Purple Orchid amongst long grassy vegetation.

Several Early Purple Orchids (Orchis mascula) along the hedgerows around Chittlehampton today. #DevonFlora #UKOrchids

Plastic grass, next to real grass with wild flowers growing in it

The stark contrast between plastic grass and real grass. One is devoid of life and shedding microplastics. The other is colourfully boosting biodiversity.
More: www.littlegreenspace.org.uk/features/gra...

In honour of #EarthDay, why not make your garden more nature-friendly?

Plant pollinator-friendly flowers, start a compost bin, or build a bug hotel.

Feeling ambitious? Create a mini pond with our Just Add Water guide: https://ow.ly/Sq4G50YKmI3

More tips: https://ow.ly/vnmr50YKmI2

A snail puts up a bubble wall to defend itself from Glow-worm larvae, but the paralysis from the toxin is already beginning to take effect - more is delivered in another bit for good measure.

145 Glow-worm larvae have completed their second winter and are due to pupate in the next couple of months

A Curlew walks on grassy ground, showing a yellow leg flag and orange ring on its leg. Wording below reads: Please report sightings of Curlew with yellow leg flags. Image credit reads: Rob Robinson.

1/ Spotted a yellow leg flag on a Curlew? Please share the sighting with us, as this could be one of our headstarted birds. 😀 Report via bit.ly/ReportACurlew #Ornithology #WorldCurlewDay

Wow! 🥰

It's a long time since I've got footage like this. Brief appearance by one I've been trying to help since late Jan too. Be kind.
#FoxOfTheDay

A provisional Checklist of Barkflies (Psocoptera) for Cheshire & Lancashire - North West Invertebrates Psococerastis gibbosa – (c) David Williams Summary  This document presents a provisional checklist of barkflies (Psocoptera) recorded in Cheshire and Lancashire (VC58,59,60). It is the first checklist...

📣New regional checklist released!

A provisional checklist of Barkflies (Psocoptera) for Cheshire & Lancashire by Keith Fowler is now available. This is the first checklist for this under-recorded group in the region.

👉 Download it here: www.northwestinvertebrates.org.uk/document/a-p...

Shiny red and black beetle on short turf.

Lots of Poplar Beetles (Chrysomela populi) on Braunton Burrows yesterday. #DevonWildlife #UKBeetles

The first beetle I found in my new garden and it’s a dazzler! Lesser Clover Leaf Weevil, Hypera nigrirostris.

#Beetle #Coleoptera #Weevil

Already starting to see Leptopterna dolabrata nymphs! 😳 #Miridae #Heteroptera

I was in an ancient woodland yesterday (White Posts Wood, Essex, TQ5682) when I found the Hazel Leaf-roller Apoderus coryli and Dendroxena quadrimaculata. Nice beetles I haven't seen in ages.

It's not that rubbish! 😆

They're Vapourer moth (Orgyia antiqua) eggs I believe. The females are wingless, so often lay their eggs on their cocoons. You can just see the hairs on it behind them.

It was good to find the Turtle Bug (Podops inuncta), from grass tussocks, during yesterday's mooch in SE Shropshire #Heteroptera #Shieldbug #Pentatomidae

Interesting, thanks! I'll try to find out more. And yes, quite agree!!

First Great Green Bush-cricket Tettigonia viridissima nymphs out at the weekend, Lower Sharpham, near Totnes, Devon

Tapped this Noctuidae (I think!) larva out of ivy yesterday in SE Shropshire. Presumably they're parasitic eggs, but wasps tend to lay their eggs inside the host I believe... so maybe Tachinid?? I'm just curious! Thanks! (No, I didn't keep it!) #Lepidoptera #Parasitised #Shropshire

Historical illustration showing four detailed, colored drawings of cockroach-like insects, numbered 38, 38A, 39, and 40. Each insect is depicted with elongated bodies, long antennae, and spindly legs. One insect (38) has green-tinted wings spread open, revealing fine veining, while others display various wing positions and body angles. The drawing emphasizes anatomical accuracy, showing segmented body parts, jointed limbs with fine hairs, and distinct head shapes. The background is plain, with the insect figures arranged loosely across the page, reflecting early 19th-century entomological study techniques.

