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Sarah Arnold

@sejarnold.bsky.social
2.9K followers 4.6K following 398 posts

Entomologist, likes pollination, insect behaviour, IPM, horticulture and agriculture, sustainability, nature and especially wild bees. Works at Niab (UK). Views my own. she/her Neurodivergent, quirky, sometimes wrong but usually teachable.

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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Ah, nevermind. Still interesting/useful to know they are turning up in Kent in places other than caravan parks and motorhome sites so possibly more of them out there than we think...
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you'd be willing to pop it in the post and send it to us at Niab, East Malling, my colleague Francis Wamonje would be delighted (he's leading a research programme into the spread, biological control options, routes of entry, behaviour, etc.)
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
OK, the numbers this year have just been ridiculous but I kind of am excited if that means we get to start seeing some of the fun colour-morphs now. I'm noticing that some of the late-season nymphs look distinctly darker than the summer ones. Is that a known thing associated with vernalisation?
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Alejandro Ordonez @anordonez1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
"🌿 We're hiring at @econovoau.bsky.social! Postdoc position forecasting how land-use change, climate shifts & rewilding will reshape European plant diversity. Biodiversa+ REDESIGN project, Aarhus Uni. 2 years. Closes 1 Nov 2026. 🔗 www.au.dk/om/stillinge... #ecology #postdoc
au.dk
Postdoctoral researcher in biodiversity forecasting, vegetation dynamics and rewilding - Ledig stilling på Aarhus Universitet
Ledig stilling ved Institut for Biologi - Økoinformatik og biodiversitet, Aarhus Universitet
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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026
We're publishing new guidance to support trans people who do fieldwork (any work outside the office)! Now we need your help to get them seen so please share! inclusivefieldwork.leeds.ac.uk/trans/
a cartoon of three fieldworkers. One has a small trans flag. The logos of the university of leeds, research england, and canopy robin are shown, as well as the URL: InclusiveFieldwork (dot) Leeds (dot) AC (dot) UK (slash) trans
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Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 25/09/2026
If you want a six minute summary of how to support trans+ fieldworkers, then why not check out this video we made (voiced by the incredible @izzyvalkyrie.bsky.social)?
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
They're brilliant, so much personality. What's his favourite treat? Scambus is number 29 since I got my first hamster as a teenager! #Hyperfixation
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
He is a real cutie. And one of the most chill hamsters I've ever had - likes pretty much everything (except raspberries) and reliably gets up at about 9pm most evenings.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
I love your hamster posts! This is Scambus, by the way.
A small and very cute orange coloured hamster wearing a quizzical expression as he peeps out of a seagrass tunnel inside his cage, surrounded by mixed cereal sprays, with a bit of cork bark in the foreground.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The assumption at the moment is that the small hairs on Ceratopogonidae bodies are good for getting clusters of cocoa pollen grains stuck to them, so 1 visit can deposit 50 grains rather than 3, for example. But so much of this is assumed, or demonstrated from a handful of observations.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
They've had quite a year! Our garden went from first sighting ever earlier this summer to one of the proper aggregations of loads of em by September. I understand their favourite food is seeds of mallow-relatives?
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
These tend to be nice, interesting days with a range of speakers on topics around natural history, biological recording, conservation and ecology, relevant to Kent and beyond. Same venue as last year, which worked well. Some free student places available!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Kent Wildlife Conference: 25th October 2026 Uni. of Kent/Darwin Conference Suite £22 (£15 students) incl. refreshments/lunch Theme: biological recording & its importance. @graemelyons.bsky.social speaking on pan-species listing! #KentNature #NaturalHistory www.kentfieldclub.org.uk/programme/up...
kentfieldclub.org.uk
The Kent Wildlife Conference - Kent Field Club| KFC
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Yes! I know, right? They like leafminer larvae, so they actively seek out mined leaves in trees and presumably drag the larvae out and munch them. (Evidence so far is they will use both some leafmining caterpillars and fly larvae but we are looking into this more.)
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
These are some of the pollinators of cocoa from Ghanaian farms! They develop in the slime of rotting cocoa pods & other vegetation! They fly for ~1 week, visit flowers. But they're quite rare visitors to cocoa flowers; other small flies seem to visit more but may be less good at it. #Chocolate
Microscope image (not stellar, ngl) of two flies that are fairly plump, with dark back-markings on the thorax and abdomen and pale bellies and legs. About 2.5mm long in real life.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This dude, looks like a snot bogey on a leaf? That's a larva of a little black-&-yellow fly. The larva wanders snottily around on leaves that have whitefly infestation and & eats whitefly. Was thought to be quite rare in the UK, but how many people go looking for whitefly-eating snot larvae, really?
Underside of a leaf, covered in white smears of wax, little dots with black stripes on that are whitefly nymphs, and then a little green blob that looks like snot (highlighted by a red circle). The blob is a fly larva.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
OK, here's one: this is Scambus pomorum. It develops inside a weevil, inside apple blossoms. The adult is about 0.5cm long & after emerging has to survive on its own for 10 months, through European summer then winter. So this flimsy thing turns predatory, catching other insects & nomming them!
Magnified picture of a black and yellow wasp, with long black antennae and a long black ovipositor for plunging into weevils inside closed blossoms.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So many this year. Absurd numbers. We're still seeing new emergences of first instars all over the shop, and then every subsequent life-stage, all over...various plants. Wondering at what point they start to become economically bothersome in UK food production.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Oh yes, *please* ask me about the insects and crops I work on and let me talk about them, I really love talking about them and also let me explain this absolutely bizarre but wonderful bit of the insect's life cycle because it blew my mind and I can't not share!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"We don't have enough fundamental ecologists and evolutionary biologists on the teaching team to call it BSc Ecology, but we've drafted in a couple of agricultural IPM types and an environmental scientist to teach a module"?
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
