A fabulous Purple Emperor larva feeding low down in a Sallow in Epping Forest a couple of weeks ago, exposed by a UV torch at night. Extraordinary creatures and such a thrill to see them like this #Butterflies

Marsh Fritillaries Euphydryas aurinia starting to fly at some of the Dartmoor, Devon sites over the weekend. One was caught by a carnivorous Sundew but plenty survived to start the next generation of these rare and beautiful butterflies.

Earlier this week, I visited Poldice Mine for the annual survey of Cornwall Butterfly Conservation's experimental management plots. Created back in January 2024, it's fascinating to see how each plot is developing... 🧵

One of the first things that struck me starting in Epping Forest last spring was all the lovely old Crab Apples. With these, come rare Crab Apple feeding micros: the much-declined Argyresthia ivella tapped from a tree on a warm July morning, and Eudemis porphyrana, reared from larva in May #TeamMoth

The sort of butterfly moment you dream of today - wandering around the office (Epping Forest) in the late afternoon sun when I flushed a lovely old Large Tortoiseshell from the sunny wall next to this old plum - just wonderful. Seems to be the second recent record from the forest #Butterflies

New leafmine site update. Parornix atripalpella early stages seen for first time. Dicladispa testacea newly arrived in UK. Col prunifoliae - elusive species! Stigmella spinosissimae seen. Such an interesting update! leafmines.co.uk/html/updates...

This rather dapper moth is the Liquorice Piercer (Grapholita pallifrontana), our Species of the Month. ✨ The Liquorice Piercer is so named because its caterpillars pierce Wild Liquorice seed pods. 📷️: Will Langdon #MothMonday #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

Recently finished totting up my moths in Epping Forest last year - 671 species of which 277 were new for our database, 79 nationally scarce, and 4 new for Essex. Wonderful first year, so many exciting and rare species reflecting the forest's fantastic mix of habitats. Some highlights below...

Excellent to see this first paper from Will's PhD in print! Nice summary thread photos too!

'Extinct' butterfly spotted across England butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blo...

Super excited to get my copy of this work. The images are fantastic, the text meticulously researched, and a number of very tricky rare micro species have their early stages described and illustrated for the first time. Set to be a game-changer!

Excited to see one of my PhD chapters now published! We found a trade-off between the quality of host plants and how warm they were for a declining grassland butterfly (Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas) and looked at how this shaped their egg-laying choices: doi.org/10.1111/een....

New Caledonian Forests are full of hidden natural treasures! 🌿🦋 Our new ZooKeys paper (led by Antoine Guiguet) describes two spectacular new species of Caloptilia moths—C. augeas and C. ceryneia—discovered in the Parc des Grandes Fougères. zookeys.pensoft.net/article/1738...

New research from Belgium doesn’t support the ‘lost generation’ theory for the decline of the Wall, but does show reduced survival with warming temperatures 🌍 nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/... (📷 Mark Searle)

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.

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/...

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