Our Greater Knapweed is flowering and attracting in plenty of pollinators, including a variety of bees and hoverflies and a few Six-spotted Burnet moths. It's a great addition to our pocket meadow! @norfolknats.bsky.social

Found this little Heterotoma planicornis sitting on a leaf in the garden yesterday. According to the Collins Complete British Insects, it feeds on buds, fruits and small insects and is abundant across southern Britain. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

The tiny, delicate flowers of Bog Pimpernel were out in full at Buxton Heath recently; they'll be blooming until August. A new one for me! @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

This sums up the immigration debate neatly in a way you won't hear it spelled out in the British media. A media which seems to have given up on any commitment to educate many years ago.

Banded General (Stratiomys potamida) - a very handsome soldier fly we found on Buxton Heath yesterday. It REALLY didn't want to fly, given the strong winds, so allowed a very close approach. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

Israel does not allow equipment for DNA testing into Gaza. WTF?! Growing risk that thousands buried in Gaza’s rubble may never be identified, says Red Cross - The Guardian

England just had its warmest spring on record. The record was last set in spring 2025. Before that, spring 2024. 9 of the 10 warmest springs have occurred since 2007. It's almost like there's a long-term driver causing this... www.metoffice.gov.uk/about-us/new...

This is obscene. National Park fees should go to help maintain NATIONAL PARKS. Not go towards the president's vanity projects. You can read it for free without a subscription.

The garden is full of Painted Ladies at the moment, but I'm more excited about FINALLY getting a picture of a Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). They never sit still! @norfolknats.bsky.social

What a great idea! ♥️

My first alderfly. I'm not sure which one, as they're all very similar and one has to examine the tip of their abdomen to identify them to species. Unfortunately, I didn't know that until I got home and read about them! @norfolknats.bsky.social

On a high! Up in Zaamin National Park, Uzbekistan and surrounded by a mass of the unfamiliar. Biodiversity at its best!

The lovely, delicate flowers of Wood Speedwell (Veronica montana), part of a patch along the roadside near the Gunton estate. According to the BSBI's website, they're considered to be an indicator of ancient woodland. @norfolknats.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

There sure are some spectacular insects out there! This Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens) was chilling atop a thistle in Alby with Thwaite last week. Adults feast on nettles and umbellifers, including Cow Parsley and Hogweed. @norfolknats.bsky.social

Twentyfour-spot Ladybirds making more Twentyfour-spot Ladybirds near Alby-with-Thwaite. It took them a while to get organised; at the start, he was facing the wrong direction! These tiny ladybirds (3-4mm) are widespread, but not common. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

Lots of Common Scorpionflies in Bacton Woods and Alby-with-Thwaite over the past few days. This is a female; the male's breeding claspers curl up over his back, making him look rather like miniature, winged scorpion. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

Found my first ever Hedge Beauty (Alabonia geoffrella) yesterday and another one today. What a gorgeous little day-flying moth! Larvae feed on moist, rotting twigs. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social @norfolkmoths.bsky.social

This👇🏽 deserves to be posted 100 times but I’d be labeled spam.

Found this lovely little Turkeytail bracket fungus growing on a dead stump in the garden. Is it just me, or does it look a bit like an old Victorian bodice - ruffles, high neck and all?! @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

I found a whole new order of creature in the garden this week: Ostracoda! Dozens of these tiny crustaceans were swimming around in a sunken upside-down bin lid we use as a ground level water feature in the back corner of our pocket meadow. @norfolknats.bsky.social @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

A huge betrayal. Won't lower bills. Won't give us more energy security. Won't insulate from price shocks. And sends a clear message to the world that we are backing new oil and gas drilling. www.lbc.co.uk/article/ed-m...

What a fascinating interview with the non-verbal, autistic author of the recently published novel "Upward Bound", which I will definitely be looking for. We humans can be extraordinarily blind to the abilities of those who don't think/act exactly like us -- and what a loss that can be!

Actor Sean Bean is a BIRDER?! Who knew! Nice to know that even the cool kids know what a great hobby (i.e. obsession) birding is...

