Deeside Sparrow

@deesidesparrow.bsky.social

101 Followers 32 Following

Concerned about biodiversity loss & climate change. Interests: avifauna, plantlife, books, art galleries, museums 🐦🌾📚🖼🎨🏛

Image of the title page of the printed 17th volume of the Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, 1989, from the reference books section in Chester Library.
Screen grab from Cornell Lab of Ornithology 'Merlin' bird sounds app. showing app. identified 1 type of bird "Eurasian Skylark" at 7.57am on June 27 at Leuchars, Scotland, GB
View of the exterior tables and seats of the Central Hotel in Shotton, owned by Wetherspoons, adjacent to the entrance/exit ramp of the railway station high-level platforms. A jackdaw is (just) visible walking on the paving stones next to the farthest picnic-table style table to the left of the chairs and square tables. Photo taken 05:06hrs, Friday 22 May 2026.
The Merriam-Webster online dictionary definition of "the bush": noun 'a large area (such as in Australia or Africa) that has not been cleared and that is not used for farming.' Example of usage in English sentence 'She recently spent several weeks in the bush' with "the bush" in italics in this example sentence.
Hardback edition dust jacket cover of Mark Cocker 'One Midsummer's Day: Swifts and the Story of Life on Earth', published by Jonathan Cape 2023 in various light blue tones with eight flying swift shapes in the artist's design by Alison Ingram
Embankment of the Bidston-Wrexham railway line between Hawarden Bridge and Shotton Stations from footpath beside the steelworks sports and social club photographed Sunday 11 May 2025 at 11:06hrs. The railway infrastructure sign is a permanent speed restriction on the Up Line prior to the bridge taking the tracks over the North Wales Main Line.
Image of an extract from a Blog article at snowdoninfo.com: Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Info THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS BAD WEATHER Everybody has heard the quote: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only the wrong clothing." Whilst some people will tell you that the phrase derived from Billy Connolly or Ranulph Feinned - and indeed they both said it at some point - it wasn't either of them who originally coined it. It was probably Alfred Wainwright- he of the many walking books - and his original wording, slightly different, was: "There's no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing." His comment appeared in his 1973 book 'Coast to Coast', so is now 50 years old. [There is an asterisk note here to see a footnote.] Back in Wainwright's time (most of his walking was done from about 1950 to 1975) outdoor clothing was, needless to say, not what it is today. Although Gore-tex, for instance, was invented in 1969, patents were not taken out until the mid-1970s. Fell walkers of Wainwright's era invariably ... [Extract end. Note Yr Wyddfa is Welsh language name for the highest mountain in Wales called Snowdon in English language.]
"The red-winged blackbirds would wake all at once, like soldiers to Reveille. They would shake themselves from the bam grove and swing in a glistening pack to settle in the nearby bunchberry vines, where they waited for the mist to lift from the coattails, singing incessantly or drawing the black feathers of their wings and tails slowly through their bills. With the bright scarlet amulets on each shoulder of their black uniforms they always made sure that they were preparing for a review by their king." An extract from a passage in 'Sometimes a Great Notion' (1964) by Ken Kesey describing Viv Stamper's precious time of early morning relaxation in the Oregon forests
RSPB 'Big Garden Birdwatch' Internet portal acknowledgment of individual one hour birdwatch data, stating "That's it! You've successfully completed your Big Garden Birdwatch. Five million four hundred and thirty-five thousand, three hundred and sixteen Birds counted so far"
UK BBC website Radio 4 webpage for 'In Other News': "Welcome to the programme which sidesteps the main news headlines and delves more deeply into what's going on in the world."
Copy of Google AI-assisted search on sightings of White-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis) in Britain & Ireland (part 1 of 2)
Extract from UK county public library catalogue book item data on 'Walden' by Henry David Thoreau confirming title, author, edition, format, ISBN, publisher, publication date, series title and summary.
