"No new sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) have been designated by Natural England since 2023. SSSIs are nationally or internationally important places for rare wildlife and habitats. Without the designation, endangered species can be at risk of being lost to development."
The best spring flower display at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend for some years with early and later spring species now overlapping, and amongst them I spotted a new fly Bibio reticulatus, something I would not have recorded without #BestFlyBook bit.ly/4dqQI8Z - thanks to @naturebureau.bsky.social
Nice to see my first Fly Orchids in flower today at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend, over a week earlier than last year but similar to the earlier 2020s records. A nice surprise for anyone coming on my guided walk on Sunday morning, 26 April. Details and booking at bbowt.org.uk/events.
Four wheatears recently called in on migration to enjoy the chalk scrapes at the Dancersend Extension, just below the highest point in the Chilterns.
It was great to see them perched on information boards (which tell visitors to look out for migrants!) and fences nearby.
📸 @mickdjones.bsky.social
She was granted withholding of removal from India *decades* ago, and had been living and working legally (including for the U.S. government!) ever since.
But with third country removals now a real option, TSA shared her data with ICE and they arrested her at the airport on her way to a job.
“We allow at least 100,000 trawlers to scrape the ocean floor, w/out even knowing what they are catching. It is important that governments… exclude bottom trawling from large swathes of the ocean, particularly from so-called marine protected areas.”
Sign: action.greenpeace.org.uk/ban-destruct...
@bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend is looking superb and will be even better for my first guided walk of the season on Sunday 26 April. For details/booking go to www.bbowt.org.uk/events. More on 'Wildlife specialities & secrets' on 24 May and 'Creating space for rare chalk species' on 28 June. Join me!!
A linnet perched on a branch. Text: Volunteer trustees, closing date: Thursday 30 April
📣 We are looking trustees to join our Board!
👉 Find out more about the role and apply here: buff.ly/GscSGbf
Wouldn't it be cool to invest trillions of dollars into a technology that would actually make society better?
Maybe we can call it “HI” — Human Intelligence.
Instead of “data centers”, we could fund “schools”.
Instead of *stealing* art, literature, and science, we help people *create* it.
Crazy!
Radical with Amol Rajan on BBC R4 this morning was superb - raising some crucial questions about the reduction in reading and the effect on intelligence and democracy - a must listen. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
ABSOLUTELY EXTRAORDINARY
4TH consecutive day >30/33C in FRANCE
22 stations >30C today
APRIL RECORDS
31.5 Sabliers
30.6 Moules
30.3 Le Boulou
30.1 Montarnaud
26.5 Scilè
25.4 C. Millet
Western/Central Europe has been smashing hundreds of records,excluding Italy-like all previous months
Unbelievable heat anomaly unfolding across China — vast regions up to 16°C above normal for this time of year. The climate crisis isn’t future tense — it’s now.
Urgent action is needed. 2050 targets are too late. #ActOnClimate
#ClimateCrisis #Heatwave via @PGDynes
Wildlife spring arrived early at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend and now it's racing ahead out of control! The first Bluebells were in flower on 9 March, over 2 weeks earlier than 2024 and now it is a blue haze. These Beech trees were in leaf very early in first week of April. Please slow down a bit!
In case you are looking for ideas for bee-friendly garden flowers (including native wildflowers), the link below it to a series of short YouTube videos "Best plants for bees"
www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Enjoying my new (temporary) pet ambling around a petri dish on my desk - a Velvet Mite found in a chalk scrape at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend. A large mite, probably Trombidium holosericeum, but still only 4mm. Just gave it fresh soil from the garden and it seems happy. The joy of small things!
1992 Rio Convention on Biological Diversity identifies genetic diversity (variation within species) as one of the three core pillars of biodiversity, alongside species and ecosystems.
I think a major communication problem exists as people tend to treat species as uniform, not made up of populations
Join a new citizen science project and help us to uncover the hidden lives of Europe’s ground-nesting #bees - please share with your networks:
jeffollerton.co.uk/2026/04/02/h...
🦇🦋 Our equipment loan scheme now includes moth trap and bat detectors!
The latest Buckinghamshire Invertebrate Group annual Bulletin is available from the links at sites.google.com/site/bucksin... - lots of great articles and fantastic #insect photos. Many thanks to editor @neilmoths.bsky.social for putting it all together.
A photo of Ali and Fatima in their press vests and hats, smiling at the camera with Lebanon in the background
Two of the journalists assassinated in South Lebanon this morning by Israel were Lebanese correspondents Ali Shoeib and Fatima Ftouni.
They become the 252nd and 253rd journalists killed by Israel in the last two years.
Unprecedented.
(📸 Cradle Media)
"In some areas, First Past the Post could mean MPs getting elected on as little as 25% or 30% of the vote.
That is not sustainable for British politics, and it is time for Proportional Representation." 💯💯💯
@richardfoordld.bsky.social
NEW: This new report, from BBC, is the best takedown of the insanity of Trump you will see anywhere.
Calm, coherent and repeating only Trump’s own words. Devastating.
Brilliant work once again from Roz Atkins.
(🎥 BBC News)
Still finding fallen trees at @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend after recent high. This large multi-trunked Goat Willow is a great loss as it hosted a large colony of the tiny pin lichen Chaenotheca brachypoda and was also popular with Purple Emperors. Thankfully my other favourite willow was unharmed.
“Mohammed, five, Othman, seven, who was blind and had special needs, their mother Waad Bani Odeh, 35, and father Ali Bani Odeh, 37, were driving through their hometown of Tamoun late on Saturday when Israeli forces opened fire.”
Shot in the head and face. Executed with their parents. No words.
Bombus pratorum (Early Bumblebee) queen, on Goat Willow.
Seen @bbowt.bsky.social Dancersend Reserve today, during the conservation work-party. @mickdjones.bsky.social
So predictable. While Trump and Hegseth posture, millions around world have their lives turned upside down by their cavalier, ill-thought-through attack on Iran, whose regime clings on, and people suffer. Everyone suffers from the devastating consequences, except the immoral morons who launched it.
We are growing our team! 🌿 Join our Wildlife Trust consultancy as an Assistant Ecologist or Seasonal Ecologist and help deliver exceptional projects where every pound of profit goes straight back into protecting and restoring wildlife. Apply now: www.bbowt.org.uk/jobs
Wow, this is an important paper. We had some evidence early on from @ukbms.bsky.social sites but rarely had good data in grazing regimes. But @tombrereton.bsky.social always said that extensive cattle was the best for butterflies and this add yet more evidence
Brexit cut Britain off from its biggest market, and the damage is baked into the economy. Businesses face barriers that did not exist before, and investment has taken a hit. The UK should enter the Single Market and restore frictionless trade.
Europe is the largest single market in the world, and it was an act of self-sabotage to leave the EU. Joining the single market would facilitate easier trade between the UK and the EU, and would remove the red tape that many British businesses are struggling with now.
