Indeed a shame...plenty of Tansy by the River there but...the insects know best. #WonderofNature

... including a lovely bunch of photos taken by eight-year old granddaughter Eleanor

Blog of our recent short break, revisiting my Yorkshire roots...
www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/back-to-my-y...

New podcast by Professor Jules Pretty - launching soon!

🤣

Even better than syrphids. In my humble opinion!

haha it's a lovely noise but yes, it also sounds like being sick!

Out by bus to Stanway today, M&S food shopping. The retail park hedges, especially Wayfaring Tree, were blooming furiously and attracting our first Rose Chafer of the summer, plus Gooden's Nomad-bee and Chocolate Mining-bee!

Customer of mine on a wildlife tour always said 'Greenfinch being sick', so my experience is already sullied..

Thank you, Chris! It’s possibly the closest a man can get to giving birth himself. :-).

A feeling I know well...my field guide to British & Irish Wild Flowers had a very protracted gestation, and several false starts, but it was worth it in the end! Enjoy the feeling!

And its a lovely book Ciaran; thanks, my copy just arrived!

Doctor who claimed Covid jab probably caused royal cancers standing for Reform Last year, at the Reform annual conference, Professor Angus Dalgleish was cited as saying it was "highly likely" that the Covid vaccines had been "a significant factor in the cancer of members of the ...

Another conspiracy theorist loon standing for Reform. It's rapidly turning into the political equivalent of the Flat Earth Society.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...

A Bug spectacular in the sun around the ruins of St Botolph Priory in Colchester: Rhyparochromus vulgaris and Forget-me-not Shieldbug, both scuttling unobtrusively in large numbers through leaf-litter, and the much showier Firebugs, the new kids on the block.

For us it was! A lovely discovery by the docks, equally remarkable in their own way

Our monthly trips by public transport over the past three years have taken us to two: Gloucester (twice) and Hereford. These blogs may give you some ideas.
www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/three-days-b...

www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/way-out-west...

Bicornis methinks, as not as black upfront as cornuta...

New blog of a walk through time in east Colchester, where ancient meets modern, and history meets natural history.
www.chrisgibsonwildlife.co.uk/a-potter-thr...
#NatureWriting

Cheers Chris good to know you are seeing some. I haven’t spotted a single one and this late into the year is a bit strange

Yes, a sprinkling in Beth Chatto Gardens over the past 3 weeks, mostly very dark individuals.

Delighted to see these little beauties back in the garden. Holly Blue butterfly, a real sign of Spring.

A bagworm moth yesterday in Colchester Meanwhile Garden. The case is clearly triangular, and larger than Luffia. Dahlica triquetrella?

Aye. Easy to say the word "emergency". Far harder to change the societal view that nature is of no consequence in "real" life.

Yep, par for the course. Here in Wivenhoe, the Town Council declared an emergency. Then promptly wants to fell the much loved Old George Oak. First they claim it is causing subsidence, then that it is dying from Acute Oak Decline. Neither claim is supported by open, verifiable evidence.

And it would not even have seen leafburst '25 if the 'powers that be' (Aviva, with their useful, compliant stooges Wivenhoe Town Council) had their way. Let this summer be the one where the primacy of facts, science and shared evidence come to the fore.

A photo from one of our supporters @chrismothman.bsky.social showing how close we are to seeing the first leaves of spring fully unfurled. What an exciting thought!

There's a party that cares about people *and* about the planet.

And it can win in 30 days time.

This is your moment to join the Green Party.

Join.greenparty.org.uk

The US military has 22 sites in the UK.

Every day long range US bombers are taking off here to drop bombs on Iran.

This is a rogue state carrying out war crimes, and threatening more.

The UK Government must grow a spine - and stop our bases being used for this war.

The UK must immediately and unequivocally suspend support for the US military.

The Government have tried to appease him, then they tried to say they're standing up to him.

Words aren't enough - it's time for action.

Save Wivenhoe's Old King George Oak tree I am a local resident and a mother whose family regularly uses the playground that these trees provide shade to. I am professionally an Architect and sustainability and climate change specialist.

In the meantime we continue to fundraise towards our £20,000 stretch target on Crowdjustice www.crowdjustice.com/case/save-wi... we need just under £2,700 to hit this next goal. Can you help us? Every little bit very appreciated