An evening stroll at @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social is a beautiful thing… I love autumn

www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new... Mosquitoes that have been in the collection for nearly a hundred years are helping us in dealing with an even older but also current problem - malaria @sangerinstitute.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social

What I did in my lunch break.. I touched the beginnings of our solar system..and then proceeded to touch a piece of mars & our moon A fab new exhibit at the @nhm-london.bsky.social which is a reminder that this planet with all its life is rather special (& worth more care than we give it)

When the heart of London was dying of shame yesterday, we were there for a very different reason: I was very proud to be awarded Honorary Fellowship of the British Naturalists' Association. Thanks all!

Very humbled today to receive the Peter Scott Memorial Award from the #BritishNaturalistsAssociation for having made an ‘outstanding contribution to our understanding of natural history and conservation’ I don’t feel worthy but do feel very honoured #TeamFlies @nhm-london.bsky.social

I love Ivy and I’m not alone. Check out this glorious European hornet feasting on the nectar and pollen from the flowers of this late flowering plant This particular bush was alive with insects especially hoverflies

The Giant Polypore - Meripilus giganteus - is just that 🤓 This lot were sprouting up near the base of a decomposing Beech Collected a few teeny weenie flies of these bad boys

This mornings office #entomology

A bunch of entomologists all working together and moaning about certain couplets in various keys The Hymenopterist is winning with this one…

Whilst collecting flies, you can’t help but to admire the fungi - some small, some big and some just huge! #fieldwork #fungi #autumn

It’s Team #Entomology off on fieldwork for a couple of days. Weather looks good - bring on the bugs (and flies, wasps @gavinbroad.bsky.social, beetles & moths) @nhm-london.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

This is infuriating. What is the point of a Marine Protected Area if trawlers are allowed to keep ploughing it? Yet again, the government has succumbed to commercial lobbying. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Walking along, minding my own business when I was viciously attacked by a plant Urtica did hurt’eca. My poor impaled hand…

Just finished laying out the House Flies pages for #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z - our smallest, the rare Musca osiris, is known from a few localities on the south coast of England & Wales @tverc1.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

Today’s amazing specimen (heavily dribbled with sarcasm) Check out the locality of this flea from?

Been a while but well done @nytimes.com for todays #taxonomicfail (and @bfly52.bsky.social for pointing this out) Do love a Spelling Syrphid Forum..

I am reassociating mosquito heads with bodies this afternoon and I got sidetracked by this BEAUTY Aedes (mucidus) grahamii - this little lady was from Entebbe, Uganda and was collected in 1961. And STILL looking fabulous @nhm-london.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @mosquitolab.bsky.social

BIRD FOLKS - 20th Sept @nhm-london.bsky.social - Frontline Stories from Global Leaders in Bird Research, Conservation and Wildlife Broadcasting featuring Beccy Speight @rspb.bsky.social, @thelabandfield.bsky.social (😘) & Giles Badger (producer) to name a few speakers www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...

Just when I had thought I had seen every way you could pin a specimen - I come across this cheeseboard of mosquitoes God knows what is going on!!! @natsca.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social #specimens #collection #curation

Dark-edged Bee-fly by @paulleyland http://ow.ly/7vyH50z2Xg0 @flygirlNHM

These are the heads of mosquitoes removed for a morphology study in 2002! I’m now data basing them & pairing them up with their bodies in the @nhm-london.bsky.social collection Very satisfying. I’m also loving the fact we can look up a donation 100yrs ago & see which flies were part of it!

We are a bit snobby when it comes to pollinators, we all love bees, but flies... Equally important pollinators, these are my chard flowers, it's covered in flies at the mo. & if it wasn't for midges, Theobroma cacao wouldn't produce seeds. Love Flies! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social

Villa modesta - dune beefly #Bombyliidae (Yes, I had a fab time in the sand dunes of Braughton Burrows) These beeflies love a coastal dune and are often seen on umbellifers..Ta-dah @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

Philonicus albiceps, the dune robberfly consuming a hover fly These mighty fine assassins are frequent on the sand dunes & I spotted loads on the Braughton Burrows, North Devon this weekend #asilidae @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social @amentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

Took the afternoon off to hang out at on the Wiston Estate with Penny and Kat - girls day out looking for hornet robberflies Was not disappointed - a beast of a fly feasting on a dung beetle 😎👊 @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

I am preparing/curating (& will be for 5 years) the world Asilidae at the @nhm-london.bsky.social Today I came across labels that made me think more about taxonomists rather than the taxa MJS - Malcolm Smart - a great Asilid expert who I worked with a lot but has sadly died. His work lives on

