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Reposted by Harry Witts

Andrea @mouseinthehouse.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

This is such an important subject. It needs more public awareness. I'm training to groom dogs, yet this subject of chemical contamination isn't even mentioned. It should be.

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Fantastic! Similar thing happened to me mid August on a not particularly birdy walk. Bird on top of bramble patch - it’s a Whitethroat every single time until it’s a Red-backed Shrike!

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Passenger to Actinic at Coverack, Lizard last night with @josscarr.bsky.social . Joss’s Photo @migrantmothuk.bsky.social

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Awesome, one of the classic “well, I’ll never see that” field guide species! Could you add to PSL please Andy?

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Peter Sutton uses the English name Slender Blue-winged Grasshopper. Separation from the “classic” Blue-winged Grasshopper Oedipoda caerulescens is by lack of black band on wing, much lower keel on thorax and strongly constricted pronotum, just behind the head. Illustrated perfectly by Joss’s photos

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The species has expanded in Europe following railway embankments (and hitching a lift on trains?). A similar hot, dry habitat of sand and shingle ridges at Colne Point. There was a railway during wartime, but I think unlikely to have followed a train here!

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Thank you also to Peter Sutton for confirming ID. The previous record was just outside Folkestone in 2024 www.inaturalist.org/observations... , right next to the Eurostar tracks. More records could potentially be found in photos taken of “blue winged grasshoppers” in Folkestone last year?

inaturalist.org

Blue-winged Sand Grasshopper (Sphingonotus caerulans)

Blue-winged Sand Grasshopper from Kent, UK on August 14, 2024 at 11:23 AM by jestodactylus

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Very exciting to kick this up at Colne Point, Essex on Saturday, just moments after remarking how I didn’t think I’d recognise a grasshopper new to Britain. Sphingonotus caerulans, the second British, and likely first natural record. Found with @graemelyons.bsky.social and @josscarr.bsky.social

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Would also appreciate opinions on mine from a farm track/ex arable margin 200m from buildings near Colchester please!

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Mine are also at the edge of a concrete farm track

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I’ve also heard house Cricket in Bungay this year

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Did you get a specimen/photo? Still reckon I need to see mine to confirm

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

I have a site in Essex 200m from buildings in an ex arable margin with crickets sounding exactly like House Cricket (which is presumably what’s calling all over urban Colchester) haven’t managed to see them yet though

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

Red-backed Shrike just west of steps at Sea Palling maps.app.goo.gl/ZfEDYCCay8H3... @birdguides.bsky.social @rarebirder.bsky.social

maps.app.goo.gl

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Been waiting patiently for that bubbling trill to snap me out of a daydream at some point and it finally did!! Bee-eater a very satisfying find tick

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

If you get another one (or still have the specimen) of that shieldbug, give it a measure. It might be Sehirus morio which is popping up quite widely in East Anglia this year. morio is potentially more likely at light. Length should be greater than 8.5mm

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

If you need Lesser Calamint there’s masses of it where the path crosses the A137

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Reposted by Harry Witts

WildDartmoor @tonydartmoor.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

This is a deeply disappointing U-turn by the Government, driven by misinformation and conspiracy theories about "pony culls" that were never on the table. Removing ponies from stocking calculations doesn't remove the need to manage grazing on Dartmoor. www.gov.uk/government/n...

gov.uk

Government secures the future of Dartmoor’s iconic ponies

New measures will protect Dartmoor ponies and support those who keep them on the moor.

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Reposted by Harry Witts

Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

If people want to keep farming livestock in climate change England, they're going to need to factor in more trees, shrubs and wood pasture. It's amazing how many upland and lowland grazing pastures have virtually no shade at all.

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I did then read that this morning! Don’t have Stubbs and Falk but had read Steven’s Flickr entry which says they like to hang around at the bases of the rush too

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Ah that’s very interesting, I’ve not read that they visit flower heads

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Are they visiting the club rush flower heads? Yours seems covered in pollen?

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Cool, thank you. Anasimyia had me going last time I went earlier in the month!

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Got a site in Essex I’d love to record it at, was it relatively conspicuous at your site?

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Joss Carr and I found puctulatus at Barking Riverside last year under the same bits of rubbish as Scybalicus oblongiusculus and Brachinus sclopeta! Glad to know it has a presence across the landscape (assuming this isn’t depressus)

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

What was the sampling technique please James? Sweeping reed?

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

I was surprised to see this species was abundant in the temperate greenhouses at Kew Gardens last September. Had also found it in parks in east London last year

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Thanks very much James, does look like a Praon cocoon

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Don’t suppose you know the species of the aphid parasitoid or where to get started with ID? I’ve observed something similar on an aphid in my moth trap

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Reposted by Harry Witts

Lukas Large @lukaslarge.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

The scale of bad behaviour by dog owners is insane. Only around 5% actually treat nature with respect: "Most (always: 85%; always or occasionally: 95%) dogs were walked off the lead even when signs were present requesting that dogs were kept on a lead." link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.com

Unleashed: walking dogs off the lead greatly increases habitat disturbance in UK lowland heathlands - Urban Ecosystems

Human population growth is associated with increased disturbance to wildlife. This effect is particularly acute in urban and periurban areas, where the area of effective disturbance extends beyond tha...

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Hi Peter, amazing! Where was this in relation to the town please? Arriving there tomorrow and would love to know the best place to scan from. Cheers

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Reposted by Harry Witts

Malcolm Tait @malcolmtait.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Natural England failing to protect valuable sites. Our report for @wildjustice.bsky.social shows that nearly 2/3 of sites waiting to be designated as SSSIs were under threat from development. One site in Thurrock will be directly destroyed. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

theguardian.com

England wildlife watchdog ‘has stopped designating special sites for protection’

Exclusive: Report finds Natural England has created no new SSSIs, which protect areas from development, since 2023

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Amazing, would you be able to share a pin or grid reference please? I’m an ecologist for the trust and it would be great to find out about the population on site

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Hi David, which site was this please?

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Reposted by Harry Witts

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 20/02/2026

This is becoming a pervasive issue, for example involving the sidelining of actual experts and the heaping of pressure on regulatory bodies to move forward with dubious (re)introductions. A quick ecology 101 for ‘conservation gurus’. Thread 🌍🦗🦋🪶🦬🧪1/

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 19/02/2026

Don’t think the surveyor will exactly be Tied Up in Calidris canutuz…

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Had a few sub-singing along the river in Colchester around the turn of the year, although that may have been to do with defending an ivy patch

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Not that it’s a habitat with comparable area to arable land but the best places I know for MT are very urban parks in E London and Leeds

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Reposted by Harry Witts

Amphibian and Reptile Conservation @arc-trust.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

We’ve published our response to the "Lost Frogs report". Read our statement here: www.arc-trust.org/lost-frogs-report…

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Reposted by Harry Witts

William (Bill) Sutherland @billsutherland.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Why are the cycles in numbers of young Brent geese, long-tailed skua and curlew sandpiper seen in Europe? youtu.be/wMO7d9svQRs?...

youtu.be

Cycles in arctic wildlife

YouTube video by Bill Sutherland's Conservation Concepts

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

Just think zero native species sets a bad precedent, that gardens are apart from actual nature. Is your experiment being tested empirically against your average commercial planting? Would be a great study comparing branded pollinator planting, average planting and gardens considering life cycles

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Harry Witts @hwitts.bsky.social · 13/01/2026

My point is that many orders of magnitude more individuals and species would be supported through their whole life cycles, rather than just for a few hours, by including native species in the planting. I’m not sure why that seems so out of the question?

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