Deborah Pitman

Swift enthusiast, nature lover, artist.

[Deborah Pitman @DeborahPitman]

Holes drilled ✅
Checked with endoscopes ✅
In the right places ✅
Boxes installed (correct height + orientation) ✅
Thank you @networkrail @AmcoGiffen_ & @HighPeakBC for being on site all day, proper top job.
Photo credit: Emma B & Kathryn B Chapel Biodiversity Group

[Feargal Sharkey @Feargal_Sharkey]

"Watchdog accused of ‘giving away’ billions of litres of spring water to foreign bottling giants."

Yep the EA are up to their old tricks again. The EA are charging Coca-Cola £6,070 a year to abstract water from the north of England which Coca-Cola then sells for £30 million.

Did I mention that according to the EA by 2050 in England we will need to find another 5 billion litres of water per day just to keep our taps running and to try and save our chalk streams.

What a hoax of a regulator.

https://t.co/i4R1bahBuz

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

When Sir Jon Cunliffe helped the government @Defra carry out a fake independent review of itself, he relied on water company bosses (who break the law and dodge regulation for a living) to tell him how to make that regulation more attractive to them..
And he did!
But will we all be stupid enough to let that be made law? @WCL_News @foeeurope @GreenpeaceUK

[Paul Powlesland @paulpowlesland]

Dear @EnvAgency.

In February this year, after 4 years of asking you to look after the Aldersbrook, I led a team of volunteers to do your job for you & clean out tonnes of silt & leaves, as well as hundreds of bags of rubbish. Through the effort of community volunteers & donations, & at zero cost to the taxpayer, we turned a forgotten silted up ditch back into a river again.

Last nights intense rain storm showed why our actions are the very definition of “strengthening water resilience”. A huge amount of rain fell in a short time, but the restored section of the Aldersbrook has been able to hold 100’s of thousands of litres more water, stopping this water running into the Roding, & thereby *reducing* local flood risk. The first photograph below is of the Aldersbrook after the rains this morning- a big contrast to the area before we did the work.

Perhaps more importantly, this water, instead of running straight off into the Roding & hence the sea is now being held in the Aldersbrook & gradually released so it can be used by nature. It is feeding marshes, trees & wildlife, topping up groundwater & helping to reduce our flood/drought cycle. If you want to strengthen water resilience, we need thousands more projects like the Aldersbrook around the country.

So the question I ask you, Environment Agency, is why you are threatening me with two years imprisonment, rather than offering to meet & discuss how we can work together to restore the Roding & its tributaries, which could become a blueprint for you cooperating with local river guardians nationwide?

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

About the trust of the public. We asked you to stop the lies coming out of your own department @DefraGovUK and you have not even had the courtesy to answer, just allowed your staff to tell more of them. When did lying become government policy? This is disgraceful. Maybe the new boss will bring integrity back if you won't.

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

While publicly owned water companies in Europe pioneer micropollutant and pharmaceutical removal from sewage effluent ...

This is Thames Water's Cassington treated sewage outfall above Oxford's designated bathing water - not untreated - this is as good as it gets.

The yellow things? Sweetcorn, undigested.

Get a grip - sign and share
https://t.co/J5ADoh2hre

[Chris Phillips @CJPhillips1982]

A real long shot but can people retweet this please.

Yesterday all my items were stolen in Eastbourne including my stats book which has 20 years worth of details in. Laptops, phones, clothes, shavers etc can all be replaced but this can’t and is useless to anyone else. It’s in a plastic folder you can see in the left hand side of this photo. Can anyone in that neck of the woods please keep an eye out. I’m gutted about this.

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

@jeremycorbyn A water referendum to unite people.
We decide who owns our water, not the big money that controls it and wants to keep it.

Sign and share
https://t.co/p7dZoNJONr

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

Fantastic response - On the way to 150K signed
https://t.co/J5ADoh2hre
Thank you if you signed and shared and have not submitted to apathy or despair.

Nor fallen for the shameful 'takes years, too expensive, will stop progress' lies we have called out from @DefraGovUK

Next, we will ask the big NGOs if they will support the public having a say.

