Monday 25th May Ptycholoma lecheana : not only is this the 9th species i've reared this year, it's also a new one for me 😃 and only the 2nd record for Lanarkshire, the previous one being in 2016. The early instar caterpillar was found on Birch 29/04/26 (Lochburn Rd, Cadder) #teammoth

It feels like every time I see Moonwort it has either been sheeped, slugged or stood on, so you can probably imagine my delight at finding this perky specimen on today’s trip! 😍 #ferns

Lots of Orange-tips around. My favourite butterfly, so I thought I’d paint a male on Cuckoo Flower, with egg from a visiting female.

Vote Reform, Get Trump #Makerfield

The Heather Bagworm Pachythelia villosella larva in its 3 cm long case. Rare in UK on heathland in Hampshire & Dorset. When climbing it has the amazing ability to construct a silk ladder! It will pupate on a tree trunk so probably uses this ability to find a suitable spot. Thanks to Lucie Aggas.

This is a problem I come across all the time. People understand mow and no mow but any nuance is apparently impossible to communicate. I appreciate I might just be bad at it!

“In the shallow water at the edge of the lake, a coot sits on her nest, which she and her mate have made with pieces of reed stems” Artist: CF Tunnicliffe. Writer: EL Grant Watson

If this isn't "designed to stir up hatred" against Jews, what is? Why are the Met not arresting them?

I hope this isn’t true. There are times when it’s more important to put country before party. This is one of them. Burnham’s longstanding commitment to a fairer voting system could transform our democracy & counter the dire threat of a Reform UK government elected on a minority of the vote

Presumably the lying liar paid income tax on his “seven figure sum” for appearing on I’m a Celebrity which would have quickly reduced it to a six figure sum. Over to you @danneidle.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Tories have suspended their leader on Worcestershire County Council for doing a deal with the Greens to oust Reform. After the local elections Kemi Badenoch said Conservative councillors were free to do any deal they wanted without interference from the national party.

The Farage Fandango over the £5m seems to me to be a golden opportunity for a Labour Prime Minister with a massive majority to say "Right. Now we are going to put a stop to all foreign donations to British political parties". Hugely popular with his base and more widely and spikes their guns.

Turns out, if you stop tearing up the seabed, wildlife thrives: ten years after banning bottom trawl fishing, there are 3 times the number of sea creatures + double the number of species in the South Arran MPA, Scotland, than there were before the ban 👏🦪🐟 share.google/2M5WqP3CXwSH...

Angela Rayner was dragged through every front page for weeks... HMRC's verdict: NOT deliberate. NOT even careless. Farage pockets £5 million and chooses not to declare it So where's the wall-to-wall coverage? Tell me this isn't a rigged game.

If you like data, here is something interesting for you: Bridget Phillipson interview on LK: 9m 40" LK number of interruptions/talking over: 31 Richard Tice interview on LK: 8m 23" LK number of interruptions/talking over: 9

You're probably wondering just how metric my socket set is

The NRA buys off Congress. No action on guns. The oil industry buys off Congress. No action on climate. Insurance companies buy off Congress. No action on health care. The list goes on and on. Money in politics is the root of our dysfunction.

Couldn't agree more with so much off this. I wrote previously the number of people who won't look for their own birds & couldn't ID them on their own is shocking & depressing. In Ireland the culture was always bad... helhathnobirdies.blogspot.com/2023/06/how-...

Lorna Slater talking shite on BBC News - a Green vote is not always a vote for independence. Some of us vote Green to get the Climate/Biodiversity Crisis up the agenda.

Where are the informed takes on how the Highlands And Islands List results are going to be??

Chris Mason - what a smarmy little cunt

One of the reasons I resigned from Infinite Monkey Cage was show’s executives saying it was not acceptable to mention ( on my personal social media account) known pedophiles who have been very close to the Monarchy - that’s why I will be in Trafalgar Square tomorrow at midday

Watching BBC news - the folk on Barnsley are about to FAFO.

Sprouston Cropmark Complex: One of the most significant multi-period cropmark complexes in Scotland, known entirely from aerial photography since its discovery in 1964.

Great catching up with @alchemillaman.bsky.social on Hatfield Moors after... too many decades. And still finding new species - today, my first Ampedus pomonae at its only British location: www.flickr.com/photos/clado...

Feeding signs of Epinotia abbreviana on Wych elm from #Saltholme today. The larva feeds on a leaf before it unfurls from the bud, leaving a distinctive, rather fab pattern of holes, though it's not always that neat. The larva then feeds nearby between spun leaves #teammoth @teesbirds.bsky.social

One political leader made hissing noises behind his Jewish classmates; another is actually Jewish. Guess who our billionaire owned press accuses of anti-Semitism? (Hint: it's the one who wants wealth taxes.)

