Martin Gammell

Phengaris teleius (Scarce Large Blue) in a French meadow. One of the 17 species in the European Grassland Butterfly Index. Photo: Martin Warren)

The latest European Grassland Butterfly Indicator is out. It shows that grassland butterflies have declined by 47% since 1991, indicating a huge loss of grassland biodiversity. The data come from 16,150 transects & 15,000 volunteers. We are calling for urgent action. www.bc-europe.eu/documents/69...

Scarce Swallowtail, Iphiclides podalrius

Field margin full of wildflowers

Crucial new meta-analysis of pollinator requirements in agricultural landscapes shows that butterflies need a min of 37% of semi-natural habitat, whereas bees need 16-18% and hoverflies 6%. Where this is not possible greatly increasing habitat quality can help. natuurkennis.nl/wp-content/u...

Book cover for Reproducible Code guide. The cover has a red background with a large yellow-bodied black-headed stag beetle.

Excited to launch the new improved Reproducible Code guide from @britishecologicalsociety.org @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social FREE online here! www.britishecologicalsociety.org//wp-content/... Amazing work by some very talented ECRs. We hope it’s useful!

If you work on corvid ecology, behaviour, cognition, or conservation, this might be useful for you 👇
I’ve just published CORVIDATA in Scientific Data 🐦
doi.org/10.1038/s415... (1/4)

[3/3] 3) free butterfly taxonomy course: The Pollinator Academy has launched a free, online butterfly identification course. With flexible lessons taking just 10–30 minutes, you can master European butterfly characteristics at your own pace 🦋 pollinatoracademy.eu/training/eu-... #PollinatorAcademy

Volume 41 – Gammell and O’Brien report the First record of the Thrift Clearwing moth (Pyropteron muscaeformis) from Co. Galway. For subscription details visit: irishnaturalistsjournal.org

#IrishNaturalistsJournal #Zoology #Moths

Effect of bulb type on moth trap catch and composition in UK gardens We analyse 10 years of records Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to estimate the effect of bulb and trap type on the number of moths caught by moth traps. We find that brighter, higher wattage bulbs collect ...

Interested in moth trapping?

Wondering which trap to use? Or if different bulbs collect different species?

Using 100k samples from @gardenmothscheme.bsky.social our new paper looks at these questions and more! With with Bill Kunin and @katatrepsis.bsky.social

#mothsmatter #teammoth

Get ready for the Irish Garden Bird Survey, which kicks off on Monday 1st December! We need records from as many gardens across Ireland as possible, so please spread the word! birdwatchireland.ie/irish-garden...

Title slide with text: A guide to writing good code for the busy scientist Black text over stripey pale brown-green background

If you missed my talk but still want some tips for writing good code for scientists, my slides are here:

daxkellie.quarto.pub/a-guide-to-w...

All the links and references are there too in case you want to see more! 😀🧪🌏

#ESA2025 #rstats #quartopub

A ‘national embarrassment’: Ireland in breach of multiple water quality rules, court finds European Court of Justice ruling raises questions about Government’s system of water charges

A ‘national embarrassment’: Ireland in breach of multiple water quality rules. European Court of Justice finds the State not doing enough to prevent pollution of water sources.

www.irishtimes.com/politics/202...

A great resource made more accessible by @britentsoc.bsky.social - thanks

Looking for enthusiastic candidates with training in behavioural ecology and experience in bird fieldwork. MSc also required!

Opinion: We should aim to be the first generation to experience more nature, not less Our relationship with nature is broken but fixing it could be the key to happier, healthier lives, writes Dr Ola Løkken Nordrum.

In Ireland, we have a choice: to allow the loss of nature to continue, or to ensure that future generations witness a resurgence of the natural world. 🌱

My piece in the Journal this morning.

Opinion: We are lecturers in Trinity College Dublin. It is our responsibility to resist AI Even if all the known issues were magically resolved, we would still not want our students to use GenAI

This hits all the points. GenAI chatbots are text prediction machines that produce incorrect info, the technology is a disaster in terms of the amount of energy resources it needs, and it prevents students from learning to research, write & think for themselves.

www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025...

A close up view of a Dusky Large Blue butterfly, perched on the compact purple flowerhead of Great Burnet, its larval foodplant. The butterfly is facing to the left with its head pointing downwards. It is showing its underwings, which are a light brown colour with a single curved row of black spots.

