Andy Pym

Indeed!

My pleasure, David. I meant to add this in a comment, so thanks for doing it.

I'm very fortunate to own a partial skull from an Irish Elk.

I can never resist paying my respects to the Irish Elk.

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery for the Bristol & District Moth Group winter indoor meeting y'day a'noon. I gave a short talk on 'Moth Trap Intruders', based on my findings in the garden last year. As ever, thanks to @raybarnett.bsky.social for organising.

This popped up again y'day, and it's too good not to share. Three top gents @pilning.bsky.social, @lancefly.bsky.social & @vc40orthops.bsky.social (not forgetting Jim C) on a visit to the Wyre Forest last year. A superb day with Shining Guest Ant & Dinarda maerkeli the highlights.

Author interview with Steven J Falk: A Photographic Guide to Flies of Britain & Ireland Over recent decades various ‘difficult’ insect groups have gradually been brought within reach of the non-specialist thanks to developments in field guides. Flies, however, have remained something of ...

Interview with Steven Falk via @nhbs.bsky.social :
www.nhbs.com/blog/author-...

Great to see this published. Congrats to Sarah.

A Land Caddis larva. Britain's only terrestrial caddisfly. The larva constructs a tubular case from particles of soil & vegetation which it lives within, sticking its head & legs out of the wide end to move around. This one is about 3.5mm long, with the head & legs visible bottom left.

Three Land Caddis cases (the larvae are inside them but have pulled themselves in like tortoises retreating into their shells) on someone's hand.

Habitat shot. A clearing in mixed coniferous & broadleaved woodland. There is some snow on the ground.

Wildlife group returned to the English/Welsh border on Weds to the location of our Land Caddis (Enoicyla pusilla) discovery last Nov. Found in v. good numbers again & over a wider area. Grown too: cases now around 3.5mm long (prob 3rd instar of 5). Excellent result!

Excellent indeed!

Under some damp bark of a fallen poplar was this Hololepta plana, a curiously vertically challenged beetle.

Nice to see artwork by @johnwalterswildife.bsky.social there too, incl the piece featured on a birthday card I was given earlier last month.

I need to see the real thing now!

The strange subterranean harvestman Scotolemon doriae in Plymouth, Devon today

Blown glass Carabus intricatus (Blue Ground Beetle) by KT Yun.

Blown glass Carabus intricatus (Blue Ground Beetle) by KT Yun at the Entographica art exhibition at the BRLSI in Bath y'day.

A note from a mid-19th century entomological magazine

From The Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer, 2, 1857 (a sort of #teammoth from a distant pre-internet age.) A brief note that speaks volumes about the mid-19th century lepidopterist.

Superb! Not that I'm bias with the subject matter of course.

I am truly blessed! Just now I sat on the water trough & scattered some suet & sat & relaxed. Couldn’t believe it when both Ravens jumped on the trough with me & had a drink! Then Chips fed Gravy just a few feet away from me. Has to be one of the best experiences of my life 😊

Entographica - Insect-inspired Art from The Entographic Collective This unique exhibition features the work of sixteen artists from The Entographic Collective, a group of artists with a passion for insects. Art that explores...

I am looking forward to exhibiting some insect field paintings at the @entographica Collective exhibition Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution
Queen’s Square, Bath BA1 2HN

2 – 25 FEBRUARY 2026
Mon–Sat 10am–4pm | Admission Free

more information
entographica.co.uk

Robin 2
Feral Pigeon 13
Blue Tit 5
Goldfinch 17
House Sparrow 6
Great Tit 4
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (male)
Dunnock 1
Long-tailed Tit 6
Carrion Crow 11
Magpie 1
Starling 4
Rook 2
Jackdaw 1
Wood Pigeon 2

#biggardenbirdwatch

Stellar Steller's!

A Steller's jay that I saw this weekend at Salt Point State Park, California, USA.

#birds

Nice one, mate!

I'm really looking forward to this one and I love the cover.

My first invertebrate record for 2026...Boreus hyemalis (Snow Flea) at Cali Heath @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve this am. Exciting to think what else might turn up this year. 😀 @ynuorg.bsky.social #mecoptera #ukwildlife

Who needs fireworks, eh! Much better. I got this footage standing on top of the bench in the back garden in Filton a short while ago. I nearly lent back too far!
@bristolbirding.bsky.social

I did! I loved the Snow Flea you posted recently as well, and I can't wait to see one for the first time.

A Snow Flea - a small, long-legged insect with a very long face (like its relatives the scorpionflies). An overall dark, bronzy colour with yellow & orange highlights.

Its that time of year again: a male Snow Flea, one of 3 seen yesterday in woodland on the Shrops/Herefords border. These 4mm relatives of Scorpionflies live in moss (esp. Polytrichum & relatives) & are winter active as adults. Not fleas of course but they can jump a bit.

Nice find in Churchgate Gallery in Porlock, Somerset earlier. @vannabartlett.bsky.social your artwork features in it!

Page of sketchbook with couple of pencil drawings of male and female Snow Fleas amongst moss and a larger inked out drawing of a male.

Working on some sketches for a Christmas card design. Just because I can. Snow Flea anyone?