NFBR

🦟 Freshwater Macroinvertebrates

Mayflies, stoneflies & caddisflies are key indicators of water quality — but what about the overlooked habitats they live in?

Join our FREE entoLIVE w/ Dr @hmbarber-james.bsky.social on 28 May 2026 🌍 🧪

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1914939919...

@royentsoc.bsky.social

The Red Grouse 🐦 now recognised as a true species found only in Britain & Ireland. Its russet plumage and moorland specialism tell a unique evolutionary story.

Explore Britain’s endemic vertebrates with @bsbicountries.bsky.social.

👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977170639...

@chiffchat.bsky.social

Wetlands are not only critical habitats for bird life, but they are also buzzing biodiverse havens for many other species, including insects, mammals, plants and amphibians. 

📷Common Darter dragonfly © Barry Yates

Cover of January edition of JNCC's Nature News e-newsletter

🚨Latest edition of our e‑newsletter is out now! In this issue:

🌿2026: A defining year for nature
🐝#IPBES12 comes to Manchester
🧬Genetic Diversity of Wild Species Indicator
🔍Why local & national biodiversity monitoring matters more than ever

🔗Sign-up bit.ly/JNCC-NN-SignUp

🦇Are you ready to learn how to work alongside bats in buildings? Our 'Bats and roost risk management in construction' course is for you!
- Online over two afternoons on 16 & 23 February (1:30pm - 5pm).
- Booking deadline: 15 February

More info and to book here: www.bats.org.uk/our-work/tra...

Two Black Guillemots perch on rocks. White wording on a purple background reads: Work with us! Science & Engagement Intern in Northern Ireland. www.bto.org/jobs. The BTO Northern Ireland logo is in the top right corner.

We're looking for an intern in our @bto-ni.bsky.social team to focus on Science and Engagement! Apply at www.bto.org/jobs

📆 Full time, Temporary (6 months)
📝 £25,888 per annum pro rata
📌 Deadline for applications: Sunday 15 February

Look at these lovely Oxycera soldierflies and the opportunity to learn all about them..

Volcanology refers to the study of volcanoes. Volcanoes are openings in the Earth's crust that allow molten rock, ash, and gases to escape. Volcanoes can also create rich deposits of copper, gold, silver, diamonds, and lithium, which are minerals useful in many modern technologies.

Learn eDNA and invasive species monitoring from leading European experts at the GuardIAS Summer School. Explore workflows, policy, and real monitoring applications.

Meet the trainers & register:
guardias.eu/meet-the-tra...

#GuardIAS #InvasiveAlienSpecies #IAS #InvasiveSpecies #BioInvasions

@sarahwhild.bsky.social - you are amazing! Thank you for being such a wonderful mentor 💚

Recent algal blooms on Lough Neagh have highlighted the urgent need for tools to better identify the sources and movement of #pollution across the lake and the rivers that are linked to it.

Read more about the new UKCEH-led CLEAR-Neagh project: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... 💧🧪

Can Green Roofs Function as True Ecosystems? 🌱

Can green roofs become self-sustaining habitats? Learn what 6 years of research across 10,000 m² of roofs reveals about insects, soils & design. 🌍 🧪

Join Eva Drukker for a FREE webinar on 11 Aug 2026:

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1977870244...

From Dorset to the world: wave of donations helps to secure Cerne giant’s home Support from more than 20 countries propels National Trust to its target to protect chalk figure and local wildlife

Hip, hip, hooray. The starting bell has sounded to save the Duke of Burgundy in Dorset. Giant Hill is its last decent sized site left in the county www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Pennines delight as drone survey offers hope for one of UK’s rarest birds Conservationists find dunlin chicks thriving in boggy habitat created in collaboration with landowners Deep in the Cumbrian Pennines, walkers might be lucky enough to spot small birds with spindly legs, long beaks and bodies like feathered balls hopping through the peat bogs. These are endangered dunlins – at risk in England because their favoured soggy landscapes are drained and burned for farming and grouse shooting. Continue reading...

Pennines delight as drone survey offers hope for one of UK’s rarest birds

Graphic with details of the UKEOF 2026 conference. Text overlaying a graphic depicting a woodland and a stream in shades of blue with the following elements picked out: birds (swifts) making calls and bats echo-locating, a deer detected on a camera, a salmon detected via its DNA trace in the water, the flow rate of the stream and the atmospheric concentration of nitrogen dioxide.

