A good news spider story from the BBC today www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I am so pleased to announce that I will be graduating with a First-Class Honours degree in BSc (Hons) Zoology with Entomology! I'm chuffed to bits and. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, I couldn't have made it without you all. Here's to more spidering and bugging wherever life takes me!😊🕷🦋

I don't draw very often, but I decided to sit down last night and sketch a spider! Here's a female Hypositticus pubescens😊🕷 #spider #drawing #arachnology #art

Some garden invert finds😊🕷

A small male Hypositticus pubescens exploring a sunny brick wall. There was another male further up that he appeared to be pursuing! I've seen 3 Salticid species on this one wall now, haha❤️🕷 #spider #arachnology #jumpingspider

My HRP is in, and with that, my 4 years at university is over😩Time has whizzed by, but I have made wonderful memories and lifelong friendships. Also, I realised my passion for spiders! Thank you to those who have supported me on this journey! (Featuring a cute Pseudeuophrys lanigera🕷❤️)

You were right Jess! The Sedge bed did produce something interesting - 7 female Entelecara omissa new to Cheshire. A nice fenland species. But still debating whether it was worth missing out on ice cream for this tiddler 😆 @britishspiders.bsky.social @tylanberry.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social

A few stacked shots of a female Evarcha falcata from Brereton Heath LNR🥺 Sadly, I didn't get one of the more impressive males to take pics of, but isn't she adorable!🕷 #photography #macrophotography #spider #jumpingspider #ukwildlife #arachnology

I spent the evening IDing specimens from the Bagmere SSSI (VC58) recording day to find a male and female Allomengea vidua! I believe this nationally scarce duo is a new hectad record? Good news for the species and site I hope🤞 (Uploaded to SRS)🕷 @britishspiders.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk

On Friday, I was at Brereton Heath LNR & Bagmere SSSI looking for more #spiders! It was great to finally attend a recording day again. It was lovely to catch up and see some familiar and new faces. My favourite find has to be the Salticidae, Evarcha falcata. I have a bunch of spiders to ID, again🫣🕷

That's 3,049 #spiders identified, mostly down to species😅 time for the stats and write-up now!

All done with the first round of ID for my dissertation, which makes 1,537 spiders in total with most to species where possible😩 notable finds include the one Mermessus trilobatus and 7 Panamomops sulcifrons. It's time to go through the second survey samples!🕷 @britishspiders.bsky.social

And another three NS Panamomops sulcifrons females in one sample! There definitely seems to be a population in this particular field margin alongside barley crops🕷 @britishspiders.bsky.social

That makes 3 Panamomops sulcifrons females found on this site! 🥳🕷 @britishspiders.bsky.social

I've been out on the fields and margins again for a final round of spider survey work for my dissertation. The weather has been ideal! ☀️

Another nationally scarce Panamomops sulcifrons female find on this site. She was caught in the field margin this time🕷 @britishspiders.bsky.social

I think this is a nationally scarce Panamomops sulcifrons female? She was caught in the middle of a conventional wheat/barley field of all places😆 @britishspiders.bsky.social @cofnod.org.uk

First post on bluesky, so here is the Mermessus trilobatus female I caught in a vineyard (VC40) for my HRP. Thank you @britishspiders.bsky.social and @tylanberry.bsky.social for helping and confirming the ID. I've uploaded it to the SRS! Maybe an accidental introduction to the area? @cofnod.org.uk