🪳 Natuurlijke en naar het leven nauwkeurige gekleurde afbeeldingen en beschrijvingen der spoken, wandelende bladen, zabelspringhanen, krekels, trekspringhanen en kakkerlakken: Amsterdam: J.C. Sepp, 1813.

[Source]

First damselfly of the year for me today - a Large Red, newly emerged from my pond.

Intwood church on a lovely sunny day with blue sky and fluffy white clouds behind the tall, round flint tower. Two bicycles are leaning against the flint porch.

Ephippiochthonius tetrachelatus: a pale yellowish coloured pseudoscorpion sitting on a whitish piece of render. It has pale pinkish claws with a characteristic 'dimple' on the top of the claw hand.

Chthonius ischnocheles: a rather dark, shiny brown pseudoscorpion sitting on a piece of reddish brick facing right. Its claws and jaws are reddish.

Roncus lubricus: a slender pseudoscorpion with brown abdomen and shiny reddish head and claws facing right on a pale, whitish stone. The pseudoscorpions pedipalps are very long and are held wide open in front of the animal as it runs along.

Pseudoscorpions are starting to be easier to find now the weather's warming up. I carried on surveying churchyards all through winter & kept drawing blanks. Re-visits in April have proved very successful with several 'blank' churchyards now having records. Even got another East Norfolk Roncus!

The noisy chaos that is Marsh Frogs this time of year!

Males calling, wresting and a pair in amplexus, all filmed in the 5 minutes that I had the hide at Rainham to myself!

#pondlife #ukwildlife #wildlife

My first longhorn beetle of the year, Grammoptera ruficornis (Cerambycidae) in Shropshire yesterday #Cerambycidae #LonghornBeetle #Shropshire

Tau Emperor

Three humped prominent

Birch mocha

Red headed chestnut

An good night in the Parc naturel régional du Perche iver 50 species, some real crackers including this Tau Emperor #teammoth

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

Adorable leveret on my local road this morning, I really hope it stays off the road as traffic is so hazardous for these beatiful little creatures.

Oeufs de Coreidae ?

Thank you!!

A pair of flies smashing their heads together with front legs clasped. The have black on the abdomen, brown on the thorax, and bright red eyes, They are fighting on the top of a mushroom.

The fight continues with the challengers evenly balanced. A pair of flies smashing their heads together with front legs clasped. The have black on the abdomen, brown on the thorax, and bright red eyes, They are fighting on the top of a mushroom.

The fight continues with the fly on the right seeming to gain an upper hand and pushing the fly on the left backwards. The fly on the right is putting all his might into the battle, back legs in the air. A pair of flies smashing their heads together with front legs clasped. The have black on the abdomen, brown on the thorax, and bright red eyes, They are fighting on the top of a mushroom.

The fly on the right emerges victorious with the fly on the left exiting toward the back of the scene. A pair of flies smashing their heads together with front legs clasped. The have black on the abdomen, brown on the thorax, and bright red eyes, They are fighting on the top of a mushroom.

We noticed these fruit flies are behaving like tiny big horn sheep of fly world so we went back today to see if I could get some photos of the action. Here you have it, a play in 4 acts! Make me wonder if they evolved the elongated eyes for this purpose.
Zygothrica sp.
Intag Refugio, Ecuador

The endemic Viola palmensis on a rocky bank amongst a tangle of scrub high up near the top of the massive caldera. We looked in one spot for it but there was no sign, then saw this from the car as we drove by.

Still going through pics from La Palma now 6+ weeks ago. The endemic Viola palmensis on the north side of the caldera near Roques de los Muchachos, the highest point on the island at c2400m, on 2 Mar was one of the best plants of the trip and definitely at its best. #wildflowers #lapalma #botany