The 2026 Members Open Day calendar is published. Beginning January 11th, Dr Gavin Broad will be on hand all day, members are welcome to drop in for help with Hymenoptera identification, advice on specimen preservation, general questions about biology. www.benhs.org.uk/events/

Have you checked out our 4th edition of the popular Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland yet? Free to download in 3 digital formats!

You can now register for free for our 2026 Brad Ashby Annual Lecture with @lnhs.bsky.social 7pm Thu January 29th 2026 on Zoom We'll be hearing about The Complex Lifecycle of Harvester Ants from Dr Jonathan Romiguier, Université de Montpellier - with a special and fascinating example of xenoparity!

It was wonderful to see many familiar and new faces at our Annual Exhibition yesterday, a great turn out of fascinating specimens, photographs and posters as well as lots of publications to browse and purchase 🪲🔬🦋

Yesterday, @britentsoc.bsky.social published the 4th edition of the popular Field Guide to the Smaller Moths of Great Britain and Ireland. Completely updated and free to download in 3 digital formats: PDF, spreadsheet, and an Android App! Further details at www.benhs.org.uk/publications... #TeamMoth

Are you joining us at our Exhibition this Saturday? A chance to meet other members and browse interesting displays! To find out more including contributing to the Exhibition visit our website

Not a member? 30% discounts on handbooks are also available for non-RES members who are part of @amentsoc.bsky.social & @britentsoc.bsky.social. We are happy to arrange this for other entomological societies - If interested, please get in touch to discuss with our team via [email protected] 🦋

Insect science is global 🌍 We're a signatory with 33 organisations representing 25,000 insect scientists committing to deepen our collaborative efforts to seek solutions to the world’s challenges and support the global entomological community

Are you joining us for this year's Exhibition on the 1st November? This important part of the BENHS calendar is an opportunity to meet other members and our affiliated societies whilst perusing significant insect voucher specimens, photographs and posters www.benhs.org.uk/event/annual...

@marctaylor.bsky.social Weevil Identification workshop – Angela Marmont Centre November 8 10:30 am - 4:00 pm Tutor: Mark Gurney For beginners to those wanting to get familiar with trickier groups. Book a place; email, supplying a contact phone: [email protected] Image: Mark Gurney

BENHS ID Workshop Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading December 6th 2025 10:30 am - 4:00 pm Wasps with a single forewing sub-marginal cell – Mike Edwards To book a place please mail, supplying a contact phone: [email protected] Image: Mike Edwards

BENHS Dinton Pastures – October 4th 2025 An Introduction to the Identification of UK Spiders – Michael Davis and William Blumsom Gain the knowledge to identify common spider families and species. Book a place by mailing, with contact phone: [email protected] Image: Steven Falk

@britentsoc.bsky.social BENHS Dinton Pastures-An introduction to myriapods and isopods - Duncan Sivell November 22 Workshop on centipedes, millipedes and woodlice that will give an overview of the British fauna. Book a place by mailing, supplying a contact phone: [email protected]

Are you a member and interested in accessing our library, collections and equipment? Our Members Open Days are a great way to visit our Headquarters at Dinton Pastures and the next is this Sunday! www.benhs.org.uk/event/member...

Enjoying the warm weather and interested in joining others in the field? We have some exciting field meetings across the summer to get involved in - see events marked in green on the website www.benhs.org.uk/events/

Beetling into a week of leave with @britentsoc.bsky.social 🐞🪲, #DeepPurple 🤘🤘, and #ArborAles 🍻

New digital publication available for free on our website! A checklist of the Lepidoptera of the British Isles (2nd Edition): covering all British macro-moths, micro-moths and butterflies, this is an indispensable reference for any serious lepidopterist. www.benhs.org.uk/publications...

Deadline on Saturday to apply for this funding round, if you're interested get in touch!

Bookings are going well so don’t miss out on the BENHS Harvestman workshop with Meg Skinner and her new test British key to ID them . . . To book: mail [email protected] providing a mobile contact number.

Are you looking for funding for entomological research? This year we have an additional opportunity to submit to our Professor Hering and Maitland Emmet Funds by 31st May 2025. See more on our website www.benhs.org.uk/about/grants...

BENHS Dinton Pastures - Soldierflies and Allies workshop - Martin Harvey May 3rd, 10:30 - 16:00. Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading. To book a place mail; [email protected], please supply a mobile phone contact number Image: Steven Falk

BENHS Harvestman ID workshop - Meg Skinner June 7 @ 10:30 am - 4:00 pm Dinton Pasture, Nr. Reading Meg runs the UK recording scheme for Harvestmen through the British Arachnological Society To book a place mail; [email protected], supplying a mobile phone contact number

Only three weeks to go until our Annual Members' Day at Oxford University Museum of Natural History! Access the full programme here: www.benhs.org.uk/event/member...

For those of you who missed our Annual Virtual Meeting on Saturday, you can watch the recordings now! The AGM is available through the website members' area and the guest speaker, Andrew Halstead, is available to all here youtu.be/IBjdj0OXa5U

Joining details for our Annual Virtual Meeting this Saturday up now on the website!

