PhD-themed cake for Rob McHenry's viva celebration last week in Thurso. Both were adorned with (tasty) Fox scat - very apt with the viva including much discussion of caprophagy (eating 💩) linked to predators' use of tracks in #peatlands. @theflowcountry.bsky.social

First time setting garden trap in several weeks - 4/4 was good going for here in November. Highlight were migrants, Dark Swordgrass (NFG) and Rush Veneer, December Moth was NFY and Angle Shades joined the party too. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

Nathusius' Pipistrelle becomes #mammal species 2️⃣6️⃣ for Red Moss of Netherly, NE Scotland. Recorded on @openacousticdevices.info #Audiomoth during September's influx. Just a handful of detections, but this quasi-constant frequency burst looks convincing. @scotwildlife.bsky.social #bioacoustics

Another brilliant Flow Country Research Conference. Big 🏆 for Roxane and team at UHI Thurso. Great to see @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social's PhD crammed into 30 mins. Loved the Icelandic word for Meadow Pipit and check out those German bog restoration lagoons. @theflowcountry.bsky.social

Top priority research need! Just literally been discussing issue of conifer spread and regen onto bogs this afternoon.

Wild bees drive increased weight and seed set in apples. Increased Honeybee visitation has -ve affect on fruit weight. Another reminder (as if needed) of importance of prioritising 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙙 bee conservation. @jappliedecology.bsky.social #pollinator besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Seawatching in a northerly at Portsoy is hampered by lack of elevated shelter. I've been cowering next to a shipping container just above sea level, so would've missed flocks of albatrosses if they stayed low. @patchbirding.bsky.social

Many thanks to @countrysidejobs.bsky.social for highlighting distance learning opportunities. Really grateful for opportunity to shout about our (award-winning) @srucnews.bsky.social Wildlife & Conservation Management MSc course in the process.

Work committments prevented a visit to the Rattray Head Eastern Nightingale until today. Fantastic bird - a real shower and very strange looking, reminding at times of a babbler. Think I'd have been bamboozled had I found it. My first NE Scotland nightingale of any flavour. #BirdingScotland

An "atmospheric" day for year-2 @srucnews.bsky.social Wildlife & Conservation Management students to collect moorland plant data at @hutton.ac.uk Glensaugh. Ended with obligatory human chain to measure the giant Sitka Spruce in Drumtochty Glen - and it's still a 6-student circumference.

Two westbound Velvet Scoters off Portsoy this morning. Just seen one other since moving here two years ago. Now on 123 for the year - one off last year's total. @patchbirding.bsky.social #BirdingScotland

Five species from a #smallmammal #cameratrap at Portsoy, Aberdeenshire - a mouse, two voles and two shrew species - including Water Shrew 😀 #mammal #trailcamera @nesmammals.bsky.social

Fantastic Study Weekend with @srucnews.bsky.social Wildlife & Conservation Management MSc students. We visited sites from West Lothian through to the Trossachs, discussing site management and playing with ecology/wildlife monitoring toys! #thermalimaging #drone #peatprobe

Congratulations @laurasharp.bsky.social on being a poster prize winner at yesterday's North East Scotland Ecology Network science day. 🏆

Into first week of our third year in Portsoy and still some "easy" patch ticks to be had; Barnacle Geese, yeserday, among post-Amy movement into Moray Firth. Also 10 Whoopers and an A𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘺𝘢 (that would've been #patchtick if ID nailed). @patchbirding.bsky.social #BirdingScotland

Difficult viewing in Storm Amy (amber-warning wind) for a late afternoon look at Links Bay, Portsoy. Highlight was adult Med Gull at dusk. Singles of Wheatear and Common Tern both probably wished they'd had a bit more haste about migrating. @patchbirding.bsky.social #BirdingScotland

Took Wildlife Conservation & Management 1st years to Loch of Strathbeg today. They excelled by finding a juv Glossy Ibis. Four Great White Egrets was also a popular sight. Greenshank, Goshawk and Barnacle Geese as supporting acts. @srucnews.bsky.social #birdingScotland

A Scarce Bordered Straw in the garden trap this morning. Genuinely scarce this far north and appears to be new for the VC. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #teammoth @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

🍾 Big congratulations to @bats-n-bugs.bsky.social for her first PhD paper, in 𝘈𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘌𝘤𝘰𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘴 & 𝘌𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, about moths on mixed and arable farms. Shows some moth benefits from woodland features in farmed landscape, but mixed picture. See: doi.org/10.1016/j.ag... @srucnews.bsky.social

A Gem in the garden trap overnight - first one I've seen in Scotland 👍. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) @migrantmothuk.bsky.social #teammoth

We're approaching two years in Portsoy and low-hanging fruits still fall from the #patchtick tree. Today's Treecreeper was among a roving tit flock. It tried its luck on a telegraph pole and then moved on to gorse stems. @patchbirding.bsky.social

Raking cut vegetation and spreading Yellow-rattle seed on the approach path at @scotwildlife.bsky.social Red Moss of Netherley. The Yellow-rattle has had a great year and Badger digging of Pignut tubers provides ground disturbance to further aid germination. Ecosystem processes in action!

"Freshers week" outings. New MSc students chatted seal research and reserve management while returning undergrads pulled up trees from a bog! Thanks to Danny and Joe from @naturescot.bsky.social, Lucy from @scotwildlife.bsky.social and Claire from @srucnews.bsky.social for all your help.

