Spooky, smelly fungus. Meet creepy Devil's Fingers, or Octopus Stinkhorn. Red tentacles splay out from the alien-looking 'egg' into a starfish shape. 📷 Sue Robinson
Judy Webb
@judywebb.bsky.social
Ecologist, Palynologist (pollen expert) quite good at Botany, Entomology & Mycology. Conservationist. Ex School Teacher, Ex Forensic Scientist.
Peekaboo! 🍄 Finally got photos of a cross-toothed rove #beetle from our Fungal Foray last week. A mycologist was holding a mushroom (wish I had pics) and I noticed this little one inside. Unfortunately it flew away in the lab so no specimen 😭 #Staphylinidae: #Oxyporus vittatus Norh Carolina, USA
I was excited to find a Rosy Bonnet (Mycena rosea) on a woodland wander. Just perfect for a #FungiFriday 🍄 #DailyNature #FungiFriends #Mushroom
Verifying observations on iRecord & iNaturalist and wow, there's lots of feral Eagle Owls around Britain. Also, England's clearly got a new parrot on the verge of establishing, if not already: Alexandrine Parakeet. Like a very butch Ring-necked Parakeet, with red shoulder patch. They're breeding.
Just one of many flies on the aster flowers today, always a joy to watch this burst of autumnal insect activity
Quick! Book your place on the Dipterist Forum Spring Identification Workshop - family Dolichopodidae - booking link below. Selling like hot cakes! www.field-studies-council.org/courses-and-... @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @britentsoc.bsky.social @royentsoc.bsky.social @davebriceflies.bsky.social
🦦 Otter spotted in Oxford! Our Biodiversity Data Officer Katharine was lucky enough to spot this #otter in Oxford. Wildlife sightings like this are always exciting, and if you spot something while you’re out and about, don’t forget to record it! https://tverc.org/recorders/share-your-records
Sounds fascinating, I have booked a ticket
Biological Recording Company@biologicalrecording.co.uk · 3d agoWhat hides inside an ancient tree? Discover the beetles that depend on decaying wood and how innovative ‘beetle boxes’ could provide temporary homes for these specialists 🌎 🧪 What Hides in the Hollows? Steph Skipp | 7 Jan | FREE www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1994542369... @royentsoc.bsky.social
Orpine Hylotelephium telephium is a rare plant in Oxon. @rowantnnr.bsky.social is giving a safe home under this hedge to cuttings from the last 3 county sites, whilst verge & hedgerow management hopefully is improved at sources.Thanks to NE vols for the careful work in rain! @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Bonfire piles can look like the perfect cosy hiding spot for amphibians, reptiles and other wildlife. Help keep them safe by building your bonfire as late as possible and checking carefully before lighting. Find out more about keeping wildlife safe: https://ow.ly/5eFx51001wU
When tidying the garden, avoid burning garden debris on a bonfire. Instead, pile up branches and fallen leaves in a quiet corner. This provides shelter for hedgehogs, beetles, toads, slow worms and other animals. More tips for nature-friendly gardens: littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/5-t...
This is still a rare species that needs to be left entirely alone, however good it tastes..
Protect the Wild@protectthewild.bsky.social · 3d agoAtlantic bluefin tuna were fished out of the North Sea in the 1960s. It's taken SIX decades for them to return. A species comes back from the brink, and the fishing industry immediately acts to exploit it.
Magpie inkcaps anyone? Several hundred were found under a Euclyptus tree in Cambridge today. Some are old and deliquescing, some are just emerging. #ukfungi #cambridgewildlife
A revised version of the very well-illustrated key to spiny-winged flies in family Heleomyzidae has been made available by the authors: Duncan Sivell, Alan Stubbs and Ian Andrews Download it from the Heleomyzid Recording Scheme page on DF website here: dipterists.org.uk/heleomyzid-s... - open access
Revisited the Burgundydrop Bonnets. They’re in a section of woods that’s usually too marshy to get to but it dried out this summer. Looks like it’ll soon be flooded again. 🍄 #FungiFriends #MushroomMonday
#Fungi so scarce in the south east but rotting wood in wet situations producing a few, Here Burgundydrop Bonnets Mycena haematopus (bleed wine red juice on damage) and a white encrusting fungus Physisporinus vitreus doing well on rotting willow trunk in Lye Valley #fen @friendlyevalley.bsky.social
A runner up in the moths category of our annual photographic competition taken by David Beecroft., looking at a Gypsy moth head on. We will feature our winners shortly.
In fine weather volunteers of @oxconservation.bsky.social & @friendlyevalley.bsky.social worked hard at #scything, raking & lopping back willow scrub in Lye Valley South spring #fen (rare alkaline calcareous fen). Big thanks to all! So many sites depend on volunteers for good habitat condition..
It's a grim old day outside and the cat has sat on me. Giving me plenty of time to reflect on a fabulous few days on a fungal survey in Kent. What an amazing diversity!!
The Cornish Shieldbug Geotomus punctulatus at its only known UK site Sennen Cove, Cornwall. This small bug lives at the roots of its foodplant Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum. Thanks @willleohawkes.bsky.social
It's been a while since I was able to participate in #BirdOfTheDay. Now finally a contribution to the ALT theme #FightingFeathers: birds in conflict with other #birds ⬇️ 2 Eurasian Oystercatchers in a bit of a dispute... #nature #photography #naturephotography #birdphotography #birding #birdwatching
There are 12 active, confirmed cases of screwworm in the United States and one fly trap detected screwworm.
Leave the Leaves Fallen leaves are not waste, they are essential ecological infrastructure. www.naturespot.org/node/268638 Please share. #Leaves #Autumn #gardens #gardening #environment #nature #insects
German mycologist, Julius Schäffer (1882-1944), is said to be the only modern mycologist to die from consuming poisonous mushrooms. You can view his collection of 82 coloured drawings of Russula, which we have digitised. ⬆️ Use our bio link to the 'Digitised Collections' to view this & many others.
The Orkney Vole is found nowhere else on Earth! Thought to have arrived with Neolithic settlers over 5,000 years ago, this remarkable vole evolved in isolation into an unusually large subspecies. Learn more w/ @jameshardingmorris.bsky.social on 28 Oct. Book: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977170639...
