Last chance to book on our Arboreal Harvestmen webinar taking place this evening, all about legs, prey capture and much more! Participants can book and watch the presentation later as it will be recorded and distributed. Date: 30 dec • 18:30 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arboreal-h...

Erbar et al. (2016), “Aristolochia species are generally assumed to be brood-site fraudsters [that] simulate carrion or fungi.” They look & smell like a good place to lay eggs & are pollinated by ovipositing flies. 📷: A. arborea, which mimics fungi. #TropicalBotany #Aristolochiaceae #Botany 🌾🧪🌱

"The genus Phrynarachne has really taken looking like crap to a whole other level." Just when you thought we were out of fun spider facts, here is the story of two new bird-dung spiders recently described in ZooKeys. www.iflscience.com/what-looks-a...

Surprise discovery in the garden today. This is an overwintering female European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula). Formerly considered a vagrant species in the UK. It now appears to have scattered breeding populations across south-eastern England. #wasps @kentfieldclub.bsky.social

🎨 'Winter Allotment' by Paul Evans paulevans-artist.co.uk

Bracing & long Thames walk today for me. A dreich sky, gulls wheeling & screaming above, the streets of Wapping full of ghosts. The foreshore isn’t just about finds, which can be few & far between. Mudlarking’s introduced me to old river stairs, ancient timbers, mooring features & long gone docks.

“under specific circumstances *male* mosquitoes may be able to probe and/or ingest blood and transmit pathogens to vertebrate hosts”

I didn't draw many bugs this year, but I did finish this vibrant Saiva cardinalis. Find out some fascinating facts about it* on my website: martynwarren.com/gallery/spot...

the people NEED roach pix 😤 Pseudomops septentrionalis "Pale-bordered Field Cockroach", Oklahoma Balta notulata "Small-spotted Cockroach", Oahu Panchlorinae, Tambopata, Peru Paratropes, Tambopata, Peru

Today I saw something very special: there are just 12 populations of this exceptionally rare desert bulb (Colchicum psammophilum) and only it flowers for a short time after winter rain. To find it in bloom is miraculous.

Whereas Cawston Heath is all about Cladonia, the adjacent Marsham Heath has large patches with abundant Baeomyces rufus. The higher amount of bare sand at Marsham may be a factor.

A trio of lichens from Marsham Heath - Cladonia polydactyla with tiny red fruits; concentric circles of Rhizocarpon reductum discs on a flint; and what I think is Bacidina delicata on a rabbit bone.

I absolutely adore this Pied Wagtail roost in #Bath. It’s mesmerising watching them. And seeing people’s reaction when they realise that they aren’t Christmas decorations 🎄🐦‍⬛

It's now that weird time between Christmas and New Year..... So here are some otters in hats.

I am interested in working with an artist on a graphic novel on soil and/ or global environmental change. The lab would have money to fund this. Do you know of any graphic artists that would be interested?

I can't get over those cartoon eyes. Those delicate, translucent 'leaves' (cerata, as I've learned). Those supernatural, otherworldly vibes. That Pixar-cum-Ghibli creature appearance... And eyes drawn by Gary Larson. I can't.

This photosynthetic magic trick allows for the big finale: some sacoglossan sea slugs can detach their own heads from their body (which contains the gut!) & live on photosynthesis for a few weeks while the body regrows from the head! The body, unfortunately, cannot grow a new head.

Today, ecologist Matias Hernandez and I found THIS! A gigantic desert hyacinth (Cistanche phelypaea) like a sunbeam in the sand. To see a specimen like this in full bloom is magic💫

Does anyone know what this Hemipteran nymph from west Texas could be? It was extremely tiny and fast

Scarlet Elfcups (Sarcoscypha austriaca) to brighten a rather grey day. www.first-nature.com/fungi/sarcos... (Photos from February 2017.) #Fungi #FungiFriends

Stinking Earthfan,Thelephora palmata. A fungus with the pungent scent of rotting garlic. Norfolk Brecks, October 2025. #Fungi #FungiFriends

#fabulamurina (mouse story) 480 sole occidente, Silvius et Fusca corvicula in arboris insident (As the sun sets, Silvius and Dusky the young crow perch in a tree). nolite bacas crataegi gustare, amiculi - amarae sapiunt (Don't try the hawthorn berries, little friends - they taste bitter)!

Stuck indoors with the lurgy, which arrived on Xmas Eve (horrible sore throat, ear-ache and cough with headache). So playing around trying to draw harvestman diagrams. Would rather be outside looking for critters but there you go.

Bruinvleugelroofvlieg | Robber fly (Pamponerus germanicus), vrouw | female #nationaalparkzuidkennemerland #vlieg #fly #diptera #insectphotography #ElkeDagEenInsect

A little and large Ctenophora larvae (probably sea gooseberries, Pleurobrachia pileus) from October. #marinebiology #zooplankton #microscopy #plankton #ctenophore

Found my first y-larva (Facetotectan) yesterday- a mysterious and parasitic sister group to the barnacles. No-one has seen an adult and no-one yet knows their hosts… This is a naupilus stage and maybe a moulted exuvia #marineplankton

Winter Landscape with Bullfinches - by Swedish artist, Bruno Liljefors (1860-1939) Imagine being able to paint like this... #art #birds #birdart #winter

Ladybird Nature Corner. Yellowhammer Artist: Allen Seaby

Lawnmowers: hugely overrated.

