A magical evening watching the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Thunnus thynnus hunting Garfish Belone belone in almost flat calm conditions, Start Point, Devon

Britain has gained a new butterfly! The long-anticipated arrival of Southern Small White (Pieris mannii) has been confirmed.

An exciting Epping Forest micro from last week - a couple of Dichrorampha sylvicolana flushed from their Sneezewort foodplant in one of our damp grasslands. Last found in the forest, Essex and (seemingly) SE England by Maitland Emmet in the 70s, it's great to know it's still here.

It’s the time of year to look for the mines of Phyllocnistis valentinensis on Willow species. It would be new to the UK,as far as I’m aware. Forms yellow green mines on lower leaf surface - P saligna forms mines similarly, but silvery Click on photo. Details: www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidop...

Phyllocnistis extrematrix is discovered new to the UK by @wlangdon12.bsky.social A stem and petiole miner of fresh growth in Poplar species, especially in the suckers at the tree base. I’ve found it locally today on a Black Poplar variant,new to Norfolk? Mine has a larva visible too #norfolkmoths

Dystebenna stephensi was right at the top of my Epping Forest moth bucket list when I started working here, and so very pleased to have found lots of them on oak trunks in the last couple of weeks - rare, beautiful, and associated with fabulous old oaks. What's not to like! #TeamMoth

Thrilled to get acquainted with my first Epping Forest Purple Emperor the other week, found next to its empty pupal case in a UV-torch powered search after dark, which revealed three other (unhatched) pupae high in the Sallows, magical! #Butterflies @ukbutterflies.bsky.social

Do you know a young person with an interest in insects? 🦋 The Douglas Boyes Fund aims to provide people aged 14-18 with access to entomology equipment, fostering their passion for insects and inspiring them to engage and share their interest with other young individuals 🔽

Arable land has been flattened by history of ploughing. In restoring such sites it is important to introduce variation. Here I look at butterfly banks and enthuse over the experimental testing. youtu.be/5kgAXVFo610?...

Some work news - into my third month as the new(ish!) Assistant Conservation Officer in Epping Forest. Really excited to be working in such a fantastic, ancient mosaic of habitats, and enjoyed the first couple of months - mostly out in the field in beautiful spring weather, what's not to like...

So great to see Nick Bowles from Upper Thames BC recognised here - such a passionate, modest and determined guy who has done so much for butterflies and moths in the Upper Thames.

Really pleased with this one as I've been keeping an eye out for it for years: Coleophora siccifolia larval cases on birch. First case, cut-out for second case and two second cases (see ALT text for details). #TeamMoth #MothsMatter @doublekidney.bsky.social @bcyorkshire.bsky.social

Usually we see Tau emperors (Aglia tau, tau-vlinder), a large day-active moth, racing by, the males always seem in a hurry to find females. But this time we found a male sitting. What a spectacular moth!

One of the lesser appreciated things about Cambridge (UK) is what a green and generally nature friendly city it is. I don't mean the largely biodiversity poor manicured green of the university Colleges (though some like King's are making some effort). I mean the network of Commons and LNRs 🧵

Previously only recorded once in the UK in 2018, records of Pammene juniperana have been increasing since 2022. Pleased to finally share this paper with @jamesehammond.bsky.social confirming that this lovely moth is breeding here, probably both on both wild and garden Junipers: shorturl.at/E2LrU

10 years ago, I started my first paid job in Ecology and have very much enjoyed my time working for various charities to understand and conserve our often overlooked invertebrates and plants. (1/3)

Pearl-bordered Fritillary caterpillar sunbathing in front of breakfast first thing this morning at a site in Sussex. This rare butterfly has a flourishing colony here, thanks to great wildlife-friendly woodland management 👏😁 #boloriaeuphrosyne #sussexbutterflies #ukbutterflies #bugsky

Nice to see plenty of leaf mines of Elachista gleichenella on Glaucous Sedge & Wood Sedge while out in the woods in Gloucestershire with @wlangdon12.bsky.social yesterday. #TeamMoth

Searching for leaf miners on Dartmoor today with Barry Henwood. We found two species on Greater Tussock-sedge: nice straight mine of Elachista utonella Bog Sedge-miner, a lifer for me, and the messy mine of E. gleichenella Twin-barred Sedge-miner #teammoth

What a start to the year for those finding Large Tortoiseshells in Kent! Its eggs are brown, since they're laid on bark, rather than the green of Nettle-feeders. I was also lucky enough to be in the company of @wlangdon12.bsky.social and Matthew Oates when Will found larvae on Portland (below)!

