Last night, Liam and Carys from Glo i Natur CIC joined the @wtsww.bsky.social Brecon Group AGM, where Liam gave a talk on the rich biodiversity of South Wales’ coal spoil sites - from Pennyroyal & Adder to the “Maerdy Monster”! Thanks for the warm welcome. #GloiNatur #CoaltoNature #CoalSpoil

It's bulb planting time! Bulbs make dazzling displays in containers or borders, and they’re also a great source of late winter/early spring nectar for butterflies and moths 🦋 Top 5 bulbs to plant: 🌷 Crocus 🌷 Alliums 🌷 Grape hyacinth 🌷 Winter aconite 🌷 Snake's-head Fritillary 📷: Rob Blanken

My first Snow Flea (Boreus hyemalis) of the winter at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. Nice of her to pose out in the open on a fallen leaf, so didn't need to spend hours waiting for one to emerge from the Polytrichum moss! @ynuorg.bsky.social #Mecoptera #Boreidae #ukwildlife

1/3 Liam & Christian were in the Wyre Forest Coalfield today, where Liam was guest speaker at Worcestershire Entomology Day 🐞 Nearly 100 people attended!

We’re excited to announce the launch of Glo i Natur CIC - a new community interest company dedicated to protecting, restoring, and celebrating the unique biodiversity and heritage of South Wales’ coal spoil sites. 🌿 Follow our journey from coal to nature: gloinatur.org #GloiNatur #NatureRecovery

Big news! 🌿 After 10 years of work celebrating the biodiversity of South Wales’ coal spoil sites, I’ve launched Glo i Natur CIC - a new community interest company protecting, restoring & celebrating our coalfield nature. ➡️ Follow @gloinatur.bsky.social to join the journey 💚 #CoaltoNature

🎉 Celebrating 10 Years of the Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative 🎉 This December marks 10 years since the Colliery Spoil Biodiversity Initiative began its mission to change how people see South Wales’ colliery spoil sites — from barren relics of industry to thriving havens for wildlife. 1/3

Amazing moment seeing my first ever Purse Web Spider (Atypus affinis) at Broad Haven South Dunes last night (spotted by my colleague Christian Owen). This incredible species is more closely related to the tarantulas and trapdoor than to any other British spider! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Thousands of Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae) at Freshwater East, Pembrokeshire, yesterday. Amazing to watch them, especially the mating balls.

An opportunity of a lifetime for budding lichenologists. The National Trust and the Royal Botanics, Edinburgh are offering a PAID lichen traineeship in #Scotland! The work programme looks fascinating and a great opportunity to develop skills. Deadline: 3/10/2025. www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...

🪲 Weevils! The UK boasts 600+ species, almost as many as birds! Join us on 13 Oct (7–8pm) for an entoLIVE with @markgurn.bsky.social to explore their ecology, habitats & quirky plant preferences. It is FREE!!! Don’t miss it! 🧪 🌎 🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1491232379...

Callicera spinolae, the Ivy Hoverfly, is one of the UK's rarest hoverflies, as well as one of the most spectacular. This morning, I recorded a female on the Ivy in my S. Cambridgeshire. This is the 5th consecutive year that I have seen this wonderful fly in my garden, four days earlier than before.

Why do we have to fight to protect already protected areas? Coul is an SSSI - seems to mean nothing if you have money and want to build a golf course. We do not need another golf course. Please sign this petition to protect #nature and our beautiful home. #coul action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...

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]

🐞🌿 Join us for Blaenavon Biodiversity Day on Sat 20 Sept! Guided walks with local experts on insects, fungi, birds + more. Don’t miss @liamolds.bsky.social from @collieryspoil.bsky.social leading an insect/invertebrate walk! 📍 Blaenavon | 🗓️ 20 Sept

Join the Buglife Cymru Coal Spoil Connections team, Lost Peatlands Project - Prosiect Adfer Mawndiroedd, KeyCreate, and others for a WildBlitz at Clydach Vale Country Park! 🗓️ Friday 29 August 🕙 10:30 - 15:00 📌 Clydach Vale Country Park No need to book, just turn up at Cambrian Colliery Memorial.

