Our Head of Surveys @debalmer.bsky.social completed her third Winter Bird Survey visit to one of her squares in Thetford Forest. She has surveyed this square for @bbs-birds.bsky.social since 1994! An incredible effort! You can sign up for the Winter Bird Survey here ➡️ www.bto.org/winbs #UKBirding

Due to icy roads and paths this morning we have decided to change the Sorby Fungus Group Winter Wander and Planning meeting to an ONLINE meeting at 10.30am. We have CANCELLED the plan to meet at Graves Park.

Sunday book review: Pan-species Listing by @graemelyons.bsky.social Publisher: @pelagic.bsky.social Review: markavery.info/2026/01/04/s... "Hardly anyone has the knowledge to write this book & even fewer could write it so well!"

Happy Christmas from NatureBureau - our office is now closed til 5 January but you can still pre-order our #FliesofBritainandIreland - due late Jan/early Feb 2026. Pre-order now bit.ly/4dqQI8Z @gailashton.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @wildlifekate.bsky.social

The Spawn Survey is open until May 2026, and you can add your sightings here: freshwaterhabitats.org.uk/advice-resou...

Not long now until our 15th #NewYearPlantHunt! From 1 - 4 January, let's head out and see how many wild or naturalised plants we can find in bloom. Resources to help us: bsbi.org/take-part/ac... The data we collect will deepen our understanding of how our plants are responding to a changing climate.

“Lichens of Britain & Ireland” by Rebecca Yahr and Frances Stoakley is finally available for purchase. This has been a much needed ID guide for beginners to intermediates and the publication is finally here!! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/lichens-o... #bloomsbury #lichens

I've recorded wildlife for many years, starting with pen and paper, but in the last several years mostly recording on apps. (I still use paper to tally my moth trap findings). I can't imagine being bothered to write down 8,000 records in a year before apps. It surely has made a big impact!

The newly-published 2024 Derbyshire Bird Report should have reached you already, if you are a DOS member Non-members can buy a copy, prices £10.30 inc p&p: the perfect thing for some post-turkey reading: see the order form at www.derbyshireos.org.uk/order24.php #DerbyshireBirds

The new @bsbibotany.bsky.social handbook on roses arrived today. I'm looking forward to trying to find a few species next year. Hopefully with some @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social and @ynuorg.bsky.social friends.

Every so often I venture south of the border, and Day 11 of my botanical #adventcalendar is the amazing Large-flowered Butterwort - native to SW Ireland, but occasionally introduced in England, including this population in Edale Like @bsbibotany.bsky.social, I couldn't stop grinning! #wildflowerhour

Fascinating insights from Professor John Rodwell, giving a us “A botanist’s view from South Yorkshire at the #BIBConf25. Including early influences such as his professor Irene Manton

I am aware of how strange it is to be excited to find a dead hornet, take it home and stick a pin through it. It's doesn't mean I'll stop doing it though. It dwarfs all the other hymenopterans I have specimens of. A giant predator of the insects. @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social

📢 Our Christmas sale starts today! Use code XMAS30 at the checkout to save 30% 🎄📚️🎄 #christmassale #booksale #specialoffer #discountcode #wildlife #ecology #nature #naturalhistory

Pleased to see @markavery.bsky.social's endorsement of @ecology-digest.bsky.social's atlas of Yorkshire's spiders and harvestmen, which we funded with the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 'If spiders are your thing, then this is a book for you, particularly, but not only, if you live in Yorkshire'

Found a range of fungi incl. these smart Scarlet Waxcaps (Hygrocybe coccinea) nr Ringinglow, S.Yorkshire recently. Adjacent fields were emerald green from nitrate fertiliser application but this biodiverse pasture is too steep for the tractor! @britishmyology.bsky.social @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

An unexpected outage for iRecord and other Indicia systems this weekend means that you won't be able to add records to the websites. It is still possible to add records to the iRecord apps, but you won't be able to upload them until this is fixed 😞

Wednesday evening ⬇️

I found this enormous Pike this afternoon, looks like it may have been eaten by an Otter. I'm not sure anything else can taken in a 4'6" long Pike and would eat the insides. It didn't smell much so was fairly fresh. Anyone seen anything to suggest something different? @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

The latest BDS Journal is available online, where you can also access previous issues 👉 british-dragonflies.org.uk/bds-journal/

Proofs of Field Guide to Dragonflies & Damselflies of GB&I have arrived and look good. Written by Steve Brooks & Steve Cham with many new artworks, photos and detailed maps, make it the most complete guide to British Odonata. The 6th edition in 28 years

On Saturday 15th November the YWT, Yorkshire Naturalists' Union & Sorby Natural History Society are hosting a joint event for members on Soliderfly ID. Click through to purchase a ticket! www.ywt.org.uk/events/2025-... @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social @yorkswildlife.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social

My book has got a great endorsement from Chris Packham: "This clever and immensely resourceful book is an overdue gem". There's also a few pages up on the website too! It's up for pre-order here with publication set for January pelagicpublishing.com/products/pan...

