Tribolium castaneum in the house! #Coleoptera #Tenebrionidae

Rarest animal in the garden this summer. Had a little rain overnight hear in Derbyshire. Brought this beast out. #Mollusc #Slug #Rain

Almost like I’m back in the 1970’s the amount of Small Tortoiseshell I’ve seen today on a walk in Derbyshire. #Butterfly #Nymphalidae

A nice brief encounter yesterday evening. #Bittern #Bird

It’s a very good year for Vanessa cardui. Nottinghamshire garden earlier today, and a new bug for me, Aphanus rolandri, in my new Derbyshire garden. #Lygaeidae #Nymphalidae #Hemiptera #Lepidoptera #Butterfly #Bug

Feathers. Give yourself a massive pat on the back if you can name the bird species these are from. Interested to know what you think, I’ll give answer later if no one identifies correctly. #birds #Nottinghamshire #Ornithology #Birdwatching

Stictoleptura rubra, female. Bedfordshire. #Cerambycidae @colsocbi.bsky.social

Dasypoda hurtipes, the Pantaloon Bee, Bedfordshire. #hymenoptera #bee

Roesel’s Bush Cricket, flew in the door. North-east Derbyshire. #Orthoptera #Bush-Cricket

Things to do on a hot day, Granddaughters catching Bullheads in the shade.

Sparrowblock on the house I’ve moved into. Anyone out there had any success with them? One problem, it’s on a west facing wall. #sparrows #birds

First walk from my new Derbyshire home to my new local pub and first Cerambycidae on the way. Rutpela maculata, North-east Derbyshire. #Cerambycidae #Coleoptera #Beetle

A live Whelk, Buccinum undatum. First one I’ve ever found alive. #Mollusca Morfa Nefin, Wales.

Final part of my house move and the most important - moving my reference collection. @colsocbi.bsky.social #Beetles #Coleoptera

Granddaughter looking at a couple female Sinodendron cylindricum we found in the garden this evening after walking home from school. #Lucanidae #Coleoptera #Saproxylic

A common beetle if you’re by the coast, Broscus cephalotes, quite excited to find it today 80 miles from the nearest beach in sunny Nottinghamshire on the pan of where an old colliery used to be, present with Amara fulva another lover of sandy soils. @carabidaeuk.bsky.social #Carabidae #Coleoptera

Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina, Dorset meadow, also present Common Blue and a nice surprise of a Clouded Yellow. #Nymphalidae #Butterfly #Lepidoptera

Anthropocene rock art, Dorsetshire Holloway, Shute’s Lane.

Flaming June!

Always a favourite, Marsh Helleborine, Epipactis palustris, Charmouth undercliffs, Dorset. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Dorsetshire today.

Bledius spectabilis, Dorsetshire. #Staphylinidae #Coleoptera

Peacock, Aglais io, Nottinghamshire. #Nymphalidae #Lepidoptera

Claytonia perfoliata, miner’s lettuce, named as eaten by gold rushers. An introduction from the Americas. Found on old colliery spoil heap, Nottinghamshire. Not rare but first time I’ve found it in Nottinghamshire and something I usually associate with coastal sites @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Retired last week after 46 years of continuous employment, went back to “work” last night helped out my old employees with a Nightjar survey in Nottinghamshire. Turn volume up. #Nightjar #Birding

Orange-tip caterpillar, north-east Derbyshire garden #Lepidoptera #Pieridae

Chrysolina oricalcia, arable field margin, Nottinghamshire. #Chrysomelidae #Coleoptera #Beetle

If you sweep arable margins with Mayweed you’ve a very good chance of encountering Microplontus melanostigma. It always amazes me that such small beetles can live in such transient and ephemeral habitats. #Curculionidae #weevil #Coleoptera

Coastal weevils on an old colliery spoil heap in the English Midlands currently being restored back to heathland. Philopedon plagiatum and Charagmus griseus both found in good numbers on bare sandy habitats. #Curculionidae #Weevils

Viviparous Lizard, restored heathland, Nottinghamshire. #Reptile #Lizard