iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Good tip, thanks! Most of my watering has been quite targeted to any that were looking shrivelled. I was a bit worried about the green one at the top, but splitting seems to have given it a new lease of life!

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Thank you! I’d like to do some more research on them. I hope I can get them to flower 🤞

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

That sounds like a sensible plan, I think I’ve only watered them twice since I got them last year

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Thank you! Do you think they are identifiable?

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

Oh wow they’re looking great! Is it best to water them quite soon after everything has shrivelled up? Mine seem to all be going at quite different paces.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

It’s my first time growing these and I’m enjoying watching them split

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Enjoyed seeing plenty of liverworts at Parsonage Wood with Stephen Lemon during the @kentfieldclub.bsky.social meeting. Those pictured include Frullania dilatata, Radula complanata, Metzgeria furcata & Cololejeunea minutissima. @bbsbryology.bsky.social

A brown patch of leafy liverwort sprawling over beech tree bark - Frullania dilatata

Overlapping, round, pale green leaves of a liverwort forming short branches over the surface of cracked beech tree bark - Radula complanata

A patch of pale green liverwort with forked strap-like branches on beech tree bark - Metzgeria furcata

A pale, sap green liverwort forming a patch of tiny blobs, like a jumbled string of minute beads, over the surface of tree bark - Cololejeunea minutissima

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

During the @kentfieldclub.bsky.social trip to Parsonage Wood, Stephen Lemon found lots of unusual Orthotrichum moss on a single coppiced tree! A few of these were O. striatum (distinctively smooth capsules) & O. tenellum (long capsules with a ring of stomata) @bbsbryology.bsky.social

A small piece of moss held between fingertips. Orthotrichum striatum - green tufts with pointed leaves. Capsules are distinctively smooth with 16 outer peristome teeth

A small piece of moss held between fingertips. Orthotrichum tenellum - tufts of green pointed leaves. Long capsules with a ring of stomata around them (needs a backlit microscope to view).

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Kent Field Club @kentfieldclub.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

A brilliant AGM this afternoon in Lenham. We heard about reptile monitoring in The Blean, survey of Local Wildlife Sites (we'll be visiting several this year), and work on a new shieldbug atlas for Kent (which we'll be publishing). #naturalhistory #KentNature

Mike Phillips speaking on reptile survey in The Blean. The slide shows an artificial refugium on vegetation.

Dave Shenton talking on surveying Local Wildlife Sites.

Glen Powell speaking on work towards a new Shieldbug and Leatherbug Atlas.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

Cool idea! The perks of having a brother with a 3D printer 😁

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

One of my 2025 highlights was getting to visit Windsor Great Park with the BENHS Saproxylic Group. The trees were phenomenal and we found the Windsor Weevil! 😃 #Saproxylic #Entomology #Coleoptera

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British Arachnological Society @britishspiders.bsky.social · 18/12/2025

Some genera of Money #spiders Linyphyiidae are present as adults throughout the year, often with peak male activity in the #winter months (see chart for Walckenaeria acuminata). Whatever the weather, it's a good time to be out looking for them and their wonderfully distinctive headgear! #Christmas

Male Walckenaeria acuminata: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax apicatus: Image thanks to Richard Gallon

Male Oedothorax gibbosus: image thanks to Richard Gallon

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Is that an ‘I need to get out more and worry about less niche things’ or ‘I need to get out more and find more first taxa’?

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Not at all! Thank you very much for your help 😃 I’ll get it loaded up to iRecord 👍

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DipteristsForum @dipteristsforum.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Can't make the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social Dipterist Day 2025 in Cambridge this Saturday 15th November - fear not! Sign up through the link in the page below and we'll send you the recordings. The wonders of Modern technology... dipterists.org.uk/events/dipte... Please share the love ❤️

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Hey @jamesimcc.bsky.social , here’s another one from my compost heap. I think it might be Proisotoma minuta (although I struggled with the ocelli and abdominal seg separation). What do you think?

A long springtail with quite short, 4 segmented antennae. The springtail has black splotches over its back.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Hi James, I’m back with new photos 😃 do these help?

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

Yes they seem to have gone through some things! At least they’re in it together? (apart from the ones that have fallen off…) I suppose it must be especially tempting with ants when they often come as a package deal 🐜🐜🐜

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

It is generally frowned upon to mount multiple insects on the same pin. It makes databaseing difficult + the chance that multiple species could be mounted together - a nightmare! Even so, you have to admire the creativity and precision of this example from the UK Latridiidae collection at the NHM

A piece of card cut into a serrated shape with 17 points next to each other. The card is mounted on a pin and most of the points have small beetles (latridiidae) glued onto them. The card is visibly old and yellowed and most of the beetles are damaged, missing their heads and pronotums.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 04/11/2025

Thanks James! 😃 I will get back to you with some more pics

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Here’s the empodium 👍 also is there a technique that allows you to extrude the mouthparts?

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

@jamesimcc.bsky.social Hi James! I recently learnt that my village has no springtail records so I wanted to try and add a few. Do you think this could be Hypogastrura manubrialis? Think it has some tiny anl spines, 8x8 ocelli, foot with empodium, and skinny mucro. Found in compost

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James McCulloch @jamesimcc.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

Send me records: I am excited to be taking on the role of national springtail recorder. I have huge shoes to fill, but I hope to continue the progress Peter Shaw made in understanding the taxonomy and biology of the UK's #springtails. www.brc.ac.uk/scheme/colle...

