Nicola Crockford

Glad you liked it! Yes, lots of fun. Thanks so much for connecting me to Ruth as I saw online she has been involved in restoration of Hoffer Brook. I'm emailed her.

132 countries and the EU have signed the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), which has been in force since 1979.

By bringing countries together, supporting research, and coordinating conservation efforts across Range States, CMS helps safeguard migratory wildlife and their habitats.

#CMSCOP15

Three decades of western sandpiper stopover dynamics during northward migration on the Pacific Coast of North America, 1992–2022 Shorebirds typically spend more time fueling and refueling during migration than they spend in actual flight, and consequently their stopover ecology has important implications for fitness and conser...

Thank you co-authors! Happy to have this one out.

nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Kingfisher perched on a reed above a wetland at golden hour, its bright blue back and orange chest glowing in the soft light. Moments like this show the wildlife our nature laws protect, species that rely on healthy habitats and wild places to survive.

Today, the Government stepped back from the most damaging recommendations that threatened to gut the laws protecting our most precious places for nature.

With wildlife already in crisis, anything else would have been reckless.

But avoiding the worst is not enough. Nature needs ambitious action.

Good question, will have a think! Thanks to suggestion from someone on social media, I think in response to this post bsky.app/profile/nume..., I soundtracked this float down River Lark with Cool Water by Sons of the Pioneers, now a fave of mine. (Sorry re quality, @bsky.app forces compression!)

'Swallows of the river' is a lovely corrective to lampreys' usual horror image

@numenini.bsky.social What an amazing sight, the writhing bodies in your first & last videos!
Good soundtracks? Any ideas, music people?
#lamprey #fish #rivers #music

#BirdsSeenIn2026

Flock of Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) in flight (with occasional Red Knot).
#BirdsSeenIn2026 #Sabah #Malaysia #birds #nature #wildlife @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social @tonyrinaud.bsky.social

Nordmann's Greenshank (Tringa guttifer) among Great & Red Knots. Endangered with 1-2,000 left in the world.
#BirdsSeenIn2026 #Sabah #Malaysia #birds #nature #wildlife @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social @tonyrinaud.bsky.social

Amazing. You found them!

Thanks for the inspiration!

Great photo! Actually the first time I ever met Brook Lampreys, back in 2021, it was in February bsky.app/profile/nume.... But usually I see the redds in March.

Is a river alive, asked @robgmacfarlane.bsky.social. Yesterday Hoffer Brook, tributary of the Cam, seemed v alive, not least hosting these Brook Lampreys which have presumably performed such frantic breeding rituals in this #chalkstream for many millennia, long before we came & messed it up. 23/23

Floating back down Hoffer Brook in spring sun, hoped those who care for the River Cam catchment can make this precious chalk stream what it should & could be, a paradise for trout, brook lamprey etc. Seems challenge is to stop supply of silt & flush out that accumulated, by increasing flow. 22/23

The 1 km of Hoffer Brook I swam (8th of its length from Thriplow's chalk aquifer springs to Cam/Rhee at Barrington, 10km as heron flies from Cambridge) is truly enchanting chalk stream. Scandalous how river deteriorates even before Cambridge bsky.app/profile/nume... @pippaheylings.bsky.social 21/23

Then the final gift of Hoffer Brook; suddenly came across 2+ pairs of Mandarin Duck (not as tame as the fish!), with their funny squeaky calls, possibly explaining the small eggs I'd found on riverbed (last year's as don't think they lay till April?). Mallard too. @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social 20/23

Sure enough it was then that I met this stunning young Brown Trout. Fine upstanding dorsal fin, so wild not stocked? Two larger ones (c20cm) then zipped past downstream. Sadly with less silt, the #invasivespecies Signal Crayfish also appeared, with their burrows in the chalky banks. #rivers 19/23

Then from the sweet spot where the Brook Lampreys had their redd, upstream, the glorious tassels of Chalk-stream Water-Crowfoot (Ranunculus pseudofluitans). Not sure if both these crowfoot species were introduced as part of river restoration work by eg @wildlifebcn.org? #wildflowerhour #rivers 18/23

Here's where conditions in Hoffer Brook began to improve, with the first proper skein of River Water-Crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans) & immediately the biggest shoal of Minnows - with a bonus Threespine Stickleback - that I'd seen so far. Such sights dispel the cold from immersion in 6°C water. 17/23

What kept me going on up thro the silty lengths of Hoffer Brook was that exciting strands of River Water-Crowfoot (Ranunculus fluitans), queen of #chalkstream #macrophytes, began appearing despite silt. Suggested things were better further up this River Cam tributary. #rivers #wildflowerhour 16/23

Likewise, good growth of that other #chalkstream stalwart, Fool's Watercress (Helosciadium nodiflorum) in Hoffer's Brook from A10 to railway. The silt made it a slog swimming up until the top end where the water speeded up revealing the clean gravels & chalk substrate. If only all like that! 15/23

A good sign about the health of Hoffer Brook is that even in the silt that dominates the stream for most of the 1 km up from the A10, there are gorgeous banks of Blunt-fruited? Water-Starwort (Callitriche ?obtusangula), glistening like it should in the cleaner upstream reaches. #WildflowerHour 14/23

More promising was a sprig of Common Mare's Tail (Hippuris vulgaris) emerging from the silt, as well as the more common emergent plants of East Anglia's rivers: Water Mint (Mentha aquatica), Brooklime (Veronica beccabunga) & Water Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis scorpioides) #Wildflowerhour #flower 13/23

Also worrying that at the downstream end of Hoffer Brook, near the A10, there was a nasty infestation of the #invasivespecies, Water Fern (Azolla filiculoides), from the Americas. @wildlifebcn.org @scambsdclibdems.bsky.social @wildtrouttrust.bsky.social #aquaticplants #rivers #chalkstreams 12/23

Puzzling why poor Hoffer Brook suffers so badly from silt. Unsuitable arable upstream of railway? The 1 km I swam was thro' woodland & pasture - with cattle drinking points fenced off from the river. Apart from a few bits of sadly ubiquitous litter & a little scum, water quality felt good. 11/23

Much most common fish in Hoffer Brook, even its silty bits, was European Minnow (Phoxinus phoxinus), always a delight, some ♂️ ♂️almost in breeding colours. Notice the freshwater sponge (Spongillidae) by one at the culvert & opportunistic one looking for a Brook Lamprey egg snack. #fish #rivers 10/23

Plenty caddisfly (Trichoptera) larvae in the few silt free reaches of Hoffer Brook, esp. Brown Sedge (Anabolia nervosa), incorporating sticks in their cases to avoid being eaten by trout. Is the mosaic case of Silver Sedge (Odontocerum albicorne)? Diaphanous material also caddis? #riverflies 9/23

The floor of the Hoffer Brook culvert under the A10 was absolutely covered in these small life forms - with the young Chabot Bullhead (Cottus perifretum) for scale - which I've never seen before. Could they be the larvae of Ephydra shore/brine flies @flygirlnhm.bsky.social? #riverflies #diptera 8/23

It took me 3 hours in 6°C water to explore Hoffer Brook 1 km upstream from the A10 (a lot faster coming back down!). Its wonders at the top end were such that it was only on getting out realised I was cold. Apart from a few fallen willows and the like it wasn't too much of an obstacle course. 7/23