#RecordOfTheWeek today is the fabulously named Pantaloon Bee (Dasypoda hirtipes) spotted in Kenfig NNR by David Collins. This Nationally Notable (Nb) species can be found on a few sandy sites along the south Wales coast. Many thanks for the record & photo, submitted via www.sewbrecord.org.uk

Great day out at Kenfig NNR with the Entomology team from National Museum Wales Cardiff. The highlight for me was this Sand Bear Spider, Arctosa perita. You can see how well camouflaged it is against the sand. @britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #arachnids #invertebrates #wales #cymru #kenfig

How a museum does #NoMowMay🌸 From boosting biodiversity, increasing insect diversity & letting native wildflowers bloom - just a few reasons why the National Museum of Scotland has been taking part in the No Mow Movement. Watch the full story, told by @ashwhiffin.bsky.social, below 👇

@scotsguyinwales.bsky.social leading a hoverfly walk (hoping he finds some 😁)

Labour promised to restore nature. ❌ Instead, their Planning Bill contains a licence to destroy it. We offered solutions. We’re done waiting. Part 3 of the Bill would gut the laws protecting our most precious habitats & species. Without significant change, it must be scrapped.

Xanthogramma citrofasciatum ♂ today in Bengeo garden, beautiful hoverfly with very short flight period. Note narrow yellow bars on T2 distinguish species from much commoner Xanthogramma pedissequum.

That was a weird one, I had absolutely no idea, thought it was some sort of Soldier Beetle. Snapped a few photos thinking of leafing through a book at home. Good job there were some adults aboutn

This, I believe, is the proper way to regard the Fan-bristled Robberfly, Dysmachus trigonus, on a sunny day at Kenfig National Nature Reserve. #Invertebrates #Diptera #Asilidae #Robberflies #Wales #Cymru #SandsOfLife

Enjoyable afternoon spent at Kenfig National Nature Reserve with @bennyhawksbee.bsky.social and @scotsguyinwales.bsky.social. The highlight was Black-headed Leafcutter Bee (Megachile circumcincta) - a pretty rare bee in Wales. We found at least two males patrolling patches of bird's-foot-trefoil.

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Myathropa florea, female, aka the Batman Hoverfly. First of the year for me, but expect to see many more in the months ahead Seen on the South Wales coast today. One of my favourite Hoverflies, just don't ask how many favourites I have. #Syrphidae #Hoverflies #Invertebrates #Diptera #Wales #Cymru

NEW PAPER, JUST OUT! 👀 Insects from the '70s and '80s were already collecting microplastic, decades before the term microplastic even existed. 🤯 A thread on the surprising history of this pollutant and the incredible insect larvae that helped us uncover it. 🐛 Let's dive in! 🧵👇 1/x

Please take a moment to sign this petition: ‘Protect Disabled people who cannot work from planned cuts to benefits’. Thank you so much: tinyurl.com/5erjajtv #WelfareNotWarfare

Good week for flying things on my fingers. My first ever Bombylius discolor, Dotted Bee-Fly. Then a male Andrena nitida, Grey Patched Mining Bee, part of a huge nesting aggregation of Mining Bees in the middle of Cardiff. #Invertebrate #Bees #Bee-Flies #Andrena #Bombylius #Cymru #Wales #Caerdydd

Lords of the flies: the unsurpassed level of ecological diversity within dipteran migrants. Read about it here news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e... and in Biological Reviews here doi.org/10.1111/brv..... New research from @uniexecec.bsky.social with @willleohawkes.bsky.social & Myles Menz

99% of insect species lack conservation data. A major study led by @ukceh.bsky.social and @zslofficial.bsky.social, with contributions from Professor Iwan Jones and Dr John Murphy of @qmulrivercomms.bsky.social, highlights urgent gaps in our understanding of global insect populations.

A lovely little Sandpit Mining Bee, Andrena barbilabris posing on my finger at Kenfig National Nature Reserve yesterday. Plenty of males like him in evidence patrolling low along the paths. #Kenfig #Cymru #Wales #Invertebrates #Bees

If any of my followers care about the environment, our flora and fauna, and the tranquility of our country parks, PLEASE sign this petition to stop the introduction of an aqua park at Cosmeston Lakes CP, a SSSI and nature reserve. THANKS! chng.it/zvVYss5PDH

With spider activity increasing, we're looking at spider ID resources, starting today at the beginner's end of the spectrum with our 17 Factsheets on common and conspicuous species - freely available to read online or print from www.britishspiders.org.uk/factsheets. #spiders #arachnids #arachnology

This looks like it'll be a good webinar on two rare insects found in North Wales: museum.wales/whatson/digi... #invertebrates #entomology #Wales #Cymru #AmgueddfaCymru #MuseumWales #NationalMuseumCardiff #NaturAmByth #LargeMasonBee #ClubbedGeneralSoldierfly

🤦‍♂️ So Labour are making ads boasting about deportations, with Reform-style branding. Why are Labour trying to be like Farage and his mates? If only the Government put as much effort into creating a fast, fair and dignified asylum system.

