Ash Whiffin

All About Dung Beetles and Why They Matter Dung beetles are a key component of a healthy ecosystem, in both natural and agricultural areas!

Tired of stepping in it? Dung beetles, like this rainbow scarab, evolved to be experts at breaking down dung and evening burying it in the soil! 💩🪲
Discover the many types of dung beetles, why they are in trouble, & how we can help ⤵️
xerces.org/blog/all-abo...

Outreach, Culture & Education SIG Event 2025 Submit your abstracts on insect outreach and citizen science for a chance to share your research at the event.

⏰ Abstract deadline extended - join the programme by submitting your research by Friday 24 October 🦋

Join us at our Outreach, Culture & Education SIG to network with like-minded people and plan your next outreach venture.

📍 National Museum Scotland
📅 22 Nov 2025

Register now 🔽

Thank you so much Lynda! 🌼

Thanks so much, Joanie! 😁

Lovely to see Ashleigh Whiffin on #GardenersWorld tonight. A very worthy finalist for the Outstanding Contribution award in this year’s #NatureOfScotland Awards! www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

Behind the scenes from our day of filming. Here I’m crouched down in one of the grassland areas looking at an orchid, with camera operator Gavin and producer Charlotte.

Back in June, we hosted a team from #GardenersWorld to share how we’ve been improving the grounds of the National Museums Collection Centre for biodiversity. 🎬 🐞🪰🌿🌼

Catch it here:
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

#NMCCbiodiversity

@ashwhiffin.bsky.social excellent film just now on Gardeners World. Great encouragement to enhance the biodiversity of sites

Thanks so much Andy! 😊🐝🐞🌱

Join me in supporting the Remove Pesticides from UK Shelves Campaign Join the Butterfly Rescue Mission  Sign our open letter to UK retailers, asking them to remove synthetic pesticides from sale, for a wilder, butterfly-filled future for generations to come.  The UK ...

Join our call for UK retailers to remove synthetic pesticides from sale, for a wilder, butterfly-filled future 👇
butterflyemergency.good.do/rescue-missi...

We're pleased that the @parliament.scot Rural Affairs and Islands Committee has backed proposals in the Natural Environment Bill to introduce statutory targets to restore nature.

Nature targets are a key demand of our Scotland Loves Nature campaign.

Read more:
www.scotlink.org/msps-back-na...

You can find out more about our #NMCCbiodiversity work by tuning into Gardeners World this Friday, at 8pm on BBC TWO.

📺 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

Thanks so much for sharing! 🐞

A pinned Rain beetle specimen (Pleocoma oregonensis) from the Cornell University Insect Collection. This chestnut coloured beetle is blessed with an exceptionally fuzzy undercarriage.

Rain beetles are SO FLUFFY!

Now that we have your attention, don’t forget that Early-bird registration for #ECN2025 ends today. Don’t miss out!

➡️ www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-ecn-p...

📷 Pleocoma oregonensis, from Cornell University Insect Collection.

Bugs to make you go “Ooooh!” 😲🤩

A Painted Lady butterfly rests on a red brick wall in the sunshine.

A most welcome visitor to our site this week… A Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui), soaking up the late September sun. It’s the first one recorded on our patch since 2021!

#NMCCbiodiversity

Absolutely nobody asked for this but I reformatted my animal yeetability thread into printable poster & zine files.

Introducing, the "Pocket Guide to Responsible & Sustainable Animal YEETING" featuring a revamped rating system. Download links below.

Why saving the honeybee could be bad news for other bees In this week’s newsletter: a conservation success story has a sting in its tail as wild pollinators pay the price

PLEASE READ! No more #BeeWashing. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A screenshot of a webpage making a call for papers announcement for a special issue of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology, focussed on soil and litter invertebrates. The page has a banner image photograph of a globular springtail facing towards the camera, with its head down, feeding on fungi on a decaying log.

Are you researching the conservation, ecology or taxonomy of soil & litter invertebrates?

Submit your paper to this Special Issue of NZ Journal of Zoology, edited by me, @carlosbarreto.bsky.social & @barnesecodiv.bsky.social!

More info: www.royalsociety.org.nz/news/nzjz-so...

#SoilBiodiversity 🧪

Aren’t they ☺️ They’re Canary-shouldered thorns (Ennomos alniaria). These ones came to our light trap in the Cairngorms, Scotland, but they can be found throughout the UK.

Three Canary-shouldered thorn moths rest in a circle on my fingers, with heads all facing inwards.

Shhhh 🤫

*whispers* the moth meeting is in progress. They have very serious business to discuss.

😍😍😍

A handsome Nicrophorus from the putrefying squid trap

A delightful Necrophila, also from the putrefying squid trap

Yet ANOTHER beautiful Nicrophorus, also from the same squid trap run for one single night in a tiny patch of second-growth forest in suburban Pittsburgh

Squid traps really delivered this weekend :)

Species Identifications: Common Pitfalls Some thoughts about Identifications. How do we identify properly? How do we avoid mistakes?

I started a blog and my first post is online!
The posts will try to explore topics which are not typically covered by introductory literature and textbooks, e.g. because they are considered to be "too basic". Let me know what you think!

weevil-see.github.io/taxonomy/Ide...

Hooray!!!

🪲 Weevils! The UK boasts 600+ species, almost as many as birds! Join us on 13 Oct (7–8pm) for an entoLIVE with @markgurn.bsky.social to explore their ecology, habitats & quirky plant preferences. It is FREE!!! Don’t miss it! 🧪 🌎

🔗 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1491232379...

An opportunity of a lifetime for budding lichenologists. The National Trust and the Royal Botanics, Edinburgh are offering a PAID lichen traineeship in #Scotland! The work programme looks fascinating and a great opportunity to develop skills. Deadline: 3/10/2025. www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...

It’s one of the predatory #CarrionBeetles (Silphinae) which hunts snails. In that area it could be Phosphuga atrata or Ablattaria laevigata - not possible to confirm which from these photos I’m afraid.

Advert for the up coming Entomological Collections Network meeting, in Portland Oregon, 8-9 November 2025.

Talk titles for #ECN2025 are due TODAY!

Just titles today folks! Full abstracts (of no more than 150 words) must be submitted by the Sept 26th.

Don’t delay, submit your titles now:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

A Brown Hairstreak butterfly and a fly, both feeding on yellow flowers, bordered by a pale orange rectangle and white text which reads 'Together for Insects'

Insects across the UK are in crisis. 🚨 Which is why we’ve joined forces with Buglife and @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social to create the Big Insect Rescue Plan – and we need your help to shape it!

Have your say here 👉 butterfly-conservation.org/big-insect-r...