I’m still looking forward to my first Hawk Owl of the winter 🤤 😵‍💫

Is it safe to call this Callitula pyrrhogaster or are there any confusion species? I can't find a relevant key but it looks like other photos of this species and it's supposed to be distinctive. It's 1.5mm long and was found by suction in late July in grass at the edge of wet woodland in Norfolk.

So it seems that today Brazil has laid on (unintentionally I assume) raging fire, torrential rain, extreme heat and food shortages to give #COP30 delegates a taste of what life will soon be like (already is for many) if they don’t start treating #ClimateChange seriously. Will they get the message?

I thought I had a lot of moth records (with >10,000 from this year still to submit) but that’s small fry compared to what’s already been submitted by everyone else. I don’t envy the moth county recorder’s job! Well done Jim…

Just visited the Lacewing Recording Scheme website and there are lots of great identification guides available, e.g. www.laars.jamesjepson.com/neuroptera-l... - thanks to @jamesjepson.bsky.social and colleagues for putting this together

Not sure why this hasn’t appeared on the #Neuroptera feed yet - hopefully just a matter of timing and it will be there soon. Love seeing examples of Neuroptera and allied orders from other parts of the globe.

Terrific Pallid Swift at West Runton today.

Just watched this video - really interesting and informative. Worth a watch if you haven’t already.

A great website. Full of crucial info and ideas for how to live in a way that gives us a fighting chance of avoiding catastrophe. I’ve threaded it to break it up a little… 1/17 #lowcarbonliving www.tudelft.nl/sustainabili...

A case well made in this thread…

*241* mph?! That’s a lotta wind. For context, sustained winds of 74mph are enough to label it a hurricane. The most catastrophic category 5 hurricanes only have to be 156mph. They’re also expecting it to drop more rain than most of England gets in a whole year.

A good day to come across this account: apparently it’s the 10th anniversary of my Brown Shrike find…

I had fun identifying Conopid flies today including two recent Ivy Waspgrabbers (Leopoldius signatus) and one from last year. Armed with this experience I revisited and confirmed a suspected Early Waspgrabber (Leopoldius brevirostris) from 2020, quite rare apparently. All four had come to light.

The number of Harlequin Ladybirds hibernating in my kitchen went up yesterday: 18 late morning, up to at least 54 by evening. I usually get 2- and 7-spot Ladybirds hibernating in my study and Harlequins in the kitchen but this is more than usual.

I'm working on my specimens caught over the summer. This from my garden moth trap on 13th June appears to be Deleaster dichrous, although there were some problems keying it (tarsus 4 not simple for starters). Not many records in Norfolk (only one up to the end of 2021, don't know after that).

This has received no publicity but is damning. A clear explanation of why this type of reintroduction is not just a distraction and a waste of resources but is ACTIVELY HARMFUL to conservation. Environmental journalists please note and please publicise. operationturtledove.org/captive-rele...

Diasemiopsis ramburialis (Migrant Sable) in mid Norfolk last night. I’ve caught lots of good moths here incl. 3 county firsts but this may be the rarest @migrantmothuk.bsky.social so far. 4th for Norfolk (3rd this year) unless @norfolkmoths.bsky.social has others pending. #NorfolkMoths #TeamMoth

I like it when a #newt shows up at my moth trap. I've had Smooth Newts here a few times now but previously they've always been unspotty juveniles (one was a little spotty). #Amphibians

Does anyone know of papers documenting the impact of Asian Hornets on insect populations (other than Honey Bees)? A statement on the Kent Downs National Landscape site says "In other parts of Europe, their arrival has led to huge declines in native insects" and I'd be interested to know more.

It would be great to have an up-to-date book on Europe's lacewings etc. but this isn't it. A hefty price for a small book that covers a small % of its too-big scope. The plates are mainly set specimens, too small to be of use. Some useful detail but limited value with so much omitted. More in ALT.

Back our campaign to balance the BBC: www.libdems.org.uk/bbc

Paging @norfolknorwichbats.bsky.social

I caught this Wasp Nest Beetle (Metoecus paradoxus) in my moth trap last night, a new species and family for me. They lay eggs in rotting wood that a wasp might harvest. If one does then the larvae climb on to the wasp, hitch a lift to its nest and then parasitise the wasp larvae. Neat trick.

Expect your mobile to go off 3pm Sunday! Be prepared for a test of the Govt's emergency alert system. Full info... www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/09... LIVING WITH DOMESTIC ABUSE? If you've a hidden mobile, you the link above has details of how to opt out of the alert. Pls share

How many generations do Ruby Tigers have? They're said to have two, one in spring and a larger one in Jul-Sep. But my records show a dip in late Aug, and phenology charts at @norfolkmoths.bsky.social & other county websites reflect this pattern so I wonder if they have 3, spring, Jun-Aug & Sep?

