Tephrochlamys rufiventris (checked). New for me. Found on the inside of the window in the front room today. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

In my last post, I joked about becoming a corvid magnet. Well, here's some footage from out on my walk the other day. It might just look like they've come down to peanuts I've thrown down for them, but the one picking up peanuts here was actually walking around my feet before I'd got them out!

I'm over the moon to have the beginnings of a rookery in an oak on the railway embankment behind the house in Filton. I don't even have to leave the back doorstep. 8 birds (4 pairs). Two nests are well advanced, and the other two are still in the early stages. @bristolbirding.bsky.social

40 Siskin in birches on New Rd, Filton nr Holiday Inn Express this morning. @bristolbirding.bsky.social

And a drawing of the spitting spider in action from W S Bristowe's 'The World of Spiders' in the New Naturalist series (1958)

A really nice find from yesterday. Sieving leaf litter in the Rosary Cemetery in Norwich, I spotted this small (circa 2mm) rather flat and eyeless beetle in my tray. It's Leptinus testaceus and it lives in small mammal nests (mostly Wood Mouse) and is rarely encountered. Very fast moving!

Norellia spinipes on Daffodils at Goblin Combe nr Bristol y'day. New for me. c10 incl several pairs in cop. @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

I found a large number of these on a fallen beech on my walk today, seemingly feeding on a fungus. Never seen them before. I looked them up when I got home. Endomychus coccineus - False Ladybird larva. They’re very cool looking.

A nice find on a well known online selling site.

Ero aphana (sternum checked) - female on the underside of the lid of our green bin when I put it out just now. Always a good place to check. Only my 2nd in & around the garden. @britishspiders.bsky.social

A very brief and much needed visit to my beloved Exmoor earlier this week. 2 Goshawk (a pair flying together), 2 Firecrest (pair) & male Dartford Warbler the highlights.

Female Hedgehog Harvestman Nemastomella bacillifera, Billacombe, Plymouth last week - always good to see these 'punk rock' harvestmen

Nice find on the ceiling in the front room just now. Scytodes thoracica (Spitting Spider) @britishspiders.bsky.social

One of the Nemastomella bacilliferum (Hedgehog Harvestman) from the day trip to Plymouth y'day to meet up with @johnwalterswildife.bsky.social Thanks again John! @britishspiders.bsky.social

A superb day trip to Plymouth y'day to meet up with @johnwalterswildife.bsky.social 3 Horrid Ground-weaver Nothophantes horridus (2 female & 1 male) & 4 Nemastomella bacilliferum (Hedgehog Harvestman). Both lifers. Thanks again John! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Nice surprise with the post just now.

An unprepossessing little strip of Beech woodland in Norfolk that I visited yesterday. Turned over a log and low and behold, there was only my second ever Norfolk Homalenotus quadridentatus! #arachnids #opiliones #harvestman

I've been looking forward to this one! @graemelyons.bsky.social

If yes, please share and take action in 5 seconds: protectthewild.org.uk/endhuntingnow/

How to make a perfect 360° ant snare whilst ensuring your dangerous prey can't get anywhere near you as you rest. Handily in a sheltered nook too, away from the last 45+ days of Cornish rain! Cryptachaea blattea are amazing - the ingenuity of Theridiids knows no bounds! @britishspiders.bsky.social

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery for the Bristol & District Moth Group winter indoor meeting y'day a'noon. I gave a short talk on 'Moth Trap Intruders', based on my findings in the garden last year. As ever, thanks to @raybarnett.bsky.social for organising.

This popped up again y'day, and it's too good not to share. Three top gents @pilning.bsky.social, @lancefly.bsky.social & @vc40orthops.bsky.social (not forgetting Jim C) on a visit to the Wyre Forest last year. A superb day with Shining Guest Ant & Dinarda maerkeli the highlights.

Interview with Steven Falk via @nhbs.bsky.social : www.nhbs.com/blog/author-...

Great to see this published. Congrats to Sarah.

Wildlife group returned to the English/Welsh border on Weds to the location of our Land Caddis (Enoicyla pusilla) discovery last Nov. Found in v. good numbers again & over a wider area. Grown too: cases now around 3.5mm long (prob 3rd instar of 5). Excellent result!

Under some damp bark of a fallen poplar was this Hololepta plana, a curiously vertically challenged beetle.

The strange subterranean harvestman Scotolemon doriae in Plymouth, Devon today

Blown glass Carabus intricatus (Blue Ground Beetle) by KT Yun at the Entographica art exhibition at the BRLSI in Bath y'day.

