Gary W Hartley
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garybugsyou.bsky.social
Gary W Hartley
@garybugsyou.bsky.social
Writer: Bugs, biodiversity, farming and odd lit. The Observer, New Scientist, Scientific American, The Times, Farming Future Food etc.
Retired daft poetry guy. Perennially mildly-disappointed #lufc fan. Half-hearted groundhopper. gary at gwhartley dot com
Here, have a morning moon in a sea of blue.
#timelinecleanse #skysky
November 10, 2025 at 9:20 AM
All #lufc fans are this pub dog right now.
#dogsinpubs
November 9, 2025 at 3:55 PM
Wrote a little something on hot damselfly sex lives, if you're into that kind of thing

medium.com/insectsandth...
#bugsky #nature #scicomm #climatechange #insects
Heatwaves dampen damselfly sex lives
New research shows persistent temperature highs reduce damselfly mating, revealing how climate change disrupts insect reproduction.
medium.com
November 5, 2025 at 9:57 AM
The cup fate of #lufc sealed nice and early.
November 4, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Google, the world’s largest search engine operating three in four smartphones, has played Brussels like a fiddle – shaping laws, silencing rivals, and calling it "innovation". The chart shows how Big Tech bankrolls Brussels’ top think tanks.

Read our latest story here: www.ftm.eu/articles/goo...
November 3, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
"...and in the "French story of the year" category..."

77 year-old cyclist who fell 40m into a ravine survived in the cold and the rain for three days by drinking "several bottles" of the wine he was bringing home from the market.

france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/occitanie/ga...
"Il est coriace !" : cet homme de 77 ans a survécu trois jours au fond d’un ravin après une chute de 40 mètres à vélo
Un homme de 77 ans a été retrouvé sain et sauf mardi après avoir passé trois jours dans un profond ravin dans les Cévennes dans le département de la Lozère. Il avait chuté de 40 mètres en rentrant à v...
france3-regions.franceinfo.fr
October 31, 2025 at 1:25 PM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
The last few years haven't been too kind to the insect #protein industry.

Speaking at a @royentsoc.bsky.social event, analyst Corentin Biteau said leaders have been overstating #sustainability and profitability all along, with a radical refocus needed

farmingfuturefood.com/analyst-warn...
#farming
Analyst warns insect farming may be overstating its sustainability and profitability - Farming Future Food
Research finds insect farming’s impact depends on context, feed sources and regulation.
farmingfuturefood.com
October 31, 2025 at 2:06 PM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Austin Baker and his team at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are leading an ambitious effort to DNA-barcode every insect species in California as part of the statewide CalATBI initiative to “discover it all, protect it forever.”
California’s grand insect census
California has a way of exaggerating things—mountains, deserts, and egos. But its insects? They take excess to another level. Somewhere between the redwoods and the Salton Sea live perhaps 60,000,…
news.mongabay.com
October 31, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Don't think I've ever seen a hairbrush lounging in a bush before, so here's the curio for your pleasure
#shrubbery #ispy
October 31, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
“Conflating intelligence & technology is an assumption worth challenging. True intelligence may know not to use the technologies we so dearly cling to as we plumb our planet’s riches to exhaustion.”

@miquai.bsky.social
What Searching For Aliens Reveals About Ourselves | NOEMA
Looking for life beyond Earth changes the way we perceive life right here at home.
www.noemamag.com
October 29, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Said a very grudging farewell to magnificent #Bosnia and Herzegovina last week, after a couple of months among the myriad mountains, meadows and sinkholes.

Met a whole bunch of interesting #conservation people, and I'm hoping to tell their stories soon.
#nature #scicomm #wildlife
October 20, 2025 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Shell companies for snail farms. Just beautiful.
October 18, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Bosnia's last warm days and it's a mad, colourful #pollinator sugar scramble.
#bugsky #buttersky #beesky #BiH
October 16, 2025 at 3:43 PM
"Well done for trying": the homeopathy of compliments when tentatively attempting a new language
October 15, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Utterly incredible story. The non-human world will not be subdued, despite our best efforts.

#nature #wetlands #plantsky
October 13, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Same story - 2 very different takes.

Reeves claims she unblocked a development being held up by a "microscopic snail or something", while Natural England claim they and the EA negotiated an agreement with Southern Water, to reduce water abstraction from the snail's habitat.
October 9, 2025 at 7:15 AM
The game that Association Football has been waiting for
#Gibraltar #internationals
October 8, 2025 at 9:53 AM
I've written this banger about the early years of Greenland's very first two social wasps, if you can excuse the horrendous/ hilarious AI image that goes with it

medium.com/insectsandth...

#Greenland #wildlife #bugsky #invasivespecies #waspsky
How are Greenland’s first social wasps settling in the Arctic?
Greenland’s first social wasps arrive from Europe, raising questions about ecological impacts and human-assisted spread.
medium.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Magnificent, ominous skies at FK Sarajevo v Zrinjski Mostar. Who needs fans in the ground anyway
#groundhopping #Bosnia #Skysky
October 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
A friendly fungus pumps out chemicals that can stop a major crop pathogen in its tracks.

The @rothamsted.bsky.social @exeter.ac.uk findings could be the first step towards a new generation of #sustainable fungicides.

farmingfuturefood.com/soil-fungus-...
#agritech #farming #food
Soil fungus could replace chemical sprays in fight against crop diseases - Farming Future Food
A common soil fungus, Trichoderma hamatum, produces natural vapours that suppress major crop diseases, offering farmers a greener alternative to fungicides.
farmingfuturefood.com
October 6, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Free to read from Issue 2 — Make Football Shit Again

Richard Finn needs to get a few things off his chest about the Premier League. Thankfully, he’s got an idea to save us all.

thesquareball.net/leeds-united/make-football-shit-again/
Make Football Shit Again • The Square Ball
Richard Finn needs to get a few things off his chest about the Premier League. Thankfully, he’s got an idea to save us all.
thesquareball.net
October 3, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
NEWS:🌾 First rice trials in the UK!

UKCEH scientists are growing cold-hardy rice on rewetted peat in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Nine varieties, four mini paddies and a big question: can rice thrive in UK conditions?

buff.ly/wYnH1DE 🧪

🧵 1/
September 28, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
Nature is healing
September 28, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Coming to you live from the #Sarajevo derby. #Groundhopping
September 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Reposted by Gary W Hartley
"Researchers have discovered a plant that attracts pollinating flies by mimicking the odour of half-eaten ants." www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Plant that mimics odour of half-eaten ants to attract pollinators discovered
Botanist says new Japanese species of dogbane is first evidence of plants copying ants
www.theguardian.com
September 24, 2025 at 3:16 PM