Green Leaf-hopper, Cicadella viridis. Male left, female right.

Leafhoppers & Allies: identification, ecology and recording - Alan Stewart
Thursday 19/02/2026, 19:30, online via Zoom
Book here: www.naturespot.org/node/262956
#Bugs #Hemiptera #VC55 #Auchenorrhyncha
Please share!

Office buzz: UK employers turn to beehives to boost workplace wellbeing Providers report rise in demand as companies seek mental health benefits and increased sense of community

This is “greenwashing”. The last thing we need is more beehives with their thousands of intensively-farmed bees. What we do need is more forage and habitat for our native bumblebees and solitary bees. And it can be just as good for your mental health to create such areas.

You may recall that in January of 2025, artist Ann Telnaes announced that she had quit The Washington Post after editors killed a cartoon that depicted owner Jeff Bezos, among others, genuflecting to Trump.

This cartoon feels even more relevant this week.

Fight! Fuck Bezos. The Washington Post can and must rise again.

NEW: Trump's coup is almost complete. And the attack on the press is a central piece of it. Bezos's gutting of the Washington Post cannot be allowed to be just another blip in the news cycle.

We are all going to have to fight for a free and independent press.
open.substack.com/pub/broligar...

🪰 Meet the Oxycera soldierflies!

Small, coloured, and tied to clean streams & wetlands, these tiny flies are amazing habitat indicators.

Join @kitenet.bsky.social for our Soldierflies entoLEARN on 16 April 🧪🌎

🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1976906539...

@uk-soldierflies.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social

Shell just announced £15.6 BILLION in annual profit for 2025 - whilst the bill for damage caused by extreme weather in the UK was £2.8bn.

Oil Giants are making huge profits off climate destruction, while the rest of us have to foot the bill.

Anyone else think this is unfair?

By the time Starmer is replaced this summer, we'll have had two wasted years, in which a country crying out for transformation instead got more of the same, or even worse where environmental legislation is concerned, and a high possibility of Farage running the next government.
Thanks Keir.

Mauna Loa carbon dioxide forecast for 2026 Atmospheric CO2 to continue to rise too fast to track IPCC 1.5°C scenarios in 2026

The increase in atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa is forecast to remain too fast to track scenarios that limit global warming to 1.5°C in 2026

Find out more ⬇️

A chance to learn about fantastic soldierflies!

NEW FREE EVENT! Cuckoo bumblebees don’t build nests; they take them over 🐝

Are these parasites indicators of healthy bumblebee habitats?

Join this FREE entoLIVE webinar on Tue 21 Jul 2026 with @sofiadartnell.bsky.social to explore cuckoo bumblebee ecology. 🌍 🧪

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1973162765...

A "loveliness" of over 30 7-spot Ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata) overwintering in a pyramidal formation on a rather wobbly old Purple Toadflax stem in the garden.🐞 @vc40ladybirds.bsky.social

Britain’s Leaders Are Hiding From AMOC Disaster The plan was to stand outside the Houses of Parliament on Guy Fawkes Day with a large inflatable bomb. The protesters would then leaflet MPs as they

“You want to have some bright people work through scenarios of how [AMOC collapse] could interact & cascade across society... we’re only just starting to, with minimal trust foundation kind of financial support, no public money... which is a bit odd.” - Prof. Tim Lenton @gsiexeter.bsky.social

February brings us closer to the return of bumblebees – you might be lucky enough to see some this month 🤞

Bumblebee queens emerge from hibernation in spring. Keep your eyes peeled this month for early emerging Tree and Buff-tailed bumblebees 👀

Have you spotted your first bumblebee of 2026?

A male red deer trotting in the snow. Text: Half price offer extended. Last chance to support us for less!

📣 Because we've had such a great response to our offer of half-price membership for one year, we have decided to extend the offer until the end of Wednesday 4 February!

So you still have time to join for as little as £2.25 per month 👇 bbowt.org.uk/join-us

📸 Mark Hamblin/2020VISION

Water bills up again.

The Green Party will lower bills by ending the privatised water company rip off. Water must be taken into public ownership now.

We’re hiring! Join us as an Assistant Reserves Officer (North Bucks) and help nature recover through hands-on habitat management across woodland, wetland and floodplain meadow reserves. 🌿

Apply now: buff.ly/rfEodit

About Bats - Bat Conservation Trust Bats are fascinating animals – the only true flying mammal. There are 1,500 species of bats in the world (as of September 2025), and more are still bein...

🦇 Bats are long-lived mammals which reproduce slowly: each female can only produce one baby per year and not all females will have babies each year. For this reason their populations are very slow to grow or recover their numbers.

www.bats.org.uk/about-bats

A potentially habitable new planet has been discovered 146 light-years away – but it may be -70C The Earth-size planet HD 137010 b has a ‘50% chance of residing in the habitable zone’ of its sun-like star, scientists say

“What’s very exciting about this particular Earth-sized planet is that its star is only [about] 150 light-years away from our solar system"

Not that close then, and not that habitable either

Let's concentrate on keeping the only one we have habitable

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

We're hiring for a Café Shift Leader at College Lake! Support wildlife & deliver great customer service in our lively visitor centre café.

Apply now: buff.ly/WcKMOVY

We stand with you Chris!

The UK government didn't want you to see this report on ecosystem collapse. I'm not surprised | George Monbiot It took an FOI request to bring this national security assessment to light. For ‘doomsayers’ like us, it is the ultimate vindication, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

Please spread this far and wide, as stories don't get much bigger than this. When the government blocks even the intelligence services from telling us we're heading for environmental catastrophe, you know we have a problem. A very big problem.
Thank you.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

What is Nipah virus? Key things to know about the disease amid cases in India Highly contagious virus, which spreads from animals to humans, has a high fatality rate and there is no vaccine

[Nipah] "is highly contagious between humans and seen by the World Health Organization as a high risk for epidemics because there is no vaccine. It has a high fatality rate of 40% to 75%, far deadlier than Covid-19"

A story worth keeping an eye on

www.theguardian.com/science/2026...