography #birds

A pair of rock doves meeting up on a Greystones Marina quayside, Wicklow. I first noticed them walking towards each other at the quay's edge - so I watched what happened, taking a few photos. It seemed to me quite sweet - two birds pleased with each other's company - an established couple, presumably. Both are identically-marked rock doves (iridiscent necks, light grey backs/wings with black wing and tail bars, white rump patch, coral feet - not feral pigeons).

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

For #birdoftheday #ebony&ivory, a black guillemot taking a breather on the quay beside Greystones Marina, Wicklow - seen there last Monday. They are reliably there, and always seem like a relaxed bunch. #birds #ireland #nature #photography #ECK

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

It was great - and the sky here is so very wide. ...and topped off with bats flying around the house, once the sun was down.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Sunset on the shortest night. As seen overlooking the Connemara coast. End of a perfect sunny day. #nature #photography #ECK #sunset

Summer solstice sunset - looking across to Inishbofin, from Cleggan (Connemara). Orange sky with no hint of cloud. Darkening foreground. Inishark (just visible left horizon) and Inishbofin in silhouette across the water.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Naming Long (NI Alliance party) was also being reported this morning as calling out the incitement and thuggery as racist. The Guardian picked that up.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

...not only this: Starmer can't even call what is evidently racist behaviour 'racist' (Naomi Long, Alliance NI Justice Minister, can ...👏). The substitution of the word 'background' for 'race' in Starmer's remarks is just pathetic.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Had to repost this one for #birdoftheday #borrowedplaces. Still seems extraordinary, over a year later. #birds #nature

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

'What are you looking at? Can't a bird bathe in peace?!' A juvenile blackbird in a birdbath eyeing up the photographer. #BirdoftheDay #lLookingAtYou A bit past the #newlife stage... #birds #nature

A juvenile blackbird is sitting, side on, in a green ceramic bird bath (with a few insect-friendly stones in it to help out the occasional passing bee in need of a drink). The bird's plumage is brown all over, but its beak is beginning to acquire the yellow colour of maturity. Seen side on, it is head is turned towards the camera.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

I'd back the Northumberland suggestions that have been made (for inland, around Rothbury is rather nice). No one has explicitly mentioned Wells, Somerset - such a characterful small town and great hinterland (inc. the numinous Somerset Levels) Better weather, maybe.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Three #anatidae species for #birdoftheday: 2 mallards, a goosander and 5 swans - all seen on Lake Como last week. #birds #nature #wildlife #photography

Two mallard drakes show their displeasure at being disturbed by a female goosander whose sole crime is to decide she's had enough of sitting on the corner of the quay and is walking between them. Photo taken on the edge of Lake Como last week, in late afternoon sunshine. The two drakes are hissing at the goosander (beaks open and heads thrust forwards).

A swan with his/her 4 cygnets in front. The curious lighting is the result of the photo being taken from the side of Lake Como already in the shade - the sky above (out of frame) is still a perfect blue. Photo taken last week just before the current heatwave set in.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

A photo for #Stunday representing late #spring on the banks of Lake Como - a view from the very lovely slopes of Villa Carlotta gardens. #landscape #gardens #Italy #photography

This photo was taken from within one of the more wooded sections of the Villa Carlotta gardens on the banks of Lake Como, on May 16th. The right hand side of the picture is dominate by a gap in the foliage, revealing the matching blue sky and lake (and the opposite bank, in the distance). The main feature of the left hand side is a rhododendron in flower, with the pink of the blooms making a very pretty contrast with the luxuriant foliage - that, for sure, is characteristic of Villa Carlotta and many other Como gardens.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Persona non grata. The goosander can be forgiven for wondering what she had done to upset the two mallard drakes either side of her, as she left her sunning spot on the corner of the quay. They were clearly angry - both of them. #birds #nature #wildlife

A female goosander is making her way on a concrete pier, between two seated mallard drakes. Inexpicably, both drakes turn their heads and hiss at her. The photo was taken late yesterday afternoon beside Lake Como. The strong shadows are testament to the very clear conditions.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

This was us, at around 2.30 pm yesterday, a thousand feet plus up in the air - ringside to an in-flight lightning strike. Not actually scary (oddly) but definitely an experience.

A still, from the ground near Gatwick Airport, of the plane we were on yesterday afternoon - as it was struck by lightning. This image appeared in a couple of online reports yesterday evening. We were in row three (me, by the window) on the side the lightning struck. ...brilliant white flash, and a loud crack!

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

What an amazing building. Very inspiring! It could be viewed as pan-mediterranean, with echoes also of byzantine (St Marks, Monreale) and late roman (Ravenna) styles, as well as the Cordoba stripes.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

These young starlings have to be #linedup (for today's #birdoftheday) given the space that is theirs to occupy. What a rumpus there is when a parent turns up with food! The noise... Photo taken late this afternoon. #birds #nature

Four starling nestlings lined up in their distinctly linear space beneath a roof tile - up on the house next door. The photo was taken today (with extreme 30x zoom - they are a long way up). I fear for the small one at the left end of the line that's only just visible. The biggest, with an especially mean expression is second from right. They are probably not long from fledging. When a parent flies up on the roof with food for them, the squawking is intense and all you can see are the gaping yellow-outlined mouths frantically pushing forwards.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

I post this to mark David Attenborough's 100th birthday tomorrow. I'm pretty sure his TV programmes about Madagascar introduced me to lemurs in my early teens - got to see them in their habitat in 2015. It's wonderful he's still with us. #nature #DavidAttenborough #photography #mammals #ECK

A sportive lemur passing the daytime away, wedged in a tree cleft - as they do - in Zombitse national park, Madagascar. The lemur is looking down at the camera, while clutching the thick branch to the left in the picture. He/she is not minded to do anything about his/her audience. The animal's fir has a golden hue. The prominent eyes are round with small pupils - they are really designed for evening/nighttime use.