Last day of #Ento25, with insect ID keys, amazing (and undescribed) wasp galls, bog invert research (what's not to like?) and learning that aphids on our garden Buddleja might be a newly arrived species in the UK. Big thanks to @royentsoc.bsky.social team for a fab bug-filled event. 🦟🪲🪳🐝🐞🦋🐜🦗

Some stuff I learned today at #Ento25: 1. Honeybee threats to native pollinators were already known about 89 years ago in the US. 2. There is a louse fly on Nightjars, recently newly recorded in the UK. 3. Ladybirds rock (okay, I already knew that!). @royentsoc.bsky.social @alanknox.bsky.social

It's been 187 years in the making but finally, as of this evening, Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II and I have all signed the Book of Obligations of Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society. #Ento25 @royentsoc.bsky.social

Brilliant to be at #Ento25. First time in 20 yrs! Kicking off with Voltech Novotny drawing parallels between density dependent drivers on insect abundance and wealth inequality. And proposing an ecologically inspired solution. Political leaders should study entomology. 🐛🐜🐝🐞 @royentsoc.bsky.social

Not had the trap out much in recent nights but two more New-for-Garden moths appeared in late August; 𝘈𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘢 (two different individuals) and a Tawny-speckled Pug. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #teammoth

This #patchtick Ruff was highlight of a very blustery WeBS survey at Portsoy. @patchbirding.bsky.social

A #patchtick Little Grebe on Loch Soy (basically, a park pond) on a very dark and damp evening in Portsoy, Aberdeenshire. @patchbirding.bsky.social #birdingscotland

Typical Saturday evening here in Portsoy. Gang of Scandinavian marauders led through the streets by local pipe band before setting fire to stuff down by the harbour.

The 200th macro moth for the NJ56 hectad is ... (drumroll) ... Small Wainscot. It shared the garden trap with a fresh (presume 2nd generation) Poplar Hawkmoth. And this morning, the garden's first Painted Lady has set up territory on a patch of bare ground. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #Teammoth

The summer surge of New-for-Garden moths has slowed and 𝘈𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘢 on Sunday night was the first addition since mid month. Garden list is on 230-something as we approach two years of living here. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #Teammoth

Exploring along the Moray coast this weekend, with @trailerbythesea.bsky.social. A nice adult Little Gull flew past, just west of Lossiemouth. #BirdingScotland

First birders' trip in 12 years to the Southern Trench (9 nm off Macduff, Aberdeenshire), this week. Highlights of c5 Sooty Shearwaters, including one coming to fish scraps at point-blank range, and a fly-by from a fine adult Pom Skua. #BirdingScotland

Lots of events, both online and in the field, coming up over the next few months. Take a look! #Mammals #MammalID #BiologicalRecording #Conservation

A second and a half of Quail, over our Portsoy, Aberdeenshire garden in the early hours of 11 August. Recorded on @openacousticdevices.info #Audiomoth #BirdingScotland #NocMig #Bioacoustics

Specled Woods live in the wooded embankment across the road. However, this pioneer was the first that we've seen in the garden - and it sure looks like it suffered for its journey. Portsoy, Banffshire @savebutterflies.bsky.social #butterfly

And still they come... Third morning in a row with two New-for-Garden moths. Todays offerings were Engrailed and 𝘔𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝘮𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢. The Engrailed was also new for hectad and an unusual (for NE Scotland) presumed second generation record. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #TeamMoth

Two more New-for-Garden moths; Anomalous (a female) and White-spotted Pug (also new for hectad). Two Hummingbird Hawkmoths still around the garden too. Still time, hopefully, to squeeze in some more NFGs before the end of year 2 of recording here. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #TeamMoth

Heath Rustic and 𝘋𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘺𝘤𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢 were both NFG after a quieter start to August. Enjoyed a #patchtick fly-over Green Sandpiper while emptying trap. Heath Rustic was New For Hectad, as was a Plain Clay in the Heath Trap set along the shore again. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #TeamMoth

Left the Heath trap down along the shore last night with distinct highlight this morning of Galium Carpet. Also my first local Anomalous and 𝘓𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘴. Bottlenose Dolphins cruised by as I processed the catch. All rather lovely... Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #teammoth

It's great to see documentation of this rare insect re-establishment programme in Scotland. Just published in Insect Conservation and Diversity and available #OpenAccess. doi.org/10.1111/icad... @respublications.bsky.social #ConservationScience

Hummingbird Hawkmoths (2) still frequenting Red Valerian in the garden yesterday. Floris has stormed into town, so I hope they're sitting it out somewhere sheltered. Portsoy (VC94, Banffshire) #teammoth

The rain brought a larger catch this morning. Three New-for-Garden moths included a New-for-Hectad Dotted Carpet. This was joined by two new tortricoids: 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘺𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘻𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘸𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘢 and 𝘌𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘢 𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘢. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #teammoth

Long-term experiments in Scotland’s Flow Country show enhanced forest-to-bog restoration boosts early peatland recovery - vital for climate & biodiversity 🧪🌏 @rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social 🔗

The @srucnews.bsky.social Marketing & Student Recruitment got together in Aberdeen this week. Three of our amazing Wildlife Conservation students led them in cetacean surveying (some porpoises logged) and a mobile-phone wildlife photography contest. All topped off with cake - what's not to like?

A between-the-legs manoeuvre for this Water Rail chick in Aberdeenshire. #cameratrap #trailcamera #BirdingScotland

Three New-For-Garden macros in last three trap nights; Juniper Pug, Northern Spinach and Founced Rustic. The pug was New for Hactad too. Next benchmark is taking the hactad list for NJ56 through the 200 macro moth species total - six to go. Portsoy (VC94 - Banffshire) #teammoth

Fieldwork envy - apart from the midges...