A male Philodromus Running Crab Spider, looking decidedly sub-adult - one of several unexpected but welcome house guests over #christmas #spiders @britishspiders.bsky.social

'Tis the season to be silly - again @thesun.co.uk, @express.co.uk among others. Last year's quotes, this year's new misinformation: these still extremely rare animals are now thriving in a few restored wetlands but are NOT 'in our homes' #responsiblejournalism @patrickbarkham.bsky.social #Dolomedes

More tiny finds from @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen: Five-striped Spider Thantaus striatus recorded here for the first time since 1957 and the Nationally Rare and Endangered Jumping spider Attulus [Calositticus] caricis. Photos: Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social

Not even half 9 and I've mapped about 30 clusters of webs, each with at least 4 webs in each cluster. It's going to be a slow day at this rate @britishspiders.bsky.social

A real glitter ball of a spider @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen today - maxing at just 3mm long, the minute Ray Spider Theridiosoma gemmosum has silvery plates of guanine shining through its cuticle. Photos Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social

Trickster - sub-adult Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi

A great team out today @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Carlton Marshes, surveying the still expanding range of the Fen Raft Spider population established there in 2011/12 - and meeting a few other fun species too! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Please share this like lives hang in the balance because they do.

It's the egg-laying season @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen - three female Fen Raft Spiders Dolomedes plantarius holding their precious egg sacs... and a male hanging around waiting for new opportunities. @britishspiders.bsky.social

Synema globosum, AKA Napoleon's Hat Spider. A rare import to GB but on the list of potential future colonists, showing its 'muscle' at the wonderful Perchtoldsdorfer Heide reserve, on the outskirts of Vienna. @britishspiders.bsky.social

An unexpected and familiar friend among the many treasures @worldwildlife.org Marchegg on the R. March/Morava. Thanks to @jubalbarca.bsky.social for inheriting the spider-spotting eyes!

A new species for the greenhouse (and wider patch), Zilla diodia hanging out at the hub of in her fine orbweb and continuing the species' rapid expansion in East Anglia @norfolknats.bsky.social @britishspiders.bsky.social

"On Wednesday, just days before her wedding, 25-year-old Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home in northern Gaza. Ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister, were also killed." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Please share. Data must be preserved.

"However, there is a nervousness around how these reviews will be implemented and that ‘streamling’ regulations becomes code for dumping environmental protections." inews.co.uk/news/inside-...

Planning to buy plants over #Easter? Check out the #PeatFree Nurseries List for over 140 #UK growers who don't destroy precious carbon-capturing #peatland habitat by using #peat to grow their plants. Pls let me know if your favourite #nursery isn't listed. Pls repost & let your friends know. Ta 🙏🌱💚

The best of 'lawn' grasses, Good Friday Grass (AKA Field Wood-rush Luzula campestris), is right on queue this year. #wildflowerhour

🕷 It’s Tick Bite Prevention Week! 🕷 ⚠️ Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere. Help us spread awareness! 💚 Download your social media pack with graphics and images to share: lymediseaseuk.com/2024/02/20/g... #BeTickAware

A very dapper Pirata piscatorius Fishing Otter Spider soaking up the sun while escaping sensory overload from the nagging easterly wind @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social's Redgrave & Lopham Fen today. @britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #arachnids

Not that I have any bias but, please #spider friends, vote now for this awesome and globally threatened animal to be Invertebrate of the Year 2025 - visit www.theguardian.com/environment/... Anyone can vote, with the poll closing at midday on Friday (4th) #arachnids #arachnology

Very sad news. Among my favourite poets, and no-one wrote more clearly about The Burren: At Poll Salach While I was looking for Easter snow on the hills You showed me, like a concentration of violets Or a fragment from some future unimagined sky, A single spring gentian shivering at our feet.

A detailed extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna, covering more than 23,000 species, reveals that around 24% of the studied species are threatened with extinction. The analysis identifies major threats from pollution, dams, agriculture and invasive species. www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪

Exciting #Arachnology news! It's been clear for some time that spiders have 'noses' on their legs but we didn't really understand how they smell airborne sex pheromones. Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪 www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...

Two rare arachnids Hedgehog Harvestman Nemastomella bacilliferum and the Plymouth endemic Horrid Ground Weaver spider Nothophantes horridus, Plymouth, Devon today

A bit of #Harvestman action today - Dicranopalpus larvatus in their only known Norfolk location, Earlham Cemetery in Norwich. Still immature at this time of year but some are now discernable as male (first 2 photos) and female (3rd photo).

Clear skies and all that, let's start here as we mean to go on. Meet Pseudomaro aenigmaticus, a rather rare 1.5mm, subterranean money spider. Not seen in the UK since 1994. Very unexpected at saltmarsh on the Tamar recently. @britishspiders.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @cofnod.bsky.social

My first time being part of a published article! Everything about Dolomedes in one place. I wrote the section on parental care. 🕷️ I am very grateful to all of the collaborators on this paper especially Dr. Chrissie Painting and my advisor Eileen. www.frontiersin.org/journals/ara...