Overhead view of a hoverfly resting with wings open on a sunlit leaf. This small, black hoverfly has 3 pairs of yellow triangular markings on its abdomen.

I was delighted to find a Meligramma trianguliferum (Triangle-spotted Roundtail) along the River Tone in Taunton today, only my second ever sighting of this fairly scarce hoverfly. Fortunately, it tends to rest with wings spread, greatly aiding ease of identification.
#bugsky
#hoverflies

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

Programme for #NFBRConference2026 looks great, with speakers inc @sarahwhild.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @kitenet.bsky.social @soilscholar.bsky.social & @earthwormuk.bsky.social.
Talk on AI & biodiversity monitoring by @simon-rolph.com should be fascinating.
Nice work @nfbr.bsky.social!

Common drone fly on flower

Silver Y moth on flower

Butterfly on flower and headline The Big British Garden Survey

Great to be partnering with National Garden Scheme on The Big British Garden Survey to reveal the wildlife thriving in our gardens 🦋🐞.

Record what you see and help build a national picture of UK #biodiversity.

Join in: ngs.org.uk/the-big-brit... 🧪 @abigaillowe.bsky.social

The Red List (Vulnerable) scavenger water beetle Hydrochus brevis still present at this heathland pond in the Vale of York, where it's been known since 1949. This species occurs widely as a subfossil in late-glacial to early medieval deposits but is now confined to a small number of ancient fens.

Even if you are not into flies you have to admit that this is a stunner! It is the hoverfly Cheilosia chrysocoma at Aqualate and it is a first for Staffordshire! I've only seen it once before - in Aberdaron. It has a western distribution.

It could well be on Green Alkanet here as well, will have to have a closer look

A close up of a section of Hazel leaf (underside) showing some glandular hairs along the central vein and some pale yellowy-green aphids.

A wider view of the underside of a Hazel leaf, with pale aphids quite visible against the slightly darker green leaf.

I spent some time checking fresh growth of Hazel for Large Hazel Aphid Corylobium avellanae, which has a preference for buds and new growth. I didn't find any, but there were plenty of Small Hazel Aphids Myzocallis coryli (influentialpoints.com/Gallery/Myzo...) on the undersides of the leaves.

Would love to find geographicus one day! (No Viper's Bugloss near here 😓)

Female Criorhina floccosa. Gamlingay Wood LNR 18/4/26.

Female Criorhina floccosa. Gamlingay Wood LNR 18/4/26.

Female Criorhina floccosa. Gamlingay Wood LNR 18/4/26.

Queen Common Carder Bee (Bombus pascuorum). Gamlingay Wood LNR, 18/4/26.

A female Criorhina floccosa on Field Maple flowers in the village woods this morning.
This hoverfly is a brilliant mimic of the Common Carder Bee (last photo). Its larvae develop in damp rotting wood, and it is a local species in the UK, found mostly in old woodland.
Gamlingay Wood LNR 18/4/26.

Have to admit that she wasn't quite so excited to find a weevil on her lunch as I was ...

While #BeeFlyWatch continues, it's great to see some of the other species in the soldierflies and allies group starting to emerge: we've also had reports of the soldierflies Black-horned Gem (Microchrysa polita) and Murky-legged Black Legionnaire (Beris chalybata) 👍

A top-down view of the weevil, on a plain pale background. Its body is covered in scales, mostly dark, with several bright white patches.

Today's new species is courtesy of my wife ❤️, who found this very lovely weevil on her sandwich at lunchtime, & kindly passed it over to me: Mogulones asperifoliarum, which was likely carried in from the garden where it feeds on forget-me-nots & related plants. #beetles #weevils

Rhagium mordax

Rhagium mordax today in Bengeo garden. Longhorn beetle season commences here. #Cerambycidae #saproxylic

Amazing duelling flies 😯

Ooh our wonderful @sarahwhild.bsky.social! This will be a fantastic talk!! 💚💚💚

(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

Northern Brown Argus butterfly on a thistle and headline 50 years of butterfly monitoring data reveal specialist species disappearing across UK

Pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly on bluebells

Extraordinary dataset of 44 million+ records of UK #butterflies collected by 782,000 volunteers in the past 50 years shows many species are in long-term decline eg Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

@ukbms.bsky.social is run by @savebutterflies.bsky.social, UKCEH, @btobirds.bsky.social, and JNCC.

