Scott Shanks

UK map showing overall distribution of Dark-edged Bee-fly (pale grey dots) and records so far for 2026 (black dots)

A very freshly emerged male Dark-edged Bee-fly, photo by Allan Burrows in Hertfordshire

Several more bee-flies seen today - hurray 😍 So far we have records for Surrey, Beds, Bucks, Kent, Herts, Middlesex and Guernsey. Where will they appear next? Please enjoy looking out for them and send in your sightings for #BeeFlyWatch - 📸 of the Herts bee-fly by @allanburrows.bsky.social

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The Reed Jumping Spider Marpissa rasdiata, typical of alkaline fens, is Red Listed in GB as Vulnerable to extinction. Image copyright: Alan Thornhill

One of GB's largest spider species, the Fen Raft Spider Dolomedes plantarius is Vulnerable to extinction both here and globally. Image copyright: Helen Smith

The tiny Sun jumping spider species Heliophanus damfi, is a raised bog specialist, Red Listed in GB as Vulnerable to extinction. Image copyright: Richard Gallon.

The Ground spider species Gnaphosa nigerrima, is a wet peatland specialist found in only one location in GB. It is considered Vulnerable to extinction on the GB Red List. Image copyright: Richard Gallon

For #WorldWetlandsDay, we're shining a light on four of the 25% of Britain's threatened spider species that are wetland specialists. They're entirely dependent on aquatic habitats remaining wet, unpolluted and growing, not shrinking, in size and connectivity @naturalengland.bsky.social

What a win for nature!

Scotland is the first UK country to have Swift bricks in law – a lifeline for this threatened bird. And, for the first time ever, the Scottish Government must set legally binding nature recovery targets.

Thanks for helping make history with a strong Natural Environment Bill.

🚨 It's official!

Swift nesting bricks have passed the Scottish Parliament and will now become law.

Swifts are in serious decline across the UK. This will help reverse that trend and make our communities more liveable for birds.

@markruskell.bsky.social and @writerhannah.bsky.social explain 👇

Group smiling and holding up their signs and bird puppets outside Scottish Parliament

Close up of sign which reads 'Swifties for Swift Bricks!' with a picture of Taylor Swift

Three members of RSPB staff stand together smiling holding a Curlew puppet, a Puffin puppet and a Swift puppet

Swift puppet next to Scottish parliament entrance

Today we raised our voices outside Scottish Parliament in one last push to ensure politicians stand up for Scotland's nature.

The Natural Environment Bill could be a game-changer - introducing nature targets and Swift bricks. The final debate starts today, we hope to see major wins for wildlife.

A Robin, perched on a twig, staring somewhat intensely straight down the lens.

Rise and shine, it's the final day of #BigGardenBirdwatch!

Remember, you can still take part even if you haven't signed up.

Help us spread the word: share this post, text someone, or tell the whole table over your Sunday roast.

The more data we get, the better 🧑🔬

Six Herald moths roosting together on a cave ceiling

Room for one more? At this time of year, Herald moths (Scoliopteryx libatrix) can be found roosting together in caves and outbuildings 😴

📷: Iain Leach
#Winterwatch #MothsMatter #TeamMoth

Close up profile of Herring Gull with black background

Gulls are in serious trouble in Scotland.

These remarkable birds are facing significant pressures. A recent report revealed licensed control could have contributed to declines ➡️ rspb.org.uk/scotland/news/licensed-gull-control-in-scotland

We must balance the needs of protected species and people.

147 Hen Harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018, most of them on or close to grouse moors For anyone who still wants to pretend that the grouse shooting industry isn’t responsible for the systematic extermination of Hen Harriers on grouse moors across the UK, here’s the latest catalogue…

147 Hen Harriers confirmed 'missing' or illegally killed in UK since 2018 - most of them on or close to grouse moors.

Data extracted from reports by Natural England, RSPB, HSE, various Police forces, National Wildlife Crime Unit.

#RaptorResearch 🌍

raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/21/1...

