Justin Walker

Thanks, just checking out new glasses ahead of booking my eye test at my local store. The issue affected us here at @btobirds.bsky.social too. Seems to be fixed now 🤞

Never had this problem with selecting images containing motorbikes!

Sorry @specsaversuk.bsky.social, @cloudflare.social strikes again!

Quite a few flowering Brambles in Thetford at the weekend. I'd be very happy to have more blackberries but I fear that, while pollination might not be a problem, ripening any fruit might well be.

Young Grass Snake - Natrix helvetica

A pencil thick young Grass Snake in the garden this afternoon, presumably quite active given it hit 20°C in Thetford today.

Just one Willow Warbler among 25 Chiffchaffs ringed at @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes yesterday. Sadly, now an uncommon species here outside of Thetford and King’s Forests. What are we doing to our world?

This isn’t a test! The #ClimateEmergency is already impacting the lives of millions globally and unless necessary change is immediately made the situation will threaten life on Earth.

Sorry, I didn’t mean only recorded from glasshouses. Are they recorded in significant numbers?

Yes, Nezara viridula has been recorded from glasshouses growing peppers and aubergines in the Lee Valley. I've yet to see either species.

Norfolk naturalists, please look out for nymphs and adults of the non-native Southern Green Shieldbug ~ Nezara viridula. With this being the second county record it would be useful to know more about their spread. Please add records via iRecord, or DM me. www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...

I wasn't entirely sure if these are dog toys or stress relief for their owners. Apparently, much like reality, Elon was quite unpopular.

Save Arena Essex- Tell Google to search elsewhere!   Wedged between the Mar Dyke Valley and Lakeside Retail Park, the former Arena Essex Raceway is not your usual wildlife haven. Where once stock cars and speedway bikes lined up to cross the fini...

Google plans to bulldoze a wildlife haven in Essex – home to rare species – for a data centre. Sign the petition now to help save it before it’s gone forever 🐝🦋 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...

I've looked for the mirid on lots of other patches of Rhododendron in NW Norfolk but failed. I hope you find the lacebug, it would great to confirm presence of S. rhododendri.

The exuvium looks dark which is more likely to make it S. takeyai, S.rhododendri is pale as an adult and in photos I've the nymphs are also paler. The leafhopper is a fab beast. Were you aware of the Mirid bug Tupiocoris rhododendri? I've only seen it in the Dersingham Bog top car park.

I was going to put social media out advising checks on obviously larger specimens. I’ve only had it on Green Alkanet and further up the plant than FMNSB, which are often on the ground. The black appearance and pale/white membrane are quite distinctive but rostrum length is probably safest.

I forgot to say - nice find!

Yes, absolutely; I'll get the location then although it's going to be somewhere beyond my reach. I need to invest in a suction sampler as my ground level activities are limited to pitfall trapping and grubbing around under suitable plants.

Your diddy ones will be Ochetostethus nanus found new to Britain by Steve Lane at a private site in Norfolk last year; swept from Black Medick. Another species on my wish list.

Another feature is being black, whereas S. luctuosus generally has a metallic hue; referred to as bronzy in the literature.

Sorry Rob, I've been off Bsky for a while, mostly due to hand surgery badly timed for the best part of summer. Here is S. morio from @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes last weekend; length 8.2mm, membrane pale and rostrum beyond middle coxae; from Green Alkanet. My 3rd local record.

FIT Counts: help us monitor pollinators | PoMS The UK PoMS recording season runs from 1 April to 30 September each year. Read on for how to join in, and download the guidance documents.

The good weather is back, let's celebrate with some FIT-counts! 🌞 🐝 🪲 🪰 🦋

These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect

Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts
@pomscheme.bsky.social

The effort was certainly worth it in my opinion. I'll be a while before I'll be able to do much, but that does mean I can catch up with photos and data entry, albeit somewhat slowly with one functioning hand.

Thanks Maria, I'll be catching up tomorrow. The book's really nicely done, I love the spiral size comparison including a few conspicuous species for reference.

I've used mine already, brilliant and well worth it. I got lucky yesterday and spotted a Red-flanked Ladybird running across the bench while emptying the moth trap.

Thanks Maria, I think I’ll have the Norfolk hets verification covered as I won’t be up to much else for a bit 😂 on a positive note I used your excellent micro ladybirds book yesterday.

Thanks Vanna. Handling specimens will be difficult for a while hence wanting to catchup with distinctive and photogenic species.

Thanks Tim.

In West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St. Edmunds waiting for surgery to fix my disfigured left hand. Last bird seen was a confiding male Blackbird collecting food in the grounds.

Is that hair or a mould? I’ll have a better look over the next few days.

Thanks Vanna, I’ll be up there sometime in the next few weeks.