Five-banded Weevil-wasp (Cerceris quinquefasciata), Hollyhock Weevil (Rhopalapion longirostra), Large-headed Resin Bee (Heriades truncorum) & just hatching Shield Bugs @norfolknats.bsky.social

A wall in the hot, July sun. Artist: CF Tunnicliffe What to Look for in Summer, 1960

#FactoryFarm chickens - government minister says it has no say in where the farms go as it plans to work to EXPAND the industry. Err... what about controlling the air and river pollution, the #PublicHealth and environmental impacts? Isn't that the government's job?

Starmer's legacy The NHS will have to divert £45bn from essential services to pay for new medicines under the terms of the UK-US trade deal agreed last December, leading to more than 200,000 avoidable deaths of patients, analysis has found. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Three demands for Prime Minister-in-waiting Andy Burnham: Will he tax wealth? Fix our broken voting system? And end the gutting of local services? The challenges facing our country require real change.

A friend sent this to me. We should all read it, as the nation calls out for air conditioning & thereby further heating up the environment as we do so! #Heatwave #ClimateCrisis #Solutions www.savageminds.co/p/architectu...

We should allow asylum seekers to work – so that they can support themselves and become part of our communities. It’s these common sense solutions, not more performative cruelty, that will fix our broken migration system. metro.co.uk/2026/07/01/z...

The Ealing Beaver Project says, since the mammals moved in, Greenford station, downstream from the animals' wetland home at Paradise Fields, no longer floods after heavy rain.

Lucky enough too, to see the delightful Broom Hedgehog Aphid (Clenocallis setosa) influentialpoints.com/Gallery/Cten.... Thanks to VB & JB for a glorious day. @norfolknats.bsky.social

Dear republikkans, if you don't like the diversity of this country, then leave.

Leptogaster cylindrica, Slender-striped Robberfly, decided my leg was the perfect place to eat it's snack

"A posture that binds the country more tightly to American aircraft, bases and strategic priorities....a defence-industrial strategy, not sovereign reindustrialisation" Terrible final decisions by Sir Keir www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Just two months remaining for the Wildlife Trusts to raise, crumbs, over £12M to purchase the vast Rothbury Estate in Northumberland. They've raised 59% of the purchase price but have scarcely added to the pot in June. Needs one obscenely rich donor to pay off the (extremely rich) seller. 1/2

Four umbellifers (Apiaceae) at the allotment. Fennel Ammi majus Parsley Fool's Parsley.

#PalantirOut You might think the vehemence of the minister's reply is a reflection of the level of public opposition and rightful concern www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

As Tony Benn said, "If we can find money to kill people, we can find the money to help people." Labour prefer to kill people www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The very hungry caterpillar. Cinnabar moth, Tyria jacobaeae. On Common Ragwort today. #TeamMoth #Moths

22-Spot Ladybird, Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata. On the #allotment today. www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-exp... #Beetles

Asparagus Beetle, Crioceris asparagi. On the #allotment today. #Beetles

An accidental thread here, on an issue of enormous importance, as this paper became fundamental to government climate policy (and non-policy) around the world.

'Green Party leader...Zack Polanski said: "What is the value of giving local govt more powers if it cannot afford to use them?... #Burnham's commitment today to stick to the so-called fiscal rules ensures continued austerity & cuts to vital services." ' #devolution www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Mahmood is a disgrace. A woman lacking of any kind of empathy or moral character. No better than Suella Bravermann or Priti Patel - all of them children of immigrants; each of them wanting to pull the ladder up behind them once achieving their own status in the UK. The UK is better than them.

The Green Party is clear on what real change looks like: • Proportional representation • Taxing billionaire wealth • No new oil and gas • Public ownership of water • Rent controls • Ending arms sales to Israel

I fear Burnham is as fervent a Friend of Israel as Starmer - seeing arms sales as more important than mass child slaughter - but live in hope ... via Ian Almond

“Maybe they were sick and tired of having a road over their heads that they were excluded from and wanted to turn the tables…”

"Flint says its British client list is confidential. But half a dozen of the firms at Alexander roundtable are listed as Flint clients on the EU’s lobbying register, including Uber, Amazon, and Diageo." We need to know ALL those clients #Transparency democracyforsale.substack.com/p/burnhams-c...