Public library copies of two books 'Light Rains Sometimes Fall: A British Year Through Japan's 72 Seasons' by Lev Parikian (2021, Elliott and Thompson) and 'Nature's Calendar: The British Year in 72 Seasons' by Kiera Chapman, Lulah Ellender, Rowan Jaines & Rebecca Warren (2023, Granta)
Short synopsis for Episode 3 of radio programme series 'Winter Well' that was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the UK from 13/10/2025 to 17/10/2025 (5 x 14 minutes episodes). Note the extracted sentence as follows: "Lulah Ellender describes the concept of 72 microseasons - borrowed from the Japanese - and how this can promote a greater sense of close observation of the ever changing world around us."
Photograph in sunny early evening conditions of a willow tree in the civic square (adjacent to swimming baths) in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, Wales, UK. Photographed on 2nd August 2025 at 18:33hrs. This image was captured shortly before two attendances of arboriculturists in the succeeding months that have much reduced the hanging fronds and reacted to a dropped limb in an early autumn storm.
Poster for public consultation on Dorset Local Nature Recovery Strategy closing 30 July 2025 seen in Poole Library.
Solidago canadensis, a goldenrod, showing the first yellow florets to emerge in 2025 and emergent florets. This plant is growing by a wall and may have flowered earlier than others because of the additional radiant heat in its location. Photograph taken on Wednesday 18 June 2025 at 10:35 hours.
Scaled photograph of the 'inside' surface of a broken half egg which is circa 22 millimetres in length. This egg shell is to the right of a transparent ruler denoted in half-millimeters and sixteenth-inches on the background of blue hatched pattern of the 'back of an envelope'. Egg shell was found by the side of a privet hedge on 6th May 2025.
Automated email 'to me' generated by the scanning of a parcel at an Evri 'ParcelShop' confirming that a package has been collected at 08:16 hours on Tuesday 29th April 2025.
The 'Word History - Etymology' extracted from the Merriam-Webster online definition of "OG" noun 1 of 2
The front of a 907g (31.99oz) can of Lyle's Golden Syrup showing the panel of the bees around the dead lion "OUT OF THE STRONG CAME FORTH SWEETNESS" encircled by the manufacturer's trading name Abram Lyle & Sons Sugar Refiners.
Android screengrab of the Google AI Overview response to search spring migration+2025+white-throated sparrow. Images below this summary of colour-coded map of migration areas in North America on L.H.S. and a White-throated sparrow perched on a small bore branch on R.H.S.
Front cover design of a paperback edition of the 1922 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim 'The Enchanted April' published in 2024 in the Collins Classics series by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins.
Front cover of first British edition of novel 'Sometimes a Great Notion' by Ken Kesey published by Methuen & Co. in 1966. This book is in a library protective plastic covered jacket as borrowed from North Wales public libraries.
Flowering of blackthorn tree next to the B5129 road bridge over Wepre Brook next to the War Memorial on the Connah's Quay and Shotton border, Deeside, North Wales. Photograph taken at 17:13 hours on Monday, 3rd March 2025.
Cormorant taking flight on the canal in Chester between the City Road bridge and the Waitrose supermarket. Photograph taken Tuesday, 4th February 2025 at 11:57 hours.
Children's play area between the high level railway line and Alexandra Street in Shotton, Deeside. Photograph taken on Sunday 8th December 2024 at 13:21hrs when there were several male blackbirds rooting about in the fallen leaves.
The point of a 'triangle' joining the green navigation light on the far bank of the river and the end of the dilapidated jetty is a cormorant floating between dives on the River Dee at 9.05 am on Sunday 26th January 2025.
A property sign still affixed to a building advising the public that an adjacent entranceway is a 'PRIVATE ROAD AND/OR FOOTPATH' in the name of the 'London, Midlands & Scottish Railway'. This was a company which was formed by the 'grouping' of several predecessor railway companies operating from 1st January 1922 until the nationalisation of Great Britain's railways after 31st December 1947 under the Transport Act 1947. The background of the sign is black gloss and the lettering - all in capitals - in white gloss, presumably it is enamelled to be in such fair condition for the age it must be. There are three fixings: a centre fixing with a the sort of head that cannot be discerned and might have been the original sole fixing and plain head screws top and bottom centred. Only the last of the three shows some distress from localised corrosion.
