Geoff Morgan
@moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social
Birder and pan species lister based in Penicuik and most likely to be found in the Moorfoots in Midlothian or at Pease Bay in Scottish Borders
End of August
December 13, 2025 at 10:22 PM
End of August
More from August
December 13, 2025 at 10:19 PM
More from August
These first 8 pics from August
December 13, 2025 at 10:17 PM
These first 8 pics from August
@elizabethbeston.bsky.social I wonder if you’d be able to point me in the right direction in the identification of a variety of copepods - all from Inshore plankton trawls from a paddle board in southeast Scotland - no recent samples as the sea’s been a little rough - so I’m trawling pics instead!
December 13, 2025 at 10:15 PM
@elizabethbeston.bsky.social I wonder if you’d be able to point me in the right direction in the identification of a variety of copepods - all from Inshore plankton trawls from a paddle board in southeast Scotland - no recent samples as the sea’s been a little rough - so I’m trawling pics instead!
My first check for the winter this morning and at least three of the usual Woodcock are in their usual spots - all viewable from the car and all drive-away views - this pic does not do the bird justice… #birdingScotland
December 7, 2025 at 1:47 PM
My first check for the winter this morning and at least three of the usual Woodcock are in their usual spots - all viewable from the car and all drive-away views - this pic does not do the bird justice… #birdingScotland
Fairly wild seas at Pease Bay this morning- couldn’t pick out any Little Auks offshore but GnD, RtD, RbM and Common Scoters were nice. Best was a Water Pipit on the beach at the mouth of the Pease Dean Burn - it headed high and S before pics unfortunately #scottishbirding
November 30, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Fairly wild seas at Pease Bay this morning- couldn’t pick out any Little Auks offshore but GnD, RtD, RbM and Common Scoters were nice. Best was a Water Pipit on the beach at the mouth of the Pease Dean Burn - it headed high and S before pics unfortunately #scottishbirding
Two highlights at Pease Bay yesterday both patch firsts for me: Cuckoo Ray - sadly dead - but not commonly reported at the shore otherwise as it is a deeper water species. Little Egret rockpooling with me 😁
November 10, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Two highlights at Pease Bay yesterday both patch firsts for me: Cuckoo Ray - sadly dead - but not commonly reported at the shore otherwise as it is a deeper water species. Little Egret rockpooling with me 😁
Not often I see a Ribbonworm but bizarrely managed to see three Nemerteans this weekend. Horsehair worm in the Moorfoots- Gordius aquaticus presumably based on microscopic pic. Then Bootlace Worm Lineus longissimus and Tetrastemma vermiculus at Pease Bay. The last species a first for Scotland?
November 9, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Not often I see a Ribbonworm but bizarrely managed to see three Nemerteans this weekend. Horsehair worm in the Moorfoots- Gordius aquaticus presumably based on microscopic pic. Then Bootlace Worm Lineus longissimus and Tetrastemma vermiculus at Pease Bay. The last species a first for Scotland?
A couple of eriophyoid mites from the underside of leaves - Acalitus essigi on bramble and Phyllocoptes gracilis on wild Raspberry. Two truly tiny species but both seemed fairly abundant on those species. Happy to take feedback on the identifications…
October 28, 2025 at 12:15 AM
A couple of eriophyoid mites from the underside of leaves - Acalitus essigi on bramble and Phyllocoptes gracilis on wild Raspberry. Two truly tiny species but both seemed fairly abundant on those species. Happy to take feedback on the identifications…
Had a look under a bramble leaf through the microscope- not only my first Sitobion fragariae aphids in amongst the Phragmidium bulbosum rust but also some larvae that look like Aphidoletini and some predatory Acari running around… it’s a jungle out there!…
October 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Had a look under a bramble leaf through the microscope- not only my first Sitobion fragariae aphids in amongst the Phragmidium bulbosum rust but also some larvae that look like Aphidoletini and some predatory Acari running around… it’s a jungle out there!…
I’m a bit of a newbie to plankton and I’ve seen a few this year but only seem to have photographed two - and only uploaded one - so guilty as charged! I’m guessing they are Oikopleura- maybe dioica?
October 24, 2025 at 9:04 AM
I’m a bit of a newbie to plankton and I’ve seen a few this year but only seem to have photographed two - and only uploaded one - so guilty as charged! I’m guessing they are Oikopleura- maybe dioica?
