The 11th watercolour in this series is the Idas Blue, in Dutch: Vals heideblauwtje 🦋 Hint about the series theme: 1981 🦋 All butterflies in this series are painted true size in a 10x10 cm square 🦋 #watercolour #butterfly #idasblue #plebejusidas #valsheideblauwtje #savetheinsects #melissahalley

The BTO have just reported that 56% of UK butterfly species have been recorded in gardens. It shows how important gardens are to UK wildlife, to learn more sign up to the Butterfly Conservation newsletter for monthly tips on how to attract more butterflies to your garden buff.ly/6xHYo5j

The glory of a well managed Norfolk marl pit #pond. If a little buffered from the fields & no inflow pipe ponds can be spectacularly diverse even in intensive arable. Ponds are probably the most important farm habitat @farmwildlifeuk.bsky.social

BBC News - Rare miro-moth pair recorded in Hampshire for first time - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The British Lichen Society photo competition is open to all. The themes this year are ‘Under the microscope’ and ‘The bigger picture’. Find the full details at the bottom of our AGM Weekend page. Judging will take place by popular vote during this event. britishlichensociety.org.uk/the-society/...

Wildlife Trust facing woodland crisis thanks to tree disease @wildlifebcn.org www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A very poor photo form our garden on 5th October, but this is verified as Crytea erythraea, 5th #irecord record. This parasitoid lays eggs on or in Plumed Fan-foot moth, Pechipogo plumigeralis. @bc-cambs-essex.bsky.social #moths #ichneumonid wasps

BBC News - Suffolk Wildlife Trust completes purchase of Worlingham Marshes - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The team recreating the famous Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon burial ship is inviting the public to name it! The Sutton Hoo Ships Company (SHSC) aim to complete the project next year before getting the ship on the River Deben in 2027. You can submit your nomination here: saxonship.org/suggest-a-na...

We have still have a few tickets left for our exclusive members behind-the-scenes visit for a close-up viewing of the world-renowned Fountaine-Neimy Butterfly Collection at the Norwich Castle Museum on Thursday. To book your free tickets👉 buff.ly/AkiOp1S

The 9th watercolour in this series is the Red Underwing Skipper (Dutch: Kalkgraslanddikkopje). Hint about the series theme: 1976. Painted true size in a 10x10 cm black square 🦋 #watercolour #butterfly #redunderwingskipper #spialiasertorius #kalkgraslanddikkopje #lookforbeauty #melissahalley

BBC News - Butterfly home restored by sheep after Harbury Tunnel landslide - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

WORK PARTY - Sun 23/11, 10am Devil's Dyke near Newmarket. Please come along and help us with essential conservation work to support the Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue, Dingy Skipper, and other grassland species. butterfly-conservation.org/events/cambs...

We have arranged 2 free member visits to the Fountaine-Neimy Collection at Norwich Castle Museum which contains around 22000 butterflies collected between 1890-1940. Most specimens were bred from eggs or caterpillars, and are therefore in exceptionally fine condition. buff.ly/1EdJlDV

Obsidentify gives this as a likely worldwide rarity. It is a Coral fungus. Does anyone have any comments?

The number of butterflies at risk of extinction across Europe has increased significantly in the past 15 years, a new assessment has warned:

youtu.be/bGu0rofa0nw?... A ponds project in Essex. @norfolkponds.bsky.social

The importance of Middlewick Ranges in Essex youtu.be/Ku-eD0J42as?...

Ragwort Fly, Sphenella marginata I believe. Seen today at The Naze.

A single moth in the trap last night, December moth #teammoths #essex

In case you missed it I recently posted my video on how to film wildlife youtu.be/Zr7HqTM5saE #wildlife #wildlifefilmmaking #nature #ukwildlife #filmmaking #video

** BRANCH AGM TOMORROW ** A reminder that the Cambridgeshire & Essex branch's AGM and Members' Day is in-person this year. Foxton Village Hall on Saturday November 8th at 2pm All Cambridgeshire & Essex BC branch members are invited to join us.

From purple swathes of heather to riverside meadows, Knettishall Heath has an extraordinary mix of habitat. One of Suffolk’s largest surviving areas of Breck heath, it is an ancient place where the past is written into the landscape.

