Pretty confident this was a Mining Bee (Andrena spp.) @northcavewet.bsky.social today. Want to believe it’s an Early Mining Bee (Andrena haemorrhoa) because…well it’s still ‘early’ 😀 and it seems a reasonable fit, but happy to be corrected @suillia.bsky.social

Despite a bit of warmth, this sparkling fly, Gymnocheta viridis, was one of only a few insects I spotted on the wing @northcavewet.bsky.social today. Elsewhere: avocets and marsh harriers.

‘Lakeside Elm’ #258 in #treehunting. This impressive Huntingdon Elm (Ulmus x hollandica ‘Vegeta’) has previously gone unnoticed as I’ve plodded round Hull East Park Parkrun - not in future! 19 of 1000

‘Knotted Acacia’ #259 in #treehunting. The Reckitt & Sons model Garden Village in Hull is tree-rich. Off ‘Laburnum Avenue’ is ‘Acacia Drive’, where this False acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) thrives. 18 of 1000

Male Ash flowers, looking like unseasonable blackberries, appearing @northcavewet.bsky.social today. Elsewhere: Skylarks 🎶

‘Wood Street Witness’ #478 in #treehunting. The house beneath this Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) in Walthamstow was apparently Mr Jones’s butchers shop in the 18th C. (Also need to begin the list of ‘things hanging from trees’, a strong start today with a pair of Y-fronts 😂) 17 of 1000

‘Ten Storey Gingko’ #552 in #treehunting. An exceptionally tall Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) yesterday in St John’s Gardens near the Thames (looking forward to the spring though - be lovely to see some more leaves! 😀) 16 of 1000

🧵(3 posts) Born on tomorrow's date, 15 March in 1813, the story of John Snow is a remarkable one. Born in North Street in York he was the son of a coal yard labourer. He went on to become a physician who is considered one of the founders of epidemiology for his work identifying

Non-biting midges fuel much of @northcavewet.bsky.social - but don’t get much screen time. So here’s a (pretty poor) corrective. Elsewhere: right on cue - hungry sand martins!

Blackthorn @northcavewet.bsky.social doing anything Hawthorn can do, but sooner and with a subtlety that escapes its louder cousin 🙂 Elsewhere: first chiffchaff and last redwing

Studying at a distance doesn’t mean studying alone! 💻👥 With SCONUL Access, #OUstudents can use university libraries across the UK & Ireland. 📚 Study alongside others and feel more connected to a wider learning community, closer to where you live... 👇 https://ow.ly/LboH50YmQrz#OUstudents

First Dronefly for me this year @northcavewet.bsky.social. So….front tarsi dark? rear tibia ‘banana shaped’? I’m going ❌ to both, & my first guess of 2026 is therefore… Eristalis pertinax (not sure it really matters though unless you’re another Eristalis 😂) Elsewhere: sparrowhawk, curlew, stoat

Beautiful Yellowhammer in morning sunshine - North Cave Wetlands, East Yorkshire 25/2/26

Be more Bearded Tit...jump into the week! #MondayMotivation

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Missel Thrush’, 1937 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

There’s not much in flower yet @northcavewet.bsky.social, so worth celebrating even the smallest blooms, like this common field-speedwell (Veronica persica). Elsewhere: White-fronted geese, marsh harrier, stonechats & my first bumblebee 🐝

Other work of the Ladybird artists. ‘Redshanks Alighting’ Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

‘Penny Pocket Cherry’ #252 in #treehunting. This Double-flowered wild cherry (Prunus avium ‘Plena’) is forcing its way through the gravestones of Penny Pocket Park in Leeds! 15 of 1000

‘Old Wych’ #251 in #treehunting. Park Square in Leeds is a lovely space, further enhanced by this stately Wych Elm (Ulmus glabra). 14 of 1000

Don't give anything an Emmy until it's as good as this.

