At just 3mm long the riverwood riffle beetle is BIG news for environmentalists in Staffordshire. Why? Because it hasn't been recorded here for more than 150 years! Our incredibly knowledgeable volunteer David Coles discovered on his moth trap sheet late one summer evening.

Seems Regatta have made a breakthrough in imaging. It turns out bacteria look just like insects.

"it is striking how many of the key players we have looked into — the people who have gone out of their way to put up hundreds of flags — seem anything but ordinary." manchestermill.co.uk/the-men-who-...

Two new species for me this weekend. Didea fasciata and Necrodes littoralis. 😁

This Carabus problematicus didn't seem to like me. Biting into my finger and vomiting on me at the same time.

From last night my best arrival at the light trap this year Macronychus quadrituberculatus. Not recorded in Staffordshire since 1867. @colsocbi.bsky.social

How true is this, naturalists and mushroom hunters - the sloths of the natural world! Mushroom month is fast approaching and I haven't had much luck in my area this Summer. What a wonderful world we live in ❤️

Even a car park can look nice in the right light.

In January 2017 I spotted this apparently male mallard on the right in the first image. I realised at the time it appeared to have a female bill and the colouring on its head was obviously different from a typical male.🧵

The heritahe variety fruit trees in the orchard at Staffs Wildlife Trust headquarters are all heaving with fruit. Damsons and plums not ready just yet but still look tasty.

Yum yum first lot of runner beans for dinner.

All of a buzz this morning!

Sowed a few Crimson flax in the garden this year. The colour on them looks almost unreal. 🌺

The only rime I've found a book on Beetles in a charity shop. 😁

Getting quite chunky feeding on a Figwort in my garden, moved from my Verbascum which I wanted to see the flowers on. Can't be long before it pupates.

Checking some plans that were stood in trays of water, because of the weather, and found this fab Carabus granulatus. Nice unexpected find.

Fab to spot this small frog I my half barrel pond today only about 30 to 40mm so one of last years I imagine.

My wife happens to be Coeliac and is always glad if there's a scone she can have when we visit a @nationaltrust.bsky.social site. But I think she did ha e a bit ofscone envy today at Tatton Park. Her scone is on the right.

Oligarchs buying elections with million dollar giveaways. Hopefully people in Wisconsin won’t allow the South African to purchase a seat on your Supreme Court just like he bought the US federal government.

National Trust membership for a family costs £14.05 a month. A Telegraph subscription costs £104 a month. And don’t get me started on the quality of the product.

Bumblebees on Crocuses must mean spring is almost here.

Hurray! Some good news for bees at last. Our new government has followed the science, and refused the application by sugar beet farmers to use banned neonicotinoid pesticides.

The annual Staffordshire invertebrate science is at Staffordshire University again on 1st March 2025.

Red Squirrel Appreciation Day is tomorrow! 21 Jan. You’re welcome.

Too important not to share more regularly.

National Trust to restore nature across area bigger than Greater London www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

New series of Digging for Britain starting now. Woohoo! www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

I can't believe it's that time of the year again but Lesser Celandine is coming up everywhere! Here are some of the fungal and oomycetous pathogens to look out for on its leaves. #fungifriends #plantpathogens

Best beetle of the year for me was Pterostichus quadrifoveolatus. A new ground beetle for me and a species that is nationally scarce in the UK. I knew there was a chance of finding it on Cannock chase and was so amazed when I found not one but three of them within 3 metres of each other.

web-footed micro-otter bbc.com/news/article...

The adorable Omophron americanum, with its snippy little mandibles. Texas.

We're checking the traps, we're checking them twice, gonna find a beetle or a couple of book lice! We monitor our insect traps regularly to keep the collections safe. Today we find we have the wrong type of 'pest' stuck in there! #ElfOnTheShelf #NaturalHistoryMuseum #IntergratedPestManagement #IPM

When temperatures fall, life becomes hard for insects. Athayde Tonhasca explores some of the strategies, including diapause, that insects adopt to survive... scottishpollinators.wordpress.com/2021/11/02/s... #pollinators #insects #nature 🌿

2024 Highlights #2. Brachycarenus tigrinus (Rhopalidae). I found this neat little bug on the wall of our house in May. First recorded in Britain in 2003: an introduction? This appears to be the first record for Devon and the south west. #UKWildLife #Hemiptera #Bugs

I have enjoyed many entomological highlights through the year - seeing the exquisite 13-spot ladybird, Hippodamia tredecimpunctata, for the first time was utter joy #RSPBPulborough (Photo of 13-spot by Gilles San Martin)

Just finished laying out the last few Hoverflies pages for our Photographic Guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland – to be published October 2025. Pre-order here bit.ly/4dqQI8Z #StevenFalk1 #gailashton #Ecoentogeek #flygirlNHM #BBOWT #TVERC1

I guess this means I'll have to at least try to have a go at a few Aleocharinae in the new year. Challenge ahead.

Good news for clouded leopards as wildlife researchers recently spotted the species in camera trap footage in Bangladesh. Previously sightings in that country have been sparse. news.mongabay.com/2024/12/clou...

Had some fun at a stained glass workshop yesterday. New tree ornament for this year. Made using, what I learned was, the Tiffany method.

Der blaue Weiher (the blue pond) - linocut by Austrian artist and photographer, Hugo Henneberg (1895–96) #art #linocut #printmaking

No surprise here. Just a sad reminder really. #bees 🌍🐝 - Bee-killing neonicotinoid pesticides found in 85% of rivers tested in England. - Up from 79% in 2020-22. - Areas where sugar beet farming/processing is concentrated had some of the highest detection rates. www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/...

Anyone near Shropshire the Shropshire ento day is on in January 2025. www.field-studies-council.org/courses-and-...

Quite literally everything you've ever wanted to know about pasture poop 💩 entomology – for free! Who's hanging around that steamy pile? What are they doing there? How can you collect them? And more! "Cow patty critters" by Dr. Kevin Floate 🧪 🪲 🪳 🌎 🔗 publications.gc.ca/collections/...

Reminders of Summer are always nice at this time of year. I was very lucky in 1996 to see the results of a mass migration into the UK of Painted lady butterflies. Walking at Ynys-hir a carpet of them flew up around me, I've no idea how many there were, it was like being in a Disney movie. Amazing!!

Wishing everyone a BERRY nice #FlyDay 🍒

'It is a reminder that it is possible to heal, even after we have been cut down.' Today the National Trust gave away 49 saplings grown from Sycamore Gap Tree seeds to communities - including an MND centre and a gardening project near Grenfell Tower. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

On Wednesday evening there were 9 Long-tailed Tits Aegithalos caudatus roosting together in their Alder Buckthorn site then last night just 4. The flocks can sometimes split up like this then often rejoin to roam the woods during the day. Buckfast, Devon #birds

One of our Thick-headed Fly species, the Four-banded Beegrabber (Conops quadrifasciatus), this pair seen at Longrun Meadow in Taunton this Summer. #flyfriday #bugsky

This was the first butterfly I saw this year. A Peacock on 15th February and was my earliest record, starting to wonder when I'll see my first butterfly next year.