Verreaux's sifaka, moving throught the trees next to a picnic spot in Isalo national park. These long-limbed animals are very agile. When on the ground they bounce around on two legs. They're quite big - but not as big as the awesome indri (once hear - never forgotten!). The vegetation in Isalo has a semi-arid character, which makes lemur spotting easy.

Had to include one photo of ring-tailed lemurs. This is a family group huddled up in a tree in the park at Anja. I think there are 4 of them in this picture: 2 adults and 2 youngsters. When most of us think 'lemur' we're thinking long-tailed ...the one thing you can't actually see in this photo. The distinctive faces of the two adults and the youngster toward top left are the main point of the image.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 03/05/2026

I love wisteria - and this one lives with me. Drought conditions last summer (only its second) when we were away almost killed it. But it's back😊and it's fun to watch the blooms develop. #nature #gardens #bloomscrolling #photography

The first of three photos of a pair of wisteria buds up on the garden wall. This one was taken a week ago. The buds are compact and purple in coloiur and have 'scales' that make them look a bit like pine cones or hops. They are set in young leaves at the end of a woody stalk. Training wire on the wall behind is visible about 3/4 of the way up the photo.

This photo was taken two days later, on Tuesday last - the buds and the leaves are both bigger.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

I came home, after a spell away, to this! Feels miraculous, but its just a broom plant in the back garden (Wicklow). This has turned into quite a #spring. #bloomscrolling #nature #Ireland #gardens

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Reposted by Janet Drew

Alice Roberts @profaliceroberts.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Reading wonderful Ursula Le Guin, with this essay, written in 2004, resonating in a sadly different way today. “I beg you to see what it is that we must save, and not to let the bigots and misogynists take it away from us again”.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

No - he's not. His 'fury' last week should have been introspective. Mandelson was evidently too deeply flawedto warrant the appointment.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

This afternoon's photo of a heron in a pond - with hazy dream-like reflections in the water. #birds #photography #nature #ECK

A x20 phone camera zoom of a heron that had just landed at the far edge of the Watercress Reserve's main pond. I rather like the fuzzy reflections of the heron and the waterside plants in the pond. The heron is side on with its neck extended.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

I think the osprey would be very pleased with the photo. ...just look at those talons!

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

More #spring #bloomscrolling: a white bluebell, peak blackthorn and two flowering cherries. #photography #nature

A rare instance of a white bluebell, next to a blue one - in among thousands and thousands of the blue kind carpeting Langley Wood in Heartwood Forest. April 9th 2026

Blackthorn full-throttle blooming. These have become more and more frequent hedgerow denizens in recent years, it seems to me. The picture is focused on a near twig carrying the delicate white flowers, against an increasingly out-of-focus background of more and more blooms covering the bush. Heartwood Forest, April 9th 2026.

In the foreground a branch of a cherry tree, loaded down with white flowers - against a background of more flowers. Heartwood Forest, April 9th 2026.

And finally, a sprig of prunus (cherry) flowers on the tree in our back garden. Some of the flowers are yet to open and present with pink hues. The open flowers are white. Underneath and a little in the background are the shrivelled fruit of last autumn, still hanging there. A few years back, birds used to take them. The difference is likely to be some reduction in bird numbers, but also an increase in competing food attractions in surrounding gardens. St Albans, 9th April 2026.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

Peak bluebell! A photo from yesterday, April 9th, in Heartwood Forest, SE England. #bloomscrolling #nature #ECK #photography

A photo of the sea of bluebells in Pudler's Wood, Heartwood Forest (Herts. England). The coppice is not yet in full leaf, allowing in the light that encourages the bluebells to flower. The foliage showing on the trees is 'spring green' in colour.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Class video, class bird. ...a fascinating watch.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

Lovely photo. ...don't you love the tit behaviour of clasping the food item between the feet, ready for comprehensive attack by the beak? The blue tits on my feeder do this ALL the time.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Nice and unusual photo. For ground-feeding company, the northern flicker has the eurasian green woodpecker. I've only ever seen them on the ground (ants are their preferred food). Northern flickers are prettier, in my opinion.

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Janet Drew @jedrew.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

...something's going on at the back of our garden this morning: two wood pigeons loitering up in the bay tree. They've been in there for over an hour, perhaps longer. #birds #nature

This photo was taken through a (not very clean!) window of two wood pigeons *lurking* in the bay tree at the back of our garden. The more visible of the two, on the left, is in what might be a guard position with its head and beak pointed straight at the camera. It will have an excellent view of what is going on out in the open. The other, to the right, is side-on and embedded in the bay foliage. Eating or nesting? Might be either.

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