Geoff Morgan
Birder and pan species lister based in Penicuik and most likely to be found in the Moorfoots in Midlothian or at Pease Bay in Scottish Borders
- This weekend has been all about the testate or shelled amoebas- if you want to see one I suggest a microscope and a drop of water from the bottom of a houseplant pot - they seem to like it there!
- Found some Wart Barnacles (Verruca stroemia) washed up on a piece of net yesterday. All of the larger individuals had Foraminiferans on them, mostly Lobatula lobatula which commonly lives on other species apparently - happy to see them in situ #panspecieslisting
- Found my first Gastrotrich today - not every day I get to see a new animal phylum 🎉 🥳 So that’s the 16th phylum here at Pease Bay in less than a year which isn’t bad #gastrotricha
- Sample from a ditch yesterday and the first 4 things are previously unmapped for Scotland on @inaturalist.bsky.social This PSL is great fun! Ciliate of the Stylonychia mytilus complex; dinoflagellate Perindinium bipes; heliozoan Actinosphaerium eichhornii; ciliate of the family Trachelophyllidae
- A first for me today was this Hypotrich - a single-celled organism scampering around on ‘legs’ - far more animal-like than any other protozoan that I’ve seen #hypotrich
- Lovely walk to Penicuik House Estate added a species I’ve definitely seen before (Maidenhair Spleenwort) and one that I’ve not noticed before (Broom Fork-moss). Also, though I’m not 💯 confident of either, Scaly Pelt Lichen and Black Witches’ Butter - happy to be corrected #panspecieslisting
- The first day of the year and a couple of new species already on the list - both literally on the doorstep of my dune side retreat at Pease Bay: Sand-hill Screw-moss and Sand Couch-grass - both species I clearly stepped all over last year - a nice reminder to look closer and harder everywhere! #psl
- So I reverted to an all-round naturalist in July of this year and haven’t looked back at all - here’s my @inaturalist.bsky.social summary of the six months of trying to ID anything and everything- I’d recommend it thoroughly, especially when combined with Pan-species Listing ✅✅✅
- Getting my eye in now for the Forams #Foraminifera #marineplankton
- Found my first y-larva (Facetotectan) yesterday- a mysterious and parasitic sister group to the barnacles. No-one has seen an adult and no-one yet knows their hosts… This is a naupilus stage and maybe a moulted exuvia #marineplankton
- Christmas Day trip out on the paddleboard to collect some plankton at Pease Bay resulted in a whole series of lovely gifts 😁: a couple of foraminifera - Leptohalysis scottii and a species of rotaliida; an acantharian radiolarian; the silicoflagellate Dictyocha fibula #plankton
- A few other species - all of which are new to me I think: the diatoms Podosira stelligera, Coscinodiscus radiatus and Trieres mobiliensis; a ciliate Stenosemella sp. #plankton
- Only just noticed that my #BWPUC has been offline for a month - generally ignore it due to ID errors. It got the following correct though Whooper Swans (November) and Whimbrel (September). Highlight: a Sandwich Tern at night in September over Penicuik! #birdingScotland @lothianrecorder.bsky.social
- @elizabethbeston.bsky.social I wonder if you’d be able to point me in the right direction in the identification of a variety of copepods - all from Inshore plankton trawls from a paddle board in southeast Scotland - no recent samples as the sea’s been a little rough - so I’m trawling pics instead!
- My first check for the winter this morning and at least three of the usual Woodcock are in their usual spots - all viewable from the car and all drive-away views - this pic does not do the bird justice… #birdingScotland
- Fairly wild seas at Pease Bay this morning- couldn’t pick out any Little Auks offshore but GnD, RtD, RbM and Common Scoters were nice. Best was a Water Pipit on the beach at the mouth of the Pease Dean Burn - it headed high and S before pics unfortunately #scottishbirding
- Two highlights at Pease Bay yesterday both patch firsts for me: Cuckoo Ray - sadly dead - but not commonly reported at the shore otherwise as it is a deeper water species. Little Egret rockpooling with me 😁
- Not often I see a Ribbonworm but bizarrely managed to see three Nemerteans this weekend. Horsehair worm in the Moorfoots- Gordius aquaticus presumably based on microscopic pic. Then Bootlace Worm Lineus longissimus and Tetrastemma vermiculus at Pease Bay. The last species a first for Scotland?
- A couple of eriophyoid mites from the underside of leaves - Acalitus essigi on bramble and Phyllocoptes gracilis on wild Raspberry. Two truly tiny species but both seemed fairly abundant on those species. Happy to take feedback on the identifications…
- Had a look under a bramble leaf through the microscope- not only my first Sitobion fragariae aphids in amongst the Phragmidium bulbosum rust but also some larvae that look like Aphidoletini and some predatory Acari running around… it’s a jungle out there!…
- Some fantastic local wildlife this week hitting +2000 on my PSL and with my first sightings of an aeolid nudibranch (the Crowned Aeolis) and a pseudoscorpion (the Moss Neobisid) - both on my most wanted list. Honorary mentions to the Flabby Bristle-worm and the Red-cracking Bolete - crazy names! 😁
- Anyone able to put a species to this louse? It looks as though it should be straightforward but I’m not managing to nail it and I’m wondering if I’m barking up the wrong tree @persmiseth.bsky.social @norwichbirder.bsky.social @thegibster.bsky.social
- Surprised to see a Great Northern Diver in Pease Bay this afternoon looking pretty smart and spangled above. Maybe the great northern Aurora Borealis that we had here last night brought it south 🙃 #aurora
- Here is another snail living in the plankton - though this one lives its whole life as pelagic plankton. It is a pteropod or sea butterfly and is actively swimming about in these pictures. I’ve identified this species as Limacina lesueurii #pteropod #plankton
- A strikingly yellow veliger in yesterday’s plankton trawl off Pease Bay - presumably bioluminescent. Not sure if this larval snail is identifiable to species but it was pretty stunning to look at #plankton #veliger #bioluminescence #gastropods
- Finally, I’ve seen a Mervielle du Jour! To the MV last night in the dunes at Pease Bay #teammoth