Orchesella flavescens, one of the UK's largest springtails. It's an elongate springtail, with long antennae, often with a differing number of segments on each antenna (but with a maximum of six). It can be identified by the pattern consisting of parallel longitudinal dark lines running the length of the abdomen, contrasting against a paler ground colour. This is a relatively scarce woodland species.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

That’s brilliant, thanks for your help Derek! I wonder how they all ended up in there 🤔

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

I see what you mean about that rogue forewing now! Here are some more detailed photos

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Saw this lovely moss on a survey a few weeks ago. It is Hookeria lucens. I like how the field guide account describes jt as ‘a pleasure to find’ 🥰

A bright green moss with wide, flat leaves overlapping each other like scales. The leaf cells are large, reflecting the light in glittering diagonal lines.

A more zoomed out view of the flattened moss shoots

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Thanks Derek! I’m away from my compound microscope at the moment but I’ll try and get some images of one on a slide in the next couple of days

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

@arnoldtortoise.bsky.social Hi Derek, we found hundreds of these tiny wasps in a flight interception trap from an oak tree. Are they Trichogrammatidae? We’d be very grateful of your help 🙂

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Norfolk Ponds Project @norfolkponds.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

Hello @bsky.app. we are Norfolk Ponds Project - a science-led partnership NGO focused on pond restoration & #ghostpond ressurection. We aim to educate, lobby & inspire others on ponds. We used to Tweet & had 5000+ followers. ***Please follow & help us achieve the same here***!!!

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 25/08/2025

That’s great to hear! I hope they are doing well 😃🪵

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DB @arnoldtortoise.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

A male Oligosita pallida parasitoid wasp of the Trichogrammatidae found in the garden birch tree. #UKWildlife #wasps #Trichogrammatidae

tiny yellow wasp with black markings along its sides, head and antennae are to the left, fringed wings are held at 60 degrees above body

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 09/08/2025

In prep for the #Bioblitz at Mote Park today, we set up a few bottle vane traps in lovely old oaks. Highlights so far included Thanasimus formicarius, Tomoxia bucephala, and the chalcid wasp, Astichus arithmeticus 🌳 @kentfieldclub.bsky.social

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martinswarren.bsky.social @martinswarren.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Look what arrived yesterday hot off the press. The amazing Alpine flower book by my good friend Bob Gibbons. Published posthumously it is a wonderful legacy of one of the greatest modern botanists. It was a privilege to have shared many European tours with him @saveplants.bsky.social

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Must have felt good to have been part of a successful trip, congrats on your records. Interesting that they were in thyme clumps, they seem to be happy in quite a few different situations.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

I hate to ruin the mystery, but the bug is an immature Ilyocoris cimicoides 😊 The Thrips remains nameless though…

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Thanks Derek! 😊 It was an exciting moment!

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

Been hoping to find this species for a few years, and yesterday it finally happened! Sat in a patch of nettles by the River Dove in the Peak District, I peeled some loose bark from a log and was delighted to spot these tiny ball-rollers! Armadillidium pulchellum ❤️

A brown and orange woodlouse with whitish flecks along its body stands on a piece of wood with a linear, wrinkled texture.

An orange and brown woodlouse with white flecks is rolled into a ball while being held between a finger and thumb.

I am looking excitedly at the camera while pointing to a tiny woodlouse on a log.

I am sitting on a train wearing my customised hoodie with a drawing of a woodlouse and the words ‘Armadillidium pulchellum’ printed on the front.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

I’m afraid I’m no expert at these but that sounds like a good bet. Any water dock around?

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Royal Entomological Society @royentsoc.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Who’s joining us for the #LloydOfTheFlies Wetland Bug Hunt? We're partnering with Aardman and @wwtworldwide.bsky.social to bring you a completely unique and exciting way to explore our wonderful wetlands between 5 April - 1 June 🪰 buff.ly/bFvfe0q #WWTLloyd #KidsDaysOut #VisitLondon #ThingsToDo

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Richard Moyse @kentgrasshoppers.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Went back to the allotments where I spotted a Blue Mint Beetle and saw 5 without much effort. One appeared to be a gravid female, chomping on a mint leaf. 1st UK breeding record was apparently from 2012. I found 14 records from Kent on iRecord, plus others further afield. #KentNature #beetles

A metallic blue beetle, seen side-on, with a distended abdomen. It is feeding on a leaf on a mint plant, and other leaves also show feeding damage.

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Vanna Bartlett @vannabartlett.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

A great day out in the Norfolk Brecks yesterday, managed to find a #harvestman and a #pseudoscorpion in woodland by Lynford Water. Rilaena triangularis aka the spring harvestman and Neobisium carcinoides. More dots to add to the distribution maps. #arachnids

A pale brown harvestman with a dark saddle speckled with white spots on the underside of fallen branch.

A small, shiny dark brown pseudoscorpion in a brown plastic tray. Its pedipalps are held out in front of it and they end in formidable looking claws.

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Steph Skipp @stephskipp.bsky.social · 20/04/2025

Saw this crazy slime mould while on the BMIG field meeting last week. It was under a log in wet woodland. I think it’s Metatrichia floriformis. If you look closely, you can spot a globular springtail clambering around on it ❤️

Hundreds of slime mould spore bodies, which look like pins with shiny, black, spherical heads emerging from some wood. In some areas of the image, you can see fluffy encrustations or brick-red spores covering the slime mould.

A close-up of pin-head-like slime mould bodies emerging from damp wood. In the centre of the image, a round, yellow springtail reaches out with its front legs to climb from one sphere to another.

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