iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 2h

Last week hedge trimming added Southern Oak Bush-cricket Meconema thalassinum to the Thetford garden list. #biodiversitybonus

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 2h

Second garden record of Western Conifer Seed Bug Leptoglossus occidentalis while cleaning gutters this afternoon #biodiversitybonus

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Watching a Redstart on the edge of the South Downs this afternoon, I heard a frantic squeaking sound and looked down to see a Mole wriggling around. Looking more closely I could see that the mole was wrestling with a small disembowelled rat, successfully dragging it into a burrow. Nature is amazing!

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

It’s actually raining in Thetford 🌧️😍

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Nice to spot this Six-belted Clearwing in the South Downs this evening. Nice to see the South Downs too; this is looking south towards the Iron Age hill fort on Old Winchester Hill NNR. Fantastic downland habitat. @southdownsnp.bsky.social @naturalengland.bsky.social

Six-belted Clearwing moth ~ Bembecia ichneumoniformis

Iron Age hill fort on Old Winchester Hill in the South Downs.

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Reposted by Justin Walker

BTO | British Trust for Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Take part in our brand new Birds in Greenspaces survey for a day➡️ www.bto.org/greenspaces 🐦 We’re encouraging everyone to sign up, download the app and give it a go. 🌳 Just explore your local greenspace, which could be a park, football pitch or cemetery & record the birds that you see or hear.

An illustrated artwork of the head of a Starling features on a pale background alongside the wording: Take part in Birds in Greenspaces Day! Saturday 13 June.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Quite a few flowering Brambles in Thetford at the weekend. I'd be very happy to have more blackberries but I fear that, while pollination might not be a problem, ripening any fruit might well be.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

A pencil thick young Grass Snake in the garden this afternoon, presumably quite active given it hit 20°C in Thetford today.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Just one Willow Warbler among 25 Chiffchaffs ringed at @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes yesterday. Sadly, now an uncommon species here outside of Thetford and King’s Forests. What are we doing to our world?

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

This isn’t a test! The #ClimateEmergency is already impacting the lives of millions globally and unless necessary change is immediately made the situation will threaten life on Earth.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Norfolk naturalists, please look out for nymphs and adults of the non-native Southern Green Shieldbug ~ Nezara viridula. With this being the second county record it would be useful to know more about their spread. Please add records via iRecord, or DM me. www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...

britishbugs.org.uk

(Pentatomidae) Nezara viridula Southern Green Shieldbug

Field Guide to UK Hemiptera, Bug identification

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

I wasn't entirely sure if these are dog toys or stress relief for their owners. Apparently, much like reality, Elon was quite unpopular.

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Reposted by Justin Walker

UKBMS @ukbms.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

The good weather is back, let's celebrate with some FIT-counts! 🌞 🐝 🪲 🪰 🦋 These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts @pomscheme.bsky.social

ukpoms.org.uk

FIT Counts: help us monitor pollinators | PoMS

The UK PoMS recording season runs from 1 April to 30 September each year. Read on for how to join in, and download the guidance documents.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

In West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St. Edmunds waiting for surgery to fix my disfigured left hand. Last bird seen was a confiding male Blackbird collecting food in the grounds.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Tawny Wave and a male Fox Moth were the best from my Thetford Actinic yesterday. Elephant Hawk-moths and Buff-tip are always nice to see.

Elephant Hawk-moth ~ Deilephila elpenor (left) and Small Elephant Hawk-moth ~
Deilephila porcellus (right)

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Reposted by Justin Walker

VC40Ladybirds 🐞 @vc40ladybirds.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

@vc40orthops.bsky.social and I are pleased to announce the publication today of the “Micro ladybirds of Britain and Ireland”, in collaboration with the FSC: www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publica...

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

It's a real privilege to curate the data collected by the thousands of skilled volunteer surveyors that are used for these analyses. Sadly, for some common and once abundant species, the trends keep heading in the same downwards direction!