Autumn is almost upon us 🍁 Almost on cue, a male House Spider (Eratigena saeva) appeared in the bathroom overnight. Last sighting in the house (also a male) was last autumn on 17th September 2024. Male palps shown in pictures.

Hieroglyphic Ladybird (Coccinella hieroglyphica) from heathland at Sirhowy Hill Woodlands, Blaenau Gwent, this morning.

It's always a pleasure to encounter the striking snail-killing fly Coremacera marginata, the larvae of which attack terrestrial snails. Seen at Avon Wildlife Trust's Burledge Hill Nature Reserve today.

The satellite fly Miltogramma punctata, Lesne's Earwig (Forficula lesnei), the weevil Rhinocyllus conicus, the spider-hunting wasp Ceropales maculata, Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum) and the tephritid fly Acanthiophilus helianthi were among some of the finds today on a #Cardiff brownfield site.

The Nationally Scarce jumping spider Marpissa nivoyi, seen along the Tennant Canal at Jersey Marine yesterday. Though the species occurs mainly on coastal sand dunes, I've only ever encountered it in wetlands near the coast. @britishspiders.bsky.social @sewbrec.org.uk

An Evening Of History and Wildlife at Silent Valley - Friday 8th August, 6:30pm start Join Buglife's Coal Spoil Connections Team and @henebtwa.bsky.social for a guided walk through Silent Valley Nature Reserve. For further info and booking, visit: www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

Greater-streaked Shieldbug (Odonotoscelis fuliginosa) surveys this week on coastal sand dunes of south Pembrokeshire with fellow entomologist Christian Owen (pictured at Freshwater East yesterday). Stackpole today.

A few spaces have become available on the 'Bee and butterfly guided walk' at #Mumbles 🦋🐝 Fri 1 August 10.00am – 12.00pm and 1.00pm – 3.00pm Meeting point: outside Forte's, Mumbles Road, Mumbles, #Swansea SA3 4JT What3words ///fields.sobered.sharpens 👉Booking required: www.trybooking.com/uk/EWZL

For anyone interested in wild bees (bumblebees and solitary bees), I'm leading a 'get to know your bees' day at The Globe, Hay-on-Wye, on Sunday 3rd August with @clancic.bsky.social. It should be a great day ☺️ See the flyer for further info and booking.

Marsh Gentian (Gentiana pneumonanthe) from Cors Goch National Nature Reserve, Ynys Mon (Anglesey), yesterday. Greatful to @northwaleswt.bsky.social staff for showing us this during our search for rare fen invertebrates.

Absolutely brilliant day on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) yesterday looking for rare fen Invertebrates with @naturambyth.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social @northwaleswt.bsky.social. Richard Gallon of @britishspiders.bsky.social was able to show us the nationally rare Sedge Jumper (Attulus caricis).

Sadly no Red Squirrels sightings at The Dingle/Nant y Pandy Local Nature reserve in Llangefni, Anglesey, this evening. Pleasing to find the barklouse Bertkauia lucifuga though, which doesn't appear to have been recorded in North Wales before.

Plenty of Shrill Carder Bee (Bombus sylvarum) workers seen on today's survey of a brownfield site in Cardiff - we're so lucky to have these beautiful bees in South Wales! 😍 Brown-banded Carder Bee (B. humilis) also present in abundance.

Brilliant day spent at Whiteford Burrows #Gower yesterday surveying for the scarce chalcid wasp Chalcis sispes on the saltmarsh, which parasitises Stratiomys larvae. We were fortunate to find 5 of the wasps and a few of their Stratiomys singularior (Flecked General) hosts. Survey conducted for NRW.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Why not attend the first BioBlitz Festival at the National Botanic Garden of Wales in celebration of the Garden’s 25th anniversary. There's a great lineup of speakers, walks and workshops. For more info, visit botanicgarden.wales/visit/whats-....

A scorcher on the chalk downlands of North Wiltshire this morning leading a guided bee walk 🥵 Not many bees around in the heat, but the butterflies were plentiful 🦋

Today's guided walks at Parc Melin Mynach, Gorseinon, explored the former Mountain Colliery site. Highlights included Marbled White, Six-belted Clearwing, Brown-banded Carder Bee, prowling spider Cheiracanthium virescens, and picture-winged fly Herina palustris. Great turnout despite the heat! 🥵

A hot but enjoyable day spent with the biodiversity team of South Wales Trunk Road Agency today leading an invertebrate ID training session at Coryton Interchange, Cardiff. We encountered a good abundance and diversity of invertebrates in the beautiful meadows.

