When a Firebug isn’t a Firebug - Ornate Shieldbug in Suffolk today 😍

Firebugs, Pyrrhocoris apterus, are spreading rapidly in parts of Norfolk. Today @vannabartlett.bsky.social found our first one in the garden. Usually found near Common Lime trees or Tree Mallow but this one was by our Hollyhocks. #Hemiptera #TrueBugs www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...

Today I went spider hunting with my mate @stevephotos.bsky.social (who took the photo) in some local grassland and we counted 19 wasp spiders! Has anyone else found this many in the same grassy area before please?

I recorded this one on Frant Green on my visit last week

Phil Saunders@beardybirder.bsky.social · 6d ago

Interesting byecatch in the Eight Kings Quarry moth traps on Weds night incl'd this delicately patterned & decidedly green-eyed Tephritid: Acanthiophilus helianthi (Knapweed Ghost) #Diptera @portlandbirdobs.bsky.social

An enjoyable visit to Quy Fen yesterday to check out the newly discovered breeding population of Southern Emerald Damselflies (superbly found by Andrew Maddocks), as well as entertaining views of a noisy juvenile Cuckoo being fed by Reed Warblers @cambsbirdclub.bsky.social

A Mullein plant at NWT Sweet Briar Marshes, Norwich yielded some nice finds today - Mullein Aphids (Aphis verbasci), Ant Nest Ladybird (Platynaspis luteorubra) and Lacebug Acalypta parvula. I have seen lots of reports of the ladybird this year so it was really great to find one (only my second).

Chamomile flowering prolifically on the cricket ground at Frant Green #wildflowerhour

Common Fleabane resisting the drought & catering for pollinators along the edge of the Green at Frant

Greater Musk Mallow in its regular spot in Grosvenor & Hilbert Park #wildflowerhour

Small plant of what I think is Milky Bellflower, self-sown in Grosvenor & Hilbert Park #wildflowerhour

Habitat shot for Pantaloon Bee on Rusthall Common today. They're probably nesting somewhere around this old quarry site that was cleared from dense undergrowth a couple of years ago.

Three foraging female Pantaloon Bees on Rusthall Common today, together with two faded males. All on ragwort in the same spot.

Following up those last 3 reposts of Arctic butterflies with this plate from The Greenland Entomofauna (2015), showing all the species recorded from Greenland (plus a few of the moths at the bottom)

We've now wrapped up the second of our two Butterflies of the European Arctic tours for 2026 - and they've been absolutely fabulous, with a great many of the Arctic specialities seen, and seen well. Here just a small selection from the most recent tour, c/o leader @jpcancela.bsky.social.

Postcard from the field, from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social: They say there are trolls present in the Norwegian mountains. We didn't see any of them today, but we found two other mythical, highly sought after beings instead - Arctic Grayling and Arctic Ringlet. @europebutterfly.bsky.social

Postcard from the field from tour leader @dunnjons.bsky.social in the Arctic: Our first full day of Butterflies of the European Arctic draws to a close - though of course, it's not getting dark here! - particular highlights were Pale Arctic Clouded Yellow and Cranberry Blue. #butterflies

Brassy Longhorn(Nemophora metallica) at Millfield Blandford 22/06/26

This Omophron limbatum (sometimes called Spangled Button-beetle) appeared in my garden moth trap last night. Despite looking like a cross between a ladybird and a diving beetle it’s actually a very unusual ground beetle (Carabidae). It’s very active and runs extremely fast! #UKbeetles

Breckland Plume (Oxyptilus distans) found Tuesday night in Bengeo, really attractive micro. @bc-hertsmiddx.bsky.social #teammoth

A Lulworth Skipper in Clayton Meadow, Dorset. The Field Scabious are still flowering and providing feeding spots for butterflies despite the heatwave. #butterflies #BigButterflyCount #wildflowers @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social @dorsetwildlife.bsky.social #DorsetWildlife #conservation #meadows

Yellow-Loosestrife bee, Macropis europaea. Fast asleep.

An important piece of research that could help save our vital nocturnal pollinators

The Dark Sky Ambassador@darkskyambassador.bsky.social · 7d ago

Amber LED street lights could save millions of insects. New research shows 1800K amber LEDs cut insect attraction by ~40% compared to standard white LEDs, emitting almost no blue light. The study tracked 71,000 bugs across 6 German railway stations. #LightPollution #Insects #Wildlife #DarkSkies

Thru the kitchen window, we caught sight of this - Ammophila sabulosa, the Red-banded Sand Wasp, we think...

I've been in Devon for a few days this week and was surprised to find several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries at Aish Tor yesterday. I would guess that a second generation is fairly unusual at this moorland site and symptomatic of the recent heatwaves.

#Ghostpond restoration is rocket fuelled conservation! Over 4-5 years we have seen 100s of wet-loving plants return to 30 resurrected ice age ponds in Norfolk, England. This year's surveys saw us find more scarce species: Marsh Pennywort, Marsh Speedwell & Fringed Heartwort. So Thrilled!!!

You can see this at some wetland sites around Tunbridge Wells, including Grosvenor & Hilbert Park

Jeremy Bartlett@jeremybartlett.bsky.social · 2w ago

Fen Nettle, Urtica dioica ssp. galeopsifolia. An elegant, stingless version of Common Nettle found in fens. The leaves are longer and thinner than normal nettle leaves and softly hairy. Ranworth Broad, Norfolk, yesterday. wildflowerfinder.org.uk/Flowers/N/Ne... #wetlandplants #WildFlowerHour

Here's the full story of what we believe to be the start of the colonisation of yet another new orthopteran to the British Isles.

Team cricket - how we found a cricket new to the British Isles

This following italicised sections were written by Matt Phelps, who first heard this unusual cricket...  I strolled over to Sussex Wildlif...

analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com

From this morning's catch - the 500th moth species for the Devon garden. Sometimes a milestone is notched with something undistinguished, and then sometimes it's reached with a beast. This Rosy Underwing was very much the latter - also a lifer, and my first Catocala here. #TeamMoth

Marmalade Hoverfly is strongly migratory, so when you see lots like this they're likely to have flown across the Channel en masse along with butterflies like Painted Lady & Clouded Yellow

Alison L@alisonlock25.bsky.social · last wk.

Marmalade #hoverfly party 😊 on hogweed #wildwebswednesday

Highlight of our field meeting last weekend near Deal - this nymph of the shieldbug Arma custos, swept by Laurence Clemons. A species found new to the UK in 2024 by Simon Warry, and this nymph confirms that it's now breeding here. #UKBugs #Shieldbugs @britishbugs.bsky.social @rockwolf74.bsky.social