Nigel Jones

An action shot from the team's successful day land caddis hunting

Author interview with Steven J Falk: A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland Over recent decades various ‘difficult’ insect groups have gradually been brought within reach of the non-specialist thanks to developments in field guides. Flies, however, have remained something of ...

Interview with Steven Falk via @nhbs.bsky.social :
www.nhbs.com/blog/author-...

A Land Caddis larva. Britain's only terrestrial caddisfly. The larva constructs a tubular case from particles of soil & vegetation which it lives within, sticking its head & legs out of the wide end to move around. This one is about 3.5mm long, with the head & legs visible bottom left.

Three Land Caddis cases (the larvae are inside them but have pulled themselves in like tortoises retreating into their shells) on someone's hand.

Habitat shot. A clearing in mixed coniferous & broadleaved woodland. There is some snow on the ground.

Wildlife group returned to the English/Welsh border on Weds to the location of our Land Caddis (Enoicyla pusilla) discovery last Nov. Found in v. good numbers again & over a wider area. Grown too: cases now around 3.5mm long (prob 3rd instar of 5). Excellent result!

Great to see this published. Congrats to Sarah.

It's been recorded many times in Shropshire by suction sampling clumps of dry grass in winter. It occurs year round.

Renfrew Christie Dies at 76; Sabotaged Racist Regime’s Nuclear Program

Holy hell, what an obituary

A cover of a new handbook for identifying flies in Britain. The Dolichopodidae family.

Excellent! It's here and available to order from RES/CABI; the eagerly anticipated volume - years in the making - British Dolichopodidae. Really looking forward to having this sat on my desk. A colossal achievement by Martin.

Except we did see one, in the first sample!

Ah. So this is why triungulins cluster atop grass stems rather than on flowerheads!

I miss them so much. Virtually never occur in my Shrewsbury garden nowadays😩

Call out to anyone with UK records of Sphaeroceridae not on NBN/iRecord. Looking at getting the best distribution possible for a new key, I realise this will be a 'best possible', but more the merrier. Please share @dipteristsforum.bsky.social @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @respublications.bsky.social

Missed that one. Drat!

Terrific news for all fans of LDFs.

Oooft!

A montage of the 14 species of pseudoscorpion that I recorded in Norfolk in 2025. All except one I found myself although one other was from a site that it had been previously recorded from so I new where to look.

A map of Norfolk with orange circles showing where I recorded a pseudoscorpion during 2025.

2025 was the year of the pseudoscorpion as far as I'm concerned. I managed to see 14 species in Norfolk, mostly by cycling round to various churchyards but I also got a lift out to a few places by car. Over 100 churchyards visited by bicycle though. Photo montage of species, map of 2025's records.

Habitus of male Scatophila spp. 13. S. oltmannsi sp. n. [holotype]. 14. S. oltmannsi sp. n., dorsal view [holotype]. 15. S. pumilio (Loew, 1860) [Portugal, Setúbal]. 16. S. quadriguttata (Meigen, 1830) [Germany, Lower Saxony, Meetschow].

Taxonomic and faunistic comments on European Scatophila Becker (Diptera: Ephydridae), with descriptions of four new species

Free download: doi.org/10.18476/202...

#Diptera #Ephydridae #shoreflies @flygirlnhm.bsky.social @smnstuttgart.bsky.social @bioone.bsky.social

"Aren't Ravens brilliant". But it's true!

Jackdaws. Fabulous birds.

Love Dryinids. Amazing footage.

YouTube video by Ant Lab Spring-Loaded Claws on a Wasp – Parasitoid Pincer Wasps

New Ant Lab video today about pincer wasps and a new research project. This one has some really cool, newly-filmed insect behavior in it! youtu.be/9osTBzQ0zbk

#’merica

It's been a long wait but an advance copy of 'Grasshoppers' has finally arrived. It's been worth the wait with excellent printing

Very!

Ver chuffed.

Top investigative work here

#recordoftheweek #cofnodyrwythnos is Exidiopsis effusa, Hair Ice Crust fungus found and recorded at the National Botanic Garden of Wales, Carmarthenshire, by Grace Brookman 📸
Thank you for your records.
#wwbic #lercwalesapp #cofnodyrwythnos #carmarthenshirenature #fungi #winterwatch

An absolutely outstanding find.

Yes they are rather pit like.

I couldn't tackle many Chloropidae without this extremely helpful resource. It's just brilliant for helping to confirm, or not, tentative identifications.