Have your say on the potential return of lynx to northern Scotland.

lynxtoscotland.org/information-...

Northern Lights

Dance-off with the Merry Dancers! Celestial moves!

Northern Lights (looking west here) with snow looking pink from all the red in the sky.

Red & Green Northern Lights in the sky over trees and the snow

So much for #BlueMonday #NorthernLights #Moray #Speyside #Scotland

Sign the petition to end peat sales! No more delays: Let's get peat out of gardens once and for all. The time for uncertainty has ended.

One of our most important habitats is being destroyed, and it’s time to act.
Ancient peatlands are nature’s heroes. Tell Government we need to protect
them💪 actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal... @peatfree.bsky.social #EndPeatSales

A male Emperor Moth facing directly at the camera while perched on a green plant against a black background.

Our annual UK Moth Recorders' Meeting is back with a fantastic line-up of talks exploring the latest developments in moth research and conservation!

📍 Online
📅 Saturday 31 January

Book your place 👉 https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-moth-recorders-meeting-tickets-1978136116374

📷: Marian Coburn

Male Green-veined White butterfly. Emerged 9th January 2026, Archiestown, Moray. Showing distinctive dark wedge markings at edge of forewings, and single spot on upper surface, which indicates this is a male. The wing spots can sometimes be pretty faint on males of the Spring generation. Females generally have 2 spots on upper wings.

Male GVW showing the distinctive green veins on its underwings. Emerged 9th January 2026. Archiestown, Moray.

Male GVW showing the distinctive green veins on its underwings. Emerged 9th January 2026. Archiestown, Moray. Snowing outside.

Male GVW showing the distinctive green veins on its underwings. Emerged 9th January 2026. Archiestown, Moray.

No chance of #wildflowers for #wildflowerhour with deep snow, but did see my 1st #butterfly of 2026 on 9th January! My earliest ever Green-veined White, by about 3 months. Unfortunately indoors. Suspect we must have brought in it’s chrysalis on logs from the woodpile. @savebutterflies.bsky.social

Clockwise from top-left: Gorse. Feverfew, Cross-leaved Heath & Common Daisy.

Red Squirrel & Crested Tits

A few hardy #Speyside finds braving the frost for this week’s #Wildflowerhour 🌼 plus a couple of friendly locals too🐦🐿️
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #Moray #VC95

Text which reads: We’ve made the difficult decision to walk away from groups set up to help shape Scottish farming policy. For four years, alongside LINK, we’ve tried to engage constructively and help the government achieve their sustainable farming goals. But we can no longer participate in a process we’ve no confidence in. The process is meant to be co-designing policy, but there’s no clarity about the aims or timeline, key evidence doesn’t seem to influence decisions, and repeated requests to improve things have gone unheeded. Farming has an essential role to play in tackling the nature and climate crisis. Yet of the £650M of public funding spent on agriculture each year, just 5% directly supports nature and climate friendly farming. Many farmers and crofters want to do more but the current system — and the process meant to reform it — is letting them down. We are still keen to help make the much-needed changes and urge the next government to start afresh.

We have resigned from the Scottish Government’s farming policy group having lost all confidence in the process.

Farming is key to tackling the nature and climate crisis. Many farmers and crofters want to do more but the current system is failing them.

Full statement 👇

A photograph of the beach at Coul Links in the snow

🙏 A huge thank you to the more than 17,000 people who have spoken up to save Coul Links from a golf course that would cause irreparable damage to this incredible place and its unique wildlife.

We’re now waiting for ministers to make a decision.

Add your voice: action.rspb.org.uk/page/166270/...

I agree lichens not generally taken into account, and not all hags are man-made, but I’m unclear what ‘insensitive’ peatland restoration is?

Huh?! You are seriously saying you are against restoration of degraded peatland and peat hags caused by human activity?

Glittering butterflies: Natural History Museum describes 262 new species in 2025 | Natural History Museum Over the last 12 months our scientists have been busy cataloguing the extraordinary diversity of life on Earth.

Our scientists have been busy this year!

