We're leading a review of long-term UK terrestrial & freshwater monitoring for NERC. This will help identify priorities for an adaptable & flexible UK environmental monitoring network for the future Take part via our survey before 9am Mon 29 Sep: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ceh-online... 🧵🧪1/

My monthly newsblast about wildlife and conservation issues will arrive in your inbox early on Sunday morning - if you are subscribed. Subscribe here markavery.info/sign-monthly... - it's free and you can unsubscribe whenever you like (but you probably won't as most people stay for a long time).

Have always wanted to see a Bombardier Beetle (Brachinus crepitans) but didn't expect that it would turn up on the wall by front door! Hoped for a good photo but it was way too fast for me. This is the beetle that famously is able to spray noxious fumes from its back end to ward off predators.

Some good #Berkshire #moths here 👍

The spiral mines of Enteucha acetosae on Sorrel in Notts. today. #TeamMoth

Really cool story about long-distance pollen transport by migratory hoverflies. The actual research paper is here: doi.org/10.1111/1365...

Pipiza lugubris ♀ today on Ivy (Hedera helix) in Bengeo garden, nationally scarce with distinctive dark wing clouds. 109th species of hoverfly recorded here. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

We're hiring! Could you help us support & grow the community of botanists across Northern Ireland? Manage our @daera-ni.gov.uk-funded Botanical Skills Training Project? Help boost participation in @npms.bsky.social across NI? Please apply by midnight this Sunday, 21 Sept: bsbi.org/botanical-sk...

*NEW EVENT ADDED* 🐞 What we know, and don't know, about humane insect collection - Webinar 🐝 Book your free place: www.tickettailor.com/events/tanyp...

The latest leafmine site newsletter is an update on the Phyllocnistis saligna complex www.leafmines.co.uk/pdfs/newslet... Read in conjunction with last seasons newsletter www.leafmines.co.uk/pdfs/newslet... Perhaps you can help too by finding mines with pupae so we can determine the species

We've brought together a diverse range of high-quality vegetation plot datasets to form a new National Vegetation Plot Database for Great Britain! Read more: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... 🌱🌿🧪

The @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbicymru.bsky.social announce rediscovery of Holly Fern on Cwm Idwal after going missing for 150+ years. See markavery.info/2025/09/17/b...

Had a great time running another #DungBeetle & sustainable parasite management workshop today - superbly hosted by the fantastic FarmEd. Everyone learnt a lot, found dung beetles & took an important message back to their farms… #soilhealth #biodiversity #livestock

I’m running Biological Recording 101 on 20 January at Lesnes Abbey Lodge, London. Join me to explore how to turn wildlife sightings into valuable conservation data & get hands-on with iRecord. 🧪 🌍 Tickets from £25 More details: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1682508431...

Superb composite (!) from @sjthomasbotany.bsky.social

We invite all #BSBImembers & supporters to take part in our 2025 survey & help inform our future direction! All responders receive a 60% discount code on our eBooks until the end of September & there's a prize draw to win a year's free membership. Start the survey: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Nice, free hyperlegible fonts from the @brailleinstitute.bsky.social www.brailleinstitute.org/freefont/

How to find Mogulones crucifer: The weevil is native to Europe/West Asia, but has been introduced to North America to control its host (Cynoglossum officinale; Hound's Tongue) which is invasive there.

Leave the Leaves! You've heard leaf litter is important for many overwintering pollinators. What's the data? A great webinar about how important leaves are in suburban habitats from @xercessociety.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEwO...

In our new article just out we examine the current extinction event in the context of the longer fossil record. We conclude it is likely the greatest event in the last 66 million years doi.org/10.1111/gcb....

📣 New research, including @savebutterflies.bsky.social #citizenscience data, shows winners & losers across >1200 insect species in Britain since 1990. Urbanisation identified as major driver of decline for moths, ladybirds & hoverflies www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🌍 🦋🐞🦗🪲🐝

Probably the most bizarre thing I've read about this year. #ants #genetics

If you want to identify, well, anything, I recommend this post from @weevil-see.bsky.social. His choice of weevils to illustrate it is of course excellent, but it applies to everything from mushrooms to marsupials. This is how you can be a good identifier of things. [Link contains spider]

I started a blog and my first post is online! The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think! weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

The Scarce Fungus Weevil lays its eggs only in Cramp Balls (or King Alfred's cakes) - fungi that grow on dead Ash wood. With Ash dieback & the felling of Ash trees threatening their habitat, the beetle's future is uncertain.🌳 Read the #UKFungusDay blog: www.ukfungusday.co.uk/anecessarywe...

🌿 The UK Saltmarsh Forum, organised by @ukceh.bsky.social is underway @swanseauni.bsky.social. Proudly sponsored by @The Crown Estate, @natreswales.bsky.social , & @wwf.org.uk, find out more, including the launch of Saltmarsh Network Cymru. www.ceh.ac.uk/press/welsh-... Photo: Skywardz Images

Marasmius hudsonii - Holly Parachute all over the place after the rain. 🍄📷 #FungiFriends

Are you joining us for this year's Exhibition on the 1st November? This important part of the BENHS calendar is an opportunity to meet other members and our affiliated societies whilst perusing significant insect voucher specimens, photographs and posters www.benhs.org.uk/event/annual...