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A map of the county of Sussex in the south of England, showing the number of different species of bryophytes recorded in each tetrad (2 by 2 kilometre square). There are a few totally unrecorded on the south-western coastal areas, in parts of mid-Sussex, and in the far east of the county. Those areas are also generally under-recorded and need more work. On the coastal areas and in the low Weald, a well-recorded tetrad may have just 40 to 50 different species, but up in the high Weald, 80 or more is more normal. Some tetrads in that area (and on the north slope of the South Downs) may have 130 or more different species

The current status of bryophyte recording in Sussex. 133 000 records. Few areas are now totally unrecorded, but there is still a fair bit of work to do.

The earliest records date from about 1700, but most are from the late 1980s onwards

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@bbsbryology.bsky.social @sussexwildlife.bsky.social

More shocking results on UK Butterfly decline. an amazing dataset covering 50 years gives us a unique insight to the fate of these invaluable indicators

The National Forum for Biological Recording has been supporting and advocating for biological recorders with a unique voice for 40 years!

We are proud to be part of the Advisory Council and can't wait to celebrate at the #NFBRConference2026. Be sure to book your place 👇

Looks very likely - I think it's a male, and male Andrena vaga is quite similar, but I don't think that has spread far from the south coast as yet

A female Orange-tip butterfly roosting on pale pink Cuckoo Flower with her wings closed, exposing the patchy green-looking camouflage markings on the underside of the white hindwing. On close inspection, the green is actually made up of a combination of yellow and black scales.

It’s amazing how the green markings on the underside of an Orange-tip’s wings are actually an optical illusion created by a mixture of yellow and black scales 🖤💛💚💛🖤 This lovely lady was roosting near my house on Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis), their caterpillar foodplant. #ukbutterflies #bugsky

Buy tickets – NFBR 40th Celebration: Data for Nature – The Signing Tree Venue NFBR 40th Celebration: Data for Nature – The Signing Tree Venue, Thu 7 May 2026 - Fri 8 May 2026 - Help us celebrate 40 years of the National Forum for Biological Recording! The NFBR's conference on t...

Do you have your tickets yet? It's less than a month until our brilliant #NFBRConference2026, full of fabulous and knowledgeable speakers, ample tea and lunch! What more do you need for a fantastic few days?! We can't wait to see you there! 🔗 Book your place: bit.ly/4sZO4iz #BiologicalRecording

There's still time to join us on Thursday to explore the colourful world of soldierflies www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/soldierfli...

Congratulations to the wonderful @thelabandfield.bsky.social, as well as to the other 9 recipients of the Pride in Stem Decadal Awards!!! 👏👏👏 prideinstem.org/2026/04/01/t...

Several wildflowers, a grasshopper and text We are excited to be exhibiting at The Chelsea Flower Show 2026 May 19-23 2026

Illustration of UKCEH exhibit at RHS Chelsea and text description of what it shows, plus hawthorn flowers and a caterpillar

🌿 We're delighted to be exhibiting at the #RHSChelsea Flower Show this year with UKCEH Nature Decoded.

A great opportunity to show how our gardens boost biodiversity, wellbeing & climate resilience, and how simple actions like planting wildflowers or recording species can help nature thrive.

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This year the BSBI launched the 100 Plants in 2026 Challenge - a project encouraging brand new botanists and recorders to identify their first 100 plants this year and to submit the records.

bsbi.org/take-part/ac...

It's been about three months now, so how is it going?

I'm not at work today so not sure what the latest is, sorry.

I like beetles, I like them a lot. So I’ve written a book about them to indoctrinate children. dk.com/products/978...