Yes, definitely, isn't she beautiful.

Sounds like it was the final straw

A beautiful bee viewed from head-on, but with most of the body visible. The face is festooned in white hairs and the thorax is clad in fox-red hairs on top, merging seamlessly to pure white below. 10/10, no notes.

Perhaps the very finest of British bees is the Orange-tailed Mining Bee, Andrena haemorrhoa, which combines an elegant fox-red thorax trimmed with white with a shining orange-tipped thorax. I was lucky enough to find a calm individual at RSPB The Lodge yesterday who posed for some photos.

Silo upon silo upon silo...

A moth viewed side on against a pale background. The moth is intricately patterned in grey, black, orange and white, with a large white patch in the middle of its back.

A delightful little micro moth in the trap this morning, which I think is Pammene argyrana. The caterpillars develop inside galls on oaks!

Beyond the Bee Hotel | Wildlife Garden Project Masterclass Learn how to create microhabitats and boost biodiversity in your garden. Join Dr Linda Birkin's masterclass on improving gardens for invertebrates.

Next week I'm giving a talk with the #WildlifeGarden Project, on how you can add more habitat complexity to your garden, to encourage and support all sorts of invertebrates!
I'll also get cross about Terrible Bee Hotels.

Booking link here: learn.wildlifegardenproject.com/talks/microh...

A close-up of a small metallic black insect which is oval in shape, with spiky hind legs.

One of the best things about natural history is the potential for unexpected encounters at any time, in even the most familiar places. Today I bumped into my 2nd ever Scarab Shieldbug at a spot where I've spent dozens if not hundreds of hours happily looking for insects.

A side on view of a very bristly fly sitting on a dead leaf. The fly is brown, with a reddish tinge to the abdomen.

A top down view of the same fly

If you go down to the woods today, you might just come across these bristly little flies called Tachina lurida. These ones were in Chicksands Wood in Bedfordshire earlier. #Tachinidae #Diptera

Screenshot of the first part of the Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme newsletter no. 12

The latest recording scheme newsletter (no. 12) was sent out to members of @dipteristsforum.bsky.social recently, and is also available from the recording scheme web page dipterists.org.uk/soldierflies... - includes exciting news of a possible new Villa bee-fly species in the UK 🤩 1/2 ...

A black car sitting in a highchair, witha certain air of expectation

Waiting for lunch

Nomada fabriciana, one of the earlier emerging species. The tricoloured antennae are a good field sign.

A hoverfly sitting on Yew leaves, viewed from the top down. There are six bright yellow bar-shaped spots on the abdomen.

A small hoverfly with a mouthful of a name in the gardens at The Lodge RSPB today. This is a female Melangyna lasiophthalma, an early spring species that I don't often come across.

Will runs the Brighton Marathon for PSPA Help William George raise money to support PSPA

3 weeks to go until the slightly terrifying prospect of taking on Brighton Marathon with #TeamPSPA after over a month not running due to tendonitis. Managed 17km pain free yesterday, so on the right track. Any and all donations extremely welcome! www.justgiving.com/page/william...

Exceedingly exciting

I never leave the house without mine, incredible things, and not too pricy.

A male Syrphus torvus hoverfly on white Pieris flowers. The hoverfly has two yellow spots at the top of the abdomen, with two yellow bands below. On close inspection, the eyes are hairy.

A female Parasyprhus punctulatus on a green leaf. Has six yellow spots on the abdomen in the characteristic golf club shape.

Reacquainting myself with spring hoverflies in the gardens at RSPB The Lodge today. These are a female Parasyrphus punctulatus and a male Syrphus torvus. Other yellow stripy hoverflies are available

A close up of a frog with its head out of a pond, surrounded by frogspawn.

Found a handsome prince

New British and Irish bird atlas announced for 2027 A new bird atlas for Britain and Ireland has been announced by five conservation organisations. The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), BirdWatch Ireland, the RSPB, Scottish Ornithologists' Club (SOC) and Welsh Ornithological Society (WOS) have come together to begin work on Bird Atlas 2027-31.

A new bird atlas for Britain and Ireland has been announced by five conservation organisations:

It's happening!!! #LongSnozzedFloofWatch

Dark-edged or Dotted? 🐝

Is it Bombylius major or Bombylius discolor? Learn how to tell them apart by wing patterns, habitat & behaviour 🌍 🧪

Join our #entoLEARN webinar on 25 Mar 2026:

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1976745510...

@uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @tonymadgwick.bsky.social

A Brimstone butterfly sat on a nettle leaf against a background of dried leaves. The butterfly is a lovely pale yellow colour.

A rare spring sighting of a stationary male Brimstone. Lots more skittering around the woods today.

A photo of a Bee-fly, Bombylius major, resting on a dry piece of grass on a busy background. The fly has a brown, fluffy body, a long proboscis and black patches across the front of the wings.

First Long-snozzed Floof of the year! (should I start a petition to make this the official common name?)

I find it entirely baffling that anyone would think that not capitalising species names is a sensible course of action.

A brown shieldbug sat on a brick wall

First shieldbug of the year! It's not a green shieldbug but it is a Green Shieldbug!

A reddish fly sitting on a daffodil leaf. The legs are heavily bristled.

A map of Bedfordshire with red squares showing the known distribution of Norellia spinipes in the county.

First Norellia spinipes of the year on the garden daffs today. Funky little dung-flies that munch leafs instead of dung (well the larvae do anyway). Probably on some daffodils near you, and much more widespread in Bedfordshire than this map suggests. No photo today, so here's one from a while ago.

iRecord is really important as a repository for UK wildlife/nature records, including casual records, surveys and trapping, and non-native species. This is well worth doing 👇

Pretty easy to do with a bit of qgis and the umap tool, happy to show you

A screenshot of a pop-up on a map, showing the number of records, species, most recent record and list of taxa for a 1km square

oo, data-y goodness

Fun times on a Friday night playing with interactive maps... umap.openstreetmap.fr/en/map/bedfo...

Sesiidae, the "Clearwing Moth" family, might be one of my favorite lep families

I've only seen 5 species so far, but they've all been BEAUTIFUL👏

1 Euryphrissa sp, Colombia
2 Synanthedon scitula, Oklahoma
3 Synanthedon chrysidipennis, Montana
4 Vitacea scepsiformis, Oklahoma