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 05/05/2025

A couple of bugs from the Stansted Estate in West Sussex. The plant bug Dicyphus globulifer, second West Sussex record according to iRecord, no records on the NBN Atlas; and Spear Thistle Lacebug Tingis cardui, also not frequently recorded in the VC, but a species I often find in Norfolk.

Dicyphus globulifer - a plant bug from the family Miridae

Tingis cardui - lacebug from the family Tingidae

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Back in Norfolk now but nice to have found two nationally scarce beetles yesterday, on the Stansted Estate in West Sussex; the fungus weevil Platystomos albinus and the false blister beetle Oedemera femoralis. Both species being new for the 10 km square according to the NBN Atlas.

The false blister beetle Oedemera femoralis

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

This morning was about butterflies. No Woodlark on my @btobirds.bsky.social Heathlands Bird Survey at Oxenbourne Down in @southdownsnp.bsky.social, but it was fantastic to see Duke of Burgandy for the first time as well as Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Small Heath. @savebutterflies.bsky.social

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Reposted by Justin Walker

Spurn Bird Observatory @spurnbirdobs.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

🌿 Celebrate the magic of migration at #Migfest2025! Talks, guided walks, bird ringing demos, and more await at Spurn, East Yorkshire. Tickets are on sale now 🎟️ Don't miss it: bit.ly/3T5Q9Ks

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

These bee boxes were installed on Monday and already have eleven tubes blocked up. Potential occupants were investigating the options as I was lining up the boxes before drilling holes in the wall. #instantimpact for #pollinators!

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Nice to be back in Hampshire for the weekend. Here's a view from Butser Hill in the @southdownsnp.bsky.social looking towards the south coast and the Isle of Wight.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Naturalised non-natives I know, but Mandarin Ducks are smart looking birds. At @btobirds.bsky.social Nunnery Lakes this evening.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

Sad to find a discarded plastic bag full of water and numerous invertebrates at a popular duck-feeding spot on the Hampshire coast last month. This male Pachygnatha clercki spider and a few small Carabid beetles survived but many others didn't. What are we doing to this world!

The long-jawed orb-weaver spider Pachygnatha clercki.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

The nationally scarce darkling beetle Helops caeruleus from Hampshire last month. A very nice insect to stumble across.

Helops caeruleus - a nationally scarce darkling beetle

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Martin Harvey @kitenet.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

Less than a week until the Bucks Invertebrate Group conference! Sunday 27 April, Great Missenden. All welcome, please book your place beforehand. More info at sites.google.com/site/bucksin... @bucksinvertgroup.bsky.social

Flyer for conference:
Bucks Invertebrate Group Conference
Sunday 27 April 2025 from 9.30am to 4.30pm, Great Missenden Memorial Centre, HP16 9AE
A day to celebrate insects and other invertebrates in the county. Including The Eric Hollowday Lecture, to be given by Dr Chris Wilson, on The extraordinary biology of bdelloid rotifers.
Plus talks on dragonflies, moths, spiders,
bumblebees, flies and much more.

Full details and programme can be found on the Bucks Invertebrate Group website.

Free to attend but please contact us to book your place:
bucksinvertgroup@gmail.com

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Reposted by Justin Walker

BTO | British Trust for Ornithology @btobirds.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the Heathland Birds Survey so far! There are still survey spots to fill for our key species, Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Nightjar, so please sign up to a survey square near you on our website ➡️ www.bto.org/our-science/...

bto.org

Heathland Birds Survey

Join our new survey of Nightjars, Woodlarks, Dartford Warblers and a number of other important heathland species in 2025.

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Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Eye-opening graph. The biggest wildfire incidents in the UK don't occur when it's hottest, in high summer: they take place in April - *when landowners set fire to their grouse moors & lose control of burns.* Time to ban moorland burning. Source: www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/defaul...

