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Rob Yaxley

@robyaxley.bsky.social

Naturalist: lichens, moths, beetles, bugs and anything else that catches my eye. “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.”

1418 Posts2088 Follower688 Folgt
RareBirdAlert@rarebirder.bsky.social · 3w ago

Egyptian Vultures may use hedgehog skins to protect their nest A breeding pair in Bulgaria arranged dozens of spiny hedgehog pelts around their nest, possibly as a defence against Eurasian Eagle Owls. www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/E...

Egyptian Vultures may use hedgehog skins to protect their nest

An Egyptian Vulture pair in Bulgaria appears to have used the skins of hedgehogs to create a protective barrier around its nest, according to a newly published study of the unusual behaviour

rarebirdalert.co.uk

Rob Yaxley@robyaxley.bsky.social · 4w ago

Moth trapping near Royston last night, at a science park. A very lively trap including Small Marbled, Sciota advenella (Willow Knot-horn), Choreutis nemorana (Fig-leaf Skeletonizer) and Small Mottled Willow. Great selection.

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Zoom Earth@zoom.earth · last mo.

🔥 Fires rage on the Iberian Peninsula. Huge smoke plumes can be seen from satellite today, rising from major wildfires south of Porto, Portugal, where temperatures exceed 40°C (104°F), and in Les Gavarres, Spain, northeast of Barcelona.

Rob Yaxley@robyaxley.bsky.social · last mo.

From an invertebrate sample at a London site this week - Cryptocephalus rufipes, a non-native beetle with a handful of UK records. Orangey pronotum and a white shoulder-stripe.

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Dave Appleton@applewildlife.bsky.social · last mo.

This week I’ve been poking around in streams and under bridges in the two areas that Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus) has been recorded in Norfolk. This morning I struck gold at East Carleton. Recorded here in 2022, which was the first in the county since 1963.

A Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus) resting at the top of the vertical side of a bridge over a stream and under a road. The lacewing has slightly hooked wings with dark spots along the costa and (less obviously in this photo) along the dorsal edge in the basal half. The head is red and the body is mostly dark. This is a big lacewing, though “Giant” is perhaps a bit of an exaggeration. It was quite a low bridge meaning I had to stoop quite low to reach it. It was quite dark under the bridge and I couldn’t get the camera to focus on it without using the torch of my phone. It was a challenge holding the phone torch in one hand and the camera in the other while bending lower than I was comfortable with and trying to avoid falling in the water or dropping either phone or camera in. The species was found at East Bilney twice in 1963 and looked for since with no success (though I am not convinced it might not still be present in the area and as it’s local to me I will continue searching). It was then found by sweeping at East Carleton Carrs in 2022 by a visiting dipterist who, not realising the significance of the record in Norfolk, did not take a specimen or any photos. By all accounts the finder was a reliable and experienced entomologist familiar with this species from elsewhere, so I was happy to accept the record on his say-so, but very happy to follow it up with some photographic evidence today.