Another Dusky Large Blue butterfly, also perched on a Great Burnet flowerhead. This butterfly is facing to the right and is showing its underwings.

A more distant view of two Dusky Large Blue butterflies in a wet grassland habitat. Both butterflies are perched on different Great Burnet flowerheads, close to each other, and both are facing to the right and showing their underwings.

Just back from a holiday in the Picos de Europa, Northern Spain. We were there last year as well, and one of the butterflies that we looked for then, but didn't find, was the Dusky Large Blue (Phengaris nausithous). Very happy that we found it this year!

Gatekeeper butterfly basking on a green leaf

New research by the University of Oxford and Butterfly Conservation has shown hedgerows, small copses & trees can significantly increase the number of butterflies in farmed landscapes 🌳

The study also found that ancient trees were associated with higher butterfly species richness.

📷: Andrew Cooper

A new study, harnessing a decade of work by citizen scientists, reveals the importance of farmland hedgerows, small woodlands and ancient trees for wider countryside butterflies.

🦋 More diverse landscapes lead to richer butterfly communities.

Learn more 👉 bit.ly/3U5wU3C

@biology.ox.ac.uk

Small Heath?

A group of students on a small lane on a sunny day, surveying the raised banks to the side of the lane for insects. There is a mainly blue sky overhead, with a few white clouds lower in the sky.

Students from the MSc in Conservation Behaviour Class at ATU Galway were on Inis Mór this week for their Residential Field Course. We covered a lot in a few days, including butterfly surveys, moth surveys, cetacean watches and bat surveys. A great week! @atu-ie.bsky.social

Take 30 seconds of watery bliss to ease yourself into the weekend- sound on.

#RestoreNature

Welcome to the Irish Naturalists Journal - we are now active on Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram. Follow our channels for the latest news and journal information.

A small Dingy Skipper butterfly, with its wings fully open, resting on the head of a thistle. The head of the thistle is a creamy/light yellow colour. The butterfly's wings are brown with broad off-white bands on the forewings and some off-white spots on the hindwings. There are brighter white dots running in a line close to the edges of the forewings and hindwings.

First Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) of the year for me, at Gortnandarragh Limestone pavement, west Galway (05 May 2025).

Two books on a table. An atlas of butterflies in Ireland and Handbook for the Irish vegetation classification

Two great publications launched today by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. Irish butterfly populations have decreased on average by 50% (over 80% for some species, and with some huge reductions in distribution for many). Hard facts but data is what we need to battle the #biodiversity crisis.

Black Hairstreak caterpillar resting on a branch at night, glowing under UV light

Black Hairstreak caterpillar resting on a branch at night under normal torch light

Have you ever seen a caterpillar glow in the dark? 🐛🔦

Butterfly Conservation is working with @bbowt.bsky.social to train volunteers in the technique of using UV light to survey for butterflies and moths.

📷: Black Hairstreak - Geoff Sutton
#SaveButterflies #MothsMatter

Join our Team — Hometree

🌿 We're hiring!
Hometree is looking for a Seasonal Field Ecologist to help restore native habitats across the wild west of Ireland. If you've got field experience and a passion for biodiversity, come get your boots muddy with us: www.hometree.ie/joinourteam

#EcologyJobs #Hometree

We did mention we had news?
We've just acquired all of the Sheanadh Gharráin woods east of the Bhoth Loiscthe River in the Connemara Gaeltacht.
35 acres of rainforest awesomeness are now protected, plus 47 acres of space for them to stretch into !

Deadline for applications is 18th April 2025 www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

The NPWS Grants for Small Recording Projects aim to support volunteer naturalists and recording groups in Ireland. The 2025 call is now open for applications! www.npws.ie/news/npws-gr... @npwsireland.bsky.social

THANK YOU to all who have voted for me in the People's Book Prize! Especially those who have left comments.If you haven't voted I would LOVE you to. More votes = more recognition for a small book about climate/biodiversity = more readers and more wildlife gardens peoplesbookprize.com/2024-cat/non...

Between 2014 & 2016, I studied the Chequered Skipper in Scotland. One memorable encounter was watching a larva spin silk between the edges of a leaf. As silk dries, it contracts, and this pulled the leaf edges together to create a protective tube. Amazing! More at www.dispar.org/reference.ph...