Extremist is the death and destruction that Benjamin Netanyahu government brings on a daily basis. Extremist is them introducing the death penalty for Palestinians. Extremist is this apartheid, genocidal Israeli Government that our Government shamefully supports.

This beautiful bird is a stock dove - an amber listed species of conservation concern in the UK. The Government is currently consulting on shooting seasons for wild birds. The British Association for Shooting and Conservation is lobbying to add stock dove and many other species to the quarry list.

Being against Jewish people being stabbed in the street & being against Gazan children being shot in the head are not two contradicting positions - in fact, they come from the same love of humanity - something our government and press refuse to understand - their desire to divide is disgusting

Near-threatened in Britain (<15 sites), so buzzing to find bird’s-foot sedge (Carex ornithopoda) on this limestone pavement in Cumbria! These pavements take 1000s of years to form as rain cuts deep cracks, creating niches for rare wildlife - this sedge being one of them 😍🌱

It's like someone ordered the villains from Superman 2 via Temu.

Amazing. In Paris, school streets "with the full treatment — trees, gardens, light-colored pavement — were on average, an astonishing 9 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler than nearby non-school streets."

Yay, Corfe Common is alive with Painted Ladies! Here are 4 of 20+ in 30 mins at 17:45, several getting stuck into Bluebell as the only nectar source! Assume these have come direct from Africa seeing as my car is covered in Saharan dust! @savebutterflies.bsky.social @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social

Ventana Canyon northeast of Tucson Arizona, 20 Mar 2024.

When a crypto tycoon gives a politician £5million it’s not a gift. The politician is being bought lock, stock & barrel. If Farage ever became Prime Minister it won’t be him running Britain it’ll be his paymaster. We’re being played like fiddles by scoundrels unfit to run a bath let alone the country

"It was with good grace that (Boris) Johnson ...resigned." Simon Hart attempting a ChatGPT-style rewriting of history. Nice try, but most of us remember that "good grace" was never a feature of any of LiarJohnson's moves and certainly not in the pitiful demise of his rotten administration.

Ukraine is putting relentless pressure on Israel now. The Netanyahu government has made a catastrophic error by siding with Putin's dictatorial government.

Pearl-bordered Fritillaries on the undercliffs at Murrayton this morning. At this coastal site, they make use of glades created by the frequent landslips.

Wow, this is so amazing, gannets now in the process of a forming a new breeding colony on a rock stack off St Abbs in Berwickshire this afternoon. An overspill from the major colony on the Bass Rock further north, it is brilliant to see these special birds spreading their wings

A rare 'day off' for me and a chance to indulge in some drawing. These were sketched from a series of photos taken by @jeremybartlett.bsky.social of Segestria senoculata that I managed to lure out of their retreat by tickling the 'trip wire' with a piece of grass. Gone over in black ink.

Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis) at Dundee Law this afternoon. Not a species I'd ever seen before - turns out that it is apparently rather uncommon in Scotland (so that will be why!). Very striking beastie. #UKwildlife

Green Hairstreak butterfly posing perfectly on coconut scented Gorse, sublime.

Very telling from the birdfood industry. Despite new RSPB/BTO advice on birdfeeding based on a solid scientific review, and RSPB taking a ££ hit themselves, EVERY major birdfood company is attacking/rejecting the guidance, claiming to know better, putting their incomes over conservation. Shameful.

This report from Wild Justice on the failure of Natural England to designate Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is excellent. However I fear it is even worse in Scotland - I can’t remember the last time NatureScot designated an SSSI. wildjustice.org.uk/wp-content/u...

Royal Mail scandal. 2nd-class post will be delivered every other weekday, scrapped on Saturdays. Company hasn't met any letter delivery targets since privatisation, so regulator reduces targets. Price won't be reduced for worse service Promise of £500m investment by ripping off customers.

Now Keir Starmer has answered his question. Let’s turn to Nigel Farage 1. Who paid for your house? 2. Why did you say the same as Nathan Gill who is in prison for taking bribes? 3. Have you paid for that Street’s energy Bills? 4. Has Dickie Tice paid his tax bill yet?

sandmartin colony, right on the edge of pasture - holes mined into the red land on a sea-eroded soilface - similes of bats, fish, insects as they swarm, but nothing could be more hirundine than those movements in 3 dimensions, the cut of wing & aviator's visor, the zeeping calls, the purpose #birds

Ash dieback is having some odd disturbance effects in ancient woodland. The extra light under dying ash canopy is allowing these wild roses to go crazy, scrambling up the tree trunks to heights of 7 m, forming these funky columns.

Utterly fantastic news. With the invaluable help of supporters and members, the Dorset Wildlife Trust have secured Upton Heath! Priceless habitat saved by wonderful people.... www.dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk/news/upton-h...