Third consecutive record-warm September in N Finland.

We are happy to share this on a political level very important paper from our team - The Grassland Butterfly Index for Germany. Especially for the last ten years the results show a negativ trend for grassland butterflies in Germany doi.org/10.3897/natu... @pensoft.net @ufz.de #NRR

📣New Study: Collapse in UK insect populations may be overstated, but local communities are being reshaped by CC & development 🐝🪲🦋🦗🪰🐞@btobirds.bsky.social @uor-research.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @universityofleeds.bsky.social www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/insects...

Grundwissen Klima zur Erinnerung: weniger Tempo beim Klimaschutz heißt unerreichbare Klimaziele! Denn ein großer Teil des CO2 bleibt Jahrtausende in der Luft. Die *kumulativen* Emissionen bestimmen Ausmaß der Erderwärmung! Tempo ist entscheidend!

Suomen luontotyyppien ja lajien tila heikkenee edelleen. Tämä käy ilmi Suomen raporteista Euroopan komissiolle luonto- ja lintudirektiivien toimeenpanosta. Kehityssuunnan kääntäminen vaatii lisäpanostuksia luonnonsuojeluun, ennallistamiseen ja seurantatyöhön. www.sttinfo.fi/tiedote/7143...

📣 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... 🌍 🦋🐞🦗🪲🐝

Summer 2025 in Sodankylä, Finland was the coolest summer of the 2020s, but still ~0.5 °C warmer than the most recent 30-year period (1996–2025). Modern summers in northern Fennoscandia are warmer than those in medieval times: www.nature.com/articles/s41... & www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Helmi-ohjelma on parantanut luonnon tilaa Suomessa, mutta rahoitusleikkaukset uhkaavat vesittää hyvän kehityksen. www.syke.fi/fi/tietoa-me...

Ilmastonmuutos vaikuttaa vahvasti perhosiin. Ilmaston lämmetessä Suomeen on levinnyt etelästä monia uusia perhoslajeja. Toisaalta pohjoisten metsien, soiden ja tunturien lajeilta uhkaa loppua elintila. www.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/artikkeli/3l...

I was shocked when I first saw these results from standard climate models used in IPCC reports: for high emissions, the Atlantic overturning circulation #AMOC shuts down in all 9 models that ran past 2100, and is well on the way to shutdown by 2100. Our paper on that is out today.🧵

@mahtabyazdanian.bsky.social defending her PhD thesis "Moth abundance changes and consequent bottom-up effects on birds in boreal forests" today. Congratulations for a really nice piece of work!

🦋 New UKCEH research with @naturalengland.bsky.social and @btobirds.bsky.social shows the positive impacts of agri-environment schemes (AES) on butterflies. Paper: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @jappliedecology.bsky.social 🧵🧪 1/

New summer adventures mean new moths! Here are a few I have met, photographed and illustrated this summer. I’m at around 55 species of the 300 or so geometer moths found in Finland. At least I’m not running out anytime soon.

The Silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia, keisarinviitta) is one of the opportunist butterflies that has benefitted most from the warming climate in N Europe. When I started with butterflies in early 1980s, this species was rare and occurred in a narrow area in SE Finland. 1/2

The Sooty copper (Lycaena tityrus, tummakultasiipi) is an expansive species in N Europe that was first found in Finland in 2009, but only in recent years it has gained a stronger foothold along the S coast of the country. The pic shows a female butterfly (Hanko, 14 August 2025).

A new paper demonstrates a clear latitudinal gradient in responses of the Finnish moth communities to warming climate. This work is based on the Finnish #mothmonitoring dataset gathered @syke.fi.

The Short-tailed blue (Cupido argiades, kannussinisiipi) is having another good year in Finland, and can now be found in good numbers in e.g. clover fields. This newcomer species has clearly benefitted from warming summers.

This is unbelievable. The high temperature at one of Finland’s northernmost weather stations, in the municipality of Sodankylä (Lapland region) within the Arctic Circle at latitude 67.3°N, reached at least 25°C for 26 days in a row. Records date back to 1908.

Cool new research by @e-ellis1.bsky.social Moths & hoverflies are more sensitive to urbanisation than bees, but urban trees boost moth species richness in UK cities. #teammoth 🌍 royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/...

A meta-analysis found that high-density managed honeybee populations can: 👉disrupt local biodiversity🌏 👉reduce pollinator richness🧪 👉alter plant-pollinator relationships🐝 ...all with minimal benefits to crop yields! Calls for evidence-based hive density guidelines 📑 🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Negative ecological impacts of honeybees begin at densities below recommended levels for crop pollination. doi.org/10.1111/1365...

More bad news for butterflies. Our new paper led by Wendy Leuenberger shows common species are declining even more rapidly than rare ones. @ZipkinLab Three decades of declines restructure butterfly communities in the Midwestern United States | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501340122

Pallas's fritillary (Argynnis laodice, etelänhopeatäplä) is now on wings along the S coast of Finland. This newcomer has been able to utilize increasing summer temps in the Nordic region (Kirkkonummi, 4 August 2025).

Kävin hyönteis- ja hämähäkkiretkellä @hs.fi toimittajien kanssa. Retken tuloksena syntyi upeasti kuvitettu artikkeli, joka kertoo luonnon muutoksesta. Löysimme jännittäviä lajeja, joilla kaikilla on tarina kerrottavanaan! 🐝🪲🦋 #luonto #hyönteiset @utu.fi @luontopaneeli.fi www.hs.fi/alueet/art-2...

