Today’s poem is called ‘Add to Basket’.

north with a storm in the rearview overtaken by rain 20 miles from the village where a hare takes you in at cemetary bend the bay darkening & a small boat nods & judders coastguard helicopter whomping its noise off the waves

Keep an eye open now for Agalenatea redii, the Gorse Orb Weaver. Gorse is a good place to find it but it can also be found in other bushes, heather, grass, and on fences etc. Like many others in the family Araneidae, A. redii is variable in appearance, and has several strikingly different forms.

“Records for early spring occurrences are being smashed as 2026 looks to be the earliest this century for frogspawn laying, Blackbirds nesting, Brimstone butterflies emerging and Hazel flowering, according to Nature’s Calendar, which has logged citizen science records of seasonal change since 2000”.

As we were passing Wordsworth’s Point on Ulswater today we thought it would be rude to not stop and pay our respects to the Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). And a few nice ones in the cottage we were staying in too…

I have just watched 'My Garden of a Thousand Bees', and my mind is blown. Bees. They have personalities. They use sticks. It's changed how I think of insects that's for sure. I can't recommend it enough. On BBC iPlayer. It's wonderful. And you will meet a leafcutter bee called Nicky.

The temperate forest above Derwent Water in the Lake District. Look for the 'Surprise View' on the map! #forestfriday #cumbria #lakedistrict #ECK #landscape #classicmono #photography

In the orchard Artist: CF Tunnicliffe (The Farm, 1958)

#warwickshirewildlifetrust #wildlifetrusts

@bcwarwickshire.bsky.social how many 🐛 ?

An update on the Orange-tip butterfly chrysalis. The orange of the wing tip is looking more obvious now. Hoping for a still, warm day for the emergence. #butterflies #chrysalis #UKwildlife

An unexpected start to the day when my wife and I squeezed a step ladder into the car and drove to a sewer with an open lid she'd discovered while out running. We soon lifted a dozen frogs, a baby toad, two lizards, a young slow worm, a pair of fire salamanders and two crested newts to the surface!

Painting of Lichen stellaris by Louisa Finch, Countess of Aylesford. Found in the grounds of Packington Hall, Warwickshire, December 18, 1810 #lichens #art #wildlife #ScientificIllustration

'A Sunny Day.' (1900) Elin Danielson's favourite subjects tend to be portraits of women engaged in daily work. Given the date of this picture, it was most likely painted in Livorno in Italy shortly after her marriage to the painter Raffaello Gambogi.

Travelling this Easter? John Ogilby's "The Road from Ferrybridge to Boroughbridge Continued to Barnard Castle" is a 17th-century (1675) strip map published in his Britannia atlas, the first to use measured, surveyed road distances. The map, Plate 95 in the collection,

Frank T. Lockwood (British, 1895-1961) "Newsagent's Shop, King's Norton, Birmingham," 1958 Watercolor and gouache #art #painting #artist #BlueSkyArt

Michael Sowa (German Artist, born 1945) "Easter Bunny on the Train", 1996. Oil on Canvas. Apropos for Easter :-)

Not very often I card point a beetle, but had this rather rare dung beetle passed to me the other day, Labarus lividus, a nationally rare dung beetle and only the second record I have for Nottinghamshire. #Coleoptera #Scarabaeidae

Three micro ladybird species found during the wildlife group's trip to NW Shrops yesterday: Meadow Ladybird (Rhyzobius litura), Red-rumped Ladybird (Scymnus haemorrhoidalis) and Red Marsh Ladybird (Coccidula rufa).

Norellisoma flavicorne, the Grey Mantis Dung Fly...a small, Meadowsweet-associated dung fly with impressive raptorial bristles on the forelegs. A common species on beds of Meadowsweet around the @ldvnnr.bsky.social . @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @ynuorg.bsky.social

Warning! No birds at all in this one... #TeamMoth

Cramp-ball Fungus Weevil (Platyrhinus resinosus). I found five of these stunning weevils today in Long Melford, Suffolk. As their common name suggests, they feed on Cramp-ball fungus.

Yay, the butterfly counting season starts today.