Francis Morgan
@franchrismorg.bsky.social
Poor (in the sense of 'not very good') birder and worse piano player
Birds, environment, music, (democratic) politics, books.
Not here to pay homage to 'the cultural magnitude of President Trump's singular brilliance'
Gower, Wales
Birds, environment, music, (democratic) politics, books.
Not here to pay homage to 'the cultural magnitude of President Trump's singular brilliance'
Gower, Wales
Exciting times, in between the showers this morning, on a sodden Rhossili Down. A female/imm Hen Harrier and a wet Buzzard and then, on the trudge back, a male Hen Harrier. Never been happier in the rain!
@gowerbirds.bsky.social
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
@gowerbirds.bsky.social
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
November 12, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Exciting times, in between the showers this morning, on a sodden Rhossili Down. A female/imm Hen Harrier and a wet Buzzard and then, on the trudge back, a male Hen Harrier. Never been happier in the rain!
@gowerbirds.bsky.social
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
@gowerbirds.bsky.social
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
I’m trying to save Coul Links. Will you? Remember Trump's golf course at Foveran Links which resulted in the loss of its SSSI status? Coul Links is a beautiful & unique wildlife habitat in the Scottish Highlands. But it is threatened once again with development. action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...
Save Coul Links!
Your voice could help save this precious habitat from a new threat of development.
action.rspb.org.uk
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I’m trying to save Coul Links. Will you? Remember Trump's golf course at Foveran Links which resulted in the loss of its SSSI status? Coul Links is a beautiful & unique wildlife habitat in the Scottish Highlands. But it is threatened once again with development. action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...
Very breezy walk up to the trig point on Rhossili Down this morning enlivened by a confiding Snow Bunting, looking a bit out of place really. Also 2 Chough, Buzzard, Skylark and Snipe.
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
November 1, 2025 at 10:45 PM
Very breezy walk up to the trig point on Rhossili Down this morning enlivened by a confiding Snow Bunting, looking a bit out of place really. Also 2 Chough, Buzzard, Skylark and Snipe.
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
#birdingWales #gowerbirds
Official confirmation of the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew. How sad is this?
It's also not "just another" extinction, it's the first from mainland Europe in centuries. CENTURIES.
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
And there will be others within our lifetime.
That's biodiversity loss.
We'll never hear this sound, ever again xeno-canto.org/398794
XC398794 Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris)
Awful wind noise in the original!
See sonogram and notes of the recording circumstances on p12 of Gretton A. (1991) The ecology and conservation of the Slender-billed Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris). ...
xeno-canto.org
October 10, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Official confirmation of the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew. How sad is this?
Donate £25 and it's worth £150 (or more with Gift Aid) to the World Land Trust who are one of the best environmental charities ...
Today is the start of World Land Trust’s #BigMatchFortnight saving threatened forest in Colombia 🌳🐆🌲🇨🇴
Donations through my JustGiving page up to £5k target will be multiplied by 6️⃣!
Please donate if you can or share.
@worldlandtrust.org
@markavery.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/andrew-...
Donations through my JustGiving page up to £5k target will be multiplied by 6️⃣!
Please donate if you can or share.
@worldlandtrust.org
@markavery.bsky.social
www.justgiving.com/page/andrew-...
October 2, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Donate £25 and it's worth £150 (or more with Gift Aid) to the World Land Trust who are one of the best environmental charities ...
Great blog below. Well worth topping up Mark's £100 donation to @wildlifebcn.org and should be essential reading for all Defra ministers.
The winner of my blog's Defra challenge was @jamesgilbertmr.bsky.social
His winning entry: markavery.info/2025/09/21/d...
I've donated £100 to @wildlifebcn.org as James's reward.
His winning entry: markavery.info/2025/09/21/d...
I've donated £100 to @wildlifebcn.org as James's reward.
September 21, 2025 at 6:43 AM
Great blog below. Well worth topping up Mark's £100 donation to @wildlifebcn.org and should be essential reading for all Defra ministers.
Should be a no-brainer!
Please sign and share if you can. 👌
Urge the EU Commission to End Destructive Fishing in Protected Waters
only.one/act/bottom-t...
Urge the EU Commission to End Destructive Fishing in Protected Waters
only.one/act/bottom-t...
Urge the EU Commission to End Destructive Fishing in Protected Waters
Destructive bottom trawling is rampant in Europe’s marine protected areas. The European Union (EU) seabeds are the most trawled in the world, causing damage to vital ecosystems that lasts generations....
only.one
August 28, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Should be a no-brainer!
Here's an opportunity to support the case to end the badger cull in England:
www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-c...
www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-c...