Dune Villa 'twerking' as @flygirlnhm.bsky.social describes it! - possibly filmed for the 1st time? Took me over an hour to film this much footage because the ruddy thing just keep fly and flying and flying, fast and low and stop for about a second before flying and flying.... #bugsky #ukwildlife

I’ve been lucky to see some of this in advance and it’s looking good!! @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @dipterists.bsky.social

We're now laying out the Tachinids for #FliesofBritainandIreland bit.ly/4dqQI8Z to be published this Autumn TOP Cistogaster globosa & Gymnocheta viridis; BOTTOM Phasia hemiptera & Tachina grossa @gailashton.bsky.social @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social

Selection from Bengeo garden today: Tiger cranefly Nephrotoma flavipalpis ♀, Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) ♀, hoverfly Rhingia rostrata ♀ & robberfly Machimus atricapillus ♀ with dipteran prey. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

A Linnaemyia sp (?tessellans) imbibing in the afternoon sun whilst we walked up Leith Hill.. Just five species of these hairy-eyed Tachinids occur in the UK - parasitoids mostly of Noctuidae (but also some other filthy Leps 🤓) @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @nationaltrust.org.uk

One of the cuddliest, fluffiest predators on the planet. Hyperechia consimilis (Asilidae), female. This beauty was collected from Mulanje Massif, or Mt Mulanje in southern Malawi. She is over a hundred years old.... @dipterists.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social #digitising

A large Tolmerus species from Tenerife, haven't worked out which one yet! @flygirlnhm.bsky.social It's a biggy, c.18mm, research here we come. www.dipteraid.co.uk #dipteraid #dipteraimaging #tenerife #canaryislands Still available for any imaging or diptera identification work, Please share

A moment away from flies and invertebrates to celebrate some mammals i.e. the Lionesses #EuropeanChampions #Euro2025

Well that was fun. Performing on stage yesterday at @latitudefestival.bsky.social with @helenczerski.bsky.social and @drjessfrench.bsky.social talking midges, moggies and sea mammals for @cosmicshambles.com What a lovely festival - music, science, literature - brilliant

And now me and Episyrphus balteatus watching @helenczerski.bsky.social, Maggie and co talking dark matter in the @cosmicshambles.com tent at @latitudefestival.bsky.social This male may have come a long way to hear these ladies talk #migration

Me and my friendly Sarcophagid listening to @robinince.bsky.social and co talking psychedelics in the @cosmicshambles.com tent at @latitude

These are the best scissors I’ve ever used Turns out my job involves a lot of cutting out little labels and these scissors are a pleasure to work with They make the world (including the museums collection) a better one

I feel like if there’s a Valhalla, Ozzie’s in it End of an era for sure

Today I’m databasing fleas. Trying to learn more about their mammal hosts and now giggling at this creature - a giant root-rat which I have some unidentified fleas collected off one such animal from before I was born…

I’m obsessed by this little lady I’m so hoping she’ll find a mate and settle down, and produce many little ones #GardenGlowworm @amentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social

Oh after the badger excitement of this morning I didn’t think today could get more ecologically exciting I. Was. Wrong I have a Lampyris noctiluca in my garden. A glow worm. A GLOW WORM

Genuinely excited to see this pile of faeces in my garden this morning Badgers 🦡

@kneppwilding.bsky.social Day 2 week 2, it's raining so pinning flies caught in preparation y'day evening. Silence as the concentration levels build 😊 Out this afternoon, bug pots, ID and catch and release, to learn Orders. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social www.dipteraid.co.uk

@kneppwilding.bsky.social @opwall.bsky.social no invertebrate teaching this morning so out looking at plants and habitats; grasses are interesting (difficult to ID)! Good fun but back to flies this afternoon, Malaise traps to move, samples to sort & determine @flygirlnhm.bsky.social

The Noon fly is a very attractive species. Well, if you like flies that is. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social #flies #wildlife #nature

Check out our funky new forest logo for Latitude. TWO WEEKS TO GO! Last few festival tickets from www.latitudefestival.com @robinince.bsky.social @helenczerski.bsky.social @davidho.bsky.social @seismatters.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @reggiewatts.bsky.social @particleclara.bsky.social

hey @flygirlnhm.bsky.social - we have found out that climate change shrinks our flies, and i guess I d speak for all dipterists, If I say we won´t stand for that

The most gorgeous of larvae These are immature Simuliidae - black flies. They sucker on to a fast-flowing river bottom & filter feed. They have beautiful cephalic fans which are filtering fans @opwallscience.bsky.social @opwall.bsky.social #Honduras #FlyFriday

@kneppwilding.bsky.social teaching day four, Lesson 1 - check apples before eating when camping. Volunteers did brilliantly today in scorching heat, collecting sorting and identifying to a good mix of Orders. @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @kneppwildlandfdn.bsky.social www.dipteraid.co.uk #teaching