A day late for #nationalsnowdropday @northcavewet.bsky.social, but who’s calendar watching 🙂 Elsewhere: Bittern, Stonechats & overhead Common Crane ✅😀

‘Effluent Fig’, #167 in #treehunting. Urban opportunist, a Fig (Ficus carica), has found its home on the Salford bank of the River Irwell. 13 of 1000

‘Blue Fox’, #168 in #treehunting. Not the best time of year for this Foxglove tree (Paulownia tomentosa), several months too early for its fragrant blue flowers - but still a shapely specimen. 12 of 1000

‘Preservation Plane’, #169 in #treehunting. This London Plane (Platanus x hispanica) was apparently the first tree to receive a preservation order from Manchester City council. 11 of 1000

‘Turing Ash’, #171 in #treehunting. A statue of Alan Turing sits in the shade of a giant Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). (into double figures) 10 of 1000

‘Vimto Redwood’, #170 in #treehunting. A Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) starting off a productive day’s hunting in Manchester. 9 of 1000

A chill east wind on #WorldWetlandsDay @northcavewet.bsky.social - male Goat Willow suitably dressed in fur. Elsewhere: Bullfinches and Ringed Plover

While prison education is still nowhere near good enough, it has been slowly improving. The cuts will reverse that. We back the Justice Committee's call for a clear plan to improve both participation and quality in prison education and to reverse these ill-conceived cuts. https://ow.ly/K7jx50Y5NOv

Spring is beginning to force through @northcavewet.bsky.social. Not long now!

I will be disappointed if Sean Bean doesn’t call every bird he sees “yer’bastard”

Bill Richmond and Tom Molineaux are to be honoured with a blue plaque in London after years of lobbying by Black History Walks 🥊👊🏾🍻 Please join us at UCL’s large auditorium, the Cruciform Building, London, 15 April 2026, 6.30pm. Tickets are free! grapplingwithhistory.com/2026/01/22/c...

Bitterns @northcavewet.bsky.social - what a talent to have!

Explanation Of Board Game Rules Peppered With Reassurances That It Will Be Fun https://theonion.com/explanation-of-board-game-rules-peppered-with-reassuran-1819579569/

Giant spider terrorises @uoylibrary.bsky.social …..

2025 has been confirmed as the third warmest year on record, following 2024 and 2023, in a series stretching back to 1850. Data from the Met Office, @uniofeastanglia.bsky.social and @ncas-uk.bsky.social shows 2025 was 1.41 °C above the average for 1850-1900. Read more 👉 bit.ly/3NkfQH9

For the 3rd day in succession (for me), one of the Bitterns has been viewable in the 'Bittern' Cut form the Turret hide. Attracting a small watching crowd, it could be seen stalking, catching & then eating some of the Minnows in the lake

The first Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) just on the cusp of opening @northcavewet.bsky.social. Elsewhere: (simultaneous) Bitterns 😀

A misty morning amongst the dead of Whitby

Think we’ve got essence of Whitby there!

A beautiful morning @york.ac.uk for a 24th year of interviewing @hyms.ac.uk Good luck to everyone!

Just your regularly scheduled share of this masterpiece by @tomgauld.bsky.social

A meeting with the bird world’s ‘Tim nice-but-dim’ on the west path @northcavewet.bsky.social, we managed to awkwardly, but ever so politely, shuffle past each other 😂Elsewhere: Marsh Harriers

If not flying, certainly ‘falling with style’ @northcavewet.bsky.social today!

‘Larkin’s Lime’, #260 in #treehunting. A suitably uncompromisingly wet bicycle ride from the University Library to see this Small-leaved Lime (Tilia cordata) close to the poet’s house off Pearson Park, Hull. 8 of 1000

The Society is delighted to see that the Clifton Hotel in #Scarborough has been listed at Grade II. Wilfred Owen worked on his World War I war poetry whilst billeted at the hotel during the conflict. He worked from the tower whilst convalescing. Read the excellent list entry here: bit.ly/4jDs9uk

‘Colossal Birch’, #242 in #treehunting. The country’s fattest Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) hiding on a misnamed Cedar Glade in Dunnington, York. 7 of 1000

On National #Bird Day, meet ornithologist Florence Merriam Bailey. Her 1889 book, 𝘉𝘪𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘛𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘖𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘢-𝘎𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, established the foundation for modern #birdwatching by advocating for observing birds in the wild with an opera glass instead of shooting them for study. #WomenInSTEM

Flammulina velutipes @northcavewet.bsky.social today. ‘Velutipes’ - velvet-footed - gives its common name of Velvet Shanks, but in the low sun it was the ‘little flame’ of ‘Flamulina’ that brought a glow to an icy day. Elsewhere: starlings!

‘Finest Beech’, #241 in #treehunting. A massive Beech (Fagus sylvatica) overlooked by York Minster - will definitely be revisited when in leaf, 6 of 1000

‘Paddling Plane’, #238 in #treehunting. A London plane (Platanus x hispanica) on the banks of the Ouse in York, 5 of 1000