Legal challenge against Badger cull licences in England
Wild Justice is a not-for-profit company which takes legal cases on behalf of wildlife. CEO: Bob Elliot. Co-Directors: Chris Packham CBE & Dr Ruth Tingay.
www.crowdjustice.com
May 29, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Here's an opportunity to support the case to end the badger cull in England:
www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-c...
www.crowdjustice.com/case/legal-c...
84% of Wales is farmed. Investing in nature-friendly farming is the best chance we have of seeing our wildlife recover and thrive. It's vital that we act now - join together with me and RSPB Cymru by writing to the Welsh Government! action.rspb.org.uk/page/167438/...
I've just taken action for nature in Wales. Will you?
84% of Wales is farmed, so investing in nature-friendly farming is the best chance we have of seeing our wildlife recover and thrive. Join me and write to the Welsh Government!
action.rspb.org.uk
May 23, 2025 at 6:48 AM
84% of Wales is farmed. Investing in nature-friendly farming is the best chance we have of seeing our wildlife recover and thrive. It's vital that we act now - join together with me and RSPB Cymru by writing to the Welsh Government! action.rspb.org.uk/page/167438/...
Spring at Rhossili Down & environs has brought out the raptors this morning with 3 Buzzards displaying, a Red Kite, Kestrel and Merlin. 2 Wheatear were my 1st this year, the Meadow Pipits and Chiffchaff were singing and Green Woodpecker calling but, best of all ...
#gowerbirds #birdingwales
🔽
#gowerbirds #birdingwales
🔽
March 9, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Spring at Rhossili Down & environs has brought out the raptors this morning with 3 Buzzards displaying, a Red Kite, Kestrel and Merlin. 2 Wheatear were my 1st this year, the Meadow Pipits and Chiffchaff were singing and Green Woodpecker calling but, best of all ...
#gowerbirds #birdingwales
🔽
#gowerbirds #birdingwales
🔽
Reposted by Francis Morgan
Please sign our petition to ban wind farms on protected peat land in England. There are plenty of more suitable sites than carbon-storing blanket bog and breeding grounds for vulnerable birds such as curlew and golden plover. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
January 25, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Please sign our petition to ban wind farms on protected peat land in England. There are plenty of more suitable sites than carbon-storing blanket bog and breeding grounds for vulnerable birds such as curlew and golden plover. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
Walk on #Rhossili Down this a. m. in rare bit of sunshine. 22 species seen, 'best' being, Raven, Grey Wagtail, 3 pairs of canoodling Chough (one with yellow ring on left leg) &, best ever count for me on the Down, 37 Lapwing, hidden somewhere between sheep & rock in photo #gowerbirds #birdingwales.
January 21, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Walk on #Rhossili Down this a. m. in rare bit of sunshine. 22 species seen, 'best' being, Raven, Grey Wagtail, 3 pairs of canoodling Chough (one with yellow ring on left leg) &, best ever count for me on the Down, 37 Lapwing, hidden somewhere between sheep & rock in photo #gowerbirds #birdingwales.
A wonderful, discursive piece ranging from Dicken's fog in Bleak House, via a story of the campaign to save Liverpool's 'Welsh Streets' (where Eric Pickles emerges an unlikely hero) to the matter of fact: 'The easy bit is sticking up the turbines on top of the curlews'.
In a long, brilliant guest post, Nick MacKinnon clears the fog from the issues surrounding the Calderdale Windfarm proposal. He takes the reader through the biology, physics, economics, probabilities & politics of the bid & us who'll make money from it - win or lose. markavery.info/2024/12/05/g...
December 5, 2024 at 8:40 PM
A wonderful, discursive piece ranging from Dicken's fog in Bleak House, via a story of the campaign to save Liverpool's 'Welsh Streets' (where Eric Pickles emerges an unlikely hero) to the matter of fact: 'The easy bit is sticking up the turbines on top of the curlews'.
Profoundly depressing. A bird now extinct and we never even knew where it bred, highlighting the importance of international efforts in an increasingly fractured world.
Slender-billed Curlew, a bird once seen migrating over Europe (in huge flocks) from unknown breeding grounds (somewhere in former Soviet Union?) to North African winter quarters, is considered practically certain to be extinct.
RSPB press release: markavery.info/2024/11/18/r...
📷 Chris Gomersall
RSPB press release: markavery.info/2024/11/18/r...
📷 Chris Gomersall
November 19, 2024 at 8:05 AM
Profoundly depressing. A bird now extinct and we never even knew where it bred, highlighting the importance of international efforts in an increasingly fractured world.