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?

Here is a final instar Field Damsel Bug (Nabis ferus) nymph photographed yesterday, and some photos of the same insect after moulting today - as a teneral adult with a deformed hind leg stuck in its nymphal exuvia, then freed by me and then 2-3 hours later after acquiring its normal colouration.

In Sep-21 I got round to processing moths @joeharkness.bsky.social had given me to ID much earlier. By chance, out of the blue, he messaged me just then. Apparently my rather niche reply about moth genitalia and macerating abdomens inspired a book. 👏👏 on publication day Joe! #NeurodivergentByNature

It's a bumper-wasp year: here are my top tips on how to dine alongside wasps, without getting stung. GET INVOLVED! Tell us what wasps want at YOUR picnic: www.sumnerlab.co.uk/wasp-picnic-... theconversation.com/what-to-do-w... @uclcber.bsky.social @uclnews.bsky.social @uk.theconversation.com

Category: most beautiful insects on earth. Cuckoo wasps are one of my favorite insects. I love the play of colors and the metallic look. No pigments, just light refractions with surface textures in the nanometer range. These „colors“ never fade. Encased in amber, they last for several million years.

Question for spider folk - I'm thinking this may be Oedothorax apicatus, but am I right? I tentatively got it to retusus or apicatus based on the epigyne and then apicatus based on shorter tibia IV spine, but I'm still new to spider ID so confirmation welcome, or correction if need be.

Another new moth for the garden last night and one I really wasn’t expecting here (15 miles inland): Aristotelia brizella (Thrift Elder). The NW wind paid dividends! #NorfolkMoths #TeamMoth There have been inland records in Suffolk before but not in Norfolk as far as I can see.

And from last Thursday, a superb Oncocera semirubella (Rosy Knot-horn), a new species for me - expected but also much longed-for. Also new for the garden, a Tawny Wave, a species that seems to be turning up away from the Brecks with increasing frequency. #NorfolkMoths #TeamMoth

My next two new moths for the garden were both on 14th July: Pempelia genistella (Gorse Knot-horn) and Epinotia solandriana (Variable Birch Roller). The former is increasing and set to colonise if it hasn't already while the latter seems to be very scarce, not quite recorded annually in Norfolk.

I've had at least six more new moths for the garden this month, starting with these two: a long-awaited Bordered Straw on 5th and a much less expected Chrysoclista linneella (Lime Flame) on 6th. I'd only seen Bordered Straw abroad before and the Chrysoclista was completely new for me. #NorfolkMoths

Another bug of interest seen on Friday morning was this Rhombic Leatherbug (Syromastus rhombeus). I thought I'd seen this species before but I don't appear to have any previous records or photos. When I got home and started typing my notes up, another one landed on my first-floor study window.

After finding what I think was Norfolk's first Reuteria marqueti in my garden moth trap last year, I found six more last week on Lime in parkland. Here's one of the six with the superficially similar Malacocoris chlorizans which is a regular visitor to my moth trap. See ALT text for differences.

La Reina! We had a regal visitor today, when Megan found a spectacular Queen of Spain Fritillary just outside our garden! Not sure when the last Norfolk record was but it's a wonderfully rare visitor for our little patch.

Creation of a berm (50 cm wide shelf, 10 cm below summer water level) resulted in 4-fold increase in number of water beetle species recorded in this Fenland drain compared to baseline survey. Species Quality Index (measure of assemblage quality) almost trebled. Comparable results at 2 other sites.

Surely one of the most radically honest and important speeches in Parliament for decades - if not ever, given the enormity of the crisis. youtu.be/gVvjIrGkQM8?...

I'm so excited to announce that I am the co-author for "Where to Watch Wildlife in Britain by Low-carbon Transport". #Books #LowCarbon #Wildlife #Travel

Dark Crimson / Light Crimson Underwing ID tip - The discal spot is adjacent with the postmedian line and the antemedian line is pointed near the dorsum / The discal spot is isolated from the postmedian line and the antemedian line is curved near the dorsum. #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

I'm increasingly seeing species names written incorrectly so here are some tips. Firstly, scientific names are easy: the first part (the genus) ALWAYS begins with a capital letter. The rest of the name NEVER has a capital letter, even if it derives from a name or place (e.g. Sitta europaea). 1/5