British Trust for Ornithology webpage for the (Red-billed) Chough (L. Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax) Britain & Ireland Breeding Distribution Change 1968-72 to 2008-11 map.
Flag of the historic county of Flintshire in North-East Wales with choughs in the four quarters of a black engraved flory cross on a white background.
Icicles up to a few inches long beneath an inverted metal tray mounted under a Mitubishi Electric air conditioning unit on the external wall of the coffee outlet at Warrington Bank Quay Station photographed on Saturday 11th January 2025.
A plain orange coloured credit card-size card with 1824 and a full stop in an archaic font in yellow on it, towards the lower left hand corner, mounted on a purple-tinted photograph of the National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London. The reverse side of the current 12 months National Gallery membership scheme admittance card as distributed by post upon renewal of subscription.
This is a list of books written, or translated, by women that the poster either read, or re-read, during the calendar year 2024 extracted from a diary of all books read, both fiction and non-fiction. The list states the year of first publication in the original language. The books are: Marie-Madeleine de La Fayette 'La Princesse de Clèves' (translated by Terence Cave) (1678 French), Jane Austen 'Sense and Sensibility' (1811) [re-read], Mary Elizabeth Braddon 'Charlotte’s Inheritance' (1868), Non-Fiction Sarah Gibson 'Swifts and Us: The Life of the Bird that Sleeps in the Sky' (2021), Non-Fiction Amy-Jane Beer 'Sparrows' (RSPB 'Spotlight On' series) (2019), Non-Fiction Faith Anstey 'Flowers in the Field: How to Find, Identify and Enjoy Wild Flowers' (2010), Elizabeth Bowen 'The Heat of the Day' (1948), Clara Reeve 'The Old English Baron' (1777), Mary McCarthy 'The Groves of Academe' (1952), Iris Murdoch 'The Bell' (1958), Charlotte Dacre 'Zofloya, or The Moor' (1806), Mary Shelley 'Frankenstein' 1818 [re-read], Ann Radcliffe 'The Romance of the Forest' (1791),Emily Brontë 'Wuthering Heights' (1847) [re-read], and a translation from French to English by Carol Cosman of the 1832 novella by Honoré de Balzac 'Colonel Chabert' published in 1997 by New Directions Publishing, New York.
A Pied wagtail (International name: White wagtail) is stood on a heavy concrete sphere (discreet security barrier) on the edge of the pavement of South Walls, Stafford with the road behind and the back of the police station beyond. The surface of the pavement is mostly dry but the road appears wet. The sky is overcast but reasonably light under high clouds.
A microsnail with a dark brown four whorl shell in the rim of a mid-briwn wheelie bin which seats the lid. This depressed rim seat is 10mm or 0.39in wide. There is also a 20 pence UK coin adjacent scaling the photograph to show how small this snail is.
A red admiral butterfly settled in sunshine on a white painted diagonal timber slat fence on Platform 1 at Shotton Station, Flintshire, Wales. Photograph taken on Sunday 29th December 2024 at 11:52 hours GMT.
Photograph shows a plume moth, a type of micromoth, on a timber slat fence. It may be a Common plume moth (Emmelina monodactyla). The plume moth has furled wings, appearing like an early aeroplane, and is straw-coloured, the fence slats are greened with age and are one and a half inches or 38.1mm in width. Photograph taken at 14:41 hours on Wednesday 4th December 2024 at 53.21°N 3.05°W Deeside, Flintshire, Wales, UK.
(Presumably) an Arkansas state vehicle registration plate is near the centre of this image, which is of a small part of wall in a USA diner-themed restaurant in England that has around sixty vehicle registration plates from states of the Union affixed to it. The wall has an artificial small green leaves covering and there is a silvery Christmas bauble near this the only plate shown in full. Arkansas (presumably) is identified by upper case lettering 'ARK' to the right hand side of one alphabetic character and six digits. Above the unique vehicle number is 'EXP' showing an expiry date in the US M-DD-YY format as the end of June 1997. Underneath the unique vehicle number is the legend in upper case lettering 'FARM PRODUCTS'. The characters are all in black in a straigh-lined and clear, though not commonly used, font. The plate background is yellow-amber and all characters are black with coatings all gloss rather than matt.