Matt Livesey
@mlivesey.bsky.social
Wildlife photographer; conservationist and countryside-lover. Photographs represented by RSPB Images. Cambridgeshire.
https://www.mattliveseyphotography.com/
https://www.mattliveseyphotography.com/
Pinned
Matt Livesey
@mlivesey.bsky.social
· Mar 26
How do we save Britain's most elusive bird?
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
Reposted by Matt Livesey
A great thread dismantling the latest 'conservation populism' to be floated in Britain. With funding available for species recovery, this is business for some. We'll see more of this pitching for commercial projects that scientists & species experts think is useless. #ornithology #ukbirding
More ill thought out 'conservation' translocations 🌍
www.theguardian.com/environment/... - so much to unpack here #Ornithology #UKBirding 🧵
www.theguardian.com/environment/... - so much to unpack here #Ornithology #UKBirding 🧵
‘It proves this can be done’: Berlin the blueprint to bring goshawks to UK cities
Conservationist plans release of 15 each of the apex predators sourced as chicks into Chester and London
www.theguardian.com
October 4, 2025 at 8:45 AM
A great thread dismantling the latest 'conservation populism' to be floated in Britain. With funding available for species recovery, this is business for some. We'll see more of this pitching for commercial projects that scientists & species experts think is useless. #ornithology #ukbirding
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Operation Turtle Dove has issued an official statement expressing their disapproval over the captive breeding and releasing of European Turtle Dove in the UK:
Operation Turtle Dove issues statement over captive releases
Operation Turtle Dove has issued an official statement over the captive breeding and releasing of European Turtle Dove in the UK. The statement confirms that the partnership does not currently support captive releases and cites habitat creation and restoration as the most important conservation measure at present.
bit.ly
October 2, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Operation Turtle Dove has issued an official statement expressing their disapproval over the captive breeding and releasing of European Turtle Dove in the UK:
Reposted by Matt Livesey
September 3, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Reposted by Matt Livesey
1 Pleased to be presenting the latest results gathered by Woodpecker-Network volunteers on Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and what we can do to conserve them better #BOUatEOU www.woodpecker-netwo...
August 18, 2025 at 11:30 AM
1 Pleased to be presenting the latest results gathered by Woodpecker-Network volunteers on Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and what we can do to conserve them better #BOUatEOU www.woodpecker-netwo...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Anyone got a video of a hare having the shit scared out of it by a curlew — ah, don’t worry, got one anyway!
July 13, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Anyone got a video of a hare having the shit scared out of it by a curlew — ah, don’t worry, got one anyway!
Great work by @bramblebotanist.bsky.social as part of a project to begin unravelling the mystery of these enigmatic orchids in Britain
Ghost Orchids Epipogium aphyllum in SE France this week. An awesome experience seeking out these enigmatic spirits and finding them in such abundance, in beautiful sub-alpine woods #wildflowerhour
July 13, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Great work by @bramblebotanist.bsky.social as part of a project to begin unravelling the mystery of these enigmatic orchids in Britain
Reposted by Matt Livesey
No mention of the disease risks. Or the welfare concerns of releasing birds into places that don’t suit them. This is pretend conservation, dressed up as the real thing and given a free ride by a serious environmental journalist. Hugely damaging.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Conservationists race to rescue England’s turtle doves from extinction
Hundreds are being released across the country to reverse 98% decline in mating pairs since the 1970s
www.theguardian.com
June 29, 2025 at 5:49 AM
No mention of the disease risks. Or the welfare concerns of releasing birds into places that don’t suit them. This is pretend conservation, dressed up as the real thing and given a free ride by a serious environmental journalist. Hugely damaging.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Just recorded a Turtle Dove in a fenland bird survey, but no way of knowing if it’s a wild bird or one of these idiotic amateur releases. This really matters for conservation. Treating Turtle Doves like pheasants masks the decline. Maybe that’s the point...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Conservationists race to rescue England’s turtle doves from extinction
Hundreds are being released across the country to reverse 98% decline in mating pairs since the 1970s
www.theguardian.com
June 25, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Just recorded a Turtle Dove in a fenland bird survey, but no way of knowing if it’s a wild bird or one of these idiotic amateur releases. This really matters for conservation. Treating Turtle Doves like pheasants masks the decline. Maybe that’s the point...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
2025 was a record breeding season for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests monitored by our volunteers. None failed & where we were able to check the nest contents the number of chicks fledged was the highest since we started the project in 2015. Full story www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...