Check your letterboxes! Your dedicated SBSG Trustees and Officers are out this week and next delivering the latest Annual Report by hand and by post. Surplus copies will go on sale at November Indoor meeting #ukbirding #yorkshirebirding

Calling all @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social @yorkswildlife.bsky.social members, there is a great indoor workshop on soliderflies coming up soon. I'll be there, and hope to see you too! www.ywt.org.uk/events/2025-... Or DM me for details @uk-soldierflies.bsky.social

Possibly a new (to me) pinkgill, Entoloma violaceoserrulatum, found in my local cemetery. But pinkgills are tricky, and impossible to be sure without microscopy. The photo doesn't do the indigo colour of the stem justice. @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

I was in the centre of Rotherham this morning for a meeting, right by the river. So I had a look for any interesting plants. Plenty of Frogbit, which is otherwise rare in South Yorkshire, and declined enormously. It must be floating down from somewhere upstream. @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

Sometimes bees key out easily, other times not. This male furrow bee was tricky, although I had a good idea what it was I struggled to get through the key to the right place. Discounting all the other species I came back to Orange-legged Furrow Bee (H. rubicundus) @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

Yesterday I came across these galls caused by the cynipid wasp Diplolepis mayri on brownfield land next to the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal. The galls were first found along the canal by Joan Egan (et al) back in September 2014. #galls #entomology

Fascinating research from colleagues at @sheffielduni.bsky.social on impact of urbanization on moth and hoverfly populations www.theguardian.com/environment/...

9 butterfly species around Royd Moor this afternoon. Inc Small Copper, Painted Lady, Small Heath @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social @bcyorkshire.bsky.social

Calling all Sheffield & Derbyshire birders! We're looking to gather as many Ring Ouzel sightings as possible this August & September to aid the work of RSPB Eastern Moors Partnership. Please see our website news item for more details: www.sbsg.org/sbsg-news/re... #ukbirding 📷 Chris Greenwood ©

Juvenile Black Redstart on roof near Longwall Close, Mapplewell, Barnsley at 0835 then flew towards Mapplewell Coop. Nice one for the house list. 😀

Any help with this sawfly appreciated. I'm not even sure I'm getting to the right genus in the key. In the field I thought an Athalia, but the long antennae maybe aren't right and I keyed it to Pachynematus (but it looks like many if these species are now a different genus). @suillia.bsky.social

Bilberry Bumblebee (Bombus monticola) visiting the flowers of Buddleja and Hebe in a Sheffield garden, about 2 km from open moorland.

Please report sightings of dead birds for possible testing for Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) ⬇️ 📌 In England, Wales & Scotland: www.gov.uk/guidance/... 📌 In Northern Ireland: www.daera-ni.gov.uk/... 📌 In Republic of Ireland: aviancheck.apps.serv...

Swift Awareness Week, which aims to highlight the plight of the UK's declining Common Swifts, runs from 28 June-6 July:

30 bird sp. around Royd Moor this afternoon. 7 butterfly inc. Painted Lady and Large Skipper along with freshly emerged Burnet moths. @s-yorksbirding.bsky.social @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social @bcyorkshire.bsky.social

I think this might be a Yellow-bellied Rush-cutter, Eutomostethus luteiventris, that swept from a wet field near me. Looks distinctive enough, but I think it is fairly variable. A new species for me. 🙂 @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

I led a @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social walk to Long Dale in the Peaks today. Lots of interesting things, but too windy for many flying invertebrates. Brittle Bladder-fern, Flea Sedge, Common Rockrose, Limestone Bedstraw.

Our outline programme of activities for April 2025 to March 2026 is available on our website at www.sorby.org.uk/events Full details of each activity can be found in our monthly newsletter, which is distributed free to members.

iRecord is a great tool for collecting and processing wildlife records so they can be shared and used. However, I find myself verging on becoming a lister. I looked at numbers of taxa at Potteric, and found myself thinking 'must get more beetles than birds'. Good motivation? Or obsession?

A nice day of plants and insects in the Moss Valley, just on the edge of Sheffield. A few bees, butterflies, moths and grasshoppers. The @nationaltrust.org.uk meadow is turning out to be a real hot spot for wildlife. Over 100 Adder's Tongue ferns as well 🙂 @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

Three Peregrine chicks were ringed at St Georges Church yesterday @SheffPeregrines Click on the link to read all about them in our latest blog. sheffieldperegrines.wordpress.com/2025/05/17/r...

MEETING CANCELLATION: Today's meeting of the Sorby Invertebrate Group at the Whitehall Centre, Buxton has been cancelled. It will be rearranged in July. See our newsletter for full details.

The Broad-bodied Chaser dragonflies were very active at Rocher Bog yesterday. At least four males were competing for the attention of one female. Thankfully, this male kept returning to the same perch between skirmishes.

I managed a jaunt to Lindrick Common this morning to check on the Rare Spring Sedge. This SSSI golf course is fairly sympathetically managed for it's interesting plants. The last record for this site was 2008, so good to refind it. A fellow @sorbynathissoc.bsky.social found another patch last month

A supplement to our June newsletter is now available from [email protected]

Some insects from the past few days. Species info in the alt text. Detailed locations on iRecord.