Andy Musgrove

An outrageous total of 225 moths of 11 species trapped last night in my E Norfolk garden. I usually treat this first weekend in March as the first trap outing of the year, and it usually produces just a handful of moths. Highlight was 3 Small Brindled Beauties, my first since 2001 and new for garden

Duff Vol 4 gives May-October as the period when they're active. My records are from Burnham Overy in June and from Elmley in September. Well worth keeping an eye out for when you're in a saltmarsh.

Certainly Dorytomus, and you may well be right, but it's a tough genus!

Chiffchaff in the garden here in E Norfolk, my earliest returning bird by 5 days

Btw, this info is all down to the @btobirds.bsky.social Atlas projects and the volunteers who collected the data. The new Atlas is starting next year, 2027-2031, and it's well worth taking part to give us updates on the incredible level of information we have in the maps below. #ukbirding

📢 Job Alert: Monitoring officer

I am looking for an experienced ornithological fieldworker to join the team this spring to lead on the monitoring of Black tailed godwits at WWT Welney.

Closing date: 6 March 2026

Apply ➡️

vacancies.wwt.org.uk/vacancies/77...

All the best naturalists went to Bristol - congrats!

Careers | Wheatfen Nature Reserve | Broads National Park Discover careers and job opportunities working in the great outdoors at Wheatfen Nature Reserve.

Wheatfen reserve needs a new warden! Details of the job and how to apply can be found here: wheatfen.org/about-us/car...

An all black sawfly, Dolerus anthracinus (common name Sooty Griever) sits on a white sweep net bag. A rare sawfly in Yorkshire, associated with good quality chalk grassland and found here at Frendal Dale in Millington Pastures, East Yorkshire.

2026 Sawfly season started for me today with 2 Sooty Grievers (Dolerus anthracinus) at Millington Pastures VC61. Associated with quality chalk grassland here and flies (very) early, so is it really as uncommon as 2 records in last 50 years suggests? @ynuorg.bsky.social #yorkshiresawflies #symphyta

It's ask the audience time. My current binoculars strap/harness is a nuisance - too springy and when I adjust it, it slips and needs readjusting each time I put them on. There are far too many options online though, so does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks in advance.

"Spring" reporting for duty here in east Norfolk today - Brimstone, Peacock, Early Bumble and Pied Shield-bug all at large in the garden.

Maybe I'll have to finally make a pilgrimage...

Many thanks Rich, I'll take a look.

I've just released V2.2.0 of g21u. It includes some issue fixes - mostly requested by @andymus.bsky.social - and a couple of enhancements I needed (described in the documentation if you are interested).

Within BUBO, go to My Lists, Combine Lists. You should be able to do it from there. (You can't within PSL because we hide the bird-only lists there, to avoid confusion regarding international lists which PSL doesn't cater for). Let me know if any problems - it's not something I've tried for a while

Pan-species Listing (PSL) by BUBO Welcome to Pan-species Listing, online system for all species listing for any location in the UK.

This could be my new pan-listing obsession. A great site to keep track of your species lists, and compare with others.

panspecieslisting.com

Oh, considerably smaller than I was expecting

Stop press - the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker monitoring module is now freely available for all to use on BTO @btobirds.bsky.social Acoustic Pipeline app.bto.org/acoustic-pip...

I was watching the new BBC sitcom Small Prophets this evening and had to pause when, in episode 3, there appears to be a lot of Aponogeton distachyos, Cape-pondweed, in the canal!

#TVBotany

@bsbibotany.bsky.social

Great stuff. Personally, I do very much appreciate there's frequently a Chaffinch singing in his garden. Nice attention to detail.

Oh hey, it's my book! Due out next week!!

We're trialling something new this year at the BSBI - an activity designed to support absolute beginner botanists with identifying *and* recording their first ever 100 plants in 2026 🌿

If you know anyone that might like to take part then please spread the word:

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

New Alula Designs advert for Woodpeckers

Checkout our new Woodpeckers design, available on t-shirts, tops, hoodies and mugs. aluladesigns.co.uk/s... #Birds #BirdArt #UKBirding

Always handy to find a passing botanist

Same with climate change. We kinda know what to do. Just not how to get humanity to do it.

The finest-tipped pipette I can find, at least for an affordable price. But the outside diameter of the tip is 0.8mm which is too big to fit inside a moth’s aedeagus.

Does anyone on here have a good technique for everting a moth’s aedeagus? I have had success pushing/pulling it through but that doesn’t always work. I can’t source an affordable pipette that’s fine-tipped enough (one in photo has outside diameter of 0.8mm - needs to be nearer 0.25mm). #TeamMoth

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!

Species 2,930 for my home 1 km square, an Otter by torchlight whilst emptying the dog. Have seen on the nearby Tas previously but, surprisingly, never on Shotesham Common. Hope it sticks around!

Yes very happy to help Brian. Send me your list and it'll be easy for me to load in 98% of it. We can then work on the tricky cases.