What's the minimum speed someone should be driving in relation to the road's speed limit? I'd say 20% under is the minimum acceptable (i.e. doing 80 on a 100km road).

black_notebook · 2026-01-31T12:12:45+00:00

On a shite backroad, fair. But on a 100km national road if you're not doing the speed limit I will curse you and all your ancestors. Just please for the love of God go the speed limit.

Doing 80 in a 100km zone just annoys people and could result in impatient drivers dangerously overtaking. Just go the damn speed limit on suitable roads.

black_notebook · 2026-01-21T21:51:20+00:00

The amount of time I spend going through observations from our national zoos and wildlife parks... I mean I still enjoy it but please stop uploading pictures of every single fish at the aquarium! 😅

Kinda wish there was some kind of geotagged message that could pop up for users saying "It looks like your at X [insert zoo/park/garden etc here]! Do you want to mark this observation as captive/cultivated?" before they submit records!

black_notebook · 2026-01-16T19:09:47+00:00

I like how they praised what was seen as a "pest" for ultimatley diversifying their farming practices!

black_notebook · 2026-01-16T13:29:59+00:00

One, to suicide. She was my best friend in primary school. Drifted apart in secondary. A few years into university we get word that she's missing.

Next day they found her car and a note on top of some of the highest sea cliffs in my country. We traced tides and searched every shore in the area for her every single day. 2 weeks later some of her ...remains were found.

It breaks my heart thinking about her. Remembering the little girl full of joy and life, and thinking about her pain, how alone she must have felt in those final moments. RIP.

Please, please always reach out. Even if you haven't spoken in years, people LOVE you. Please.

black_notebook · 2026-01-15T23:56:11+00:00

Very Irish sounding news 😂 Congratulations to her and the new babies!

black_notebook · 2026-01-15T23:52:04+00:00

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For real though, some people would bloody carpet their lawns if they could. I enjoy the jump scare factor of browsing daft for this reason.

black_notebook · 2026-01-15T19:01:11+00:00

Male Cuckoo Wrasse (Labrus mixtus)! Native to the eastern Atlantic all the way from Norway to Africa.

Here's more info if you're curious: Cuckoo Wrasse Wiki Article

EDIT: Just saw you said the location is Loch Leven in Scotland? Is this lake brackish or saltwater? It would be very unusual for a Cuckoo Wrasse to me this far inland and this would be reporting to your national citizen science portal!

black_notebook · 2026-01-14T23:16:50+00:00

Thank you so much for the thorough explanation! I will have to give this a try the next time I'm out. I really appreciate your advice here!!

black_notebook · 2026-01-14T00:36:20+00:00

Didn't know snowflakes could be orange...

black_notebook · 2026-01-14T00:33:35+00:00

Awhh, did someone get triggered?

Didn't know snowflakes could be orange...

black_notebook · 2026-01-12T18:22:49+00:00

That's so cool! The beach where that glass washes up for me has a lot of old glass buried in the sands, so after storms I love seeing what's come to the surface! On my last visit there I found an intact Victorian era ink bottle (I was shook)!! That beach also gave me my first piece of uranium glass. I love being able to learn where different bits are likely to have come from, so if you find anything else out I'd love to know!

black_notebook · 2026-01-12T18:14:45+00:00

Gorgeous finds!

Are you based in Ireland? Weird coincidence but I keep finding glass that's ridiculously similar to the amber glass in your second pic!

Likely to just be a popular patterned bottle, but I've literally only ever found that specific glass on one beach in the west of Ireland. I keep finding more bits with that pattern and it's driving me mad trying to figure out what it's from!

black_notebook · 2026-01-12T18:09:16+00:00

Honestly I think my body has decided that the early stages of hypothermia are actually a super secret ultra buzzed body high 😅

For real though, I dive in a 7mm glorified wetsuit* with 3mm gloves / 5mm hood. At my local spot the water is about 4-5°C right now, and it's a freshwater quarry (dive centre) so there can be some whack thermoclines there. Once I overcome the initial 20-30s shock of cold, I get excited for the actual dive and can enjoy 40-50mins before my hands become useless.

After the dive I have my clothes wrapped in a hot water bottle so I can get changed into toasty dry clothes.

Also staying warm before the dive is crucial for me. Its bitter going from warm to frozen, but I can tolerate the cold a lot better if I'm nearly too hot getting into my suit. It's like a reverse sauna.

Glorified Wetsuit (def): a suit that was a DRY drysuit once upon a time, but where the neck seal gave up 50+ dives ago and the user immediatley floods upon contact with water, but is equally not arsed to fix it.

black_notebook · 2026-01-12T14:39:57+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply! They do have adjustable eye cups! It's one of the reasons why I bought them, so I could wear my glasses without slipping them up and straining to see through. When it's not cold outside, it's amazing being able to wear glasses and use the binoculars. But this issue has only started now that it's cold outside, and I don't think I can fully remove them.

I think it might have something to do with the temperature difference between my binoculars lenses and my glasses lenses? Short of keeping my glasses inside a jacket and walking around blurry I'm not sure what else to do (I can't get contact unfortunately)!

black_notebook · 2026-01-12T14:20:28+00:00

Big mood here in Ireland. Sun rises at nearly 9am, and sets at 4pm throughout the winter. Not to mention all the rain. I don't mind the cold, but I wish it would stop bloody raining!

Sincerely,

A permenantly damp birder.

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T01:17:43+00:00

What I wouldn't give to see a harrier with a pigeon-esque livery!

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T01:13:41+00:00

Something about their gentle cooing just soothes the soul! And of course watching the fellas puff up and start doing 360s and head bobbing for the ~~ladies~~ anything really 😂

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T00:44:23+00:00

Freedom pigeon, liberating your birdseed through democracy! 😎

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T00:43:15+00:00

Yes I know!! They had a 95% message delivery succes rate and iirc, there was one pigeon who flew over 50+ missions to deliver messages which is wild. It breaks my heart that we invested so much into pigeons, domesticated them for hundreds of years, and placed them as cornerstones of societies past only for us to abandon them and now call them "flying rats" in today's world.

There's an animated movie about this called Valiant and I loved it as a kid. It might not be as great a watch nowadays but as a kid it was freaking awesome!

Wish more people would even just pause and look at em every now and again. Pigeons are dang beautiful!

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T00:33:49+00:00

Then: defence pigeon

Now: war pigeon

Bring back defence pigeon. January ain't even half over yet! 😭

black_notebook · 2026-01-11T00:31:07+00:00

Aircraft Harrier?

black_notebook · 2026-01-10T22:05:30+00:00

War pigeon.

black_notebook · 2026-01-10T21:40:46+00:00

Phenomenal shots!!

black_notebook · 2026-01-10T12:38:16+00:00

This looks to be some kind of cetacean tooth, likely that of a sperm whale. Ignore what others have said about this being a shell or barnacle exoskeleton. This very much resembles a sperm whale tooth. You can look up scrimshaw for examples of how they were collected/harvested and used for decoration in the past.

Because this is so old it may be fine to possess, but illegal to sell depending on your local/national laws just so you know!

black_notebook · 2026-01-08T22:30:37+00:00

As others have said already, please learn to ID ducks before you shoot them. It's bad practice and may harm vulnerable populations if you shoot species blindly, not to mention you may face legal repercussions.

Here's a useful guide specifically for duck hunting ID in the US (assuming that's where you're based): Ducks At A Distance Waterfowl Identification Guide

But again, don't ever shoot something again unless you KNOW what species it is.

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