Today delivered two more bugs with seemingly few Nottinghamshire records! Bathysolen nubilus and Sphragisticus nebulosus, both from a low stone wall on my housing estate. #Hemiptera #Heteroptera

I’m not sure if this is a first for Nottinghamshire, but I can’t find any records on NBN or iRecord! Metopoplax ditomoides - it landed on my window today.

Be a dipterist. Be in Costa Rica for #FlySchool2026. See a muscoid #fly perching on a leaf. Tell student so they can collect it. Success!! Wait a minute 🤔 That's not a fly, but weevil mimicking one! This was so convincing, even rapidly moving & poking its wings out 🥰 #Curculionidae: cf. #Mnemynurus

It’s always a joy to visit Bempton Cliffs, where I began my conservation career as a residential volunteer, monitoring seabirds. I’ll always have a soft spot for them!

Rock pooling at Wembury Point today. Babakina anadoni (Rainbow Seaslug)!!! One of 7 species of nudibranch found in rock pools including Amphorina farrani and Gargamella/Discodoris rosi #nudibranch #seaslug #rockpooling #devonwildlife

Some moths have wonderfully evocative names, others do exactly what they say on the tin. This beautiful moth has yellow underwings, so of course it’s a Beautiful Yellow Underwing. I’ve seen the caterpillar before, but this was my first adult. It didn’t disappoint! #TeamMoth

I think this is a Kite-tailed Robberfly (Machimus atricapillus) predating a Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus).

After taking years to find my first, I can’t stop finding Cryptocephalus moraei! Two more at RSPB’s The Lodge on Saturday, alongside dozens of Cryptocephalus fulvus on St John’s Wort. #Coleoptera #Beetle #PotBeetle

On Saturday, I visited RSPB’s The Lodge and saw my first Ivy Ladybird (Nephus quadrimaculatus). It tumbled from its leaf the second I saw it, then tumbled again! Luckily, I found it for a third time and managed some photographs. #beetle #Coleoptera

Another highlight of my trip to the Brecks was Broom Treehopper (Gargara genistae). Plenty of these brilliantly bizarre bugs near Cranwich Heath on Friday.

My main reason for visiting the Brecks was to seek out Ant Nest Ladybird. I was a little worried when I found part of Cranwich Heath closed, but luckily spotted this male on a nearby pine! #Coleoptera #Beetle #Ladybird

My Friday started at Weeting Heath, where the Stone Curlews put on a great show. Running around and calling, living up to their alternative name of Wailing Heath Chickens! I also found my first Red Longhorn Beetles (Stictoleptura rubra)

I just spent a scorching couple of days exploring the Fens and Brecks. Wicken Fen on Thursday was too hot for most creatures to be active, including humans! This Norfolk Hawker made the day though.

Had to delay going out into the garden this morning as I didn't want to interrupt this lunatic's frolicking #stoat #salopobs

The highlight of my weekend! Six-belted Clearwing resting on a knapweed, spotted by my wife as we searched for pot beetles. #TeamMoth #Clearwing

Hi @vc40ladybirds.bsky.social and @vc40orthops.bsky.social, is it okay to record this as Scymnus frontalis? I didn’t dissect it. A nice surprise wandering along the edge of my patio!

Two more beetles from yesterday’s visit to Naturescape Wildflower Farm, both the first I’ve seen in Notts. Tawny Longhorn (Paracorymbia fulva) and Fairy Ring Longhorn (Pseudovadonia livida). #Coleoptera

After taking two years to find my first Cryptocephalus moraei, yesterday I found seven more! Five at Naturescape Wildflower Farm, two more at Budby South Forest.

Yesterday's wildlife group outing in rural SW Shrops produced this fab Giant Lacewing (Osmylus fulvicephalus), found by @lancefly.bsky.social at the shady edge of the River Clun. 1st one I've ever seen. Posed nicely for me but then flew off before anyone else could tog it!

When I spotted this in the moth trap, I suspected it might be new… and it was! My first Suspected (Parastichtis suspecta). One of two from Friday night in VC56 #TeamMoth

On Friday, I had the chance to run a moth trap in a Nottinghamshire garden. I caught 357 moths of 89 species! Despite that, macro diversity felt pretty low. Nine Scarlet Tigers was a sign of their shifting distribution - I only saw my first in the county last year #TeamMoth

Whilst they're not everyone's favourite insect, I adore 'wiggies' (earwigs), so it was an absolute joy to see the stonking Tawny Earwigs (Labidura riparia) in Berck, Northern France last week, with @vc40orthops.bsky.social! #Dermaptera #Earwig #PerceOreille #France

Lucky enough to see two species of dune tiger beetle in Berck, France last week with @rockwolf74.bsky.social : Cicindela maritima & C. hybrida. Not that I spotted the difference until it was pointed out to me!

A slightly less surprising (but very welcome) sighting on Hatfield Moors yesterday was this female Bog Bush-cricket.

I visited Hatfield Moors for the first time today, hoping for some peatland inverts. I wasn’t expecting to find the sand-loving, mainly coastal Fallen’s Leatherbug!

This has had me confused for a while. I spotted it scurrying around under Stork’s-bill on sandy, coastal grassland in Kent earlier this month. About 3.5mm. I think it must be an early instar Lesser Cockroach nymph, but would welcome opinions!

A beetle I was really hoping to see on my recent trip to Kent: Agapanthia cardui, a fairly recent colonist of southeast England #Coleoptera #LonghornBeetle

A Cricket Bat Spider in my new build garden this afternoon, the 80th species of invertebrate since we moved in this March. All we’ve done so far is let the grass grow long!

Over the last two years, I must have scanned thousands of St John’s-worts. I finally found what I was looking for at Park Gate Down in Kent - Cryptocephalus moraei. What a beautiful beetle! #Coleoptera #Beetle

I saw several White-spotted Sables at Bonsai Bank in Kent, but they were a nightmare to photograph! Very flighty and prone to hiding under leaves. I had to switch out the macro for a telephoto lens to catch one in all its black and white glory. #TeamMoth