And I think parts of mainland Europe were less dry/hot. Netherlands seemed much more verdant when I was there last week, and more hoverflies accordingly!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Possibly migrating back from places less parched and exposed? Especially have seen an uptick in E. balteatus and Myathropa recently.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We saw a big crash around us for most of summer. I was actually looking for wild ones for one project, and sometimes 2 or 3 technicians would be out for 2+ hours and see maybe 4 or 5 tops. The numbers have definitely picked up since the temperature dropped and the rain returned though.
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Reposted by Sarah Arnold
Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
McDonald said. “I’ve long seen grant awarding competitions as essentially a value-destroying activity…There is a trade-off between efficient public spending, research quality and time at the bench.”
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It's worrying how relatable I find Anneke despite them being, you know, a vampire and a priest and me being neither of those things.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
As a wider question: lots of groups are working on more environmentally-sound commercial-scale solutions. There are new codling moth trap designs with better pheromones and things, and new biopesticides being developed.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
They make the best juice. Love russet juice.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Pretty common for new fruit varieties to be owned & trademarked, patented or protected in some way, as the person/organisation that bred them needs to get some return on the investment they put into developing them; with apples that's decades of work. Especially clonal crops like apple, strawberry.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Shhh, 'Pink Lady' is a brand rather than a single variety. There are several varieties (Cripps Pink and derivatives) that can be sold as Pink Lady if they meet quality standards. So you may be able to grow a variety behind the name, just can't put the branding on it without approval.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
It can be a struggle as most varieties need a minimum number of days below a certain temperature to form flower buds properly. And no flowers = no fruit!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Exciting discussion of all things Apple-related. Popular topics at the moment seem to be fruit breeding, cider-making, variety preferences, social aspects. Looking forward to more chatter on entomology and integrated pest management obviously! Thoroughly support more #FruitSky
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Is cups of tea a thing that has an upper limit of "allowed"?
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Sophien Kamoun @kamounlab.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
A plant pathologist at Hutton in Dundee, Scotland #scijobs hutton.current-vacancies.com/Jobs/Advert/...
hutton.current-vacancies.com
Research Scientist – Plant Pathology - Dundee
Main Purpose of Job We are seeking a highly motivated researcher with a PhD and expertise in plant pathology to join our group working on epidemiology, disease control and IPM. The focus of the role...
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Yes! Just thinking about it is making me squirm.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
That's quite a blank cheque to write to them. My brain has just gone into overdrive with numerous other "What if?" scenarios. So many ways that isn't going to work well. For anyone.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
And I *definitely* didn't make that noise in front of one of the posters about it, no absolutely not.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Technology coming through in several countries to detect crop pests and zap them individually with lasers. Sci-fi agriculture/horticulture is here. Rather fun.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The absolute JOY and EXCITEMENT I feel at Gerben Messelink discussing the potential of my favourite micro-ladybird Scymnus interruptus in greenhouse biocontrol. I might get to hang with this wonderful creature professionally and research it. So awesome. #IOBC-WRPS #BiologicalControl
Fuzzy photo of projected talk slide, featuring a photo of a gorgeous black and red hairy ladybird munching an aphid, and a graph basically showing survival on different food mixes.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
May have longed for a microwave on occasion! Need to just pack the travel kettle as standard.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
I'll add one: work out what your reaction to excess caffeine is and consider whether a sugar hit will help more with focus in the next session. Oversweet fruit tea is helping me more than black coffee this week!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
That works well if you know other people there! I like relaxing with known collabs
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
To other #autistic and otherwise low-social-battery folks in research: what are your top tips for getting the most out of academic conferences without overdoing it? Please drop advice/strategies below! #NeurodivergentInScience #NeurodivergentInSTEM
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
That's a really interesting strategy! I'm not sure I could seat-of-the-pants it myself like that but sounds like it could work well in the right situations.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Definitely easier being at conferences with people you already know!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Good advice!
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
+1 for nature breaks (weather-permitting)! Conferences should have these as standard. Found Siphoninus phillyrae and probably larva of Acletoxenus formosus just outside conference venue during afternoon coffee time!
An ash (Fraxinus excelsior) leaf, medium green, medium size, turned over to reveal white wax underneath, with a few whiteish-grey speckles (1mm) that have a dark central line - these are nymphs of the whitefly Siphoninus phillyrae. There is also an adult whitefly that looks like a bright white triangle about 2mm long. And also there is a 2mm long green blob that looks like snot, but it's a fly larva that is eating the whitefly.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
How do you work out if you have something to discuss with someone before initiating a conversation with them, if they are not in the abstracts book? I do have a list of people I'd like to see but usually only after seeing their talk. Worry I'll miss someone interesting as they speak on last day...
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
So even if ideas and tactics are not the specific tips that work for me, if I can gather a stack of them maybe they'll help someone else? Conferences can be fun and really that shouldn't be as socially *costly* as some of them are.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
...but in the last 4-6 years I have noticed my ability to sustain networking is *much* reduced. But intellectually knowing I need to pace myself at conferences is hard to reconcile w/guilt of ducking out a bit early or skipping the odd session to recover, even when I notice the difference it makes.
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Sarah Arnold @sejarnold.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I've been doing academic conferences for 20-odd years, so am totally aware that listening to talks/looking at posters is only about 33% of the purpose of being there, and the rest is largely about networking, meeting people, chatting to people...
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