Watching Labour MPs take a wrecking ball to nature makes me so angry & so sad. Their action tonight voting down amendments to the #PlanningBill intended to protect wildlife & habitats from destruction is so reckless & so counterproductive. People didn’t vote Labour for this 👇

Mahonia attracting queen buff-tailed bumblebee yesterday in Totnes, south Devon. @bumblebees

her highness sleeps Ammophila wasp on brittlebush (Encelia) distal twigs at night take a close look ... she is SPECTACULAR!

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Precious moment in the fleeting Wivenhoe sun this morning of a pair of German Wasps snatching an intimate moment... Really brought home the size difference. This is peak wasp mating time, with the male destined to die soon; the newly mated queens being the only ones to overwinter #criticalmoment

Female of Mellinus arvensis (Field Digger Wasp) on Tunbridge Wells Common today - the most late-flying of the solitary wasps

A Cornwall councillor was silenced in the chamber at Lys Kernow / County Hall this week when he attempted to ask the Liberal Democrat / Independent administration about Cornwall's most infamous trees. #cornwall #kernow #scandal www.falmouthpacket.co.uk/news/2547983...

My final #seedheads for this week's #wildflowerhour challenge...Bird's-foot Trefoil, named after the shape and arrangement of the seedpods.

If you want to identify, well, anything, I recommend this post from @weevil-see.bsky.social. His choice of weevils to illustrate it is of course excellent, but it applies to everything from mushrooms to marsupials. This is how you can be a good identifier of things. [Link contains spider]

Callicera spinolae, the Ivy Hoverfly, is one of the UK's rarest hoverflies, as well as one of the most spectacular. This morning, I recorded a female on the Ivy in my S. Cambridgeshire. This is the 5th consecutive year that I have seen this wonderful fly in my garden, four days earlier than before.

There are over 18,000 types of lichen in existence. My personal favourite is ‘village bench lichen’, which devotes its entire existence selflessly to gradually making communal public seating more furry and comfortable.

Iberian harvester ants (Messor ibericus) rely on hardy workers that are hybrids of their own species and another one, Messor structor. But the queens don’t bother keeping any M. structor males around: they make their own. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

📣 New research, including @savebutterflies.bsky.social #citizenscience data, shows winners & losers across >1200 insect species in Britain since 1990. Urbanisation identified as major driver of decline for moths, ladybirds & hoverflies www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌍 🦋🐞🦗🪲🐝

I revisited the Euura miliaris sawfly larva earlier today to find an ichneumon wasp working its way around them despite their efforts to defend themselves. Amazing how it holds its wings up to avoid being clobbered!

American Painted Lady (Vanessa virginiensis), on my garden Buddleja this morning. St. Mellion, SE Cornwall.

Plenty of Argiope bruennichi females in the wildflower meadow in Eaton park, Norwich. The meadow is suffering in the drought with short vegetation and most spiders are relatively small compared to those on other sites I've seen this year. Only one web with prey - a Bee Wolf! Formidable! #arachnids

Just spent a fun 10 mins watching this ichneumon #wasp on our bay tree. Looks like he/she was looking for something to eat, which surprised me as I thought the adults usually ate pollen & nectar Please can anyone tell me which #ichneumon species this is? Do you know, please @kitenet.bsky.social?

Among the seaweed and salt spray, there’s a hidden world waiting to be discovered - but only if you take the time to slow down and look. 🐚🌊 Rockpooling invites you to pause, to observe, and to reconnect with nature. #rockpool #cornwall

Female mason wasp Ancistrocerus scoticus building mud cells in relief carving on gravestone in St Agnes churchyard, Scilly

Hi Ian, @ianbeavis.bsky.social I spotted this bumblebee in Falmouth cemetery yesterday. The reddish hairs on the tip of its abdomen were clearly visible but not that obvious in the photo from my mobile. What are your thoughts on it being a male Bombus sylvestris? I can only find pre-1970 records

Now is a great time to harvest your own field scabious seed before it drops! Collect and sow in a seed tray slightly covered & keep moist. You will have seedlings in 2-3 weeks. Fresh seed is very viable so you won’t need much!

No more Beewashing please! Why beekeeping doesn't help conserve bees. Pls RT if you agree. youtu.be/fiBYBmlKSYU

Life doesn't get much better than finding a Yellow Loosestrife bee, in your garden! And @themarshtit.bsky.social's Bluesky feed is full of such delights, so worth a follow...

My Emperor cats are pupating! Wish I had the set-up to record the process, but alas my phone does not do time-lapse. #teammoth

Societies might shape minds, but minds can shape societies. In this new paper we discuss how this feedback changes how we think about social and cognitive evolution. Led by @lucahahn.bsky.social royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

Spotted this female Sand tailed digger wasp (Cerceris arenaria) this afternoon in my Falmouth garden. Being a solitary wasps she both digs her nest and provisions it. Her usual prey is weevils. #wasps #solitarywasp #cornwall

World-first large-scale exhibition devoted to wasps launched today @uclgrantmuseum.bsky.social. Brainchild of @tannisdavidson.bsky.social, with her curation team & Project manager Sylvia Kluczewski Art-science extravaganza of #WorldOfWasps. www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-coll... @uclnews.bsky.social

Britain's largest sawfly, Cimbex femoratus, the Birch Sawfly. Seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes 15/06/25 @suillia.bsky.social #sawfly #Cimbicidae

North-bumble-land Walk complete! 🐝 🐝 1,070 bumblebees counted 🔎 15 species recorded 🥾 84 miles walked A huge thank you for your support & donations for @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social! Notebook is full of sightings for @nenature.bsky.social's #NorthEastBeeHunt! www.justgiving.com/page/charlot...