This is a Refugee Tax. It was originally proposed by the Tories, and the only reason asylum seekers could be claimed to 'owe' any money is because they are banned from working. Another cruel Labour policy - that must be reversed on day one by Andy Burnham. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Growth mentioned ten times. Climate mentioned zero times. A reminder that the green economy is worth £100bn a year, benefits every part of the UK, and green jobs are paid 11% above the average wage. Burnham must stamp out creeping climate skepticism and deliver for people and for nature.

Humans should not be forced off pavements by delivery robots, but that's exactly what's happening. The people who pay the price are those with the least room to give it up.

The very lovely Large-flowered Butterwort Pinguicula grandiflora on flushed rocks in Derbyshire. Close inspection necessitated a paddle in a stream which was no great hardship #wildflowerhour

Farewell, Margo. One of the all-time great sitcom creations.

Music is not a luxury here. It is proof that we are still alive. Two young women. Two banduras. One bench in a Ukrainian city. They played. People stopped. No one said a word. hfu.org

Totally and utterly unnecessary We don't need and we don't want these ridiculous and dangerous Californian tech gimmicks and job destroyers www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Trailing Snapdragon, Asarina procumbens. In the back garden. Does well growing in paving cracks in deep shade.

A shortish cycle ride (27 miles) on Sunday with @jeremybartlett.bsky.social to a small local wood yielded some nice inverts. Large Skipper was the only butterfly out of 16 species seen that posed for a photo. More obliging were Chthonius ischnocheles & the ever-lovely Lacinius ephippiatus.

41C in the UK? In 2015 the IPCC warned world leaders not to breach 1.5C as it would unleash “frequent & severe droughts, heatwaves & rainfall.” We’re now on track for 2C in years, 3C in decades & 4C in our children’s lifetimes. The most spectacular failure of leadership in history.

Hollyhocks by our #allotment site's trading hut.

"On one hand, we're constantly told Muslims are 'taking over Britain' On the other, when someone points out the Muslims serving in our Armed Forces, police, NHS and other public services, the very same people suddenly insist there aren't many Muslims there at all. So which is it?" via Martin Michael

This week's Botany in Scotland blog post by John Grace: botsocscot.wordpress.com/2026/06/28/p...

Tonight's sunset. Shepherds will be delighted. I am too, because the air is pleasantly cool.

Did you know that ‘glandulifera’ as in Impatiens glandulifera means gland-bearing. It stems from Latin ‘glandis’ for gland and ‘ferre’ meaning to carry or bear. Himalayan/Indian Balsam has nectar producing glands at petiole bases & stem nodes #InvasivePlants for #wildflowerhour

The Australian bustard Australia's heaviest flying land bird. More commonly known in the outback as the bush turkey or plains turkey, it is a large, stately creature famous for its "snooty" walking posture and incredible prehistoric-sounding mating displays.

I recently purchased at auction one of SR Badmin’s sketchbooks. I had to have it because I’d spotted that one of the pages contained a study for an illustration in the Ladybird book ‘Trees’. As close as I’ll probably ever come to owning original Nature series artwork 😊

Pinks in shades of pink: Maiden Pink, Dianthus deltoides, in the #Suffolk #Brecks at Ramparts Field. #WildflowerHour @suffolk-nats1929.bsky.social

This had me puzzled for a bit when I saw it on a leaf in Hethel Wood, Norfolk, today. But the ever dependable @vannabartlett.bsky.social had seen one before - the shed skin of a Red-legged Shieldbug, Pentatoma rufipes. #Hemiptera #TrueBugs

Scarletina Bolete, Neoboletus praestigiator (formerly Boletus luridiformis). Two for the price of one (they were joined at the base of their stems). An unexpected find today, cycling home from East Carleton to Norwich with @vannabartlett.bsky.social. #Fungi #FungiFriends