Lifelong Suffolk Naturalist; Minsmere Wildlife Guide; retired Conservation & Countryside Manager for Hampshire County Council

Suffolk Sandlings, UK
Joined November 2014
Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Moustache trimming on the marshes this morning 04/10/26 This pair of Beardies were clearly in love this morning. They left the group and carried on preening each other for several minutes before heading away I was so privalidged to witness it bought a tear to my eye
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
We were just about to leave Island Mere Hide (Minsmere) when 5 cranes circled overhead, putting on a show worthy of the Red Arrows. @RSPBEngland @BTO_Suffolk @suffolkwildlife @WildlifeMag
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
🚨 JUST IN: A migratory bird just shattered world records — flying 8,425 miles (13,560 km) NON-STOP across the Pacific without landing once. The bar-tailed godwit doesn’t stop to eat, drink, or sleep during its migration across the Pacific Ocean. Its journey from Alaska to Australia takes roughly 11 days of continuous flight, covering over 13,000 kilometers through storms, headwinds, and open ocean with zero land beneath it the entire time. Before departure, it does something almost surgical to its own body. It shrinks its digestive organs down to almost nothing, converting the stomach, intestines, and liver into raw fuel. The bird essentially eats its own gut to make room for fat reserves that will power its wings for nearly two weeks straight. The brain doesn’t fully sleep either. Half of it stays active while the other half rests, alternating in shifts mid-flight at altitude over the open Pacific. The godwit is simultaneously unconscious and navigating with magnetic field sensitivity that no human instrument in the 18th century could replicate. What makes this genuinely staggering beyond the physical record is the navigational precision involved. The bird leaves Alaska and arrives in New Zealand with accuracy that would embarrass early GPS systems. It reads Earth’s magnetic field, atmospheric pressure gradients, star positions, and potentially quantum-level compass mechanisms inside its eye that literally let it see magnetic field lines overlaid on its visual field. Evolution spent millions of years building an aerospace navigation system inside a 300 gram animal. We spend billions engineering machines that do what this bird does on instinct, fat reserves, and half a sleeping brain. The longest recorded non-stop flight by a commercial aircraft is around 20 hours. This bird does 11 days. Without a runway.
🚨BREAKING: Scientists tracked a bird that flew 8,425 miles (13,560 km) without stopping even once — the longest non-stop flight ever recorded.
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Despite some iffy weather…another fabulous day at Minsmere! Bittern flyby, several marsh harriers, firecrest, great egret, black adder and a very early swallow (record shot!!) 😮 @BtoSuffolk @suffolkwildlife @BBCSpringwatch @_BTO
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Thirsty crossbill preferring the safety of the tree’s rather than plentiful ground water Sherwood Forest 🌳 Nottinghamshire
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This is what happens when a Bittern takes up residence in an area of reed beds in front of Island mere hide on the left the last 10 days. A GW Egret kept bothering the bittern by going into those reeds on the edge of the mere to fish. Excellent territorial behaviour response 😊👍
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Death's-head Hawk-moth @Bawdsey_Hall last night. The third site record. @MigrantMothUK @BC_Suffolk
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Amazing views of a Jay in my garden this morning, deliberately allowing black ants to access its plumage, mainly for feather maintenance - a behaviour common to many passerine bird species, known as 'anting'. @Natures_Voice @RSPBEngland @_BTO @BBCSpringwatch @suffolkwildlife
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Just been sent this great picture by a local friend who first thought it was a piece of Lego lying on the pavement. Mating lime hawks, Mimas tiliae. Plenty of limes (lindens) planted as street trees hereabouts. Sometimes I’m sent photos of the caterpillars.
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
The 2025 swift season begins with the first home this evening #apusapus #commonswift #actionforswifts #swiftconservation #saveourswifts @BBCSpringwatch
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Pics or it doesn’t count! 😉 In North Cornwall the frogs have spawned in the last day or two . #Frogspawn
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It's here! frogspawn season has started! @froglifers
Hi Kate, good to hear from you and the latest news from my sister in West Penwith is yes, she has frogspawn in her garden pond! The first blob of frogspawn was on 1st December, followed by at least 5 blobs from 2nd December. I am expecting an update tomorrow, will be in touch!
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Absolutely sensational on the Ouse Washes at dusk today!! Ducks, Geese, Gulls, Waders, Swans…and then the Cranes came. I think 87, arriving together, flying straight towards me calling and then circling. One of the best things I’ve seen! 🤩 @CambsBirdClub
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Have you ever looked towards the sky and asked an Osprey to slowly fly towards the moon and maybe pause just for a second above it? You know, for perspective? I did that yesterday and then this happened. What you don’t see is me standing knee deep in a wave that suddenly washed over the pier I was on! That water was cold! Glad it didn’t go any higher than my knees.
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Yet another image of that wonderfully showy Osprey at Thorpeness Mere on Friday 11/10/2024 @BTO_Suffolk @OlympusUK @OMSYSTEMcameras @SuffolkBirdGrp
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
The colours of summer: blue sky, blue sea, blue Sea Holly, blue butterflies! Where is this paradise? The Mediterranean? No, Sizewell on the Suffolk coast, planned location for a vast industrial development...
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Marsh harrier and bittern Summer Leys #Northantsbirds #BBCWildlifePOTD @wildlifebcn
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Charles Cuthbert retweeted
Dungeness: It is difficult for a single image to portray the scale of todays awesome Hirundine migration. This image shows mainly House Martins streaming past the power station. As I was at the fishing boats at the time I'm sure @DungenessBO will have better ones.
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The start of the rut - a big Red Deer stag guarding his group of females (hinds) - sorry, not much roaring, bellowing or clashing of antlers on this occasion... @CRCuthbert
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