iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

@savebutterflies.bsky.social @richardfoxbc.bsky.social Another ID howler from BC Head Office, this time on page 5 of the 2026 AGM programme! butterfly-conservation.org/sites/defaul... What's the matter with this organization?!

A Common Blue captioned as a Wood White!

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

I've been trying to grow Weld in my garden this year. First slugs devoured them, then some Geometrid larvae, and now Small White larvae are shredding them. Although the sources I've looked at so far don't mention Weld, it is related to Mignonette which is a known food plant.

A photo of a rosette of Weld, with long green shiny leaves. A number of green larvae can be seen eating the leaves.

A close-up of a two larva eating a Weld leaf. The larvae are plain green with yellow spots in pairs along the side and a pale yellow dorsal stripe. Also present are two eggs - one is empty and translucent, the other is orange and yet to hatch.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

The wonderful turbinate eyes of a male Cloeon dipterum that landing in my beating tray today.

Close-up view of head of the mayfly, Cloeon dipterum. This is a male - as well as having normal compound eyes on the side of the head it also has two giant bucket-shaped compound eyes on top of its head pointing upwards.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

@richardfoxbc.bsky.social what are your thoughts about the ID of this? Asking for a friend who has lost his confidence.

A white butterfly identified as a Large White (but probably isn't)

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

@savebutterflies.bsky.social Erm? In the Big Butterfly Count launch email. This is giving me a crisis of confidence!

A white butterfly with a questionable identification!

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

... I have recently found newly laid eggs, and seen laying.

A Painted Lady egg stuck on the side of a spike on a Spear Thistle flowerhead.

A close-up of a Painted Lady egg. It is pale green and shaped like a long tapered barrel with many ribs along the outside edge and a hole in the tip.

A Painted Lady butterfly in the act of laying an egg on a Spear Thistle flowerhead.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

A Painted Lady larva feeding on Spear Thistle, approaching maturity. My next challenge is to find a pupa in the wild...

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

East Anglia flooded with Holy Water according to Sky News' map news.sky.com/story/hosepi...

Map showing East Anglia as the "area covered by Anglican Water".

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

My first Wasp Spider of the year, at the @wildlifebcn.org Sharnbrook Summit nature reserve.

A large spider with abdomen coloured in bands of black, white and yellow, sitting in its web feeding on some prey that it caught which is wrapped up in silk.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

This is what happens when you order one dessert and five straws.

Five Water Measurers (Hydrometra stagnorum) gathered around what appears to be an insect's head. There is a tangle of legs and rostra as each tries to suck juices from the head.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Goals 2, 3, 4 and 5 were each scored while I popped into my kitchen for a drink or a snack. We are 3-2 ahead now and I'm not leaving the sofa again!!!

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Yes, that disturbs me. Also the different shading on the two undercover areas on the right.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Get Peacock on a bank note, not Marsh Fritillary.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

How was a species chosen that few people have seen? The general public would more likely resonate with a Peacock or Red Admiral...

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

That is the first ever Green Hairstreak record for the park and around 11-12km from the nearest known active population. Not a species that I'd have predicted to arrive there - interesting.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Just come home from volunteering at Flitwick Moor to find four Painted Ladies on my Verbena bonariensis. Plenty of records coming in, thanks - please keep them coming.

A Painted Lady butterfly feeding on a purple flower. The underside of the butterfly is showing an amazing mixture of patterns and colours.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

According to Anglian Water's email one minute of showering almost fills one bathtub? (350 bathtubs in 365 days). Really? @anglian-water.bsky.social

Image says "love every drop anglian water. Simple ways to save water this bank holiday."

Image says "Take a shorter shower. Shaving a minute off your shower each time could help you save over 28,000 litres of water and up to £100 in energy and water bills each year. That's around 350 full bathtubs"

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Holly Blue laying on Hemlock. Is this already on its long list of known food-plants? I've tied a bit of string around the stem so that I can re-find it and will attempt to follow progress...

Holly Blue butterfly perched on the developing umbel of Hemlock. Her abdomen is curled under the plant in the act of egg-laying.

The whole umbel of Hemlock with the Holly Blue egg showing, about the size of a grain of table salt.

A close up of the Holly Blue egg. It is white, disc-shaped and with a complicated surface texture.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Thanks. Sounds similar to my 395nm torch. I'll give it a go...

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 26/04/2026

Is that with 365nm UV? How many Watts do you recommend please?

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

A nice encounter while walking my butterfly transect today. #ukbms #grasssnake

A grass snake basking in sunshine at noon.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 09/04/2026

Here's a summary of the Bedfordshire butterfly season so far. Thanks for all the records. They are mapped in iMap here: www.keithbalmer.com/bedsbutterfl... Click on a square to see its species list. Choose other mapping options from the drop-down list.

A table of weekly butterfly counts for each species. The totals for each species after the first 14 weeks of 2026 are :
760   Brimstone
220   Comma
56   Green-veined White
47   Holly Blue
7   Large White
96   Orange Tip
740   Peacock
42   Red Admiral
43   Small Tortoiseshell
77   Small White
16   Small/Green-veined White
83   Speckled Wood

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Reposted by Keith Balmer

Paul van der Meer @paulvandermeer.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

The 25th amendment exists for a reason. This post is the reason.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Can we put Trump, Netanyahu, Putin and Kim on Artemis III? Seeing Earth from lunar orbit may give them some perspective.

