Mornin’. Willow Trees. Queen Bumblebees. Spring. One of the most vital plants for #bumblebees (and a host of other #insects). Provide a desperately needed early #food source. Now you know. Respect, protect and plant Willow trees. #bees #nature #willow #trees #spring #worldbeesanctuary

We sequenced the genome of 'desert ginseng' (Cistanche deserticola) - a leafless parasitic plant that gave up photosynthesis - and found it lost huge chunks of its own genome…but started stealing genes from its host! Thanks to my collaborators Prof Huang + her talented team👏🏻 lnkd.in/evF5iU9G

Stone bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) gyne taking nectar from Pentaglottis @cofnod.org.uk

The genetic basis of mimicry in the snowy bumble bee (Bombus niveatus) in Anatolia with insights from a color polymorphic gynandromorph. March 2026 PLOS Genetics 22(3) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1012060 Tunç Dabak, Çiğdem Özenirler, Ece Kamalak...authors, Heather M. Hines.

Small Garden bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) gyne collecting Pulmonaria nectar.

Very few moths this morning, but this Gooden’s Nomad Bee Nomada goodeniana, a rarely recorded species in my north wales garden brightened up the afternoon. #teammoth #cofnod

First bee fly of the year (Bombylius major on Green Alkanet).

Bombus pratorum ha venido declinando muy rápidamente en Cazorla durante los últimos 5 años. Era muy abundante, pero en todo 2025 vi solo 6 individuos de esta especie. Por eso esta reina, que visitaba afanosamente flores de Helleborus foetidus, me ha dado la gran alegría del día. Siguen en el juego.

A national survey of breeding waders is underway in #Wales, organised by @natreswales.bsky.social. All records of Curlews and Lapwings in potential breeding habitat are valuable, so please do share your knowledge via @cofnod.org.uk. 📷 Cameron Sharp www.birdnotes.wales/blog/welsh-w...

A remarkable plant - wytch hazel - feel like you're inside someones nervous system..

Lovely treecreeper. Stunned flying into a window. Left to recover in a cloth bag for 10 minutes and flew off ok.

Here’s a great PhD opportunity in the crossover between humanities and natural history- please repost 🙏 www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...

"A very beautiful story." How the Alps lost its bone-breaker vultures - then got them back. Few things are as uplifting as the return of wild nature. share.google/VtrCMPihKuIK...

It feels so strange seeing an orchid in flower in March, but here it is, a Giant Orchid (Himantoglossum robertianum) in Oxfordshire. #WildflowerHour #SignsOfSpring

Taking a dive into the wealth of data produced by users of @birdtrack.bsky.social and @birdsoftheworld.bsky.social eBird in Wales in 2025 for @birdsinwales.bsky.social Report. Number of users, records and time spent were up almost 20% on 2024. Thank you @btobirds.bsky.social for the data pack.

As awful as dumping rubbish in national parks and other wild places is, it's essential to be aware that overgrazing is infinitely more damaging to nature in these places. The rubbish looks terrible, but it doesn't relentlessly kill off entire ecosystems the way too much grazing does.

If China's emissions had kept growing at previous levels emissions would like, what, maybe a full GIGATONNE higher....the area of avoided emissions here is like deleting the emissions of entire countries. This is happening at a scale that will very clearly have an effect in lessening disasters

I've been working on this for >20 years. It was about time to write it and stop playing dice against time (far too old for that) "On commonness and rarity of insect pollinators: patterns of species abundance and diversity in a hyperdiverse Mediterranean assemblage" www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

A very friendly robin at Bodnant Gardens today

Red dead nettle flowering on the wall of St Mary’s Church in Ely. #WildflowerHour

@hjm.bsky.social: ‘If you spend a lot of time with another creature, you sense another world’ The H is for Hawk author walks the frosty Cambridgeshire fields where Mabel the goshawk became a spiritual guide with @timadamswrites.bsky.social. https://bit.ly/4pDx0wR

More Short-eared Owl pics from yesterday afternoon on the Dee Estuary.

The new @bsbibotany.bsky.social handbook on roses arrived today. I'm looking forward to trying to find a few species next year. Hopefully with some @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social and @ynuorg.bsky.social friends.

