Two for joy! 🖤🐦⬛🤍
So delighted by my first sighting of the strikingly beautiful (but poisonous) Magpie fungus
Like ink caps, it deliquesces into useable ink🤍🖤🤍
Always fun to look out for signs of mice in churches!
No scurrying around here though, just another lovely example by Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson…this one is in the Church of St. John the Evangelist, on the edge of beautiful East Witton, North Yorkshire 😍
“The swallows can be distinguished from the martins by their reddish-chestnut throats and foreheads, their beautiful steel-blue backs and wings, and their long, forked tails”
Writer: EL Grant Watson
Artist : CF Tunnicliffe
The new Hexham Abbey exhibition (with a lot better photographs than mine) inspired me to have a look at things with my eyes actually open…..some wonderful things I have walked past many times.
This is probably #StickOfTheYear for me. ORANGE PORECAP!!! Favolaschia claudopus. An accidental import from Madagascar & a rare find. But it’s spreading. This is the 2nd time I’ve found it in Devon. #DevonMushrooms@foxyflic
Most people don't realize just how incredible pigeons truly are.
These gentle birds aren’t just loyal partners—they're brilliant, complex beings. Tucked inside their beaks are tiny magnetic crystals that act like a natural GPS, helping them navigate thousands of miles with stunning precision. They can also hear frequencies too low for us to detect, read polarized light patterns in the sky, and even see in ultraviolet light, giving them a vibrant view of the world we can't imagine.
Pigeons are also remarkably intelligent. Studies show they can count, recognize their own reflections, understand abstract ideas, and even grasp probability, sometimes outperforming young children. When raising their young, they produce a special milk-like substance in their throats to nourish their chicks. They form lifelong bonds with their mates and use different coos and calls to communicate danger, love, and territory.
History has seen their courage, too. During wartime, a pigeon named Cher Ami delivered a message that saved 194 soldiers—even after losing a leg. Sadly, despite all this, many pigeons were abandoned when we no longer “needed” them, and they stayed close to humans because that's what they knew.
Pigeons are not pests. They are intelligent, emotional, deeply social beings that remember us. It's time we remember them.
For more information on these misunderstood geniuses, you can visit 👉🏼https://t.co/YpF4KsCQuM.