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Reposted by Keith Balmer

Steven Beschloss @stevenbeschloss.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

This is an actual post. This is not funny. This is beyond desperate. This is a deeply unwell man who doesn’t belong anywhere near the levers of power. Every member of his cabinet and Congress is complicit in not demanding his removal now.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

I love seeing your paintings but, forgive me, this one has me a little puzzled - I can't figure-out the bottom-right quarter, which appears a bit rectangular, rather than floral. What am I not seeing please?

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

If you have any problems with the URL being insecure, don't worry, it's just a redirect to www.keithbalmer.com/bedsbutterfl... which is secure. (I'm not paying for another security certificate just for a redirect!)

keithbalmer.com

About these Web-pages

Bedfordshire Butterflies

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

...or a consequence of increased recording effort, picking up the season nearer to its start and observing to its very end?

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I've added a first-day and last-day phenology graph to each Bedfordshire butterfly species account on www.bedsbutterflies.org.uk with a trend line showing change since 1990. This is Comma's. Global warming effect at the local level...

Graphs of flight times, first and last day, and adult abundance for Comma butterfly. The first date is trending earlier and the last date later. Abundance is also rising.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Is there a better way to spend a spring day than lying flat on the ground photographing Green Tiger Beetles?

A Green Tiger Beetle. Green with cream spots, huge eyes and fearsome jaws. Long spikey legs for running fast.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

One of my more successful stacks?!

A stacked photograph of a Green Tiger Beetle racing across the picture resulting in a ghostly monster with lots of legs and antennae!

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Sometimes I think the reason that I'm struggling to learn Spanish with Duolingo is because I don't understand the English. Is it just me? Can anyone translate this please?

Text says "Meaning: The people whose alarms ring at night stay here, and, since their alarms do work, they can go."

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Reformed meat made from tory offal

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

The one you posted is real, but a bit out of date. It shows the town hall which was demolished in 2014. Both Google and Copilot said the fake was Bedford. I can't help worrying about the way the world is heading...

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

The windows on the white building are on the end and on the side simultaneously. The clock 'faces' are an AI joke/halucination I suspect!

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Does anyone recognise where this is please? It isn't Bedford but it looks a bit like it. It is being erroneously used to illustrate Bedford though at www.journey-alerts.com/updates/bedf... . Google and Co-pilot don't seem to know where it is. AI generated perhaps?

A photo of a stone arched bridge over a river with buildings and a church spire in the background

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

Reformed meat is made from offal.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Puzzled, I then read aa.usno.navy.mil/faq/rs_solst... which said the opposite. When I challenged ChatGPT it said "Good catch — and yes, you’re right to question that. My earlier sentence was backwards, and thank you for calling it out.!" Yet another hallucination! 2/2

aa.usno.navy.mil

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

I asked ChatGPT to explain why the latest sunrise date varies with latitude. It said " Moving north in the Northern Hemisphere: Latest sunrise occurs later in January Sunrise times change more slowly day to day Near the Arctic Circle, the latest sunrise can be weeks later than at mid-latitudes" 1/2

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

For Bedfordshire's butterfly records in 2025 (as they currently stand - I'm still acquiring them) only 1.85% were entered into iNaturalist and only 0.33% have a CC0 or CC-BY licence.

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

How many UK records does iNaturalist gather compared with all of the UK's other record-gathering methods/schemes? And what proportion have a CC0 or CC-BY licence? @nbntrust.bsky.social

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

2026's may be even more exciting

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Would you like to start the New Year with a quiz? Those familiar with Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust BCN nature reserves (@wildlifebcn.org) may like to have a go at solving these cryptic clues to their identities. @brianecambs.bsky.social

A set of cryptic clues to Bedfordshire Wildlife Trust reserves.
1. A dyslexic inhabitant from The Shire?
2. A Rosaceaen uprising
3. Arthur's knight is missing the Spanish grassland
4. Brief decline by a tit
5. Cautiously plead with black bird
6. Complexion issues?
7. Confused imp shaves one beard
8. Damon cooperates without having eaten first
9. Deranged Andrew hides in ancient burrow
10. Dibbler would include "me-own" in this reserve's name
11. Enthusiast has company at the race
12. Fly in, then leave vehicle at a club
13. Fly to soak up the extra? It sounds like it.
14. Hangs teacher on high ground
15. Look at superb art on gravel pitch
16. Lutra and Sterna are present in name only?
17. Pipes clot somehow
18. Priest's allotment run wild?
19. Punching below the belt(s)
20. Rockets procured covers
21. Turning off water supply from the south-east
22. Use XL foot to reach the top

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

𝘋𝘪𝘤𝘺𝘱𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘦 are still readily found on my end-of-season 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘮 on Dec 9th. Despite being only 10 Celsius they are very alert and thus difficult to photograph. (The wind isn't helping either!) Many seem to have swollen abdomens suggesting gravid females?

A small insect with black and white markings, long legs and piercing mouthparts feeding on Antirrhinum leaves. The abdomen is swollen suggesting a gravid female.

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Reposted by Keith Balmer

Keith W. Dickinson @keithwdickinson.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Today is a day when arts degrees are worthless, but the product of those degrees is so valuable it would kill an entire industry if they were made to pay for it.

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Reposted by Keith Balmer

Wildlife Trust BCN @wildlifebcn.org · 08/10/2025

Looking for a new challenge working on one of the UK's most ambitious conservation projects? We are at an exciting phase of our Great Fen vision with habitat creation and peatland rewetting funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Find out more and apply www.wildlifebcn.org/jobs/great-f...

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Keith Balmer @keithbalmer.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Did my 24th, and final, walk of the year today. Missed one July walk due to eye surgery. Here's my summary for the Old Warden Tunnel transect.

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