We would like to say a big THANK YOU to all the volunteers who contributed to the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey this year!!! 🎉 👏 🦋 The survey window closed today, so be sure to enter all of your data to the UKBMS website by the end of October. @bbs-birds.bsky.social

Two headshots of a Slender Groundhopper - Tetrix subulata - a wetland species seen at Pett Level this morning.

We are gathering views on the current state of freshwater monitoring in the UK (scales, focal species & pressures). If you work in these areas, we'd love to capture your views: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ceh-online... @ukceh.bsky.social #UKCEH_AquaEco #freshwater #monitoring #data #evidence

A 0.8mm long male Centrodora amoena wasp of the Aphelinidae next to a female Megaphragma noyesi wasp of the Trichogrammatidae. Both were found in the old meadow at Great Dixter this morning. #UKWildlife #wasps #HighWeald #Aphelinidae #Trichogrammatidae

In the past Field Mycology was only available via paid subscription- it is now available online free to all. This should help those developing an interest in fungi recording. If you have ideas about the sort of content that you would find useful then now is the time to give Clare your feedback!

BENHS ID Workshop Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading December 6th 2025 10:30 am - 4:00 pm Wasps with a single forewing sub-marginal cell – Mike Edwards To book a place please mail, supplying a contact phone: [email protected] Image: Mike Edwards

@marctaylor.bsky.social Weevil Identification workshop – Angela Marmont Centre November 8 10:30 am - 4:00 pm Tutor: Mark Gurney For beginners to those wanting to get familiar with trickier groups. Book a place; email, supplying a contact phone: [email protected] Image: Mark Gurney

Amazing footage of sawflies vs wasps. This sort of thing is clearly going on all the time without us noticing, and is likely hugely important in regulating numbers of these voracious herbivores.

Alder Phyllonorycters today: rajella with strong crease kleemanella with smooth surface, roundish mine froelichiella with long mine stettinensis upper surface, looks like someone has pinched it to form a crease #norfolkmoths

I returned to try to obtain a specimen of the Stomaphis quercus aphids. Even at gone 10.30pm the ants (Lasius fuliginosus) were extremely protective, swarming up my soft forceps whenever they had the chance. I finally got hold of one: look at that rostrum!! The last photo is Alan Outen’s

@britentsoc.bsky.social BENHS Dinton Pastures-An introduction to myriapods and isopods - Duncan Sivell November 22 Workshop on centipedes, millipedes and woodlice that will give an overview of the British fauna. Book a place by mailing, supplying a contact phone: [email protected]

BENHS Dinton Pastures – October 4th 2025 An Introduction to the Identification of UK Spiders – Michael Davis and William Blumsom Gain the knowledge to identify common spider families and species. Book a place by mailing, with contact phone: [email protected] Image: Steven Falk

Funnels are working well to reduce small mammals mortalities in pitfall traps 🐁 just cut the narrow end shorter and you can even drop a sample pot with solution into the cup for easy collection 🪲

If you're into #gardening, #botany or the intricate relationships between plants and #invertebrates, do give @haggewoods.bsky.social a follow. I've learned more from her in the 🤷🏻‍♀️years since we met on Twitter than I have from books. 🌿🍀🌱💚

This larva was in a burrow in quite hard, dry dead wood of a fallen tree trunk, probably oak. Is it a beetle? Or a sawfly??? @nottscoleoptera.bsky.social @andymus.bsky.social @suillia.bsky.social

We're on track for our highest ever total of FIT Counts this year 👏🎉 - a huge thank you to everyone taking part 🙏 And there's still a month to go! All counts up to the end of September will add to the data for this year and help us monitor changes in #pollinator numbers.

The latest PoMS e-news went out yesterday, with updates on FIT Counts in 2025; news of a new UK butterfly; research on plants for pollinators; PoMS local projects; & some great forthcoming events. If you missed it you can read it at mailchi.mp/e73193cb8054... & subscribe at ukpoms.org.uk/subscribe

Doing moth trapping in the UK this weekend? Can you help us gather lots of images of moths on egg cartons from your trap? Help us develop a tool making moth recording easier for more people Tks! #mothsmateer #teammoth @richardfoxbc.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @upperthames.bsky.social

The theme for yesterday's #WildFlowerHour was #PollinatorPals - check the tag for some great examples of pollinators in action, from @wildflowerhour.bsky.social, and if you've enjoyed watching pollinators have a go at counting them with a PoMS FIT Count ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts

On common fleabane at #Saltholme today, couldn't find it in time for the moth morning, but Apodia martinii sat nicely for a picture. This was the third #VC66 record but it's worth scanning the foodplant wherever it is found as it is likely to be more widespread #teammoth @teesbirds.bsky.social

Great see an article by @bug-gwen.bsky.social in @theguardian.com - typically enjoyable and informative