Big day for butterfly research. Many authors (led by @edwards-evoeco.bsky.social) and many more volunteers monitored across states to document rapid butterfly declines in USA. 🧪 Paper link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... NYT story gift link: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The latest (large!) leafmine site update is now available: www.leafmines.co.uk/html/updates... It has excellent photos by @wlangdon12.bsky.social of this under recorded group of leaf miners of grasses and sedges - Elachistids. Elachistids on the site so far: www.leafmines.co.uk/html/Elachis... 1/2

Volunteers wanted for Scotland-wide search for one of the country's smallest and rarest moths 🔍 The Highland Nymph (Callisto coffeella) hadn't been seen in Scotland for 20 years until it was rediscovered in 2024. Now we need help to discover more colonies 👉 buff.ly/3D1Y7zm 📷: Peter Buchner

Do you use Darwin Tree of Life (DToL) genomes for your work or grant applications? If so, can you please fill out this form? docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... We are gathering info on how DToL genomes are used. It will help us raise money to continue producing publicly available high-quality genomes.

Despite often seeing Elachista rufocinerea as an adult, I've struggled to find its mines, so I was pleased to recently rear this one from a mine found on Holcus sp. in Bagley Woods (Oxfordshire) in December #TeamMoth #UKMoths

My first reared Elachistid of the spring emerged recently, and it was a beautiful shiny one - Elachista apicipunctella, from its subtle greenish mine on Cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata) growing in Whitecross Green Wood (Bucks).

Great to be able to contribute a few photos to @vc28wildlife.bsky.social's excellent leaf mines site this winter. Includes these cases of the lovely and rare Coleophora niveicostella, feeding on Thyme at Aston Rowant NNR and eventually producing an adult last spring.

Thinking about sunnier days with a lot more butterflies and moths today, here are some of the former: Adonis Blues (Dorset), Chalkhill Blues (Dorset), Grizzled Skippers (Oxfordshire) and Silver-Washed Fritillaries (Runmaro, Sweden).

Really cool study from Germany showing the strong response of two rare calcareous grassland Fritillaries (Marsh Frit and Nickerl's Frit) to Wild Boar rooting. Creates warm micro habitats which they love, adds to work showing the benefits to Grizzled Skipper in NL: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Another nice moth from 2024 was this Cydia pactolana, reared from a larva found found in Bagley Woods (Oxon). This elusive species feeds in the trunks of young Norway Spruce trees (often where there is a wound, eg. at an axil) over the winter, producing distinctive frass piles - can be found now!

One of my top moth highlights of 2024 was finding Agonopterix bipunctosa in a spectacular clifftop setting in North Pembrokeshire. I found a larva actively feeding on Saw-wort in late May and reared through the moth, which emerged in June. A scarce species not often seen in UK #TeamMoth #MothsMatter

Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia) - North Antrim. Another of my favourite moths from earlier in the year. Looking forward to seeing them again next April. #emperormoth #moth #mothsmatter #teammoth @ulsterwildlife.bsky.social

Very excited to pass my PhD viva on Thursday, a really enjoyable experience, and a great way to round off my time in Oxford! Huge thanks to the numerous people that have helped me and encouraged me over the last few years, particularly @owentlewis.bsky.social and @richardfoxbc.bsky.social

📢PhD opportunity: Establishing past biodiversity baselines to guide UK wetland & freshwater nature recovery. The research will reconstruct past wetland biodiversity baselines for the Somerset Levels to understand change through time for conservation planning. www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Getting towards the time of year when the mines of many grass-feeding Elachistids are most easily found. Here is a nice shiny one from last spring: Elachista gleichenella, reared from its mine on Glaucous Sedge (Carex flacca) at Aston Rowant NNR (Oxfordshire) #TeamMoth #MothsMatter

Another nice moth from June 2024: Grapholita caecana (Sainfoin Piercer) is a beautifully sleek tortrix that I've been wanting to see for a while, it was great to find several flying around their foodplant on White Horse Hill (Oxfordshire), a new site for this scarce species #UKMoths #MothsMatter

Following the twitter exodus onto blue sky with a new banner image showing a moth highlight from this summer - watching Goldenrod (P. calodactyla) and Plain Plumes (H. tephradactyla) dancing around their foodplant along a quiet Devon road verge on a warm June evening! #teammoth