Woodpecker Network - Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers – the 2025 breeding season
A forum to encourage and facilitate the study of woodpeckers in Britain and Ireland
www.woodpecker-network.org.uk
June 23, 2025 at 9:33 PM
2025 was a record breeding season for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests monitored by our volunteers. None failed & where we were able to check the nest contents the number of chicks fledged was the highest since we started the project in 2015. Full story www.woodpecker-network.org.uk/index.php/ne...
Releasing captive bred Turtle Doves is at this stage highly inappropriate, as risks jeopardising the efforts to save the wild population due to potential disease risks from captive populations of uknown origin, as well as altering their migratory behaviour. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Conservationists race to rescue England’s turtle doves from extinction
Hundreds are being released across the country to reverse 98% decline in mating pairs since the 1970s
www.theguardian.com
June 20, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Releasing captive bred Turtle Doves is at this stage highly inappropriate, as risks jeopardising the efforts to save the wild population due to potential disease risks from captive populations of uknown origin, as well as altering their migratory behaviour. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
A great win, with national implications. At last, councils will have to take into account the cumulative effects of livestock factories on river catchments.
It's all about increments of excrement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
It's all about increments of excrement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Poultry megafarm in Shropshire halted over river pollution concerns
Planning permission quashed by high court after officials failed to consider impact of spreading manure on land
www.theguardian.com
June 17, 2025 at 4:00 PM
A great win, with national implications. At last, councils will have to take into account the cumulative effects of livestock factories on river catchments.
It's all about increments of excrement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
It's all about increments of excrement.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
June 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Fantastic news 19 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being watched/monitored by our volunteers so far. Most have 4 chicks, well fed by the adults. Nests are so difficult to find & these are only a tiny proportion of the several thousand LSW pairs in Britain, but all very positive this year.
May 26, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Fantastic news 19 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nests found and being watched/monitored by our volunteers so far. Most have 4 chicks, well fed by the adults. Nests are so difficult to find & these are only a tiny proportion of the several thousand LSW pairs in Britain, but all very positive this year.
Reposted by Matt Livesey
A fantastic 3 day birding in the south west looking for lesser spot nests happy to say I found nest number 17 this year!! A big thanks to @lesserspotnet.bsky.social and gus robin who came to image the nest showing possibly 3/4 young birds fantastic work these people are doing for the species 👏
May 26, 2025 at 4:17 PM
A fantastic 3 day birding in the south west looking for lesser spot nests happy to say I found nest number 17 this year!! A big thanks to @lesserspotnet.bsky.social and gus robin who came to image the nest showing possibly 3/4 young birds fantastic work these people are doing for the species 👏
Reposted by Matt Livesey
LesserSpotNet volunteers have now found 16 active LSW nests - 2 more nests were found today. Young have now fledged at 3 nests - so get looking.
Now is your last chance to find a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest. For the next week LSW young will be calling from the nest hole and you may hear them. So have a good search in your local woods. LesserSpotNet volunteers are already watching/monitoring twelve nests in the Midlands & South England.
May 24, 2025 at 6:01 PM
LesserSpotNet volunteers have now found 16 active LSW nests - 2 more nests were found today. Young have now fledged at 3 nests - so get looking.
Not an overly rare moth, but Eyed Hawkmoth is one I've been waiting for since I first started trapping 5 years ago. Delighted to finally catch one in my Cambridgeshire garden!
#moth #insect #lepioptera
#moth #insect #lepioptera
May 18, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Not an overly rare moth, but Eyed Hawkmoth is one I've been waiting for since I first started trapping 5 years ago. Delighted to finally catch one in my Cambridgeshire garden!
#moth #insect #lepioptera
#moth #insect #lepioptera
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Life update klaxon: I’ve joined the Natural Sciences department at Manchester Met as a PhD researcher! Our team will be investigating the role of interspecific competition and community composition in the decline of the willow tit, focusing our efforts on post-industrial sites in the north west.
May 15, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Life update klaxon: I’ve joined the Natural Sciences department at Manchester Met as a PhD researcher! Our team will be investigating the role of interspecific competition and community composition in the decline of the willow tit, focusing our efforts on post-industrial sites in the north west.