Make sure to join us this Saturday 15th of February 2-4pm at our Annual Meeting to discuss society matters and hear 'A beginner's guide to sawflies' by Andrew Halstead! We'll be meeting over Zoom, link to be posted on the website Members' Area and emailed to membership.

BENHS Dinton Pastures - – Soldierflies and Allies workshop - Martin Harvey May 3rd, 10:30 - 16:00. Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading. To book a place mail; [email protected], please supply a mobile phone contact number

BENHS Dinton Pastures - Hoverfly identification - Martin Harvey September 6th, 10:30 - 16:00. Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading. To book a place mail; [email protected], please supply a mobile phone contact number

BENHS indoor workshop – Saturday 9th August 2025 An introduction to leafhoppers and allied groups – Alan Stewart (Sussex). Dinton Pastures, Nr. Reading. To book a place mail; [email protected], please supply a mobile phone contact number

In case you missed it, you can now watch my Brad Ashby memorial lecture for @britentsoc.bsky.social and LNHS on YouTube! ☺️

Last night's Brad Ashby Memorial lecture is available on YouTube now! Learn how pollinators, parasites, and prey capitalise on static electricity with Dr Sam England www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3R5...

It's tonight! Link to tonight's Brad Ashby lecture is up on the members area of the website benhs.org.uk/members-area/

Join us for our Annual Virtual Meeting Saturday 15th of February 2-4pm to discuss society matters and hear 'A beginner's guide to sawflies' by Andrew Halstead (photo credit). We'll be meeting over Zoom, link to be posted on the website Members' Area and emailed to membership.

BENHS 2025 Indoor Workshop Sawfly identification – Andrew Green and Andrew Halstead. April 12th, Dinton pasture CP To find out more – www.benhs.org.uk/event/sawfly... Image: Stephen Falk

I'm very excited to give this talk in January! It's free to attend via zoom if you're interested! :)

GiGL, London's local environmental records centre, is now here on Blusky. Why not be one of their first followers? @gigl-lerc.bsky.social

Note: Date change. BENHS 2025 Indoor Workshops begin with Staphylinidae identification workshop – Roger Booth (NHM) March 1st, Dinton Pasture CP. To find out more - www.benhs.org.uk/event/staphy... Image: Jon Cole

BENHS 2025 Indoor Workshops begin with Staphylinidae identification workshop – Roger Booth (NHM) February 22nd, Dinton Pasture CP. To find out more - www.benhs.org.uk/event/staphy... Image: Jon Cole

The much anticipated 2nd Edition of Ants: Gary J. Skinner and Andrew P. Jarman is out . . . . More delicious learning to undertake, lifelong learning at its most enjoyable!

BENHS last 2024 workshop taking place right now - Weevil Identification with Mark Gurney at The Angela Marmont Centre, Natural History Museum, South Kensington. 8 intrepid attendees lapping up Mark's clear and enthusiastic pointers for identifying these remarkable insects www.benhs.org.uk/events/

Electric Ecology: How Invertebrates Capitalise on Static Electricity Join us and Dr Sam England for our next Brad Ashby Memorial Lecture Thursday, January 23, 2025 · 7 - 8:30pm over Zoom Booking open now: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/electric-e...

The Prime Minister was wrong to blame nature protection & regulators for stopping development🏡 Leading nature groups have written to Keir Starmer calling for an urgent meeting to discuss how nature & sustainable development can go hand-in-hand👇 wcl.org.uk/docs/2024/le... 📷Cassie Crocker

It's Mistletoe season but spare a thought for the insects that rely on it and are found on nothing else. First up is the capsid bug Hypseloecus visci which I found in Norwich on our allotment site in July 2024 - photos show a nymph and an adult. Mistletoe itself photo taken today.

Here's a stunner for #FossilFriday, just look at that beetle's preserved wing case! It belongs to a group called frog-legged leaf beetles (so-named for their extra-juicy rear legs), paleontologists called its pattern "the most perfectly preserved pigment-based colouration known in fossil beetles" 🧪

I'm thrilled to have had the opportunity to champion Silver-studded Blues in this wonderful new film celebrating the Cornish Mining World Heritage Site. Cornwall's former mining sites provide an important refuge for several of our most threatened butterfly species. youtu.be/V8OWVhl3Fv8?...

Still my favourite strand line discovery to date - a female Phronima sedentaria (‘monster in a barrel’) - Isles of Scilly, October 2023! An amphipod crustacean, she parasitises salps, devouring them from the inside, forming a vessel to raise her young 👽 #MarineLife 🦑 #ukwildlife

The Swallowtail is our largest native species, with a caterpillar that initially mimics a bird dropping, before developing warning colouring as it grows. It also has an organ known as an 'osmeterium'. According to Victorian entomologists, this gave off a pungent smell similar to rotting pineapple!

This wonder of nature is a Celery Fly. Take time to check out a few insects next year. You will be pleasantly surprised. Look out for this species in the UK in June. #flies

All welcome at Butterfly Conservation’s free online UK Moth Recorders' Meeting (Saturday 25 January 2025 on Zoom). Reserve your place now bit.ly/3Z2MOzc There’s a fab line-up of speakers: bit.ly/3Z2MxfE #TeamMoth please repost to spread the word!

It's a really useful website, which we'd recommend to everyone interested in Diptera #flies