Tom Lee

Birds, Sharks, Blue Jays, Raptors, Bears and Blades. #birdingblades

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

@GarryBagnell Those pasties are the best !

[Stephen Moss @StephenMoss_TV]

Finally caught up with Birding with Bill Oddie on BBC Iplayer this evening - and to my surprise and delight THE WHOLE OF SERIES 2 is up there! Enjoy Shetland, Farmland, Heathland, London and Trinidad & Tobago as well as Bill’s Beginnings! Nostalgia fest! Please RT.

[Stephen Moss @StephenMoss_TV]

Just a reminder that BBC4 are doing an evening tribute to Bill Oddie this Sunday from 7-9pm... enjoy!

[Motown Slaughter @Motown_Cowboy]

@PhilipProudfoot I put the Mexico filter over it. Now it's Tijuana. 🤣

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

@canttmi73 Yes, me too, by about 5 mins on its last day in Fife due to issues with hire car 😡. It was Unbelievable to get this bird yesterday. Delighted you got it !

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

Oh go on then, here’s my pic to add to the rest. The fantastic Western Reef Heron from Caernarfon Castle yesterday. and a stunning drive through Wales: valleys, mountains, estuaries, castles, steam engines and place names from books and legend! @BirdingBlades

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

@tomhines10 Great pic as ever! Fabulous bird. Arrived just before 10am yesterday. Bumped into @andydeigh and we were wondering if you had already got it. But it is a golden rule of birding that you always get there before me 😀

[MLB @MLB]

Blue Jays, RHP Max Scherzer agree to deal, per @MLBNetwork insider @JonHeyman.

[Britain Elects @BritainElects]

Gorton and Denton by-election result:

GRN: 40.7% (+27.5)
REF: 28.7% (+14.7)
LAB: 25.4% (-25.3)
CON: 1.9% (-6.0)
LDEM: 1.8% (-2.1)

Green GAIN from Labour.

[Cian McCarthy @arealmofwonder]

Exquisite.

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

@AddeyNick If he was true Leeds he wouldn’t need the shade 😉

[Mainly Things Sheffield United @AllThingsBlades]

Callum O’Hare 👏

[Rupert Read 🌍 🔥 @GreenRupertRead]

It’s time to voice an ugly truth:
I’ve been talking recently {privately} with ecologists, with very senior figures in the environmental NGOs, with activists and lawyers. What they say - privately - is stark:
>This Govt is even worse on nature than the Sunak & Johnson Govts<.
The best comparator is with the Truss regime, with its #attackonnature.
But Truss lasted less long than a lettuce. We are stuck with this lot til 2029.
Whether it’s Aarhus, habitats, planning, Starmer’s proposed bonfire of regulations, and on and on and on, both the rhetoric and the reality of Labour on nature are simply dire.
Why? Because, just like Truss, they will sacrifice anything for a smidgeon of potential ‘growth’. And because there is no care at all for nature in their dna. They will throw anything under the bus for some possible short-term human material benefit.
Never mind that humans NEED nature too! They don’t seem aware of that.
…
Please repost to express your agreement.

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

Repeat after me 1,000 times - “This is not called a Grotfich, This not called a Grotfinch!”#Birdingblades

[Cian McCarthy @arealmofwonder]

Rest in peace, Patricia Routledge 🙏🏻

In memory of her, I encourage everyone to read these words of hers from February last year.

Whether young or old, you're bound to get something out of it.

*****

"I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.

My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.

At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.

At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.

At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.

At 80, I took up watercolour painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.

Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.

I’m writing this to tell you something simple:

Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.

Let these years ahead be your TREASURE YEARS.

You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.

You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.

With love and gentleness,

Patricia Routledge

*****

Once more, rest in peace. 🤍

[Liberta Cherguia 🇪🇺 @MbarkCherguia]

Apparently, Shoebill Storks will bow to humans as a sign of respect, and they appreciate it when you bow back. This is literally a diplomatic meeting with a modern-day dinosaur. 🤯

#Shoebill #Nature #Birds #Wildlife

[Dr Helen Ingram @drhingram]

I don’t want to panic anyone in Bristol but

[Birding Blades @BirdingBlades]

It's good to be back at BDTBL
#twitterblades

[Tom Lee @tdlee2]

@thedamned Was on my way, but no matter, the main thing is he's ok. GWS.

[Dylan O'Sullivan @DylanoA4]

This passage from Schopenhauer is so brilliantly brutal