A Red-legged Ham Beetle (Necrobia rufipes) crawls across the hide of a dead grey seal. Blakeney Point.

This had me puzzled for a while. It’s the common Physcia caesia, but it’s infected with the fungus Polycoccum pulvinatum, which subtly changes the appeasance of the thallus as well as showing as black dots. Blakeney Point.

Blakeney Point is so exposed that lichens which normally grow on tree bark have resorted to growing on the ground. Punctelia subrudecta, Bryoria fuscescens, Evernia prunastri, Parmelia saxatilis. The Bryoria is rare in lowland England.

South Polar Skua at Pendeen Watch on 11th Sept ‘25. Video shown below courtesy of Mike McKee. #cornwallbirding #birding

Ticks are more likely to carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease in areas where Common Pheasants Phasianus colchicus are released, according to new research. Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti... 🥇Subscriber Content

A great few days staying on Blakeney Point doing lichens with @garyhibberd.bsky.social - thanks to @nationaltrust.org.uk warden Ed for making us so welcome, and good to meet @mothyblackburn.bsky.social for some moths!

Steatoda albomaculata on Blakeney Point today. A Very Smart Spider.

Moss Carder Bee exploring the boardwalk on Blakeney Point today. The best bumblebee in my opinion!

A couple of Deep Brown Darts in the trap this morning, a new one for me.

A single goldcrest was very confiding along the sea defences at Sea Palling this morning, fresh from a flight across the North Sea no doubt.

The hard sea defences on the east coast of Norfolk are going to be worth searching for lichens - a good winter project. Sea Palling today➡️

Pseudoscorpions can be found in old grass heaps by sieving layers lower down in the heap where the grass is decomposing. Hardcore pseud hunters get ankle deep in dung heaps to sieve for them! Panning for gold...

An excellent and very educational @norfolknats.bsky.social day looking at sawflies run by @andymus.bsky.social at Sheringham Park. Know your wing veins!

Red-green Carpet, Lilac Beauty, Rush Veneer, Large Wainscot. Fab!

Marsham Heath looking resplendent today with its characteristic mixture of Western Gorse (Ulex gallii) and Heather (Calluna vulgaris). Some of the gaps in vegetation have extensive patches of terrestrial lichens, as do the man-made banks within the heath and secondary woodland.

ITS AUTUMN! The first major arrival of Pink-footed Geese today over the Isle of May as 3,095 battled their way in off the sea in strong westerly winds. Great to see. Welcome back!

Wandering through Sloughbottom Park after a well attended lichen walk at NWT Sweetbriar Marshes, I spotted a thallus of Hypogymnia tubulosa amongst the commoner foliose species on a trunk. Good record close to Norwich city centre!

Fully funded PhD working on insectivorous bird declines with a broad range of stakeholders. Starting ASAP #ornithology #zoology #biodiversity #science #ecology www.exeter.ac.uk/study/fundin...

Chaps! Do yourself a favour and get a blood test done to have your PSA levels checked. I did last month and my elevated levels triggered off a scan, biopsy and prostate cancer diagnosis. The good news is that is a tiny amount, confined and not aggressive. Seems a good time to urge others to check!

Third British record of Sorcerer (Aedia leucomelas), to light at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory, Kent on 16/9 - SBBOT @Sandwichbirdobs SORCERER to light last night. Third British record. Moth will be available for viewing at the Observatory until this evening. #teammoth

Three fleabanes in a row, showing the general structure of each: C. canadensis - Canadian fleabane C. sumatrensis - Guernsey fleabane C. floribunda - Bilbao's fleabane #WildflowerHour #NorfolkFloraGroup @hcbirding.bsky.social @ians4ad.bsky.social @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social

The Andy Goldsworthy exhibition at Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy is great fun.

One of the @ldvnnr.bsky.social reintroduced Corncrakes has pinged our MOTUS Tower! On 24th August at 21:32 it was picked up migrating over Spurn for 6 minutes! Amazingly, the same bird was detected just 90 minutes later at Weybourne, Norfolk! More info here www.facebook.com/share/p/1Arw...

A Herald Moth sheltering under a window ledge after the rain started to kick in. Great Bircham church.

Yes, it seems to be quite widely used. Smells quite pleasant onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Some moody looking skies at Sweetbriar Marsh this afternoon while doing a recce for a NWT lichen walk next week. Dodged the rain though…

Walking up Blakeney Point in a fresh south-west wind doesn’t make much sense for finding migrant birds, but nevertheless I did see Whinchat, Pied Flycatcher, a few Wheatears, Whitethroat and Black Tern, so there were some bird-shaped rewards plus the exercise did me good.

The Holme Fen posts, which show the shrinkage of peat in the Fens after drainage. The first picture is the original post, inserted with the top at ground level in 1848, the second photo is another post showing ground levels at various dates. Also this is the lowest land point in the UK, -2.75m OD

Data from #Strava's Global Heatmap seems quite revelatory for understanding human #disturbance impacts on #wildlife. Has anyone applied for access to Strava Metro to do this? Data from part of the Cairngorms below. 🌍 🧪

British NIMBYism is truly a sight to behold. “We are rejecting this solar farm, because one time I saw an electric vehicle on fire, which reminded me that decades ago a coal mining disaster killed lots of children”.

Does this look good for Ortholomus punctipennis @britishbugs.bsky.social ? Brownfield site, South Cambs.

Strange little things. There’s always something non-fungusy to look at as well as the main event on NFSG forays.

Finally caught Evergestis limbata this morning✅, together with Brindled Green and the red n black beetle Diaperis boleti.

I’ve been called a few things in my time, but this is a new one. Thanks Vadofone.

A couple of slime moulds from an otherwise very dry Shouldham Warren: Trichia sp, and Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa. Also the pores of Blushing Bracket. Why? Because.

Random bench lichen assemblage, Shouldham churchyard this afternoon.

An excellent end to the day when the 34 Glossy Ibises made a pit stop at Breydon this evening.

Also from Marsham Heath - Baeomyces rufus (frequent on sandy banks), Leucobryum glaucum (ditto), Cladonia parasitica (on old chestnut stumps) and another Cladonia, possibly cervicornis but not so sure as no fruiting bodies. I have taken a grid ref for a return visit.

Cladonia macilenta giving a timely reminder that - yes - Christmas is coming😉. Marsham Heath.

Heath Assassin Bug, Coranus subapterus, scampering across Marsham Heath this afternoon, new for me.

Weevil Sitona hispidula with a faraway look in its compound eye, Blakeney.

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...

Warham Greens - wheatear, willow warbler, swift, lesser whitethroat, reed warbler, blackcaps, chiffs etc. Migrant bird food freely available…

On the subject of Melvyn Bragg, I think of this Private Eye cartoon more frequently than I care to admit, when I’m struggling to raise the energy for a lecture or graduate supervision

Sabines Gull from Bridges of Ross, in 4 days we had nearly 400 individuals, and at one point, one landed on a Sunfish and started feeding on parasites!!

A nice weevil in a sample today, Hadroplontus litura. It lives on creeping thistle, so I am not sure why I haven’t bumped into it before.

Amazing! Full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I think there is a good chance this is Brown Bear poo. Found on a track - you guessed it - in the woods. Slovenia.

A bittern's (Botaurus stellaris) eye view in amongst the Sea Club Rush (Bolboschoenus maritimus) at Salthouse and Summer Snow (Cladonia foliacea) on the Little Eye. @norfolknats.bsky.social