Interested in how #data on the UK’s natural #environment is – or could be – gathered using #sensor technologies? Join our free online conference 'Sensing the Environment: Emerging Technologies for Monitoring and Decision-Making' on 24 February: ukeof.org.uk/conference/c... #ukeof2026 #monitoring

Graphic displays an image of a Manx Shearwater in flight by Liz Cutting/BTO next to a map showing a hypothetical migration route from their UK breeding grounds to their wintering grounds off the coast of South America. Caption reads: 'Manx Shearwaters winter in the South Atlantic Ocean, predominantly off Brazil and Argentina. These birds begin returning to oceans surrounding the UK by late February, so start keeping an eye out for them 'shearing' over the sea! #seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social'

Manx Shearwaters winter in the South Atlantic Ocean, predominantly off Brazil and Argentina. These birds begin returning to oceans surrounding the UK by late February, so start keeping an eye out for them 'shearing' over the sea! #seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Gardens & Allotments 🌸

Private green spaces are vital for urban pollinators. New research shows both support high diversity, with non-native flowers filling summer nectar gaps. Join Emma Plant in our FREE webinar on 22 April. 🌍 🧪

👉 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1964456916...

@fieldstudiesc.bsky.social

Congrats to @wagnermarkus.bsky.social & co-authors on this new paper: Biological Flora on the lovely Geranium sylvaticum.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Markus, ok if I add a link to it on this webpage we've set up with links to interesting new papers?
bsbi.org/learn/resour...

Willow Tits are subordinate to Blue Tits in pecking order, and get lots of harassment, but they sometimes win a conflict. Often smaller/lighter, they're at more risk of injury. Most intense fights are at nest sites, i.e. fixed resources, but artificial feeding creates same conditions for conflict.

Budding Irish botanists :🪻🌼🌸🌾 @bsbibotany.bsky.social have a challenge for you (but a fun one!): #100Plants2026. More details at bsbi.org/take-part/ac...
@irishwildlifetrust.bsky.social @ucddublin.bsky.social @uniofgalway.bsky.social @phoebeobrien.bsky.social @birdwatchireland.bsky.social

Photo of Cameron Diekonigin, tutor for the BMS Beginners' Workshop.

At our Beginners' Workshop in June - find out more about fungi, meet other fungus enthusiasts & take part in interactive learning to improve your ID skills.🍄 Watch a talk by workshop tutor, Cameron Diekonigin: youtu.be/fIBfQaf0J2w
👉 Book your place: www.britmycolsoc.org.uk/beginners-wo...

Young man sitting in field with plant ID books, recording wild flowers in the sunshine

Can you find, identify & record 100 wild plants in 2026?
BSBI is confident that (with our support) yes, you can!
Beginner botanists, will you accept the challenge?
Sign up today for #100Plants2026 challenge:
bsbi.org/take-part/ac...
Check out the webinars & #WildFlowerID help we've prep'd for you!

Missing records - British Birds Download missing BBRC records Updated: 3 February 2025 This file contains details of all birds and/or...

The new Missing Records file is now live on the BB website, please have a look at britishbirds.co.uk/rarities-com... and consider submitting any outstanding rarities that you may have been lucky enough to discover in 2025. Thanks.

To show how widespread SGAR rat poison is in UK, we found 4 out of 5 Sparrowhawks are also dosed with it. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
You might well ask how a predator that eats birds gets dosed with rat poison? Answer: people chuck it everywhere and it's in insects, songbirds, everything.

Our perception of how dinosaurs may have looked has been (and still is) in constant flux. If you compare this early imagining of an iguanodon to the full skeleton cast in our main court you can spot many differences. We now know that there are flaws in both of these renderings.

A group of 7 people stand in front of a large green sign with a red squirrel holding a nut.

Two women stand smiling in front of a poster with the JNCC logo on it

JNCC is in #Manchester at #IPBES12 turning science into action for nature

Our experts are:

🌿Supporting Defra with formal negotiations

🌿Collaborating with Defra, @ukri.org & NatureAlpha to oversee the Parallel Programme to promote IPBES & new Business Assessment

🔬 Did you know insects carry chemical clues about where they grew and what they ate?

Discover how Stable Isotope Ratio Analysis (SIRA) can trace insect pests like the Asian Longhorn Beetle in our FREE entoLIVE with Katharina Heinrich on Tue 7 Apr 2026 🌍 🧪

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1915871496...

Ahh amazing!! I can’t wait to read it @sarahwhild.bsky.social ! Xxx

On a rainy grey February, a splendid parcel has arrived. What a relief… @pelagic.bsky.social @nfbr.bsky.social @nbntrust.bsky.social

Our team has recently been out in the field conducting Brown Hairstreak Butterfly surveys, a fascinating and elusive species!
 
Females lay tiny white eggs on young blackthorn shoots, and the caterpillars are so well camouflaged they’re almost impossible to spot.