Andrew Douglas
@andydouglas1967.bsky.social
Spiders, inverts, botany, birds, wine, beer, food, pottery, aircraft. Not necessarily in that order. See @andydouglas1967-IT.bsky.social for IT/Computer Science stuff. West Norfolk and South Northamptonshire.
Just been to Tesco. Nice to see dripping rain coming through one of the light fittings in the entrance way. And there was a power cut when I got to the checkouts, which reset a lot of them. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy. Loaded up with Lebkuchen for the weekend.
November 14, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Just been to Tesco. Nice to see dripping rain coming through one of the light fittings in the entrance way. And there was a power cut when I got to the checkouts, which reset a lot of them. Fortunately, it wasn't too busy. Loaded up with Lebkuchen for the weekend.
Just checked - still got my copy.
On this day, 45 years ago, #Visage released their debut album "Visage" including their breakout hit "Fade To Grey".
Dan LeRoy for AllMusic wrote "this is the music that best represents the short-lived but always underrated #newromantic movement", calling it "a consistently fine creation".
Dan LeRoy for AllMusic wrote "this is the music that best represents the short-lived but always underrated #newromantic movement", calling it "a consistently fine creation".
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Just checked - still got my copy.
Advised ages ago that I'd need a new tyre on the car so had it fitted this morning. Came with an advisory that probably will need another for Tuesdays MOT - never ending. Paid the £72 for alignment - not sure if that's a scam or not, but I suppose it does feel a bit better to drive. Hate MOT day.
November 14, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Advised ages ago that I'd need a new tyre on the car so had it fitted this morning. Came with an advisory that probably will need another for Tuesdays MOT - never ending. Paid the £72 for alignment - not sure if that's a scam or not, but I suppose it does feel a bit better to drive. Hate MOT day.
Update on the handgel for holding/covering specimens under the compound scope. Still no good. I bought 6 bottles of the Garnier gel but either it's a different recipe, or the bottles don't contain what they say they contain. Optical qualities pretty rubbish. Have diluted but no real improvement.
November 13, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Update on the handgel for holding/covering specimens under the compound scope. Still no good. I bought 6 bottles of the Garnier gel but either it's a different recipe, or the bottles don't contain what they say they contain. Optical qualities pretty rubbish. Have diluted but no real improvement.
Oh well. I wrote to my MP about the appropriate amendments to the planning bill. He wrote back saying he supported the two amendments that were pertinent and was going to speak in favour of them. Voted against them both as far as I can tell. Tosser.
November 13, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Oh well. I wrote to my MP about the appropriate amendments to the planning bill. He wrote back saying he supported the two amendments that were pertinent and was going to speak in favour of them. Voted against them both as far as I can tell. Tosser.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
Sky at Night always used to have an early repeat - and we're back, with our collaboration with the Curious Cases team on at 7pm tomorrow on BBC4. Please watch if you possibly can - support your local science program! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Space Mysteries: The Sky at Night Meets Curious Cases
Hannah Fry and Dara Ó Briain join the team to answer viewers' burning queries about space.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Sky at Night always used to have an early repeat - and we're back, with our collaboration with the Curious Cases team on at 7pm tomorrow on BBC4. Please watch if you possibly can - support your local science program! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
Every so often someone posts a spider photo and you think, yes I've seen one of those recently. In this case it's the tiny tiny Theonoe - I'm sure it was in one of the tubes i've looked at recently. But I've been through most of the recent tubes and I can't find whatever it was. Frustrating.
November 11, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Every so often someone posts a spider photo and you think, yes I've seen one of those recently. In this case it's the tiny tiny Theonoe - I'm sure it was in one of the tubes i've looked at recently. But I've been through most of the recent tubes and I can't find whatever it was. Frustrating.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
People of London! PLEASE SHARE. I lost my necklace last night (10th Nov), and I'm hoping someone has found it. I caught the Northern Line from High Barnet to Leicester Square, then walked to the Prince Charles Cinema, then the same back again. I only noticed it was gone when I got home.
November 11, 2025 at 2:40 PM
People of London! PLEASE SHARE. I lost my necklace last night (10th Nov), and I'm hoping someone has found it. I caught the Northern Line from High Barnet to Leicester Square, then walked to the Prince Charles Cinema, then the same back again. I only noticed it was gone when I got home.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
November 11, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round
Also from Dersingham wood, leaf litter, Tenuiphantes flavipes and Agyneta rurestris. There were other things. I'd never seen Drapetisca socialis, which we saw a few of, and in the bog, Hypsosinga cf pygmaea and Tibbelus sp, and an odd black and white job under a log (probably a dark Pachygnatha.)
November 10, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Also from Dersingham wood, leaf litter, Tenuiphantes flavipes and Agyneta rurestris. There were other things. I'd never seen Drapetisca socialis, which we saw a few of, and in the bog, Hypsosinga cf pygmaea and Tibbelus sp, and an odd black and white job under a log (probably a dark Pachygnatha.)
An odd one from yesterdays trip to Dersingham Bog. Took ages for the moss folk to get to the bog proper, but here's a presumed Zygiella sp on what was a smooth-ish tree, with nest. Well, I wasn't expecting it there, anyway. Maybe it's a thing, I don't know. Not many bushes nearby but a lot cleared.