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Exciting news from Wyre Forest NNR, we looked into 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest cavities on 2 May with our endoscope. Female incubating 7 eggs in one (not all visible in photo) & 6 tiny chicks just hatched at 2nd nest. Both early so should do well. Thanks Natural England for showing us round.
May 6, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Exciting news from Wyre Forest NNR, we looked into 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest cavities on 2 May with our endoscope. Female incubating 7 eggs in one (not all visible in photo) & 6 tiny chicks just hatched at 2nd nest. Both early so should do well. Thanks Natural England for showing us round.
The sounds of & sights of early summer seem to have erupted over the last few days. Cuckoos calling, Swifts overhead & of course thousands of St Mark's Flies filling countryside lanes & paths. So named as their emergence coincides with St Mark's Day on the 25th April
#insects #flies #pollinators
#insects #flies #pollinators
May 3, 2025 at 12:04 PM
The sounds of & sights of early summer seem to have erupted over the last few days. Cuckoos calling, Swifts overhead & of course thousands of St Mark's Flies filling countryside lanes & paths. So named as their emergence coincides with St Mark's Day on the 25th April
#insects #flies #pollinators
#insects #flies #pollinators
Spent a few days in the Marches, and took a trip to walk through what was once ground zero of the UK Red Kite recovery programme...
April 13, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Spent a few days in the Marches, and took a trip to walk through what was once ground zero of the UK Red Kite recovery programme...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
HULK ADAM SMASHES DIRE WOLVES.
Man alive this vexes me, and I am a bit sweary and irritable in this. Enjoy.
arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...
Man alive this vexes me, and I am a bit sweary and irritable in this. Enjoy.
arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...
Dire wolves remain very extinct
Despite what you are being fed, de-extinction is a con, full of gloss, bullshit and ghoulish greed.
arutherford.substack.com
April 8, 2025 at 6:17 PM
HULK ADAM SMASHES DIRE WOLVES.
Man alive this vexes me, and I am a bit sweary and irritable in this. Enjoy.
arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...
Man alive this vexes me, and I am a bit sweary and irritable in this. Enjoy.
arutherford.substack.com/p/dire-wolve...
Reposted by Matt Livesey
“De-extinction” is to biodiversity loss what “Mars colonization” is to climate change—wishful thinking that is at its core impossible but nevertheless sucks up attention and resources from actual solutions to these crises (which, ultimately, might be the whole point)
April 8, 2025 at 9:00 PM
“De-extinction” is to biodiversity loss what “Mars colonization” is to climate change—wishful thinking that is at its core impossible but nevertheless sucks up attention and resources from actual solutions to these crises (which, ultimately, might be the whole point)
How do we save Britain's most elusive bird?
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
March 26, 2025 at 9:18 AM
How do we save Britain's most elusive bird?
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
It was great to help lead the first national workshop on Lesser spotted woodpecker last week, together with @lesserspotnet.bsky.social. The ultimate case of playing conservation on the "legendary" difficulty setting!
Reposted by Matt Livesey
BTO decides not to return to Global Birdfair as an exhibitor.
‘BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.’
‘BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.’
1/3 We’ve taken the difficult decision to not return to Global Birdfair as an exhibitor. While we recognise that Birdfair provides an opportunity to meet with members and volunteers, our continued investment in other ways to engage with supporters is proving to be a more effective use of resources.
March 20, 2025 at 7:43 PM
BTO decides not to return to Global Birdfair as an exhibitor.
‘BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.’
‘BTO work has highlighted the impacts of climate change on birds, and because of our commitment to working sustainably, we no longer feel it is appropriate to take a stand at the event.’
Reposted by Matt Livesey
Imagine a big industry that uses intensive farming to make non-essential garden 'leisure' products. Imagine those products had directly killed 6 million British songbirds, put some on the Red List, changed entire bird communities and polluted habitats.
You'd think we might want to stop/limit that?
You'd think we might want to stop/limit that?
Half of British households feed birds.. but should we? Ft our recent study on potential issues of nutrient pollution.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Full paper: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Full paper: esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Should we stop feeding birds, what happens if we do and does it spread disease?
Half of British households put food out for birds but there is increasing concern it can spread disease
www.theguardian.com
March 13, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Imagine a big industry that uses intensive farming to make non-essential garden 'leisure' products. Imagine those products had directly killed 6 million British songbirds, put some on the Red List, changed entire bird communities and polluted habitats.
You'd think we might want to stop/limit that?
You'd think we might want to stop/limit that?