The wonderful turbinate eyes of a male Cloeon dipterum that landing in my beating tray today.

@savebutterflies.bsky.social Erm? In the Big Butterfly Count launch email. This is giving me a crisis of confidence!

A Painted Lady larva feeding on Spear Thistle, approaching maturity. My next challenge is to find a pupa in the wild...

East Anglia flooded with Holy Water according to Sky News' map news.sky.com/story/hosepi...

My first Wasp Spider of the year, at the @wildlifebcn.org Sharnbrook Summit nature reserve.

This is what happens when you order one dessert and five straws.

Goals 2, 3, 4 and 5 were each scored while I popped into my kitchen for a drink or a snack. We are 3-2 ahead now and I'm not leaving the sofa again!!!

Just come home from volunteering at Flitwick Moor to find four Painted Ladies on my Verbena bonariensis. Plenty of records coming in, thanks - please keep them coming.

According to Anglian Water's email one minute of showering almost fills one bathtub? (350 bathtubs in 365 days). Really? @anglian-water.bsky.social

Holly Blue laying on Hemlock. Is this already on its long list of known food-plants? I've tied a bit of string around the stem so that I can re-find it and will attempt to follow progress...

A nice encounter while walking my butterfly transect today. #ukbms #grasssnake

Here's a summary of the Bedfordshire butterfly season so far. Thanks for all the records. They are mapped in iMap here: www.keithbalmer.com/bedsbutterfl... Click on a square to see its species list. Choose other mapping options from the drop-down list.

The 25th amendment exists for a reason. This post is the reason.

Can we put Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Kim on Artemis III? Seeing Earth from lunar orbit may give them some perspective.

This is an actual post. This is not funny. This is beyond desperate. This is a deeply unwell man who doesn’t belong anywhere near the levers of power. Every member of his cabinet and Congress is complicit in not demanding his removal now.

I've added a first-day and last-day phenology graph to each Bedfordshire butterfly species account on www.bedsbutterflies.org.uk with a trend line showing change since 1990. This is Comma's. Global warming effect at the local level...

Is there a better way to spend a spring day than lying flat on the ground photographing Green Tiger Beetles?

One of my more successful stacks?!

Sometimes I think the reason that I'm struggling to learn Spanish with Duolingo is because I don't understand the English. Is it just me? Can anyone translate this please?

Does anyone recognise where this is please? It isn't Bedford but it looks a bit like it. It is being erroneously used to illustrate Bedford though at www.journey-alerts.com/updates/bedf... . Google and Co-pilot don't seem to know where it is. AI generated perhaps?

I asked ChatGPT to explain why the latest sunrise date varies with latitude. It said " Moving north in the Northern Hemisphere: Latest sunrise occurs later in January Sunrise times change more slowly day to day Near the Arctic Circle, the latest sunrise can be weeks later than at mid-latitudes" 1/2

@nbntrust.bsky.social your contact page at nbn.org.uk/about-us/who... doesn't include BlueSky...

Contact us - National Biodiversity Network

All of the NBN Trust team members work remotely, but there are a number of ways you can get in … Continued

nbn.org.uk

Would you like to start the New Year with a quiz? Those familiar with Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust BCN nature reserves (@wildlifebcn.org) may like to have a go at solving these cryptic clues to their identities. @brianecambs.bsky.social

𝘋𝘪𝘤𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘦 are still readily found on my end-of-season 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘮 on Dec 9th. Despite being only 10 Celsius they are very alert and thus difficult to photograph. (The wind isn't helping either!) Many seem to have swollen abdomens suggesting gravid females?

No, don't!

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

The Verge@theverge.com · last yr.

Nick Clegg says asking artists for use permission would ‘kill’ the AI industry

Looking for a new challenge working on one of the UK's most ambitious conservation projects? We are at an exciting phase of our Great Fen vision with habitat creation and peatland rewetting funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Find out more and apply www.wildlifebcn.org/jobs/great-f...

In the winter I sowed 𝘈𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘮 (Snapdragons) specifically to try to attract 𝘋𝘪𝘤𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘦. On 30th June I beat one, and today found two by direct inspection. @willgeorge.bsky.social‬ has confirmed as a new species for Bedfordshire.

One of the female 𝘏𝘢𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘢 𝘴𝘱. (Clegs) chewing into the back of my left hand. Chose photography over pain relief - I hope you appreciate that!

Yesterday I heard of the existence of the rare weevil 𝘗𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘥𝘰𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘭𝘪 so went looking for it this afternoon. May have found it after 20 minutes, unless I have the wrong ID of course! Can anyone confirm please?