Best thing in the trap this week was the mayfly Heptagenia sulphurea (Common Yellow Dun) which has quite a restricted distribution in East Anglia. See ALT text for notes about its changing eye colour. Also two Clifden Nonpareils were nice, the first time I've caught two in a year. #NorfolkMoths

The Norfolk county recorder & verifier starter pack has been updated to include @norfolkbirds.bsky.social . You can see the whole list here: go.bsky.app/V4aGdWk or via the starter pack menu on our profile.

I really wish I was a super-villan who could beam this onto every television screen in the land.

Great! If only our politicians and media had this much empathy for our fellow people who’ve ended up in this country. As someone else said, be like Miss Webster.

New Blog Post! How to Obtain, Manage and Access Entomological Literature weevil-see.com/taxonomy/acc...

I started a blog and my first post is online! The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think! weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

Nearing the end of a challenging job from Tenerife, just 90 Sarcophagidae to go! 😥 At least this one doesn't look like all of the others; Miltogramma aurifrons. Still available for ID and imaging projects, UK and Europe dipteraid.co.uk/specimeniden... Please share if possible

I revisited the Euura miliaris sawfly larva earlier today to find an ichneumon wasp working its way around them despite their efforts to defend themselves. Amazing how it holds its wings up to avoid being clobbered!

Three more lacebugs Kalama tricornis today, this time in pitfall traps. Two were in the same place as the one I found by suction yesterday. I look forward to encountering more lacebugs - they're rather smart. Platydracus stercorarius was quite striking for a rove beetle, even on its last legs.

Funnels are working well to reduce small mammals mortalities in pitfall traps 🐁 just cut the narrow end shorter and you can even drop a sample pot with solution into the cup for easy collection 🪲

I enjoyed some productive suction-sampling today. Lots still to identify but among the highlights was my first (long-awaited) lacebug: Kalama tricornis. Also Angle-spotted Scymnus (Scymnus frontalis), one of the commoner inconspicuous ladybirds to have eluded me until now. #UKbugs #UKbeetles

How they returned Holkham back to wetlands with breeding spoonbill and little, cattle and great white egret. All about water control and managing cattle grazing. youtube.com/watch?v=kirn...

Norfolk naturalists, please look out for nymphs and adults of the non-native Southern Green Shieldbug ~ Nezara viridula. With this being the second county record it would be useful to know more about their spread. Please add records via iRecord, or DM me. www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...

#BirdHybrid No. 30: Western Reef Heron x Little Egret. There have been quite a few records of this hybrid in Europe, and it’s likely to become commoner as Western Reef Heron pushes north.

This is a different publisher to the previous three editions, which were published by OUP. If you go to the Springer Nature website (just google the book) and use the coupon code SPECIAL10OFF you may find you get 10% the price, with free shipping.

I've twice caught November Moths where the tegumen was separate from the rest of the genitalia which consisted of a globular structure presumably consisting of malformed valvae and sacculus, with the loose aedeagus emerging through an opening. Here's an Elachista atricomella with similar deformity.

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these (busy summer, etc.) but this seems like a good prompt to start them off again… #BirdHybrid No. 29: Reed Warbler x Sedge Warbler

Yesterday I found this Figwort Sawfly (Tenthredo scrophulariae) in my garden in a pheremone lure trap that hadn't been set. A decade and a day previously I'd found a larva on my garden Buddleia. It must have been a good day for them as a friend in Sandwich had one for the first time too.

I've been processing some of my finds from early-mid May and here are four of the highlights from fieldwork. They're not all rare, but were all new to me: Phratora laticollis, Elachista adscitella (Oblique-barred Grass-miner), Gyrohypnus angustatus and Lilioceris lilii (Lily Beetle). #NorfolkMoths

Phyllocnistis extrematrix turning up at various locations across Norfolk after recent discovery by @vc28wildlife.bsky.social in Downham Market a week ago!

The current position of Natural England is that (re)introduction of White Storks should not be supported. Evidence for their historical presence here is sketchy and it is difficult to rule out historical remains as not pertaining to regular vagrancy. Cultural evidence is weak at best #UKbirding 1/2

Not the moth I was hoping for in my trap last night. I often find frogs on the ground round my trap and occasionally they jump up on top of the trap, but I think this is the first time I've found one actually in the trap. I wonder how many moths I lose to them?