From The Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer, 2, 1857 (a sort of #teammoth from a distant pre-internet age.) A brief note that speaks volumes about the mid-19th century lepidopterist.

I am truly blessed! Just now I sat on the water trough & scattered some suet & sat & relaxed. Couldn’t believe it when both Ravens jumped on the trough with me & had a drink! Then Chips fed Gravy just a few feet away from me. Has to be one of the best experiences of my life 😊

I am looking forward to exhibiting some insect field paintings at the @entographica Collective exhibition Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution Queen’s Square, Bath BA1 2HN 2 – 25 FEBRUARY 2026 Mon–Sat 10am–4pm | Admission Free more information entographica.co.uk

Robin 2 Feral Pigeon 13 Blue Tit 5 Goldfinch 17 House Sparrow 6 Great Tit 4 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (male) Dunnock 1 Long-tailed Tit 6 Carrion Crow 11 Magpie 1 Starling 4 Rook 2 Jackdaw 1 Wood Pigeon 2 #biggardenbirdwatch

A Steller's jay that I saw this weekend at Salt Point State Park, California, USA. #birds

My first invertebrate record for 2026...Boreus hyemalis (Snow Flea) at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve this am. Exciting to think what else might turn up this year. 😀 @ynuorg.bsky.social #mecoptera #ukwildlife

Who needs fireworks, eh! Much better. I got this footage standing on top of the bench in the back garden in Filton a short while ago. I nearly lent back too far! @bristolbirding.bsky.social

Its that time of year again: a male Snow Flea, one of 3 seen yesterday in woodland on the Shrops/Herefords border. These 4mm relatives of Scorpionflies live in moss (esp. Polytrichum & relatives) & are winter active as adults. Not fleas of course but they can jump a bit.

Nice find in Churchgate Gallery in Porlock, Somerset earlier. @vannabartlett.bsky.social your artwork features in it!

Working on some sketches for a Christmas card design. Just because I can. Snow Flea anyone?

Always love to find the gorgeous Zicrona caerulea (Blue Shieldbug) #Heteroptera #Shieldbug #Asopinae

A walk in the woods at Felbrigg with @jeremybartlett.bsky.social brought a longed for insect - Boreus hyemalis aka Snow Flea. Managed to spot a male then found a female and another male in a second patch of moss. Happy days!

Black-spotted Chestnut (Conistra rubiginosa) from Tuesday night in Bengeo. True winter noctuid that arrived in UK in 2011, colonised here in 2018. Population has slowly risen since but local area remains its only stronghold in Herts. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social #teammoth

I don’t know whether this helps with sexing. Chips at front, Gravy behind. I know I say it every day but this might be my most amazing interaction yet 😆 !! I sat down with them & they stayed for 20 mins. I am besotted! #ukbirding

1/2 #speciesaday no. 677 is Walckenaeria acuminata. Periscope up! The male of this spider has its eyes spread out along the turret - 4 half way and the other 4 at the top! This genus is an utter joy, I love showing this spider to people for the first time. Even the female has a small protrusion.

'Sleepwalking with Foxes' 😉

Is it safe to call this Callitula pyrrhogaster or are there any confusion species? I can't find a relevant key but it looks like other photos of this species and it's supposed to be distinctive. It's 1.5mm long and was found by suction in late July in grass at the edge of wet woodland in Norfolk.

1/2 #speciesaday no. 500 is Snow Flea (Boreus hyemalis). Not a flea but a mecopteran (same order as the scorpion-flies). Winter-active, I have seen them only twice in 2019 when I went with Tony to find them in the Wyre Forest in Feb, then stumbled on 1 in the suction sampler in the Roaches that Dec.

Just visited the Lacewing Recording Scheme website and there are lots of great identification guides available, e.g. www.laars.jamesjepson.com/neuroptera-l... - thanks to @jamesjepson.bsky.social and colleagues for putting this together

My first Snow Flea (Boreus hyemalis) of the winter at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. Nice of her to pose out in the open on a fallen leaf, so didn't need to spend hours waiting for one to emerge from the Polytrichum moss! @ynuorg.bsky.social #Mecoptera #Boreidae #ukwildlife

Two lifers amongst 45:13 in a maple-packed woodland last night. The target was Plumed Prominent, and by 5.30pm two females had already appeared. An hour later and we were enjoying extravagantly plumed males. A hibernating Agonopterix purpurea was also NFM, with December Moth NFY. #TeamMoth

🎃 Happy Halloween, from the Charnwood Spider! 🕷️ Charnwood Forest is one of the only places in the UK that you can find the spider Mastigusa diversa. Unsurprisingly, it's also known as the Charnwood Spider!