First time I've seen Rembrandt's painting of someone examining the brain of a dead criminal (The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Jan Deijman). Part of a much larger painting that was mostly destroyed in a fire.

The ‘Christmas tree worm’ evolved one of the ocean’s strangest senses: it can see with its gills. 👀 apple.news/AF2qdDcDpQ5W...

Xylaria sp fungi on a dead leaf. NWT Canada. About 2 to 3cm high. #fungi #fungus #fungifriends

Arcyria obvelata slime mold. Northwest Territories, Canada. Slime mold is approximately 3cm across. #slime #fungifriends

𝙒𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙚! Bíjna Kerst.. Om de feestvreugde te vergroten, verloten we dit prachtige paddenstoelenboek! Zo maak je kans: - 𝙫𝙤𝙡𝙜 @𝙠𝙣𝙣𝙫𝟮𝙚𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨𝙗𝙤𝙚𝙠.𝙗𝙨𝙠𝙮.𝙨𝙤𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 - 𝙙𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙙𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘𝙝𝙩 Je helpt ons hiermee dit duurzame doel bij meer mensen onder de aandacht te brengen. Bedankt! #DeKrachtVanBluesky 𝙎𝙪𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙨!

A Boxing Day romp of Otters on Vatersay. After a couple of lean years, their numbers seem to have recovered in 2025.

2025 summary of my local Striped Shieldbug population: adults seen 25 April-10 Nov, max of 86; nymphs seen 21 July-27 Oct, max 37. Numbers much reduced at Fishers Green, but several good populations now in Waltham Abbey, especially Abbey Gardens and Ninefields. #EssexWildlife #UKBugs

Enjoy a lovely walk through a Colombian mountain-top forest with @tshahan.bsky.social! We suggest watching the whole video (youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?...), but if you want to skip to the flies 🪰 you can click here: youtu.be/sgGlXNOct9I?... Amazing!

Today's frog is the eastern banjo frog, also known as the pobblebonk.

“In the holly tree, which is rich with red berries, fieldfares, redwings, and mistle-thrushes are busy feeding” Writer: EL Grant Watson Artist: CF Tunnicliffe (What to Look for in Winter, 1959)

Holly, Ilex aquifolium (2 of 4). Take a look on damp dead leaves for Holly Parachute, Marasmius hudsonii. Bell-shaped cap up to 6mm across with purple-brown upright hairs. Twisted, brown, hairy stem

Happy to share our “supercool” interview with @npr.org about the thermal biology of blue-spotted salamanders that migrate on snow: www.npr.org/2025/12/24/n...

You're currently looking at fungus (specifically Gibellula alata) emerging from a spider. Right now, there are only six observations of this species on iNaturalist! 📷 cajqld on iNaturalist 📍 Australia 🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations... #ObservationOfTheDay

Celaenia atkinsoni (I think) Spotted this amazing spider in our Perth Hills garden for the start of #invertefest 🕷️ She’s a type of Bird Dropping spider and her camouflage is astonishing! She was protecting two unusual looking egg sacs. #ausinverts #wildoz #arachnids #spiders #inaturalist #nature

Today I have something really special for you guys! Not too far from the caiman I posted recently, I found something MIND BLOWING This is a butterfly pupa, and it mimics the head of a snake. And not just any snake, but specifically the head of a boa snake!!! Probably Opsiphanes, an owlet butterfly.

The last August 2025 highlight from Aberdeenshire. Water Lobelia (Lobelia dortmanna) is a plant of oligotrophic waterbodies, here in the margins of Loch Callater. A gloomy, windy afternoon visit brightened no end by these delights. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

That time I kept a carpet beetle larva and it started to eat its way through the plastic container 😳 Really hits home that polystyrene is an organic molecule. Other beetle larvae, like mealworms, are known to feed on it too. But I mean 🤯 #Dermestidae #Anthrenus

I reckon the closest we’ll get to seeing snowflakes in Western Australia at this time of year is seeing our endemic Flannel flowers (Actinotus leucocephalus), which bloom through December. Wishing everyone a safe, happy, and restful festive season 🎄⛄️🎅 #ozflora #wildoz #nativeplants #Christmas

Hesperomyces harmoniae, a fungus that uses asian lady beetles as its substrate. #FungiFriends

Good morning! Here's a paper wasp for #MacroMonday #photography #flowers #bloomscrolling #wasps

Jump around Can anyone identify this digger wasp species? It has a distinctive method of carrying its prey with its hind legs and flies in brief, erratic bursts, making photography tough. Nikon Z9 and Z 105mm SS1/3200 F11 ISO2500