If anyone takes Watsonalla binaria/uncinula (Oak/Spiny Hook-tip) from now, please check with your County Recorder if they wish specimens to be retained for microscopic examination (at the discretion of the recorder) and confirmation. Image: Oak Hook-tip (above), Spiny Hook-tip (below). #MothsMatter

Gall help needed please! Today in Wivenhoe Park, Essex, UK under the giant leaves of Far Eastern Quercus dentata. The galls look like blobby, rounded Common Spangle Galls. This could be the shape of these galls on this novel host (not recorded on Bladmineerders.nl). Or is there another species?

New blog of my latest jaunt around Beth Chatto Gardens, now at their autumnal russett peak... www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/the-wild-sid... #NatureWriting

Hope Farm in Cambs uses a @ukbms.bsky.social transect as one of their methods to track biodiversity changes on the farm

We look at Summer #Butterflies #Gatekeeper ( Pyronia tithonis )AKA Hedge Brown in Family #Nymphalidae a Brown #Butterfly #Lepidoptera We look at nectaring on #Bramble #Ragwort #clover & #MeadowThistle #FieldScabious as we film the plant Please subscribe on youtube to help us youtu.be/xIUVdDe1oNA

Following on from yesterday's lovely sighting of a female Holly Blue in our #wildspaces, I wasn't expecting to find she had found a mate when i got home today. @savebutterflies.bsky.social @bc-cambs-essex.bsky.social #wildspaces #irecordbutterflies

Hoverflies on the move! 🚀 These tiny pollinators embark on incredible journeys, all sparked by hidden genetic switches in their larvae. Nature never ceases to amaze! 🌍✨ #Hoverflies #Syrphidae #Diptera #Flies #Insects #Pollinator #Nature #Knowledge #Biology #Wildlife

A surprise find in our #pollinator garden this afternoon, 21st October. A very fresh looking female Holly Blue. Not seen one this late in the year before. @bc-cambs-essex.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social #irecordbutterflies

Lots of insect activity in Beth Chatto Gardens today, including the second garden record of Gorse Shield-bug. Blog after my walk for Friends next week.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! Descriptions and/or photos are required for a number of Essex rarities from 2024. The full list can be found at ebws.org.uk/2024descript... If you saw any of these, please submit a description - there's a video on the link that explains more. Thank you #essexbirding

Excitement on Harwich Beach yesterday: hundreds of Pointed Snails on the upper beach. First recorded here about 20 years ago, this is still the only Essex site so far as I am aware.

Cornwall Butterfly Conservation’s winter habitat management begins next week! This year, we have a packed programme of volunteer days around Bodmin Moor and Camborne-Redruth to restore habitat for threatened butterflies. Sign-up to get involved at tinyurl.com/2cbb2jzw @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Phasia obesa seen this afternoon feeding on daisies in our garden. Phasia obesa is a parasitoid of shield bugs. Specifically, its larvae parasitize nymphs of several Heteropteran species, including shield bugs. I count a dozen Shieldbug daily in our garden. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social #flies

Northern Deep-Brown Dart was the highlight of the moth trap on Saturday night in our North East Essex garden on a windy night. #moths #teammoths

Members Afternoon this Saturday at 2pm, Mike Slater Butterfly Conservation Officer for Warwickshire will share his 50 years experience on how the Small Blue was saved from regional extinction and how Warwickshire undertake conservation. We hope to see you. buff.ly/s6zL6J0

A male Spilichneumon occisorius This must be my find of my life. Very few verified records in the uk. Verified today by Malcolm Storey #irecord

thrush against the rising moon, from Garden Safari. Am doing a fundraiser talk for the Middle Marches Community Land Trust Saturday Oct 18th 7,30 Priest Weston Village Hall sharing stories behind some of my most iconic photos @shropshirewildlife.bsky.social

On my daily wander around our North Essex garden with camera, I found this fly, about 5mm long on shady side on hedge. Can anyone id please, possible Paraplatypeza atra (Meigen, 1804) @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @norfolknats.bsky.social

BBC News - Rare swallowtail butterfly project trialled at Ipswich farm - BBC News www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

This online event about flora on Suffolk’s road verges might be of interest to those who enjoyed reading Bob Leaney’s NNNS Transactions article on Norfolk’s road verges flora…

Hi All. I am new to this platform but have heard good things about it so here I am. Staying in from storm Amy with no chance of spotting #hoverflies today, hope they haven't been blown away. Here is a post from my blog site of a hoverfly seen recently. hoverflyspotter.blogspot.com/2025/09/hove...

Will frozen Swallowtail eggs be viable? Might this be a suitable conservation strategy for our beleaguered sub-species. ARU is going to investigate @patrickbarkham.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...