This female Kestrel was very tolerant of me creeping towards her. I'm sure she's used to people walking the coastal path. #birdingwales #ukbirding #naturephotography #birds #bluesky #ukwildlife #birdsofprey #wildlife #photography #Cymru #ValeOfGlamorgan #WalesCoastPath #LlwybrArfordirCymru

A few non-bird (well almost!) artworks. Another 'hidden gems' - hoverflies (Chrysotoxum bicinctum & Xanthogramma pedissequum), Woodland Wheel, otters & brown trout #hoverflies #mammals

Stop Musk from funding far-right politics in the UK! I just signed this petition 'Tighten the rules on political donations' - it's nearly at 30,000 signatures - can you add your name too? - petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...

Pet fur found in songbird nests contains high levels of pesticides, study finds Exclusive: Chemical in treatment for pet fleas and ticks is found in nests of blue and great tits, killing chicks www.theguardian.com/environment/... "And the earth died screaming"

Big news coming soon about the discovery of a species new to Britain, found at a colliery spoil site in South Wales! Today, we had an exciting visit to the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, meeting with the national expert, who confirmed it as not being a known British species. Stay tuned!

Economic Growth (GDP) & its WEALTH SURGES 3 X FASTER IN 2024 - WORLD NOW ON TRACK FOR AT LEAST FIVE TRILLIONAIRES WITHIN A DECADE www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-... Why can’t we afford to restore a life supporting planet, a few people stole all the Growth. #ClimateAction is a #WellbeingEconomy now!

Middle of winter? Of course Wild Angelica will be flowering, eh? Seen at #Kenfig NNR last Friday #WildFlowerHour #Wales #Cymru

I was very surprised to find these eggs of Orgyia antiqua, aka Rusty Tussock, Vapourer Moth or Siobyn at #Kenfig NNR today. I must have walked past them dozens of times. #Invertebrates #Moths #Wales #Cymru

NEW: Elon Musk’s X is a weapon currently owned and controlled by a non-state entity. But from January 20, that changes. At that point, we need to understand in the context of information warfare from a hostile nation state. open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

❌ Elon Musk is amplifying far-right figures, spreading harmful disinformation, and meddling in UK politics. If we stay silent, he wins. But together, we can push back and demand stronger laws to protect our democracy. Join us and make your voice heard: secure.hopenothate.org.uk/page/163807/...

The world’s richest man & insecure nepo-baby shouldn’t be allowed to dictate UK politics. Yet some politicians act like sycophants & his unhinged outbursts dominate news, while our democracy is serially undermined. We must break the super-rich’s grip on our media & politics.

"A request made through ChatGPT, an AI-based virtual assistant, consumes 10 times the electricity of a Google Search" This isn't a game. This is accelerated destruction via huge usage of power, water, resources etc. Stop using it - especially for messing about!! www.unep.org/news-and-sto...

Looking in the leaf litter with my granddaughter, we turned up a Birch Shieldbug, Elasmostethus interstinctus. #BryngarwPark #hexapodecember #hemiptera

Wonderfully lucid argument from one of very few politicians who have grasped the severity of our plight. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

I've joined Bluesky! Hoping to follow and be followed by many of my X/Twitter friends. Please Retweet/Repost or whatever the word is. #invertebrates #insects #moths #dragonflies #wildlife

Nigel Farage, “man of the people”, welcomes his latest billionaire to Reform “Like our Nige, Nick Candy doesn’t appear to have any solutions to anything … but he does have very deep pockets” www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Wild variations in my Spotify wrap for 2024, comes with being a papa. #Spotify #playlists

"Bumblebee population increases 116 times over in 'remarkable' Scotland rewilding project." Read that again: **116** times. Why are we STILL having to argue the case for rewilding?? www.scotsman.com/hays-way/bum...

We've just published some brand new insect migration research in iScience! We found that Marmalade hoverfly migrants are marathoners, not sprinters. Led by Richard Massy of @uniofexeter.bsky.social Full Paper: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... Press release: news.exeter.ac.uk/faculty-of-e...

Nicely done

How privatisation works (and Thames Water is just the latest example). 1. A government takes a national asset built up with taxpayers' money and the work of public servants over many years, and hands it, for a fraction of its value, to a private company. 2. In doing so, it creates a monopoly. 🧵

@samsweeney.bsky.social Hey, you're getting played on Radio Three just now!

When did Nurses last store billions of pounds off shore? When did Nurses last crash the economy by slashing business rates and taxes? When did Nurses last extract wealth out of public services and sell of contracts to their mates? Don't you dare try and blame us for your greed and corruption

The Gwent-Glamorgan Recorders' Forum is open for booking! Join us in Llanhilleth for this annual celebration of wildlife recording in south east Wales. Secure your free space on Eventbrite: ggrf25.eventbrite.co.uk Programme to follow. #WildlifeRecording #Wales #Wildlife #Nature

NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next. I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social 1/ www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...