Just a cheeky nudge for this request to help me get some Lloydia (Gagea) love next month, thanks in advance!

Two of Ingleborough’s finest flowers from today: Bird’s-eye Primrose Primula farinosa just coming into flower and a very early flowering Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica. Both on Sulber Pasture with Ingleborough brooding in the background.

For any @panspecieslisting.bsky.social folk using the M25 to the north of London, these are an easy and fun addition for your lists

Striped Shieldbug on goosegrass leaf

Striped Shieldbug on Hedge Parsley leaves

Four Striped Shieldbugs on mixed green vegetation.

Lush stream side vegetation with houses, shops and leisure centre in background.

Counted 34 Striped Shieldbugs (Graphosoma italicum) on stream side vegetation at Ninefields, Waltham Abbey today, 17th April 2026. TL 3978 0050. Dull and cloudy but warm enough to entice them out, great to see they have overwintered in good numbers. #EssexWildlife #UKBugs

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.

This thread also rings very true for anyone who's been involved in the world of UK biodiversity data.

1/ The latest 2024/25 Waterbirds in the UK report has just been published and can be viewed online www.bto.org/wituk 🎉

Physical copies will be reaching your doorsteps very soon! 🗞️

To view the updated numbers and trends, visit www.bto.org/webs-reporting

#Ornithology #CitSci

(PDF) An illustrated key to the Cheilosia Meigen, 1822 (Diptera, Syrphidae) of Europe PDF | An identification key to the species of the hover fly genus Cheilosia (Diptera, Syrphidae) occurring in Europe is presented. This is the second... | Find, read and cite all the research you need...

Thanks to Sander Bot for sharing a new (and very well-illustrated) key to Cheilosia hoverflies in Europe - looking forward to trying it out www.researchgate.net/publication/... #flies #diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social

This is really excellent, I've been using it for a few weeks now. Great job, everyone involved

A moth-fly (Psychodidae), with a black head surrounded by a white 'ruff'. The wings have noticeable veins with spotting around the edge. It is on a plain white background.

An interesting find on my walk into work today in Norwich, one of the moth-flies (Psychodidae) - based on appearance only it looks like its Lepiseodina latipennis, although there is some dispute about whether it can be definitively identified without gen. det. It's associated with tree rot holes.

The life history is incredible. Besides all the mind bending trickery they employ to fool ant hosts, eat ant larvae and intercept worker ants for food, they move to different host genera from summer to winter. They are described as "psychoparasites"!

Looking forward to going for the first time in a few years. Should be a good catch-up.

Snap - a new one for me and a real cracker. Found near Ipswich this week.

White Stork along the edge of ploughed field

Both feet seen and no rings just above them nor above the 'knees'. Plumage not stained like the recent bird in Monts so either faded or a different bird

Flew and dropped to next field closer to the village where it was watched in field being ploughed. All seem to be regarded as suspected reintroduction birds or escapes these days but wild ones obviously still occur, spring is the time and this is about as good as we could expect in Shropshire. Ave it!

White Stork by A5 at Shotatton this morning, thanks to Reevesy for the refind. It moved just S of the village to fields being ploughed. No sign of rings and not the recent bird in Staffs? as primaries all present and correct. All suspect but as good as we could get these days. #shropshirebirding 🪶

Many thanks for the tip-off from @timstrudwick.bsky.social, was great to see my first White-faced Mason Bees (Osmia cornuta) today at Ranworth church. Pretty sure I spotted one elsewhere in the village too. Willow Warbler and Common Tern were also yearlies for me.

I need a bryozoan cyphonautes expert! I’m stuck on a regularly appearing cyphonautes and comparative photos on the internet are lacking. If I can ID it, I can get some photos out there! #marineplankton

The rather stunning hoverfly Chrysotoxum triarcuatum, endemic to W Canary Islands, showing the red abdomen - various British Chrysotoxum species are all yellow and black.

The longhorn bee Eucera graciliceps, is also a Canary endemic

A couple of Canary Islands endemic insects from our trip to La Palma on our way up to Roques de los Muchachos on 2 Mar. The splendid hoverfly Chrysotoxum triarcuatum and the 'slender long-horned bee' Eucera graciliceps. with @janettem34.bsky.social #diptera #lapalma

An overdue species for Shotesham too - have had in nearby countryside a few times over the years, but never here in the village. Maybe this year...?

Don’t forget to send reform leaflets back.
It costs them £2.50 a pop.

White-marked (Cerastis leucographa) A. Wallis 2026

White-marked (Cerastis leucographa)
The only Norfolk recorded in Norfolk was formerly at Hethersett in 2019 (S. Youngs, 02/05/19) Record just in at Hempstead-by-Holt (A. Wallis, 08/04/2026). #norfolkmoths #teammoth norfolkmoths.co.uk?bf=21400

Hey, have you booked yet? The 40th anniversary of NFBR. Get in there! Some great speakers (er, and me)…

A Mistle Thrush on the ground shows its brown back, greyish nape and crown and spotted breast and belly. To the left, white wording on a blue background reads: Out now! The latest population trends for breeding birds in the UK. The BBS logo featuring a Goldfinch is top right of the image.

1/ The 2025 BBS Report is out now! It was a record year for volunteers taking part, with 2,800+ visiting 4,058 survey squares across the UK, Channel Islands & Isle of Man. A huge thank you to our volunteers!

@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology

Orange-tip, Green-veined White and Holly Blue all reporting for duty in the garden today

Handy tip, thanks @kitenet.bsky.social. Was needing some inspiration...

Nature's Fieldbook Notes and photos to help identifications out in the field.

I built a thing for me and thought it might be useful for others. It's a set of guides, 20 at the moment, to help with my rubbish memory when doing ids in the field.

Everything is cached on your device so works in low signal areas.

naturesfieldbook.com

What better way is there to spend the Easter 🐣 🐣🐣 weekend than birdwatching, and hopefully finding and recording rare breeding birds to help their conservation? There’s lots to look for in April, so here’s some ideas from RBBP Secretary @markaeaton.bsky.social #ornithology #UKbirding

Last few days to apply - applications close on 7th April!

Cover of "Cup Fungi and Other Ascomycetes of Britain & Europe - an introductory guide" by Geoffrey Kibby.

A page of illustrations from "Cup Fungi and Other Ascomycetes of Britain & Europe - an introductory guide" by Geoffrey Kibby.

Look what arrived today from @summerfieldbooks.com - another exquisitely illustrated book by Geoffrey Kibby.

#MycoBookClub #Fungi #Mycology #Ascomycetes

Alt - A Yellowhammer perches on a branch with its bill open as it sings. Wording over the image reads: We're hiring. Field Ornithologist/Survey Mentor (BBS Surveys) - Northern Ireland. Field Ornithologists (EFS Surveys) - Northern Ireland. Field Surveyors (LandSpAES Project) - England. The logo for the Northern Ireland Environment Agency and BTO feature at the bottom of the image.

URGENT! ⏰

BTO is looking for one or more part-time bird surveyors able to work in east Fermanagh (Northern Ireland) between mid-April and mid-July.

Time and mileage costs will be paid. If you are interested, please contact gavin.siriwardena@bto.org by Thursday 9 April for further details.