Some fantastic local wildlife this week hitting +2000 on my PSL and with my first sightings of an aeolid nudibranch (the Crowned Aeolis) and a pseudoscorpion (the Moss Neobisid) - both on my most wanted list. Honorary mentions to the Flabby Bristle-worm and the Red-cracking Bolete - crazy names! 😁
October 22, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Some fantastic local wildlife this week hitting +2000 on my PSL and with my first sightings of an aeolid nudibranch (the Crowned Aeolis) and a pseudoscorpion (the Moss Neobisid) - both on my most wanted list. Honorary mentions to the Flabby Bristle-worm and the Red-cracking Bolete - crazy names! 😁
Anyone able to put a species to this louse? It looks as though it should be straightforward but I’m not managing to nail it and I’m wondering if I’m barking up the wrong tree @persmiseth.bsky.social @norwichbirder.bsky.social @thegibster.bsky.social
October 19, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Anyone able to put a species to this louse? It looks as though it should be straightforward but I’m not managing to nail it and I’m wondering if I’m barking up the wrong tree @persmiseth.bsky.social @norwichbirder.bsky.social @thegibster.bsky.social
Surprised to see a Great Northern Diver in Pease Bay this afternoon looking pretty smart and spangled above. Maybe the great northern Aurora Borealis that we had here last night brought it south 🙃 #aurora
October 19, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Surprised to see a Great Northern Diver in Pease Bay this afternoon looking pretty smart and spangled above. Maybe the great northern Aurora Borealis that we had here last night brought it south 🙃 #aurora
A strikingly yellow veliger in yesterday’s plankton trawl off Pease Bay - presumably bioluminescent. Not sure if this larval snail is identifiable to species but it was pretty stunning to look at #plankton #veliger #bioluminescence #gastropods
October 18, 2025 at 6:13 AM
A strikingly yellow veliger in yesterday’s plankton trawl off Pease Bay - presumably bioluminescent. Not sure if this larval snail is identifiable to species but it was pretty stunning to look at #plankton #veliger #bioluminescence #gastropods
Thanks for this - and thanks to @norwichbirder.bsky.social for reposting it - found my first locally in Penicuik yesterday - something I definitely would have overlooked otherwise 👍
October 15, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Thanks for this - and thanks to @norwichbirder.bsky.social for reposting it - found my first locally in Penicuik yesterday - something I definitely would have overlooked otherwise 👍
Couldn’t refind the LWFG this evening. Lots of PfGs around and at least 30 Barnacle Geese in the area. Best was this Scaup on Rosebery Reservoir #birdinglothian
September 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Couldn’t refind the LWFG this evening. Lots of PfGs around and at least 30 Barnacle Geese in the area. Best was this Scaup on Rosebery Reservoir #birdinglothian
Like the PfGs it was clearly very hungry - head down feeding almost all the time. Didn’t manage a head-up shot 🤷♂️ - just the long wings and dark tail giving it away here. Some good shots on ebird by the original finder here ebird.org/checklist/S2...
September 28, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Like the PfGs it was clearly very hungry - head down feeding almost all the time. Didn’t manage a head-up shot 🤷♂️ - just the long wings and dark tail giving it away here. Some good shots on ebird by the original finder here ebird.org/checklist/S2...
Here’s a distant pic of today’s v unexpected Lesser White-fronted Goose (found at Caspian Pool by another observer earlier today). This pic from half a mile away when @denmor77.bsky.social and I were relocating it - we saw it much closer later on and Den’s got some great flightshots #birdingscotland
September 28, 2025 at 8:17 PM
Here’s a distant pic of today’s v unexpected Lesser White-fronted Goose (found at Caspian Pool by another observer earlier today). This pic from half a mile away when @denmor77.bsky.social and I were relocating it - we saw it much closer later on and Den’s got some great flightshots #birdingscotland
Minke Whale distantly from Pease Bay yesterday morning
September 7, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Minke Whale distantly from Pease Bay yesterday morning
Was very pleased to find this massive Stentor coeruleus in a pond in Edinburgh yesterday- it’s not often you see bright blue single celled organism that’s visible to the naked eye #protist #panspecieslisting
September 3, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Was very pleased to find this massive Stentor coeruleus in a pond in Edinburgh yesterday- it’s not often you see bright blue single celled organism that’s visible to the naked eye #protist #panspecieslisting
@elizabethbeston.bsky.social Any idea what this is? In a plankton trawl that I took from my paddleboard in Scottish Borders at the weekend
August 26, 2025 at 5:09 PM
@elizabethbeston.bsky.social Any idea what this is? In a plankton trawl that I took from my paddleboard in Scottish Borders at the weekend