If you haven't already - and please share and ask them to share and keep sharing - this should be our water, but it became a cash machine.
You can fight back.

[Clive Lewis MP @labourlewis]

I spoke with Rob, a Makerfield resident and Environment Agency whistleblower featured in Channel 4's 'Dirty Business'.

He wants to see Andy Burnham @andy4makerfield elected and water brought into public ownership.

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

Something happened yesterday and the petition that will change your future is flying again
https://t.co/p7dZoNJONr
Sign and share - get the numbers and this will make a difference - you don't have to be a victim, as many of you already worked out.

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

We are going to this, with @We_OwnIt in London at 1pm today to ask the two Emmas - Ministers - to stop the cynical water lies coming out of government @DefraGovUK

The public deserves the truth and the public, not the profiteers, deserves the choice.

Sign and share to end the scam https://t.co/J5ADoh2hre

https://t.co/hV3CSgIKW0

[Protect the Wild @ProtectTheWild_]

I’m running for Parliament in the Makerfield by-election next month dressed as a fox!

I’m not asking for votes, I’m doing it to raise awareness to end hunting with hounds for good.

It’s been a hot day!

[Carl Bovis @CarlBovisNature]

Know the difference... 😀
Here are 4 similar birds that spend most of their time in the sky, which I've photographed recently. 🐦

1. Swift - All brown, but can appear black against the sky. Short forked tail, long scythe-like wings. 🐦
2. House Martin - All white stomach and throat, appears black on the back, but with blue tinge. short wings, short forked tail. 🐦
3. Swallow - Red throat, white stomach up to a dark band below the throat. Long forked tail with streamers. 🐦
4. Sand Martin. Similar to House Martin but even shorter, slightly forked tail, white stomach with dark chest band and white throat. Brown on the back. 🐦

Other information to help with identification;

If your bird is on a wire or post, it's definitely NOT a Swift.😊 (Swifts only land to nest, everything else they do in flight, including eat, drink and sleep!)
If your bird is nesting under eaves, it's definitely NOT a Sand Martin.😊 Sand Martins nest in holes in sandy cliffs.
If your bird is screeching, it's a Swift. 😊

Next time you go out, look up and see if you can identify these birds. They're all summer visitors to the UK. ♥️

[Deborah Pitman @DeborahPitman]

@PaulAnimalz What a stunning vista of beautiful birds :-), thanks for sharing. I never noticed these watching panto there as a child, should have looked up!

[Deborah Pitman @DeborahPitman]

@CarlBovisNature @BeavenJill Absolute stunner of a shot! Jinxing joyousness abounding over Derbyshire :-)

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

Now that Privatisation has been shown to be the reason that the water industry has been allowed to rot to extract cash to shareholders, the people who still profit from letting it decay tell us that ending their scam would slow down its recovery.

And our own government wants us to believe that, no matter how ridiculous or untrue it is.

https://t.co/bzgP4vSuAR

[Pam Ayres MBE @PamAyres]

Please consider signing this petition as I have done if like me, you are appalled at the amount of sewage tipped into our waterways to the vast financial benefit of others. Why would any country sell control of something as crucial as water? It is lunacy.

https://t.co/dsmb1FOmmK

[Windrush WASP @WindrushWasp]

The only way the laws proposed in the Kings speech will not be catastrophic is is the water sector is taken into public ownership and will not want or need to exploit the 'supervisory' reglators scam that they will usher in.

Sign here to take an actual step to save our waters.

https://t.co/J5ADoh2hre

[Carl Bovis @CarlBovisNature]

Very important thread! 🙏
When Swifts ground, they're in danger. They can't get airborne again without help... please read the quoted thread for advice on what to do if you find a grounded Swift, please retweet it & bookmark it too! 🙏🐦❤️

[Deborah Pitman @DeborahPitman]

Dear ‘X’ someone asked me how they could help protect #sandmartins in #Worcestershire from @networkrail, but I can’t find the post. Document all your observations with video evidence. Then involve @BTP who may or may or not do anything. It’s been 11 month since I involved them :(