David Higgins
@davidhiggins.bsky.social
Professor of Environmental Humanities at the University of Leeds, UK. Working on culture and environmental crisis. Writing a book about birds, loss, and restoration. Worried parent. Luddite. Opinions my own. Reposts ≠ endorsement.
The most annoying night of the year.
November 5, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The most annoying night of the year.
Ragwort, St Aidan’s nature reserve, West Yorkshire, 2/11/25. One of my favourite plants and unfairly maligned. #wildflowerhour
November 2, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Ragwort, St Aidan’s nature reserve, West Yorkshire, 2/11/25. One of my favourite plants and unfairly maligned. #wildflowerhour
A really beautiful morning for #UKbirding in the Aire Valley near Leeds. 60ish species, including a kingfisher giving excellent views and 6 great white egrets jostling for flight space with some grey herons. 2 peacock butterflies too. Pleasantly but also worryingly warm for November.
November 2, 2025 at 7:40 PM
A really beautiful morning for #UKbirding in the Aire Valley near Leeds. 60ish species, including a kingfisher giving excellent views and 6 great white egrets jostling for flight space with some grey herons. 2 peacock butterflies too. Pleasantly but also worryingly warm for November.
#UKbirding at Eccup reservoir near Leeds this morning. Very little on the water but otherwise lively on a lovely autumn morning. 28 species, including my first fieldfares and redwings of the season. 5 whooper swans overhead. Notable wood pigeon movement south.
October 26, 2025 at 8:34 AM
#UKbirding at Eccup reservoir near Leeds this morning. Very little on the water but otherwise lively on a lovely autumn morning. 28 species, including my first fieldfares and redwings of the season. 5 whooper swans overhead. Notable wood pigeon movement south.
WTF?! Whatever the rights and wrongs of the ban, does the government not have more important things to worry about?
October 17, 2025 at 3:49 PM
WTF?! Whatever the rights and wrongs of the ban, does the government not have more important things to worry about?
Between work and rushing around with small children, I’ve not had much time for birdwatching recently. October highlight has been a skein of maybe 200 pink-footed goose in flight from the garden. We sometimes get hundreds of migrating thrushes over us in October so 🤞
October 14, 2025 at 5:12 PM
Between work and rushing around with small children, I’ve not had much time for birdwatching recently. October highlight has been a skein of maybe 200 pink-footed goose in flight from the garden. We sometimes get hundreds of migrating thrushes over us in October so 🤞
Portrait of me, by my son.
October 12, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Portrait of me, by my son.
End of a long day travelling from Leeds to Graz. Highlights were a taxi driver telling me my German is good (it’s awful) and this picture in my hotel room (ID?) Looking forward to discussing cultural climate models tomorrow. As usual, I’ll be banging on about ecological and existential angst.
October 5, 2025 at 7:47 PM
End of a long day travelling from Leeds to Graz. Highlights were a taxi driver telling me my German is good (it’s awful) and this picture in my hotel room (ID?) Looking forward to discussing cultural climate models tomorrow. As usual, I’ll be banging on about ecological and existential angst.
A younger, thinner version of me (see photo) is giving an online keynote tomorrow on 'The Humanities in (A) Crisis'. It won't be as gloomy as the title suggests. You probably have better things to do at 7am UK time, but if not... #envhum
September 24, 2025 at 12:23 PM
A younger, thinner version of me (see photo) is giving an online keynote tomorrow on 'The Humanities in (A) Crisis'. It won't be as gloomy as the title suggests. You probably have better things to do at 7am UK time, but if not... #envhum
So nice to see two pipistrelle bats flying around the garden this evening. Have also recently seen larger bats (noctules?) flying over nearby trees.
September 23, 2025 at 8:09 PM
So nice to see two pipistrelle bats flying around the garden this evening. Have also recently seen larger bats (noctules?) flying over nearby trees.
I am at football training with my son. He is running around in a healthful way. I am reading Richard Jefferies and contemplating the transience of existence.
September 23, 2025 at 5:03 PM
I am at football training with my son. He is running around in a healthful way. I am reading Richard Jefferies and contemplating the transience of existence.
Did some mandatory gen AI training. Unfortunately, I was given an opportunity to provide feedback.
September 22, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Did some mandatory gen AI training. Unfortunately, I was given an opportunity to provide feedback.
Any morning when you see an otter, a bittern, and a grey phalarope has to count as a good one.
