Andrew Douglas

Or the former.

Can't decide if this is Tenuiphantes cristatus or flavipes. Leaning towards the latter?

One for @frenchmegaliths.bsky.social , @drtobydriver.bsky.social or anyone else keen on #megaliths, #menhirs or ancient architecture. The Kercado dolmen or cairn in Brittany. Middle to late #Neolithic.
I used the LIDAR on my iPhone to try to scan the structure. Reasonably successful for a 1st go!

A bottle and glass of Pineau backlit by the sun over vineyards.

Drinking Pineau looking over the terroir where the grapes grow!

#Pineau is not well known drink. A wine that is ‘killed’ early in the fermentation by the addition of #Cognac.
#wine
#France

I've never tried it, but I know of it because it was often in recipes in the Floyd on France book. It was one of those things that wasn't easy to get back then. I should have another look for some - you can probably get it on Amazon now.

Thanks - nice photo. Those eyes are very distinctive, as well as the body shape and angle.

Thanks - I didn't realise I'd taken it - it'll be recorded by others too though. I took a look at some online photos and the eyes and head seem fairly distinctive too. Will remember that.

@britishspiders.bsky.social Would this be an immature Theridiosoma gemmosum? I'm staying clear of the immatures really, but I seem to recall being shown this by Ty, the shape seems rights and the huge immature palps.

A white lid ~50mm diameter contains some of the invertebrates collected in a baited pitfall trap in France.

Any #diptera people interested in a couple of #flies from France? These turned up in my pitfall samples from #leaflitter, along with some other inverts.

Also at least four spp. of #ants (which is what I was looking for).

@dipteristsforum.bsky.social @teamdiptera.bsky.social

Yes - I seem to have a few from different bits of Wicken Fen. I have vague recollections of collecting in 2002, from the garden of the house we rented in Cambridge, but those specimens fell down the back of the seats of my Ford Focus, which subsequently blew up, so I can't check.

Wacky unicornis - two from Sundays efforts in the Wicken fens. I can't spell Walckenaeria. Or can I?

Ero cambridgei - a new one to me and the last of the pirate spiders ticked off. New hand gel has arrived - it's so thick, I use just a dab to hold the palp in place and then cover in the glycerin/IMS - it isn't entirely invisible but better than vaseline. Some playing to be done. I have 6 bottles!

Exactly 110 years until a Total Solar Eclipse over Newcastle upon Tyne. 🔭 🧪

Thanks.

A striking red spider with a round body perches on a dried leaf. The body has patterning that makes the spider similar in appearance to a strawberry!

We're big fans of spiders over here. This gorgeous red one is the species Araneus alsine, commonly known as the Strawberry Spider. Any guesses why? 👀🍓

📷 ldchambers on iNaturalist
📍 United Kingdom
🔗: www.inaturalist.org/observations...
#ObservationOfTheDay

Another from Wicken - these appear to have the same epigyne, but I think maybe they aren't yet mature females. I'm sure @tylanberry.bsky.social told me what they were but I can't recall. I'm wondering @britishspiders.bsky.social do the Tm ratios and spines work for immature linnys?

A better photo of the C.subtilis palp and a habitus photo.

Someone found an adult male, but it wasn't that much, to be honest - I'm not sure I could really see the 'horn' bit. I'd like to see W.acuminata - I think it's common, but I just haven't seen it. I think this year I'll have to sieve more leaf litter.

It was great to be there, and thank you again to everyone who organised it. I've come away with lots of things that should help me I think, even if I didn't come away with loads of things to look at.

Oh, and Diplostyla concolor too.

So far, there's Piratula hygrophila, two W.unicornis, two Ero cambridgei, a couple of Tenuiphantes and two others I haven't worked out yet so will wait til I can photograph them properly.

Clubiona subtilis palp. Yes, it's a funny angle but my home made gel isn't working so I've ordered some new (recommended) stuff. Had a fabulous time on the @britishspiders.bsky.social field weekend, but most of what I bought home is immature, so i'm not going to provide much to the list.

A view from above of a tiny arachnid. It has long arms at the front ending in crab like claws. The abdomen is segmented with the red-brown plates separated by lighter lines. The lighting is set to highlight the tiny hairs that cover its body, which allow it to sense what is happening around it.

My luck was back this PM. Managed to find 2, with the same characteristics. Side light and flash showed up the hairs. I think you're right (unsurprisingly!), clubbed setae, and trichobothria on the abdomen and 4th tarsus, so pselaphochernes scorpioides. Do you concur? I have other 📷 if needed.

A quick video of an Argyroneta aquatica replenishing it's oxygen from its underwater web. @britishspiders.bsky.social

A Marbled Orb-weaver spider with a yellowy-orange body and lovely marbled pattern, sheltering in the sheath of an old Angelica plant.

A female fly with a grey thorax and orange body, resting on a nettle.

A Fly Agaric, a fungus with a red cap covered in white flecks. It is growing out of a bank with dead grasses and some green moss.

Saturday October 18th 2025, 10am – 4pm

Join us for a days wildlife recording at Sweet Briar Marshes NWT as part of our current research project.

Parking: at Marlpit Centre or Hellesdon Road adjacent; we will then access the reserve via a short walk across the Wensum at the iron bridge.

I bought the tubes months and months ago. Fortunately the one I use is still in my pocket - but they fill up with spit so easily.

My debut album will be called New Tubes and Pooters. Except I've bought the wrong sized tubes and they don't fit together tightly enough 😠

Dame Patricia Routledge. I still watch Hetty Wainthropp if I see it on, and my favourite clips of the five Kitty sketches for Victoria Wood. I hope they do a retrospective, but they don't seem to do that anymore. Here's a clip from Wogan that I've always liked. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReSl...

RIP Patricia Routledge
Took my A Level class to see her performing in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads in 1992. They loved her. I loved her.
Incredible stage presence.

What with storm Amy coming I thought I better get the tripod ladder out and pick some pears. Still loads on the tree but all tiny fruit this year. One beautiful large Comice just out of reach, naturally. Need to preserve as one’s I picked a week ago already going soft.