Got stuck into my birthday present from Mike this evening. Given our longtime garden project, it's the perfect tome! Next up is setting up a PSL account and inputting all my lists. That could take awhile! 🙃 @graemelyons.bsky.social

The idea that Haiti, Ukraine, Venezuela, etc. are now suddenly "safe" countries to force people to return to is completely ridiculous. How Noem continues to consider herself a "Christian" is beyond comprehension!

Starving people to death is not okay. And it shouldn't be "political" to say that.

This explains a lot about the current government in the US. And why the cycles of revenge aren't likely to stop any time soon.

That this US administration would "believe" a 3-time convicted felon ( human trafficking) over someone who's never been convicted (and would agree to release him early from prison in exchange for testimony against someone they illegally sent to El Salvador) tells you all you need to know about them.

Check out these tiny, ghostly-pale woodlice I found under a log in our Norfolk garden. Known (appropriately) as Ant Woodlice, they live underground with various species of ants and eat the colony's debris and detritus. Apparently, they're blind. #invertebrate #woodlouse @norfolknats.bsky.social

Media companies promoting false stories? Gosh, who'd have guessed? 🤔🤨😡

Orchid wonders from the last few days.

We're finding lots of Spear Thistle Lacebugs in the garden this year. The adults are easy to overlook, being only a few millimetres long.

So, he took the plane, eh? Corrupt, corrupt, corrupt. From top to bottom, this American government is rife with corruption. Especially at the top.

It's beyond sad that one of the new US administration's "top acts" (snort) has been to dismantle and destroy life saving medical assistance. And they BOAST about it. SMH.

Sorry Canada. Our president is a fricking moron. Please ignore him and know that most of us would love to do the same.

The Indian Tortoiseshell is reminiscent of Europe's Small Tortoiseshell -- but redder. We spotted this one near a gorgeous waterfall in southern Bhutan. #butterfly #Bhutan #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

This Crested Bunting was singing his heart out from a telephone wire over a scruffy agricultural field near Punakha, Bhutan a few weeks ago. And a lovely song it was! #birds #Bhutan #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

Just back from a fab trip to Bhutan, where we saw many beautiful things, including this stunning Paris Peacock, which had iridescent scales that glittered like a starry night. They're found primarily in moist evergreen forest. #butterfly #Bhutan #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

When I was at Purdue, my advisor was working hard to "solve" paralysis. He would have been so excited by this leap forward! apple.news/AbXKNvq3pTiu...

What the heck has Bhutan ever done to put on 45's list of "banned countries"? My guess is because the government cares about its people. Can't have the average American learning about that, can we? Not with these soulless morons in charge.🙄

A tiny Vervain Hummingbird on her nest. I love how she's decorated it with bits of lichen to help camouflage it. #birds #Jamaica #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

The Jamaican Tody must surely rank as one of the world's cutest birds -- barely bigger than a ping pong (table tennis) ball but oh so feisty! We had some wonderful views of this one today. #birds #Jamaica #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

The enigmatic Crested Quail-Dove, known locally as the "Mountain Witch", is one of the most challenging of Jamaica's endemic birds to find, so we were delighted to get good long looks at this one in the Blue Mountains today. #birds #Jamaica #FieldGuidesBirdingTours

Interesting that the @nytimes.com hasn't written a single word about the protests occurring in cities and towns all across the country. What exactly are they afraid of? Kowtowing to the liar-in-chief are we? Cowards!

If this were Just Stop Oil, there'd have been dozens of arrests, furious denunciations in the billionaire press and, perhaps, long jail sentences. Farmers have a right to protest, and the police respect it. Other people, it seems, not so much. The real #TwoTierPolicing www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/...

White-throated Magpie-jays sport some seriously curly topknots. We found these two -- and four of their flock mates -- near Lago Arenal. #birds #FieldGuidesBirdingTours #CostaRica

With Mr Trump drilling for oil, Ms Reeves building a 3rd LHR runway, & emissions higher every year, all hope for an equitable climate future seems lost. All I’ve ever stood for & sacrificed feels pointless. So I walked for 3 hours today by the river. She was beautiful. Still flowing. Still flowing.

When it comes to snazzy raptors, the White Hawk surely has to be near the top of the list. What a beauty! #birds #FieldGuides #CostaRica

This gorgeous Lesson's Motmot was checking out fruits at the Wilson Botanical Gardens on my recent tour there. #FieldGuides #birds #CostaRica