📣New regional checklist released! A provisional checklist of Barkflies (Psocoptera) for Cheshire & Lancashire by Keith Fowler is now available. This is the first checklist for this under-recorded group in the region. 👉 Download it here: www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/document/a-p...

Lots of Poplar Beetles (Chrysomela populi) on Braunton Burrows yesterday. #DevonWildlife #UKBeetles

The first beetle I found in my new garden and it’s a dazzler! Lesser Clover Leaf Weevil, Hypera nigrirostris. #Beetle #Coleoptera #Weevil

Already starting to see Leptopterna dolabrata nymphs! 😳 #Miridae #Heteroptera

I was in an ancient woodland yesterday (White Posts Wood, Essex, TQ5682) when I found the Hazel Leaf-roller Apoderus coryli and Dendroxena quadrimaculata. Nice beetles I haven't seen in ages.

It was good to find the Turtle Bug (Podops inuncta), from grass tussocks, during yesterday's mooch in SE Shropshire #Heteroptera #Shieldbug #Pentatomidae

First Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima nymphs out at the weekend, Lower Sharpham, near Totnes, Devon

Tapped this Noctuidae (I think!) larva out of ivy yesterday in SE Shropshire. Presumably they're parasitic eggs, but wasps tend to lay their eggs inside the host I believe... so maybe Tachinid?? I'm just curious! Thanks! (No, I didn't keep it!) #Lepidoptera #Parasitised #Shropshire

🪳 Natuurlijke en naar het leven nauwkeurige gekleurde afbeeldingen en beschrijvingen der spoken, wandelende bladen, zabelspringhanen, krekels, trekspringhanen en kakkerlakken: Amsterdam: J.C. Sepp, 1813. [Source]

First damselfly of the year for me today - a Large Red, newly emerged from my pond.

Pseudoscorpions are starting to be easier to find now the weather's warming up. I carried on surveying churchyards all through winter & kept drawing blanks. Re-visits in April have proved very successful with several 'blank' churchyards now having records. Even got another East Norfolk Roncus!

The noisy chaos that is Marsh Frogs this time of year! Males calling, wresting and a pair in amplexus, all filmed in the 5 minutes that I had the hide at Rainham to myself! #pondlife #ukwildlife #wildlife

My first longhorn beetle of the year, Grammoptera ruficornis (Cerambycidae) in Shropshire yesterday #Cerambycidae #LonghornBeetle #Shropshire

An good night in the Parc naturel régional du Perche iver 50 species, some real crackers including this Tau Emperor #teammoth

Counted 34 Striped Shieldbugs (Graphosoma italicum) on stream side vegetation at Ninefields, Waltham Abbey today, 17th April 2026. TL 3978 0050. Dull and cloudy but warm enough to entice them out, great to see they have overwintered in good numbers. #EssexWildlife #UKBugs

Adorable leveret on my local road this morning, I really hope it stays off the road as traffic is so hazardous for these beatiful little creatures.

We noticed these fruit flies are behaving like tiny big horn sheep of fly world so we went back today to see if I could get some photos of the action. Here you have it, a play in 4 acts! Make me wonder if they evolved the elongated eyes for this purpose. Zygothrica sp. Intag Refugio, Ecuador

Still going through pics from La Palma now 6+ weeks ago. The endemic Viola palmensis on the north side of the caldera near Roques de los Muchachos, the highest point on the island at c2400m, on 2 Mar was one of the best plants of the trip and definitely at its best. #wildflowers #lapalma #botany

Getting friendly. Hairy Shieldbugs, Dolycoris baccarum, and Brassica Shieldbugs, Eurydema oleracea. #Bugs #Hemiptera #VC55 #macrophotography #macro #OMSystem

My first Pied Shieldbugs (Tritomegas bicolor). Lovely treat to find! Found on White dead-nettle. 15/04/2025 - Staffordshire #shieldbugs

How big is a Western Rain Moth… really big! As a demonstration, here’s a Western Rain Moth (Abantiades hydrographus) sitting next to a more standard sized moth, a Pseudanapaea denotata which was around 18mm in length 📏 #teammoth #ausinverts #wildoz #Lepidoptera #inaturalist

Had a cracking day today 1st at #RyeMeads VC20 moth trap included Brimstone Muslin Streamer Common Quaker Double stripped pug then Emperor to lure before Sedge & Reed warbler NFY then onto Therfield Heath for a look At Pasqueflower new for me 😍 @naturelark.bsky.social @vickybird.bsky.social

West Country Class locomotive number 34028 'Eddystone' departs Hastings station this afternoon.

One of the best things about natural history is the potential for unexpected encounters at any time, in even the most familiar places. Today I bumped into my 2nd ever Scarab Shieldbug at a spot where I've spent dozens if not hundreds of hours happily looking for insects.