It's #WalesNatureWeek 🎉 Join @liamolds on a guided walk at Parc Melin Mynach, Gorseinon, and discover how nature has reclaimed this former colliery site. Friday 11th July 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM For booking, visit www.trybooking.com/uk/events/la...

Another day, another cracking spider! ♀️ Fen Raft Spider (Dolomedes plantarius) - one of two females and at least three nursery webs - spotted during a survey at Pant-y-Sais NNR, Jersey Marine, today with Christian Owen. @britishspiders.bsky.social @naturambyth.bsky.social

What an incredible place to work today! Spent the day surveying the stunning limestone cliffs of Gower - around Horton, Port Eynon, and Overton - for the nationally rare ground bug Macroplax preyssleri. We were lucky enough to find them in good numbers around their foodplant, Common Rock-rose.

🌟 Exciting Discovery Alert! 🌟 Back in January we teased some big news…and here it is! 🐌 Semilimax pyrenaicus (Pyrenean Semi-slug) has been recorded in Britain for the first time, found at a colliery spoil site in Cwmaman, S. Wales. Read more: doi.org/10.61733/jco... #SemiSlug #WildlifeDiscovery

Do you know a young person with an interest in insects? 🦋 The Douglas Boyes Fund aims to provide people aged 14-18 with access to entomology equipment, fostering their passion for insects and inspiring them to engage and share their interest with other young individuals 🔽

I'm giving a Zoom talk for Cambridge Beekeepers' Association on Wednesday 2nd July - with a focus on the fascinating world of #SolitaryBees. Do please sign up if you are interested, and share the link if you would! 🐝 🌼 🙏 #bees #bumblebees #pollinators www.tickettailor.com/events/cambr...

Your annual reminder of how to tell Field Scabious, Knautia arvensis, and Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria, apart with a quick glance. Have a look under the flower heads. Field Scabious has a double row of leaf-like bracts, and Small Scabious has a single row of narrow, bristle-tipped bracts.

Last week, @olds_liam led a guided walk for staff & students from University of Bristol at Coity Tips, Blaenavon. We explored the unique habitats and species of colliery spoil — which included sightings of iconic species such as Bilberry Bumblebee, Mottled Grasshopper, Fairy-flax & Bee Orchid.

Today was the third monthy visit to a brownfield site in Cardiff. Among the species of interest were the leafhopper Athysanus argentarius, the tephritid/fruit fly Merzomyia westermanni, and Feathered Stem-moth (Ochsenheimeria taurella). Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) was an added bonus.

Hidden Life of Colliery Spoil: Biodiversity Guided Walk (FREE) Discover the surprising wildlife of Parc Melin Mynach, Gorseinon, on a guided walk led by entomologist Liam Olds. Explore how nature has reclaimed this former colliery site. Friday 11th July 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM

A few insects from yesterday's survey at Ffynon Helig lake, Pwll, Llanelli: the picture-winged fly Melieria omissa, the soldier beetle Silis ruficollis, Spotted Marsh Ladybird (Coccidula scutellata), and Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula). @wwbic1.bsky.social

Beautiful weather yesterday for invertebrate surveying of roadside verges along A470 and A4060 at Merthyr Tydfil for the South Wales Trunk Road Agency. This beautiful Golden-fringed Dragonfly (Cordulegaster boltonii) was spotted perched upon on one of the verges.

I brought home a Bearded Fieldcap (Agrocybe molesta) to check yesterday and found this beetle when I was about to check the cheilocystidia on the gills. #fungi #fungifriends

Lychnis coronaria, Rose campion, first of this year's blooms. This plant is favoured by Wool Carder bees in my garden - she gathers wool from the stems to make nest for her young.

So a weaver fish is sitting in the sand, living its life under the sea and a human goes into the sea, stands on it and gets stung, but the fish is the "Venomous pests" The sort of gutter wildlife demonising clickbait you expect from the Daily Fail, not the BBC :(