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

For anyone who has ever used the @nbntrust.bsky.social Atlas, please consider taking a minute to answer a few questions that are part of some work the NBN trust team are undertaking to review and improve this already amazing data resource. If you've never used it then the take a look. nbnatlas.org

nbnatlas.org

NBN Atlas - UK’s largest collection of biodiversity information

NBN Atlas is a free online tool hosting the UK's largest collection of biodiversity information enabling data to be shared, analysed and researched.

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Hannah Coburn @hannahecoburn.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Any day now, ducklings will begin to appear, and we need your help to monitor them. We are asking for records of mallard broods anywhere in the UK this year to help us understand how many ducklings make it to adulthood. Submit your sightings here: citsci.org/projects/ducklingwatch Please share!

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Weekend spiders. The Humped Orbweaver Gibbaranea gibbous and the always photogenic Gorse Orbweaver Agalenatea redii.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

Well, it's Oak before Ash where I was in Norfolk on Saturday. Given we're in for another dry week, I wonder when the next rain will fall on what seems to be an already very dry landscape.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Lunchtime inverts: Green Shieldbug Palomena prasina and Bristly Millipede Polyxenus lagurus enjoying some welcome springtime warmth in Thetford.

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UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) @ukceh.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

😎 It's 1 April and that can only mean one thing... yes, insect survey season is back in earnest! 🐝🪰 Check out @pomscheme.bsky.social to help monitor #pollinator abundance with 10-minute Flower-Insect Timed Counts 🦋 And see @ukbms.bsky.social for getting involved with #butterfly transects

Infographic with weather conditions for carrying out Flower Insect Timed Counts (FIT Counts)

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Mediterranean Gulls on Hayling Island Oysterbeds at the end of March in 2022, and today in 2025. Yes, just one bird, plus a few more flying around. Significantly fewer Black-headed gulls too. #solentbirds

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

I wasn't sure if this #Tachinid fly intentionally jumped onto the Brimstone, but it did seem to be perched, lying in wait. Species suggestions welcome #Diptera

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Living in Norfolk it made a change to see Dotted Bee-fly Bombylius discolor in Hampshire this morning; the species has yet to make it across the border from Suffolk.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Covered a @btobirds.bsky.social Heathland Bird Survey square in Hampshire for Woodlark today. Included a lovely site I've not visited since a school field trip in the 1980s. No Woodlark but nice to have close views of a pair of Firecrests. Brimstone, Red Admiral, Comma, and Peacock all on the wing.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Short and slightly soggy run in the South Downs this morning and signs of spring are everywhere. Lesser Celandine, Wood Anemone, budding Bluebells, Violets, Primroses and Wild Garlic. A great start to a long weekend in Hampshire.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

After living in Thetford for over 10 years and having made many rail journeys south, this morning I have finally seen a Crane from the train at @rspb.bsky.social Lakenheath (not in this photo!) #lowcarbonbirding

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

I hadn't been expecting to find a pair of Woodlark in this field marked on the @btobirds.bsky.social Heathland Bird Survey map as unsuitable habitat. A task made trickier with lorries thundering past on what should be a quiet B road, but actually forms part of a shortcut from the A11 to the A14.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Pleased to find a male Minotaur Beetle Typhaeus typhoeus while surveying for Woodlark on my @btobirds.bsky.social Heathland Bird Survey square this morning. Absolutely amazing insects.

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Male and female Black Oil Beetles, Meloe proscarabaeus, from the King's Forest, Suffolk at the weekend; males have noticeably kinked antennae, females less so. Chiffchaffs were singing everywhere.

Male Black Oil Beetle Meloe proscarabaeus, with highly kinked antennae

Female Black Oil Beetle - Meloe proscarabaeus.

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Low-Carbon Birding @birdingclimate.bsky.social · 22/03/2025

1/3 *Wildlife / nature media and high-carbon travel ads* Advertising does not simply inform, it also shapes demand. A transition towards sustainability requires a reduction in advertising for high-carbon products. How much space do birding / nature mags devote to high-carbon wildlife holidays?

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Justin Walker @arcanelove.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

These Hawthorn leaves were still buds on Sunday. Growth is rapid with warmer temperatures.

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