From dinosaurs to diatoms, they have helped to describe an amazing 262 new species from all around the world! 🪸🐠🦎🦋🪱

Read more about this year’s new species list 👇🏻
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Breaking. Safe homes for Swifts. MSPs have voted to back a Green amendment to install low cost swift nesting bricks in all new buildings above a certain size.

Swifts are in serious decline, with their UK population falling by 66% since 1995.

Moments ago MSPs backed our amendment to install low cost swift nesting bricks in new buildings.

This small act will make our communities more liveable for birds and help swifts recover.

A Swift flying.

A win for Swifts!

Thanks to your support, Scotland might become the first UK country to require Swift nesting bricks in all new buildings.

Today MSPs voted to include this in the Natural Environment Bill – now we must make sure it stays in the Bill through the final stage.

Bog-rosemary (Andromeda polifolia), a dwarf-shrub of lowland raised bog. The photo shows two erect, reddish stems with mid to dark green alternate leaves, the leaf margins curled downwards to hide a distinctive whitish underside. akin to culinary Rosemary leaves but broader. At the top of the first stem is a cluster of three beautiful pink flowers, each one a nodding bell with fused petals, and inflated base and a narrow tip where the bell pinches together, ending in small lobes. On the second stem, the flowers are still in bud and undeveloped. The plant stands out from a background sward of Heather (Calluna vulgaris) in the upper half of the photo and Common Haircap (Polytrichum commune) in the lower half of the photo, a mix of greens and browns giving an appropriate autumnal hue to proceedings. The narrow leaves of Hare's-tail Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum) spike through the sward in random directions.

Day 4 is Bog-rosemary. With nodding pink bells and bicoloured, Rosemary-esque leaves, it brightens up autumnal raised bogs a treat!
It reaches the north of its range in central Scotland, where I spent several Sep days refinding old records of this local rarity from the 1980s and 90s #wildflowerhour

Yellow Bird's-nest (Hypopitys monotropa), a bizarre looking mycoheterotroph. This plant has no chlorophyll, as evidenced by the photo - three stems of a pale, buff-yellow plant emerge from light green moss (Hypnum cupressiforme) and scattered leaf litter. Each stem is around 10 cm high, has translucent scales adpressed to it instead of regular leaves, and is topped by a drooping inflorescence consisting of around eight tubular flowers, each bell fused together with some irregular little teeth at the end. The whole plant is uniform in colour, with no distinction between the stem, scales or flowers. Behind, a young birch woodland filters sunlight.

Day 8 of my botanical #adventcalendar - Yellow Bird's-nest. This bizarre plant is a mycoheterotroph - it has no chlorophyll, so can't photosynthesis, and gets all its food from parasitising underground fungi!
In central Scotland it is found on mining bings - islands of biodiversity #wildflowerhour

cdn.cyfoethnaturiol.cymru/4bqlg3ic/nrw...

Large wood ant mound on the edge of a plantation forest

These wood ants are edge specialists... but not all edges are equal. Jacob Podesta used a decade of population expansion data to show that wood ants spread more quickly along certain edges, depending on the edge orientation. Currently available open access here:
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Front cover of the European Butterfly Red List, showing Polyommatus humedasae. The report can be downloaded at https://www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?name=red-list-butterflies-2025

The new European Butterfly Red List is published today, with worrying findings. Over 1/4 (28%) of Europe’s 442 species are threatened with extinction or are close to being so. The situation is far worse for our 148 endemic species, 40% are now threatened or nearly so www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

A close up photo of a Swift's face against a black background

Scotland's swifts are in freefall. They need action now.

Yesterday, @scotgov said Swift Bricks don't belong in the Natural Environment Bill. We disagree.

There's still time to back Swift Bricks - email your MSPs now: action.rspb.org.uk/page/181323/...

Clockwise from top-left: Common Daisy, Fiddleneck, Yarrow, Red Campion. Feverfew, Common Ragwort, White Clover, Red Clover & Viper’s Bugloss.

Some #Speyside finds for this week’s #Wildflowerhour.
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #Moray #VC95