Dotted Bee-fly in the garden - a lovely little visitor to have!

C'mon Americans, it's time to do the right thing. You really need to get rid of Trump. He is delusional, demented and dangerous. If a UK politician had done just a tiny fraction of what POTUS has done, they'd have been removed and / or jailed. Are you scared of him? #25thammendment

My first Coleophora of the year just now - C. discordella (Lotus Case-bearer) on Bird’s-foot Trefoil in my garden. Now my mothing year is properly up and running! #teammoth

1010 Y'day heading for the Mynd w @janettem34.bsky.social we were amazed to see a White Stork over the A49 near Chatford. After some manoeuvring we found a place to stop and caught it heading to SW overhead. Assumed it was the Shotatton bird but primary damage = not the same one. #shropshirebirding

Tuesday so to VP with G as usual. Chilly and blustery w 120 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 45 BHGull (most 2CY), Common Sand, brood of 11 Mallard, 22 Shoveler, 18 Gadwall, 4 Siskin, Whitethroat, 3 Mandarin, Peregrine, Kestrel caught a small mammal etc. Red Kite being chased by the Oycs. #shropshirebirding

Me, looking at my to do list this morning 📝

Emergency services are at the scene of a serious incident involving a fuel tanker on fire in the Overdale area of Telford.

Might as well share this one again for #PortfolioDay...

Today's #EntoFashion that I can't justify, a £268 wicker Rhino Beetle bag

Over the Easter weekend a robin decided that the grille of the company EV was a good place to nest. Now she is sitting on five eggs! Grounded! Luckily we have two other pool cars.

Some targeted sweeping of Heather at Tiptree Heath in Essex provided me with my first new Coleophora of the year yesterday - Coleophora juncicolella (Least Case-bearer). Very few Essex records (but equally very little heathland in the county). #teammoth

Several Orange-tailed Mining Bees (Andrena haemorrhoa) around Waltham Abbey today, quite a common species but always nice to see. #EssexWildlife #UKBees

I was joined at dinner by this tiny little creature! I had no idea there was such a thing as a Turtle Shieldbug (Podops inuncta) Is anyone up for a #ShieldbugYearList?? It’ll be a great way to help me learn more about #Shieldbugs #Pentatomidae

Nice to see both of thee widespread groundhopper species at Severn Valley CP last Weds. Plenty of Slender Groundhoppers, plus a Common Groundhopper (flightless) up a tree for some reason!

Vous connaissez peut-être le grand concours photo "Close-Up Photographer Of The Year". L'an dernier, en marge du concours principal, l'organisation avait organisé un défi thématique, intitulé : "Death and Decay". À dérouler ci-dessous. (Trigger warning : mort & décomposition) #SciArt 1/19

Does anyone know please when iRecord will be back online (currently 'closed for maintenance'). Thanks!

A kitchen visitor this morning. Was happy to pose for a portrait before being relocated into the garden. Not sure on species - would it be a Red Mason Bee? #UKWildlife #Bees

🐛 New Bugs for the week 🐛 I found these critters down by the river Cinnamon Bug (Corizus hyoscyami), Pied (Tritomegas bicolor) & Gorse Shieldbug (Piezodorus lituratus) #Bugsky #Bugs #Insects #Gorse #Shieldbug #NatureWalk #ForestFinds #HiddenWonders What’s your best bug find so far this year?

I never thought of shield bugs a pollinators - but this one has other ideas - not sure if thats tulip pollen or something else - but clearly a good dusting. #britishbugs #ukinsects #pollinators #shieldbugs

Bishop's Mitre and Hairy Shieldbugs and a Rhombic Leatherbug in Panshanger Park, Hertford, 09/04/2026 @hnhsoc.bsky.social @hertswildlifetrust.bsky.social

Bug appreciation from my Somerset garden this week: Hairy shieldbug, mating Green shieldbugs, dock bug and Rhopalus subrufus (I think)💚

Last September I found a Bombardier Beetle on my front door, and a couple of nights ago a second one turned in the road outside the house - they don't like sitting still for a photograph 😊 @colsocbi.bsky.social

A first instar Dark Bush-cricket nymph, one of 2 or 3 seen on Wednesday during wildlife group's trip to Severn Valley CP. My first cricket or grasshopper of the year and the earliest ever Dark B-C record in Shrops by 12 days.

Blackcap (female) in Blackthorn. Seen in Gloucestershire on Tuesday.

Thrilled to find a gathering of these Mammoth Wasps (Megascolia maculata) in Spain, busily nectaring with males pursuing the massive females. Their bold colours, violet wings and jack o'lantern faces look fantastic! They're Europe's largest wasps, with larvae parasitising chafer grubs.

Plenty of Ashy Mining Bees (Andrena cineraria) in the grounds of the Abbey Church, Waltham Abbey today. #EssexWildlife #UKBees