Bombus Consobrinus, Norway 2022. This bee has the longest tongue of all scandinavian bees. It is specialised on Monkshood flowers with deep corolla's. Lovely, very fast, quite large bees 😘

We've put together a 25-day advent calendar showcasing Library and Archives collections. Enjoy! 2. Red and Yellow Maccaw (Macrocercus aracanga), Edward Lear (publ. 1832). Did you know... #adventcalendar #Christmas #SpecialCollections #Art #NaturalHistoryMuseum Alt text: a red and green parrot

Twite Bagilt near Flint N Wales this day 2015. #Birds

Willow Tit at Llyn Brenig this morning. Visting feeders near the visitor centre, but also foraging in the trees nearby. #birdingWales @richardkbroughton.bsky.social

We discuss various strategies for locating nests of the rare and endangered above-ground nesting bumblebee species Bombus muscorum. Although we did not find any nests, we were able to track bees marked with paper strips for up to 800 m. @jki-research.bsky.social @nabu.de doi.org/10.1111/icad...

Male Reed Bunting and Stonechat feeding on/from Reedmace at Gronant Dunes this morning. 46 species seen, including a female/immature Merlin, two Marsh Harriers and a flock of Sanderling that included a one-legged bird hopping along the beach! #birdingWales

Another angle on the Shorelark at Great Orme yesterday. It landed for a few minutes on the cairn above the cliffs from where it had a good view of the assembled birders! #birdingWales

Amazing crabapple crop on Bryniau Clwyd this year @cofnod.org.uk Mostly unprotected trees in a heavily sheep grazed area. These two trees show how variable their fruit can be - suggesting even some isolated trees may be crosses with domestic apples. See: www.rbge.org.uk/news/media-c...

"will o' the wisp", methane from rotting vegetable matter in a marsh. Low-temperature oxidation leads to blue–violet chemiluminescence ignited by bubble electrical charge. Unveiling ignis fatuus: Microlightning between microbubbles www.pnas.org/doi/full/10....

Work moth of the day today probably can’t get much better! Clifden Nonpareil Catocala fraxini, found first thing this morning when I nearly trod on it. #teammoth

Beautiful wee beetle - probably Fasta fastuosa, the dead-nettle leaf beetle. Pella, n. Italy.

Great spread and hugely positive review in the Irish Examiner this weekend of THE LIE OF THE LAND.

Slopes of Mt. Mottarone, north Italy. Few flowers now and few bbees (mostly probably B. pascuorum). This one a male.

In the woods above Stresa, north Italy. I think they may all be Amanita species.

Hornet (Vespa crabro male) and Copper chaffer (Protaetia cuprea) in the hills around Stresa, north Italy.

Spent hours being spellbound by Convolvulus Hawk Moths last night as they nectared on Nicotiana plants in my highland garden!. Up to 3 feeding at a time, their entire abdomens glowing red hot in the thermal from flight muscle use!! #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Llyn Dulyan walk, with low water showing remains of the 1944 US air crash.

Bryniau Clwyd still purple topped in places - and males of B. terrestris an B. lucorum foraging in fair numbers.

📢We’re delighted to announce that the Vice Chancellor has appointed @markjfbrown.bsky.social as Director of the University @zoologymuseum.bsky.social and Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Ecology. Congratulations Mark! We look forward to welcoming you in Jan 2026. Read more: bit.ly/3UVHmey

Good walk round Grassholm Reservoir, Co. Durham.

New gyne of Bombus lucorum (probably sensu stricto) perched sunning.

Queen of Garden Bumblebee at Watermill Cove, St Mary's, Scilly

@cofnod.org.uk Being used by swallows as we inadvertently flush insects on Ynys Enlli off the Llŷn Peninsula - after several days of near gale force winds that make foraging a challenge.

@bsbibotany.bsky.social Has anyone else come across an almost complete lack of Bilberry flowers and fruit set this summer? A whole day walking the Tal y Fan Ridge in Eryri and no flowers - or Bilberry bumblebees - up here (the odd one on Marsh thistle lower down). Maybe the very dry May?

Green Hairstreak on the slopes below Moel Famau yesterday - my first sighting in the local area & always lovely to see. @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Male #Redstart in full voice this morning - good numbers singing in woodlands around the Clwydian Hills just now. Fabulous. #birdingWales @birdsinwales.bsky.social