Nature groups urge people to avoid unauthorised areas to protect birds during nesting season

Nature groups have pleaded with swimmers to give wildlife a wide berth after dozens of people swam in a nature pond on Hampstead Heath among nests of baby birds.

Swans and their 12-day-old cygnets were disturbed by hordes of splashing revellers in the north London park on Monday as London reached record 35C temperatures. In one video, a swan was seen poking an unhatched egg with its beak after it fell into the water during the chaos.

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Ik kreeg een appje van een andere opvoeder. „Uw dochter hangt bij de Weespertrekvaart.” „Aan welke brug?”, schreef ik terug.

Het is kortzichtig om landen met een falende gezondheidszorg niet te helpen. De coronapandemie heeft laten zien dat internationale coördinatie voor een snel om zich heen grijpend virus essentieel is, een zaak van leven of dood zelfs.

Orgel Joke moedigt het Nederlands elftal komende zomer aan met haar eigen WK-hit. De Vlaardingse 'muziekoma' moet vanwege haar leeftijd, 76 jaar, harder repeteren dan anderen. "Ik wil het live ook goed kunnen, anders sta je voor paal", zegt ze.

Orgel Joke moedigt het Nederlands elftal komende zomer aan met haar eigen WK-hit. De Vlaardingse 'muziekoma' moet vanwege haar leeftijd, 76 jaar, harder repeteren dan anderen. "Ik wil het live ook goed kunnen, anders sta je voor paal", zegt ze.

“Color, for me, is a heightened reality,” says J Carino. Through palettes rooted in a dynamic dance between earth and jewel tones, the artist renders lush scenes in which nude figures commune with nature. A sturdy back buttresses a fallen tree, chests and limbs peek through a summer meadow, and a muscular grip cradles a small mule amid a raging flood. Blocks of color and gestural brushstrokes characterize each composition, which question what we deem natural and innate.

The intimacies of queer life figure prominently in Carino’s work, which layers bodies and organic motifs into dense expanses. He employs a variety of source materials that range from renderings of live models and videos of himself to nature studies and plein air drawings in pastels, the latter of which often inform his color palettes. “Typically, my work begins with observation of nature. It might be a fallen tree, a particular animal or plant that I then make drawings of,” he adds.

Researching the historical and cultural symbols associated with these organic forms follows, while allowing connections between objects and motifs to emerge spontaneously as he works. “I see patterns as a kind of personal language to symbolize larger concepts and themes that I can then weave together into different narratives,” the artist tells Colossal. “There is a collage-like aesthetic to my work that reflects these different pieces coming together.”

From biblical floods to determined donkeys to autumnal leaves, the elements that comprise Carino’s paintings touch on questions of desire, paradise, and queerness through human connection to the natural world. Even when disaster strikes, there’s an overwhelming sense of beauty and resilience, bolstered by both physical strength and deep bonds with one another.

Carino recently relocated to London, and he will start a master’s program at the Royal College of Art this fall. If you’re in Los Angeles, his work will be part of a group exhibition opening in early June at Albertz Benda. Otherwise, find more on his website and Instagram.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Queer Figures Commune with Nature in J Carino’s Dynamic Paintings appeared first on Colossal.

I have a pizza oven and baked very underwhelming bread twice during the pandemic, but I’ve found it difficult to fall into a proper rabbit hole when it comes to dough-making. Focaccia might do it for me.

My daughter and I had been wanting to experiment with focaccia (and schiacciata) and so I suggested we make this Bon Appetit recipe that Alana recommended in this recent KDO recipe thread — it’s tough to resist “I am mildly famous for this focaccia. It’s bread for lazy people who love hot bread.” It’s me. I am lazy. I love hot bread.

We made it yesterday and it came out well: very delicious right out of the oven. And it was really the first time I’ve made dough where I’ve been like, “oh, I finally get why people say pizza/bread dough is a living thing”. Today we made sandwiches (mortadella, prosciutto, burrata, arugula) and they were quite good — but the focaccia crumb was pretty dense. Which sent me on a little bit of a research expedition, during which I found this video on YouTube:

Wow! Check out all those bubbles…ours didn’t look anything like that. I actually squealed when she pressed down on the bread and it sprung right back — that focaccia might be able to replace my car’s suspension. This recipe results in a more hydrated dough than the BonApp recipe does. And you work it more and it has different flour (00 instead of all-purpose). And the process looks only a little bit less lazy…manageable for me, I think. Looking forward to trying this out next!

Tags: bread · food · how to · video

Jaybee35 has added a photo to the pool:

13 November 2025.


As we approach a new breeding season for the local Peregrine Falcons I thought I’d better post my photos from last year. Better late than never!

I’ll post them in date order starting from when I saw the first hatched egg shell on the edge of the nest hollow.

The shots of the nest on the cliff face are taken from at least 100 metres away on a boardwalk on the other side of a lake.

The distance and resulting atmospheric distortion greatly impacts the quality of the photos. The later flying pictures are taken from a sealed walking path that runs along the top of the cliff.