Family of Stoats crossing from Wales into England in the garden early this morning. #gardenwildlife

Beautiful Demoiselles making more, on my pond today. Immediately afterwards she appeared to be ovipositing on Bog Bean in the pond. At least 8 males along the pondside. Obviously not read the book...The adjacent stream is polluted with a rocky bottom.

@shattenstone.bsky.social big congratulations on winning Feature Writer of the Year Simon. So well deserved. Everything you write is worth reading.

Bit surprised to find a hornet on my pillow. Safely potted up. I hope it survives until morning when I can set it free

A tangle of lizards warming up in the garden

Lots of foxes on this lovely song by Emily Portman @chrisgpackham.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rYO...

The fact that nocturnal migration acoustic monitoring can be used to judge migration intensity and in turn, people can control light pollution and help birds migrate is very exciting prospect that should be worked upon. @wildlifeacoustics.com #NocmigWebinar

Never realised Crossbills had so many regional accents, nor that Welsh Crossbills visit France. Fascinating facts from @wildlifeacoustics.com #NocmigWebinar

Another 40 year first - today 2 hares ran into the garden through the stream. They came right up to the house and then chased around the garden. Checking my camera, they had visited a couple of hours earlier too. Sadly, both my cameras had stopped functioning properly overnight so no good video

We have 40 years of bird records for our garden. Chiffchaffs used to arrive late March, but for 20 years arrived around 17 March. Last year broke the record with one singing on 5 March, but this year the first singing was 26 Feb. We've not yet seen an overwintering one #climatebreakdown

Enfin entre les mains après quelques soucis avec le livreur ! Un ouvrage sur les coccinelles qui s'annonce bien utile, même si il ne couvrira pas toutes les espèces françaises. Un gros travail sur ces petites espèces trop mal connues. #entomology

Cut blackthorn hedges less often = boost brown hairstreak butterflies. Really simple, cost-free (or even money-saving) measures can massively benefit wildlife. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Tears of joy! SCOTLAND HAS JUST PASSED SWIFT BRICKS INTO LAW unanimously! 4 years of asking England & Scotland sorts it in a month led by ACE ⁦‪ MARK RUSKELL MSP‬⁩ ♥️The RELIEF is unreal! Tell England to follow 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿by emailing [email protected] now!WOOP!

More!

Orion and aurora from the garden this evening

New #OpenAccess research in #RESInsectConsDiv reports that #soil sand content is a driving force in structuring #bee #communities doi.org/10.1111/icad.70051 #Conservation #InsectHabitats #Distribution @manusaunders.bsky.social @wileyeco.bsky.social

More evidence of negative impacts of artificial light at night on moths - activity of Scarce Bordered Straw moths is naturally concentrated in the first 2hrs of night but activity was suppressed under streetlights www.sciencedirect.com:5037/science/arti... #teammoth #lightpollution 🌍

Struggling with shaky hands at the moment - pin spheres are super helpful for examining pinned specimens. My colleague made this but check out Richard's ArthroSphere: www.arthropods.co.uk/ArthroSphere... #maybeitssertraline #entomology #ssri #endthestigma

@sarahwhild.bsky.social @earthwormuk.bsky.social @peskypb.bsky.social @rockwolf74.bsky.social @pickeletto.bsky.social @lancefly.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @beetlequeen.bsky.social Please share widely

Four years ago today since Douglas died. We miss him every moment of every day. Loved so much by his family and many friends; a respected scientist and moth-er; a wearer of great shirts; and a Bellowhead superfan.

One of the garden oaks is covered with galls this year, of at least three species. Other nearby oaks have very few

Small Coppers in the garden yesterday.

Bit of a treat today with a family of Spotted Flycatchers in the garden. Not sure if there are 5 or 6. Many years since we've seen them here

Roe Deer just bounded past. I've been picking them up on my cameras a lot this year but rarely see them in the flesh

A Wall in the garden today, keeping company with 2 lizards.

I was going to trim back the vegetation around my garden sandpit, but 3 Field Digger Waps (Mellinus arvensis)are nesting under the vegetation so I wont'! They predate flies so plenty of food for their offspring. Doesn't do to be too tidy!

Douglas would have been 29 today. This photo was taken on his MSc field trip to the Canary Islands. He left such a huge hole in our lives, which can never be filled #grief

3 Silver-washed Fritillaries nectaring on knapweed in the garden just now. Certainly justifies leaving lots of wild areas. Shame it's not included in Big Butterfly Count, but lots of other butterflies to include

This Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) was on the sitting room wall this morning (had left the window open). Think Douglas only recorded it once before

And as if that wasn't enough a Grayling landed on the car

Found a new Wood White site in Montgomeryshire today when out surveying. 4 or 5 seen and huge amount of Bird's-Foot Trefoil

Leopard Moth from Sunday's moth trap. Don't usually see them as pristine as this

Bit surprised (but probably not as much as the ladybird!) to find an Adonis Ladybird in a packet of fresh dill as I cooked supper. It had a lucky escape but not sure how to record its location. The dill was from Norfolk, it's now in Mid-Wales.

Purple Hairstreak roosted in Euphorbia by backdoor door last night. Saves me having to crane my neck, checking the tree tops!

50% decline in the European Grassland Butterfly Indicator since 1991 www.naturetoday.com/intl/en/natu... @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Essex Skipper rescued from the polytunnel this afternoon along with Ringlet and Green-veined White

Rescued this Scarlet Tiger from the polytunnel this afternoon. They are becoming much more frequent.

The smallest Common Lizard I've seen. There were 3 basking in the garden. They must be only a few days old

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 🔽

Fork-tailed Flower Bee (Anthophora furcata) buzzing round the Stachys in the garden. Not sure where it's nesting as the old stump it used completely disintegrated.

Depressaria daucella caterpillar hiding in Hemlock Water Dropwort

Two Small Scissor Bees (Chelostoma campanularum) resting in a Campanula flower this morning. They are waiting for the sun to shine and the wind to drop before they resume their flights up and down the flower spikes in search of females

Spent the day talking to visitors about insects and plants at Hurdley Hall today (open under NGS). Took the Clearwing lures and was rewarded by this Lunar Hornet Moth at the end of the afternoon.

Another Clearwing! 4th species for the garden. This time, it's Currant Clearwing, the one I expected to see first. Douglas tried for it for 10 years without success. #gardenwildlife

Red-tipped Clearwing in the garden this afternoon which came to a pheromone lure. Moth species 802 for the garden - Douglas would have been so excited.

Real treat this morning - a Common Redstart singing his heart out just near the house.

Chelostoma florisomne (Large Scissor Bee) has appeared in the first of this year's garden buttercups. Earliest date in the garden by 2 weeks

Osmia bicornis (Red Mason Bee) settling down to make next year's bees. The females are emerging now, but the main emergence of the males was 10 days ago. I'm wondering if the recent rain, as well as warmer weather, is a cue for female emergence

Beach clean at Anderby Beach with @lincswildlife.bsky.social yesterday. As well as burnt nurdles from Solong tanker crash, a tub of butter from Finland. #livingseas awful to see and smell the contamination of burnt plastic