Last chance to book! Could you become a “super-naturalist”? 🌿 Join @graemelyons.bsky.social on 13 May for Pan-Species Listing — the challenge of recording species across the UK. Wildlife recording, ID tips & inspiration 🌎 🧪 🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977266072... @panspecieslisting.bsky.social

\o/ Available now on Talking Bat Podcast \o/ Brilliant interview with Sarah Whild, chatting about her newly published book: The Biological Recording Handbook Once you finish listening to Sarah, check out all the other brilliant people we have spoken to batability.podbean.com/e/talking-bo...

Decided to try and write something about what bugs to look for through the year - Bedfordshire-centric, but probably fairly applicable across most of central to southern England. Feedback welcome! #Heteroptera sites.google.com/view/bedsbug...

Guess who just found their first Snakefly? I been wanting to find one of these beasts for years and when I saw this sat on a leaf I knew immediately what it was. Luckily it's a species that can be identified on forewing venation: Atlantoraphidia maculicollis, Pine Snakefly.

Today in 1877 Charles Rothschild was born. On my butterfly transect at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend I remembered, looking over the valley where Charles & his brother Walter collected butterflies & went on to start the Wildlife Trusts and save this reserve. 1st Common Blue of the year seemed right!

Woohoo, Male Chalcosyrphus eunotus hoverfly! Seen at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 09/05/26 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social This made my day! #Syrphidae #Diptera

Sartorial standards have sadly declined among dipterists since 1951 😆 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

I've been telling people Mire Pill-beetles, aka Bog-hogs Curimopsis nigrita, are cool and cute... now thanks to Danielle, we have proof!

Drab looper are on the wing now in West Berkshire.

Brilliant final talk of the #NFBRConference2026 about the inspiring National Education Nature Park project! #YouthEngagement #BiologicalRecording @nhm.org @soilscholar.bsky.social

📸 Sir David Attenborough visiting Warburg Nature Reserve with founder member Vera Paul, and Julian Pettifer, then president of BBOWT. Photo by Chris Love.

Doing the botany walk on my way to hear @sarahwhild.bsky.social get the #NFBRconference2026 started 👏👏😄 @nfbr.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Despite the cool temperature today, bees were enjoying the Hawthorn flowers. Hawthorn is one of the FIT Count target flowers - read more at ukpoms.org.uk/hurray-for-h...

A recent post by @edpritchard.bsky.social was a good reminder to look out for feeding signs of Brown Elm Tortrix (Epinotia abbreviana), and I was pleased to find this near home today. I've only seen the adult moth once or twice before. #TeamMoth bsky.app/profile/edpr...

This was fantastic. Got really caught up by @graemelyons.bsky.social enthusiasm. Well worth a watch of the recording on YT.

Feeding signs of Epinotia abbreviana on Wych elm from #Saltholme today. The larva feeds on a leaf before it unfurls from the bud, leaving a distinctive, rather fab pattern of holes, though it's not always that neat. The larva then feeds nearby between spun leaves #teammoth @teesbirds.bsky.social

Plain Pollen-moth, Micropterix calthella, a tiny micro moth with functional jaws to feed on pollen - on an Early Purple Orchid, Herefordshire #TeamMoth

Four terrific artworks by the amazing and frankly lovely Becky Carrozza from her Springline collection. These will be for sale this weekend at our Oxfordshire Artweeks, Aston Tirrold, alongside @annadillon.bsky.social. Oh, and drone airshows by me!

Much cheered to know there are people who have the curiosity to look under dead hedgehogs. #mementomorimonday #entomology #biodiversity 🪲

Need more fly stuff in your life? Great, we now have an Instagram page too - drop over and say hello! www.instagram.com/p/DX4OiZdDNcI/ A beautiful Empis femorata, smothered in pollen for attention #fliesarepollinatorstoo @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @davebriceflies.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

Master of disguise, Brimstone butterflies.

I've been walking one, sometimes two, butterfly transects weekly through spring/summer at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend Reserve since 1995. It's a great way to contribute to important research data for @ukbms.bsky.social and there is always interest, though not always butterflies! From yesterday ...

Today's @pomscheme.bsky.social FIT Count on White Dead-nettle produced the expected bumblebees, but only two of them. Lots of shieldbugs on the surrounding vegetation.

