John Ashburner

👆🏻 #PollinatorPals #WildflowerHour

Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) on Hoary Mustard

Small Spotty-eyed Drone Fly (Eristalinus sepulchralis) on Hoary Mustard.

Brown Argus (Aricia agestis), a bit late for this Common Knapweed.

Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens - I think) on Black Horehound.

A few #Pollinatorpals from Warren Farm in west London yesterday.
#WildflowerHour
@warrenfarmnr.bsky.social

Currently in France and was woken this morning by a Golden Oriole singing from a nearby tree. Shortly afterwards, it was joined by hundreds of Starlings.

I'm no expert, but the "sperm whale" illustration doesn't seem to be a sperm whale.

Next: Payments for not fly tipping.

Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca) on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) at Warren Farm, west London.

They do seem to like knapweed. Here's one I saw yesterday.

Wood Sage (Teucrium scorodonia) in a corner of Warren Farm

Almost #DeadNettlefamily, and no longer in flower.

Wild Marjoram (Origanum vulgare) at Warren Farm

Ballota nigra in Long Wood

Hedge Woundwort (Stachys sylvatica) seeds in Long Wood.

Some #DeadNettlefamily from Warren Farm and Long Wood (west London) yesterday.
@brentriverpark.bsky.social
#wildflowerhour

One of the group of four perched on a tall plant in the Warren Farm meadow

One of the four kestrels hovering

A kestrel looking out for prey

Kestrel in flight

Four kestrels manoeuvre in the park
@warrenfarmnr.bsky.social

That goes with Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb.

San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment - Wikipedia

It is not supposed to help for institutions that have signed up to DORA. I'm sure it still does though.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Fra...

The www.melba-journal.org has an interesting strategy, which results in open access papers, but very low publication costs. Their system is built on top of arXiv, and uses Scholastica as a platform for the peer reviewing.

We walked along this one on Saturday. Thankfully it's a quiet road - as the pavements are totally impassable.

A male Sphaerophoria scripta hoverfly on Lady's Bedstraw.

A massive of Lady's Bedstraw at Warren Farm.

The Lady's Bedstraw at @warrenfarmnr.bsky.social is in full bloom and smelling gorgeous.
#wildflowerhour

It probably is a S scripta, but only male Sphaerophoria can usually be identified to species. This one is a female. (I think I've spent too much time lurking on the UK Hoverflies Facebook page.)

The Nature of AI: Solving the Planet's Data Gap with Drew Purves Google DeepMind: The Podcast · Episode

The "AI" name is a marketing gimmick for complicated data modelling methods. I agree that it is not ready to be making decisions, but (in the right hands) I think it could be useful to help predict likely consequences of our actions.
open.spotify.com/episode/1Kkt...

A Warren Farm Skylark beginning its ascent into a clear blue sky

There are several breeding pairs of skylarks still holding on at Warren Farm (@warrenfarmnr.bsky.social) in the west London suburbs. Long may they continue.

Bee Orchids. Warren Farm, west London. 14/06/25

A bit late for #wildflowerhour, but the @warrenfarmnr.bsky.social bee orchids are blooming again this year.

Maybe there could be a starter pack for the 8 out of 10 Bats youtube series too?

While it might not influence everyone, the right images on signage might help sometimes. A friend was looking for images of skylark nestlings with a creative commons license that could be used on signs to try to stop people trampling nests. No luck in finding anything that could be easily used.

I am a bit surprised by the first answer, given that there would not even be O2 in the atmosphere without nature.

Syrphers for Sewage

*crane fly

The gov are struggling for ideas to boost growth. Maybe they could try comparing UK maps of economic activity with where the universities are?

In many other countries, there are lots of noise barriers next to motorways to shield people from traffic noise. Some of these might also be suitable for putting solar panels on.

While maintenance is a big part of the software life-cycle, user support can be just as time consuming - if not more so. Support needs can be reduced by providing (and maintaining) decent documentation, but this is also not something that funders seems to consider important.

Also, a lot of the new developments are advertised abroad - which would certainly not stop Reform.

More social housing might help stop reform, but when these get demolished, councils sell the land to private developers in the hope that they will include a few "affordable homes".

UK government admits almost no evidence nature protections block development Whitehall analysis provides no data or research to support the government argument that environmental legislation holds up building There is very little evidence that protections for nature are a blocker to development, the government has admitted in its own impact assessment of the controversial new planning and infrastructure bill. The analysis by Whitehall officials provides no data or research to back up the government’s central argument that it is environmental legislation that holds up building. Continue reading...

UK government admits almost no evidence nature protections block development

Salticus jumping spider (probably a Zebra Spider) on a graffitied wall in west London.

Jumping spiders are brilliant. The Salticus species in the UK probably have similar abilities, but are less studied.