20 straight days with 30 °C in Finland! Truly unprecedented heatwave still in full swing with maximum today about 32-33 degrees. Even the Arctic regions (e.g. Sodankylä Tähtelä) have seen three weeks above 25 °C, and may rival tomorrow their August heat records.

Paikka avoinna hiljattain väitelleelle tutkijalle! valtiolle.fi/fi/tyopaikat... @syke.fi @unioulu.bsky.social

I found several larval nests of the Scarce fritillary (Euphydryas maturna, kirjoverkkoperhonen) on the main larval host plant Melampyrum pratense. Unlike in most countries, this species is still common in Finland and it inhabits e.g. edges of clear-cuts (Mikkeli, 29 July 2025).

A full report of our latest European Grassland Index has just been published. It gives individual species trends as well as the overall decline of 50% since 1991-2023. Another update will be coming soon to include 2024 (which was not a good year for many butterflies) doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

Temperatures reach 30 degrees C on 17 consecutive days in Finland #heatwave yle.fi/a/74-20174760

Historically long heatwave taking place in Finnish Lapland. Today marks the 15th consecutive day with the maximum temperature over 25 °C in Sodankylä Tähtelä. Such a long heatwave has not happened before in Lapland, at any station. en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/local-weathe...

The Large Scabious Mining Bee female (Andrena hattorfiana, ruusuruohomaamehiläinen) is collecting pollen for its offspring. This bee is a specialist dependent on the Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis). In Finland it is distributed mainly in SE parts of the country.

Meet the new seal species: Pusa saimensis! yle.fi/a/74-20173801

Siberian ancestry originated in Yakutia and spread to west aided by the Seima-Turbino bronze trade network. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

Repost with your moths! #Art #Sciart I might have a thing for geometer moths. Maybe.

The Apollo (Parnassius apollo) was on wings at the last inland location in Finland on July 12, 2025. Thanks to the cool & rainy early summer, it was still accompanied by a worn-out female of the Chequered Blue (Scolitantides orion, kalliosinisiipi).

Picture of summer 2025 in Finland - no need for irrigation.

Nature research paper: Ancient DNA reveals the prehistory of the Uralic and Yeniseian peoples https://go.nature.com/45TttnV

This map categorizes European forests according to their use. Unmanaged forests are super rare. Finland and Sweden are timber plantations. France has created Landes de Gascogne, a match box forest on the Atlantic coast. Britain got rid of their forests . Source: buff.ly/cQBsb9x buff.ly/EbK7dvz

A newly hatched male of the Moorland Clouded Yellow (Colias palaeno, suokeltaperhonen) on Rhododebdron tomentosum (Mäntsälä, S Finland, 1 July, 2025).

Is global warming accelerating? Over at The Climate Brink I argue that the consilience of evidence from surface temperatures, climate models, forcing changes, ocean heat content, and earth energy imbalance all point toward yes: www.theclimatebrink....

Tiedotimme kesän pesimälintulaskentojen tuloksista. - Moni tuttu lintulaji harvinaistuu entisestään. Varpusia ja kuoveja on nyt vähemmän kuin koskaan aiemmin. - Monien eteläisten lajien voittokulku jatkuu. www.helsinki.fi/fi/uutiset/l... @birdlifesuomi.bsky.social @helsinki.fi @nathist.bsky.social

A pair of the Black-veined white (Aporia crataegi, pihlajaperhonen) and the Scarce fritillary (Euphydryas maturna, kirjoverkkoperhonen) on wings in spite of the cool weather in #Sipoonkorpi national park, S Finland (27 June, 2025).

Check out this very exciting research! Bogong moths use a stellar compass to navigate rdcu.be/esl5o

Lajistoseurannat ovat luontotiedon selkäranka. Kysyntä seurantojen tuottamille tiedoille kasvaa koko ajan. Rahoituksen epävarmuus kuitenkin uhkaa seurantatyön jatkuvuutta. Jo nyt vapaaehtoiset tuottavat miljoonien eurojen arvosta tietoa Suomen luonnosta joka vuosi. www.sttinfo.fi/tiedote/7126...

Population monitoring of the Clouded apollo (Parnassius mnemosyne, pikkuapollo) in S Finland (14 June, 2025).

Ancient coprolite yields world’s oldest Lepidpoteran fossils, dated to 236 million yr ago www.science.org/content/arti...

The Pearl-Bordered Fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne, pursuhopeatäplä) posing on a peat bog (Sipoo, S Finland, 13 June, 2025).

New study shows that the relict Lake Saimaa Ringed Seal population differentiated from other Ringed Seal populations more than 60.000 yr ago. www.uef.fi/en/article/t...

An amazing review of the current state of knowledge of the systematics and classification of themoth family Erebidae, the most diverse family of Lepidoptera! This is a really necessary compilation of available information. 🥳 🙌 academic.oup.com/isd/article/...

The Small Dark Yellow Underwing (Coranarta cordigera, herttakangasyökkönen) is a true bog specialist in the south of Finland, whereas in the north it is less selective (Vihti Nuuksio, 6th June, 2025).