Some more Pseudoscorpions from Crates Wood, Shaftesbury. Two Moss Neobisid, Neobisium carcinoides with springtail prey and two photos of a Riddish Two-eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus

I went to Crates Wood near Shaftesbury which has lots of thick moss on the ground. I found lots of Pseudoscorpions mainly Moss Neobisid, Neosbisium carcinoides. Including one that spent a long time cleaning its palps and jaws, allowing a lucky shot showing the variable teeth on the fixed finger.

A new Harvestman for the garden in Shaftesbury, this is a relatively new species in the UK . Dicranopalpus larvatus

I rarely find Neobisium carcinoides so it was a good job that the Norfolk beetle recorder was on hand at NWT Sweet Briar Marshes yesterday to find this one for me. Martin is far better at finding these critters than me! #Arachtober #arachnids #pseudoscorpions

Daudebarbia rufa, first seen in the UK 2016. Fantastic day in South Wales with Naturalist Christian Owen who first found this species in the UK,also great thanks to Alastair Stevens for the invite.

A garden find from Shaftesbury this week, I occasionally see these in the house (usually the kitchen) but this is the first outdoor one I've seen. This is a Wine Cellar Spider, Psilochorus simoni carrying her eggs. (I do have a small cellar but rarely any wine for very long)

A Pseudoscorpion from the garden in Shaftesbury last week, this one is the Reddish Two-eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus.

Chthonius ischnocheles with an Orbatid mite meal, in the garden in Shaftesbury. They seem to like these!

A lovely trip down to Studland in Dorset, kept an eye out for Beavers but no luck, but did find some of my favourite spiders; Attulus saltator, Thomisus onustus, Rhysodromus histrio and Alopecosa barbipes (in almost Sandbear colours)

Tansy fun; I was photographing Colletes (similis?) and noticed a tiny Gall Midge, Ozirhincus hungaricus laying eggs in its florets, then coming along behind its parasitoid wasp Inostemma (reticulatum?) with an odd black pudding structure on its back housing a long ovipositor to parasitise them.

The Brown One. Harvestman, Nelima gothica exploring the wall in the garden in Shaftesbury. #gardenfinds #harvestman #dorset

A dapper chap from the garden in Shaftesbury this week, no females seen yet. Ornate Tailed Digger Wasp - Cerceris rybyensis

Seems to be lots of these in the garden in Shaftesbury at the moment. Never seen them before, enjoying the hot dry weather under the pine tree perhaps!

A tiny Spitting Spider, Scytodes thoracica cropped up in the kitchen this morning, one of my favourites!

Just back from a holiday in Italy and if I could bring back two species to join UK wildlife they would be the European Rhinoceros Beetle, Oryctes nasicornis and its Mammoth Wasp parasite, Megascolia maculata #biginsects

A male Bee Grabber from Eype, this one is probably Thecophora atra

A new one for me from Eype on the South Dorset coast, a great place for new stuff. This is Micropeza corrigiolata a Stilt Legged Fly.

I have seen the non-native Wall Lizards, Podarcis muralis on the Purbeck coast of Dorset before but on a sunny day this week I got to take some photos for the first time. So beautiful!

Really excited and surprised to find this one in the garden in Shaftesbury today. A female Scarce Chaser, Libellula fulva. I think she must have flown miles to the hill top here from her slow flowing river and dyke habitat!

Another bright visitor to the garden in Shaftesbury, this one is a Handsome Fungus Beetle, Endomychus coccineus, sometimes called a False Ladybird. #gardenfinds #beetles

Some harvestmen from the garden in Shaftesbury, who stopped to pose for portraits. This is fairly normal for the three pictures of Rilaena triangularis but I was pleased to find a still Nemastoma bimaculatum, as these are usually always on the go! #gardenfinds #harvestman

Despite the cold weather yesterday, a bit of sunshine brought out a smart little spider at Higher Hyde Heath. This is a subadult male Euophrys pretensis, he’ll look even more striking next month! #spiders #heathfinds

One of my favorite spiders, from Great Ovens Heath in Dorset, the Sand Bear Spider, Arctosa perita. Because of its wonderful camouflage it will occasionally freeze, which is a great help to the photographer! #spiders

One of my favourite spiky Harvestmen, found at Fontmell Down, Dorset, Homalenotus quadridentatus.

One that popped up in my bedroom yesterday, the Twenty-plume Moth, Alucita hexadactyla. #gardenfinds #moths # feathers

Some finds from the garden in Shaftesbury yesterday. #gardenfinds #invertebrates These are 1. A woodlouse-like fly larva, Lonchoptera species, 2. A centipede-like Symphylan, Symphylella species probably vulgaris 3. A Springtail, Kalaphorura burmeisteri & 4. A Rosy Woodlouse, Androniscus dentiger

A bit of clear weather and I have been able to find a pseudoscorpion that I've not found in the garden in Shaftesbury before. The Reddish Two-Eyed Chelifer, Roncus lubricus. #gardenfinds

One idea for the New Year is to extend my photography and recording beyond invertebrates, I feel as yet overwhelmed by plants and fungi but will make a start on some vertebrates. Here are some probable Marsh Tits, Poecile palustris to start the ball rolling.

A new species for the garden and for me, and it suddenly seems to be everywhere. I think this is Megamelodes quadrimaculatus.

Two of my favourite snails from the garden in Shaftesbury yesterday. The Hairy Snail, Trochulus hispidus and the Winter Semi-Slug, Vitrina pellucida. #gardenfinds #snails

Spider fungus! The last time I found this type of fungus the spider was still moving in a "Zombie" way, this one was already deceased. I think this was a Tegenaria species spider infected with Gibellula pulchra.

A new Flatworm for me, this was from Great Ovens Reserve, Dorset today. It is the non-native Australoplana sanguinea

The walls at work in Wincanton, Somerset always throw up a few harvestmen. Today it was only Dicranopalpus sp. In the past the males I've check here have been about 50% D. ramosus o and 50% D. caudatus, so these are Dicranopalpus ramosus agg. A male and three females.(FMFF) #harvestmen

A first post on Bluesky I thought I'd post some Flatworms from the garden in Shaftesbury. #Platyhelminthes #Gardenfinds