November 10, 2025 at 6:57 PM
An odd one from yesterdays trip to Dersingham Bog. Took ages for the moss folk to get to the bog proper, but here's a presumed Zygiella sp on what was a smooth-ish tree, with nest. Well, I wasn't expecting it there, anyway. Maybe it's a thing, I don't know. Not many bushes nearby but a lot cleared.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
My friend Penny Green has started a new podcast over the last few months, I recorded this with her back in July and it's just been released. I was surveying the arable margins for invertebrates on the Wiston Estate. It's a great listen.
Marginal Gains - The Wandering Ecologist Podcast
Episode 5 takes us on top of the South Downs at the Wiston Estate where I join awesome entomologist, Graeme Lyons, on some invertebrate surveys. We’re looking at the benefits of having wildflower stri...
thewanderingecologistpodcast.buzzsprout.com
November 10, 2025 at 1:31 PM
My friend Penny Green has started a new podcast over the last few months, I recorded this with her back in July and it's just been released. I was surveying the arable margins for invertebrates on the Wiston Estate. It's a great listen.
Tasting the umeboshi Sloes. Fruity and not too salty - very pleasant indeed. Not sure what you’d do with it - with rice perhaps?
November 7, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Tasting the umeboshi Sloes. Fruity and not too salty - very pleasant indeed. Not sure what you’d do with it - with rice perhaps?
First time looking through the 15x eye pieces at spiders from Sweet Briars. Bathyphantes approximatus female, easy to see. 67.5x on zoom. Much better.
November 6, 2025 at 9:13 PM
First time looking through the 15x eye pieces at spiders from Sweet Briars. Bathyphantes approximatus female, easy to see. 67.5x on zoom. Much better.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
Worrying reports of bird flu (avian influenza) are coming in, including an outbreak in Whooper Swans in the Fens. Other waterbirds are also being affected, and cases are rising.
📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides
#UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland
📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides
#UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Worrying reports of bird flu (avian influenza) are coming in, including an outbreak in Whooper Swans in the Fens. Other waterbirds are also being affected, and cases are rising.
📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides
#UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland
📷 Sick Whooper Swan by Kane Brides
#UKBirding #BirdingWales #BirdingScotland
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
Well that was pretty darned awesome. BABAKINA!!!
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/11/chas...
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/11/chas...
November 6, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Well that was pretty darned awesome. BABAKINA!!!
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/11/chas...
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2025/11/chas...
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
The noisy early morning commute between the Solway and the fields where they feed. As I soon discovered, there were two wildfowlers hidden away directly below the flight line. Had these been Pink-feet rather than (non-shootable) Barnacle Geese, the spectacle would have been rudely interrupted.
November 6, 2025 at 12:17 PM
The noisy early morning commute between the Solway and the fields where they feed. As I soon discovered, there were two wildfowlers hidden away directly below the flight line. Had these been Pink-feet rather than (non-shootable) Barnacle Geese, the spectacle would have been rudely interrupted.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
Fenland bird surveys in a nutshell: wind, flat fields to the horizon, big skies, and trumpeting Whooper Swans. Sound up for wind & trumpets. #ukbirding
November 5, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Fenland bird surveys in a nutshell: wind, flat fields to the horizon, big skies, and trumpeting Whooper Swans. Sound up for wind & trumpets. #ukbirding
Did a bit of noseying about today, looking at a couple places where spiders were found in the late 80s and wondering if I should look again. First is Boughton Fen - very close to me.
Here's the middle fen SSSI:
Here's the middle fen SSSI:
November 4, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Did a bit of noseying about today, looking at a couple places where spiders were found in the late 80s and wondering if I should look again. First is Boughton Fen - very close to me.
Here's the middle fen SSSI:
Here's the middle fen SSSI:
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
What a privilege to have seen both ends of the UK's spider size spectrum - the magnificent Cardinal Spider (Tegenaria parietina) and the diminutive Theonoe minutissima within a few days of each other - a 50x difference in legspan!
@britishspiders.bsky.social
@britishspiders.bsky.social
November 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
What a privilege to have seen both ends of the UK's spider size spectrum - the magnificent Cardinal Spider (Tegenaria parietina) and the diminutive Theonoe minutissima within a few days of each other - a 50x difference in legspan!
@britishspiders.bsky.social
@britishspiders.bsky.social
The last of last years Xmas puddings. Seems ok so we’re eating it tonight.
November 2, 2025 at 6:06 PM
The last of last years Xmas puddings. Seems ok so we’re eating it tonight.
Reposted by Andrew Douglas
A nice local story: Rare purseweb spider discovered by visitor at Kinver Edge - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Rare purseweb spider discovered by visitor at Kinver Edge
The purseweb spider has not been spotted in the area before, National Trust bosses say.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 2, 2025 at 8:16 AM
A nice local story: Rare purseweb spider discovered by visitor at Kinver Edge - www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Brackley Town win on penalties. There’ll be no fighting in the market place tonight.
November 1, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Brackley Town win on penalties. There’ll be no fighting in the market place tonight.
Penalties. Come on Brackley!
November 1, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Penalties. Come on Brackley!