#SundayScience | Bdelloid Rotifers 🔬 Meet some of the strangest animals on Earth. In this webinar, Dr Chris Wilson explores bdelloid rotifers — all-female animals that steal DNA from bacteria, fungi & plants, and even make their own antibiotics. 🌍 🧪 ▶️ youtu.be/etlMjQ3D7uk

Not a lot of moths in last night's light trap, but good to see this Sandy Carpet, which is new for the garden and it seems I've not recorded it anywhere else since 2010 😯 #TeamMoth

Blog of my two lovely walks last week, one for @naturetrek.bsky.social , the other for #WildEssex. Spring at its best! The Colne Valley, from Chappel to Chalkney Wood, and back! www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-colne-va... #NatureWriting

I thought I took a lot of #ento kit on holiday with me, but I'm not in the same league as this! Great to see such dedication and enthusiasm for tiny wildlife @brianecambs.bsky.social 👍

The highlight of today's butterfly transect was ... a cranefly! This is the fabulous Wasp-banded Comb-horn, Ctenophora flaveolata. I've been lucky enough to see this species several times over the years, and each one is equally stunning 😍

Had the opportunity to test the new FIT Count quick guide I helped write for @pomscheme.bsky.social with some brilliant volunteers from @tcvnational.bsky.social and West Dumbartonshire Council. Perfect weather for counting pollinators!

A spiky-eyed harvestman Megabunus diadema which wandered out of some heather whilst I was watching an Andrena lapponica mining bee. Headland Warren, Dartmoor, Devon

Biological Data and GIS Officer - Plantlife International - environmentjob.co.uk/jobs/110085-...

For the 2nd year running I have found the eggs of the hoverfly Parasyrphus nigritarsis mixed with the eggs of Gastrophysa viridula at #RSPBMiddletonLakes, 26/04/26 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #Syrphidae #Diptera

Didn't have to wait long - a fly from the same marsh as the previous spider turns out to be a spiny-winged fly that I've not seen before: Suillia parva, species no. 6000! Fly and spider from the HQ of @britentsoc.bsky.social - Dinton Pastures in Berkshire @suillia.bsky.social

Have you got your tickets yet? Ticket booking closes Thursday 30th so please don’t leave it too long before you get your spot confirmed! Book here and see you next week :): bit.ly/4sZO4iz #NFBRConference2026 #BiologicalRecording

There's a mini jobs bonanza just now at BTO! 🐦 Apply to become our next Scottish Raptor Monitoring Coordinator, Biological Data Manager or Research Support Officer via www.bto.org/jobs Birds Science People; it is a powerful combination – will you be part of it?

I have three published books. Each explores our connection to the natural world in some way. One is part-memoir, one is a teaching resource book, and one is a non-fiction narrative. I don’t profess to being good at writing and it isn’t my career, I do it to share what I believe in and help others.

Assuming that I've managed to organise my @panspecieslisting.bsky.social list correctly, this gorgeous spider Araniella opisthographa is the 5,999th species I've ever recorded (palps and front femur checked under microscope). I wonder what will be the 6,000th?

Hitchhiking across continents! Check out the most comprehensive synthesis of pseudoscorpion–Diptera phoresy, including new European records: doi.org/10.3897/zook...

Can we ask you a question? NatureSpot is working on a new look for our website with improved functionality and we need your help: www.naturespot.org/node/266067

Thanks @colsocbi.bsky.social for organising this weekend's field trip, nice weather to be out looking for beetles 🙂

What an amazing life Peter led, with so many achievements at such a high level. Very sad news.

www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/event/muscid... North West Invertebrates host @entmikeashworth.bsky.social coordinator of Dipterists Forum's Muscidae & Fanniidae Study Group describing each of 40 genera & providing hints for identification. Webinar presentation 27th April 19:30 book in link below.

Rubbish photo of the first Speckled Wood to make it into our garden since 2020 😲 (or at least the first one that I've noticed since then) @upperthames.bsky.social

NEW: a "Quick Guide" to FIT Counts (pdf) is now available from the PoMS website, providing a summary of how to do the counts and how to recognise the insect groups. This is a welcome addition to our more detailed guides, which are of course still available as well! ukpoms.org.uk/news/quick-g...

Our paper on "Delayed Seed Germination as a Strategy to Cope With Environmental Stress and Disturbance", led by Eduardo Fernández-Pascual, went online today in the Journal of Vegetation Science @jvs-avs.bsky.social. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #SeedArc #openaccess #SeedEcology

The Logjammer Hoverfly Chalcosyrphus eunotus is a rare beast. Lays its eggs in partially submerged timber in log jams on small dingle-like streams. Looked for and found it today - chuffed as it is a lifer too!

We've reached 100,000 registered users on BirdTrack! Thank you to everyone who has taken part. Data submitted to this partnership project allows us to look at migration, movements and distributions of birds throughout Britain and Ireland. Sign up to take part at www.birdtrack.net

Do you know a young person (11-20) who records wildlife and is making an impression on those around them through their dedication and enthusiasm? If so you should nominate them for the NBN Young Person’s Award. bit.ly/NBNawards26n... Deadline 18 May #NBNawards26 #YouthInNature @nbntrust.bsky.social

Today’s weather looking very promising for lunchtime #FITcounts at @pomscheme.bsky.social HQ, having been just below thresholds so far this week 🤞☀️🐝

These small Dolichopodid flies are super. When the light catches them they look like silver flashes as they dart about over dark soil. This is Argyra; it can't be identified to species from a photo. Taken at Aqualate.