September 14, 2025 at 12:06 PM
Any morning when you see an otter, a bittern, and a grey phalarope has to count as a good one.
I'm teaching Thomas Hardy's 'The Darkling Thrush' this semester, I think for the first time in my career, and fucking hell it is good. Also, why have I only just noticed the allusions to Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale'?!
September 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
I'm teaching Thomas Hardy's 'The Darkling Thrush' this semester, I think for the first time in my career, and fucking hell it is good. Also, why have I only just noticed the allusions to Keats's 'Ode to a Nightingale'?!
Have not felt much like #UKbirding recently. Fortunately, my father-in-law is made of sterner stuff and so we were at Filey Brigg for dawn yesterday. Lively with terns and ducks in transit, plus gannets, gulls, and waders. Highlight was a roseate tern, its pinkish blush obvious in the sunlight.
September 8, 2025 at 9:30 AM
Have not felt much like #UKbirding recently. Fortunately, my father-in-law is made of sterner stuff and so we were at Filey Brigg for dawn yesterday. Lively with terns and ducks in transit, plus gannets, gulls, and waders. Highlight was a roseate tern, its pinkish blush obvious in the sunlight.
Common restharrow (I believe) seen this morning on a very blustery Filey Brigg, North Yorkshire. #wildflowerhour
September 7, 2025 at 7:35 PM
Common restharrow (I believe) seen this morning on a very blustery Filey Brigg, North Yorkshire. #wildflowerhour
Nice article by Charlie Warzel on AI delusions.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
August 19, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Nice article by Charlie Warzel on AI delusions.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
I am prone to grumpiness at airports and am currently waiting for a delayed flight. This may explain why I am so enraged by the lack of line breaks here and in the other decorative extracts from Irish poetry.
August 15, 2025 at 7:07 PM
I am prone to grumpiness at airports and am currently waiting for a delayed flight. This may explain why I am so enraged by the lack of line breaks here and in the other decorative extracts from Irish poetry.
A great privilege to visit the island of Inis Mór in Galway Bay yesterday. Saw dolphins and hundreds of Manx shearwaters en route.
August 15, 2025 at 7:35 AM
A great privilege to visit the island of Inis Mór in Galway Bay yesterday. Saw dolphins and hundreds of Manx shearwaters en route.
John Brannigan giving an excellent keynote on encounters with herons in archipelagic literature at the @asleuki.bsky.social conference in Galway. And I was pleased that bitterns featured at the end!
August 13, 2025 at 4:14 PM
John Brannigan giving an excellent keynote on encounters with herons in archipelagic literature at the @asleuki.bsky.social conference in Galway. And I was pleased that bitterns featured at the end!
Nice area of scrub behind University of Galway campus residences. Common blue and meadow brown butterflies flitting around. @asleuki.bsky.social
August 11, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Nice area of scrub behind University of Galway campus residences. Common blue and meadow brown butterflies flitting around. @asleuki.bsky.social
Hemp-agrimony at Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds. A attractive flower that I’ve never really noticed before — but #wildflowerhour has encouraged me to look more carefully.
August 10, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Hemp-agrimony at Rodley Nature Reserve, Leeds. A attractive flower that I’ve never really noticed before — but #wildflowerhour has encouraged me to look more carefully.
Just spent a while rushing around campus in pursuit of a weird, buzzy insect that turned out to be a humming-bird hawkmoth: my first ever encounter with this amazing species. Big credit to the estates and sustainability teams @universityofleeds.bsky.social for encouraging biodiversity. #teammoth
August 6, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Just spent a while rushing around campus in pursuit of a weird, buzzy insect that turned out to be a humming-bird hawkmoth: my first ever encounter with this amazing species. Big credit to the estates and sustainability teams @universityofleeds.bsky.social for encouraging biodiversity. #teammoth
Late summer birding can be hard work. Small birds are hiding, the ducks all look like shit, and wader passage hasn’t really got going. But I enjoyed RSPB St Aidan’s early this morning. 51 species, including spoonbill, kingfisher, marsh harrier, common sandpiper, and black-necked grebe. #UKbirding
August 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Late summer birding can be hard work. Small birds are hiding, the ducks all look like shit, and wader passage hasn’t really got going. But I enjoyed RSPB St Aidan’s early this morning. 51 species, including spoonbill, kingfisher, marsh harrier, common sandpiper, and black-necked grebe. #UKbirding