Graham Birkett

Butterflies, moths, natural history generally. Classical music, especially Baroque, Bach, Mozart, Mahler.
Views & opinions my own.

[Copernicus ECMWF @CopernicusECMWF]

A large Saharan dust plume has stretched across the Atlantic from the west coast of Africa towards the Americas. CAMS data shows that large parts of the Caribbean are most impacted.

[Frank Cavanagh @chikondibug]

Having only put up this House Martin nest box 2 weeks ago I thought that it was too late and this year it would be empty, however, when I woke up this morning to here the bubbly chirps coming from just outside my window there was only one thing it could be...

[Met Office @metoffice]

What weather conditions should we expect during the next 10 days? 🌦️

It will remain changeable and cool until next week with rain and gusty winds at times. But later next week, it may turn warmer and drier.

Watch our latest 10-day trend with Alex ⤵️

🧵 1/2

[Marco Petagna @Petagna]

The latest metoffice 3 month seasonal forecast for summer 2026...

https://t.co/oYzhkJ2yFj

[Angela Hewitt @HewittJSB]

It will be a joy to perform at @wigmore_hall tomorrow as part of their 125th birthday celebrations! And it's LIVE on @BBCRadio3 at 7:30 pm. So listen in around the world! Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Haydn, and of course Bach. https://t.co/XAnvBqdqim

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

Trump ‘very frustrated’ with and feels deceived by Netanyahu over length of war says US professor
https://t.co/5NTVbQ4HLJ

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

UN warns of El Niño extreme weather risk
https://t.co/QlRFlK5CLm

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Like a butterfly

Display of the Bohemian Waxwing bird

📹 wildsafarisaga and birdsinbloom

wild Safari Saga

[Benito Fuentes @metbeni]

El 26-may, Central England registró su mayor temperatura media en mayo en 253 años 🌡️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[Give A Shit About Nature @giveashitnature]

A bricklayer in East Yorkshire has spent 35 years putting up barn owl nest boxes on weekends. This year, the region saw 308 owlets hatch.

His name is Robert Salter. He's 56 and does bricklaying full time. In 1990, he saw a piece on the news about a man in Lincolnshire installing barn owl boxes, and decided he'd do the same. He started with five.

He now has more than 350 boxes scattered across fields, farms, outbuildings, and trees in East Yorkshire. Every June, he takes four weeks off from bricklaying and visits them with his wife Sue. Scrambling up ladders, ringing chicks, cleaning boxes, repairing the ones the weather got to. He's a licensed bird ringer for the British Trust for Ornithology.

In 2024, the region ringed 95 owlets. In 2025, the count was 308. The Barn Owl Trust says that nationally, this year was "pretty poor" for barn owl breeding, but east Yorkshire is the exception, and it's the exception because of one man with a ladder.

The barn owl population in the UK was estimated at 4,000 pairs in the mid-2000s and crashed to roughly 1,000 by the early 2010s. The species is still recovering.

Most of conservation is one person who refuses to give up.

[MetJam @MetJam_]

Oxford, the longest running continuous weather station in UK history, with temperature observations stretching back to 1815, has preliminarily broken its maximum temperature record for May yesterday by OVER 3ºC with a temperature of 33.7ºC. Unprecedented in its 211-year history.

[Dr Elaine Cox 🍃 💚 🍃🌽🥬🐦‍⬛🐌🇬🇧 @ElaineCox11]

Uncut grass keeps the ground at around 19.5°C
Grass cut to 10 cm raises the ground temperature to about 24.5°C
Bare ground in the middle of summer rises to over 40°C
It's important to raise awareness #NoMowMay

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

This article says climate change is “believed to have played a role” in the UK's extreme heat this week.

As a climate scientist, let me fact-check that.

First, climate change is not a religion. No belief is required. It is about evidence.

And the evidence has been crystal clear for more than two decades: climate change is making heat waves hotter, longer, more frequent and more dangerous.

In fact, science has advanced far beyond saying climate change merely “played a role.” Today, we can quantify how much more likely and how much hotter climate change made a specific event.

Here's the bottom line:

Climate is changing. Humans are responsible. And we are experiencing the impacts now. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that solutions already exist, and the majority of people care - 89%, around the world!

But meaningful action depends on helping people understand not just what is happening: we need to know how it affects our lives (this heat wave being example A today) and what we can do about it.

That’s the opportunity this reporting missed.

https://t.co/vYfPDKcWWf

[Peter Brookes @BrookesTimes]

My cartoon @thetimes Saturday. Prints available to buy from
https://t.co/2Brf8C5Dih

[Carl Bovis @CarlBovisNature]

If you see this photo, please leave a comment! 😊
This is a Swift, a very difficult bird to photograph at the best of times, but even tougher when low-flying, so I was thrilled to get this pic! 😀😍
Have you seen Swifts this spring yet? 🐦

[Channel 4 News @Channel4News]

UK’s most flooded farmer on the national security threat posed by climate change
https://t.co/SybiXFr5Y4

[Met Office @metoffice]

It's been a cool May - so far🌡️

That's set to change quite dramatically over the coming days. A prolonged period of very warm weather is now increasingly likely. Temperatures will rise to well above average for May with the hottest spots possibly exceeding 30 Celsius📈

[Graham Birkett @vanessid1]

@Petagna See you on BlueSky

[Philharmonia Orchestra @philharmonia]

This Monday, we celebrate the extraordinary legacy of Gustav Mahler 🎻🎶

Mahler died on this day in 1911 at just 50 years old, but his impact on classical composition and symphonic music continues to inspire generations around the world. Enjoy the powerful finale of his 'Resurrection' Symphony, captured earlier this year in rehearsals with conductor Kent Nagano and the Philharmonia Chorus 🎻✨

#Mahler #SymphonyNo2 #ResurrectionSymphony #ClassicalMusic #Orchestra

[matt prior @mattthesparrow]

We knew this would be a good breeding season for Barn Owls but.... The first brood we ringed this year was our largest ever, with an amazing EIGHT owlets!!!