Before I set off for my next section yesterday, I re-visited a spot from the rainy day before where I was convinced I had a fleeting glimpse of one of the North East's rarer bumbles... A few minutes into the search, I had a lovely encounter with a Moss Carder Bee on Kidney Vetch! Buzzing!! 🐝💛

Final section today ➡️ Berwick-upon-Tweed! 🐝 931 bumblebees counted 🔎 15 species recorded 🚶‍♀️ 172,356 steps for bumbles! Will I reach 1,000 bumblebees? 🙂 A huge thank you for supporting my walk and helping to raise £566 so far for bumblebees! ➡️ www.justgiving.com/page/charlot...

Love #bumblebees? Then you probably know they're in crisis and need our help You can help by supporting the very lovely @bumble-being.bsky.social raise funds for @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social as she walks the Northumberland Coast Path 🐝 👣 Please donate here 🙏 www.justgiving.com/page/charlot...

Wall Brown near Scarborough on a brief visit to Yorkshire yesterday. Doing its usual thing of settling on the bare ground of a coastal path - sometimes they can accompany you quite a way, flying up & resettling ahead of you.

Revealed: 5,000 English nature sites at risk under Labour’s planning proposals www.theguardian.com/environment/... This is what the Planning & Infrastructure will mean, if it becomes law. Every single SSSI in England will lose its protected status, as well as non-SSSI sites for protected species.

Fen Mason Wasp (Odynerus simillimus) - all males - in East Norfolk yesterday. I've been meaning to look for these for a while and they didn't disappoint! Beautiful little wasps. I didn't spot any females or nest "chimneys" so I'll have to go back again. #bugsky #insects #pollinators #wasps

I have to say that this Ruby tailed wasp was remarkably calm and obliging after @willleohawkes.bsky.social released her from a tube onto this Kidney Vetch flower. I think Will could be a wasp whisperer! #wasp #conservation #conwall

Our latest research shows spot-on flea treatments on dogs are released into water when dogs swim even 28 days after treatment - in contrast to the label which suggests dogs can safely swim 48 h after treatment. www.newscientist.com/article/2482...

A beautiful Ruby tail Wasp spotted on Saturday's Buglife & Budding Nature workshop walk led by @willleohawkes.bsky.social - a new species for me and a tick on my bucket list. #wasp #conservation #cornwall -

Male Spiny-legged Mason Wasp (Odynerus spinipes ) spotted on Saturday's Buglife & Budding Nature workshop walk led by @willleohawkes.bsky.social - a new species for me.

1/6/25 - For this week's #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge I'm going to choose one of our highlights from the @mariposanature.bsky.social #Orchids of Kent tour that I co-led with @dunnjons.bsky.social Pseudocopulation in action; a male Sand Wasp (Argogorytes) on a Fly #Orchid (Ophrys insectifera)

Best insect of my #Dorset holiday, Mutilla europaea, female Velvet Ant (which is actually a wasp)! I was very excited! Seen 28/05/25 at #RSPBArne @rspb.bsky.social @rspbengland.bsky.social @waspwoman.bsky.social @gavinbroad.bsky.social @liamcrowley.bsky.social @ianbeavis.bsky.social #wasp

Oh my word! Botanist about to explode! Just unboxed my presentation copies of Urban Plants & I’m as giddy as a bee in a bellflower. It’s a beautiful thing, from the gorgeous Carry Akroyd cover to the photos kindly provided by many lovely people. Hope you enjoy it www.bloomsbury.com/uk/urban-pla...

Bees come in all shapes and sizes... This wee cutie measures around 7mm and is one of the UK’s smallest bee species. Halictus tumulorum, I think (commonly known as The Bronze Furrow Bee) - but my identification skills leave a lot to be desired, so do please correct me if I’m wrong. #bees #nature

Having to ask homeowners for permission to take things out of their houses would kill the theft industry.

🎥 See the full video where Ellie and Jenna are joined by farm manager Julian Gold discussing more about the inspiration and technology behind Moth x Human – and why moths and farmland biodiversity matter! youtu.be/d1BnzjaesGM #ForNature #BiodiversityDay @unbiodiversity.bsky.social 🦋🧪

Always a pleasure to come across a Golden-fringed Mason Bee (Osmia aurulenta) nest! This is one of 3 UK bee species to nest in empty snail shells. A female had just finished pasting leaf mastic over the entrance to the shell when I came across her yesterday at Porth Neigwl. #SolitaryBeeWeek

Celebrating the amazing world of bees on #worldbeeday. Lots of male Ivy bees (Colletes hederae) and one females in this "mating ball".

Happy #WorldBeeDay! It was a pleasure to catch up with both the Andrena bucephala (Big-headed Mining Bee) and @entomophily.bsky.social last week, and today is a perfect day to share this beautiful Mining Bee!