Ian Beavis
@ianbeavis.bsky.social
Research Curator at the Amelia, Tunbridge Wells. Entomologist. Natural historian. Local historian. Ecology & heritage of Scilly & the Channel Islands
Reposted by Ian Beavis
At last I have seen the Juniper Shield Bug, Cyphostethus tristriatus thanks to @graemelyons.bsky.social who pointed them out. Also learned a good technique for bug collecting! Sullington, South Downs #shieldbugs #juniper A good day.
January 25, 2026 at 9:43 PM
At last I have seen the Juniper Shield Bug, Cyphostethus tristriatus thanks to @graemelyons.bsky.social who pointed them out. Also learned a good technique for bug collecting! Sullington, South Downs #shieldbugs #juniper A good day.
Reposted by Ian Beavis
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/1000... I am on 1,025 species as of the 25th January! Read the full story here.
1,000 species recorded in 25 days
On Sunday, I breached the 1,000 species mark on a fantastic and rather unplanned trip out with the local British Bryological Society to Sull...
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com
January 28, 2026 at 9:18 AM
analternativenaturalhistoryofsussex.blogspot.com/2026/01/1000... I am on 1,025 species as of the 25th January! Read the full story here.
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Don’t know about anyone else but this is the densest display of Maidenhair Spleenwort I have ever seen
January 23, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Don’t know about anyone else but this is the densest display of Maidenhair Spleenwort I have ever seen
Reposted by Ian Beavis
The fabulous Asplenium x murbeckii. This is the hybrid between A. septentrionale and A. ruta-muraria at it's only known British/Irish site.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
January 25, 2026 at 7:56 PM
The fabulous Asplenium x murbeckii. This is the hybrid between A. septentrionale and A. ruta-muraria at it's only known British/Irish site.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
Lesser Periwinkle trailing down an old wall in central Tunbridge Wells #wildflowerhour
January 25, 2026 at 8:42 PM
Lesser Periwinkle trailing down an old wall in central Tunbridge Wells #wildflowerhour
This must be the inspiration behind W Keble Martin's Concise British Flora of 1965. The style of the plates with plants overlapping & hand-drawn captions is very similar. Compare this plate with violets in Keble Martin with the fourth one below.
January 25, 2026 at 8:40 PM
This must be the inspiration behind W Keble Martin's Concise British Flora of 1965. The style of the plates with plants overlapping & hand-drawn captions is very similar. Compare this plate with violets in Keble Martin with the fourth one below.
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Cleaning out the bee hotels and harvesting red and orange vented mason bee cocoons. A couple of male RMBs (see his white tache) had already hatched, still alive. Put back to bed and will try again in March when there's pollen and mates about. @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social
January 25, 2026 at 4:17 PM
Cleaning out the bee hotels and harvesting red and orange vented mason bee cocoons. A couple of male RMBs (see his white tache) had already hatched, still alive. Put back to bed and will try again in March when there's pollen and mates about. @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social
Reposted by Ian Beavis
1/2 This is Psychoides filicivera (left), and what I believe is well-worn P verhuella (right). Both moths spend larval stage consuming spores of ferns, particularly Asplenium species in case of P verhuella. Inadvertently bred in closed terrarium I assembled from collected local ferns, including…
January 25, 2026 at 6:48 PM
1/2 This is Psychoides filicivera (left), and what I believe is well-worn P verhuella (right). Both moths spend larval stage consuming spores of ferns, particularly Asplenium species in case of P verhuella. Inadvertently bred in closed terrarium I assembled from collected local ferns, including…
Reposted by Ian Beavis
My new favourite Cladonia is C. rangiferina, which I went to see today at its only known site in Norfolk near Horsey Gap. More usually found on montane heaths in Scotland, it’s a robust bushy “reindeer moss” with a pale grey and brown colour scheme. Seems to be doing well.
January 16, 2026 at 5:21 PM
My new favourite Cladonia is C. rangiferina, which I went to see today at its only known site in Norfolk near Horsey Gap. More usually found on montane heaths in Scotland, it’s a robust bushy “reindeer moss” with a pale grey and brown colour scheme. Seems to be doing well.
Reposted by Ian Beavis
🪰 #Freshwater Friday - A rare glimpse of a mayfly (Heptageniidae) moulting!
This stop-frame sequence shows a Heptageniidae shedding its exoskeleton - captured by our brilliant Riverfly volunteer Hilary. Just one of the many hidden stories happening beneath the water's surface.
#CitizenScience
This stop-frame sequence shows a Heptageniidae shedding its exoskeleton - captured by our brilliant Riverfly volunteer Hilary. Just one of the many hidden stories happening beneath the water's surface.
#CitizenScience
January 16, 2026 at 12:02 PM
🪰 #Freshwater Friday - A rare glimpse of a mayfly (Heptageniidae) moulting!
This stop-frame sequence shows a Heptageniidae shedding its exoskeleton - captured by our brilliant Riverfly volunteer Hilary. Just one of the many hidden stories happening beneath the water's surface.
#CitizenScience
This stop-frame sequence shows a Heptageniidae shedding its exoskeleton - captured by our brilliant Riverfly volunteer Hilary. Just one of the many hidden stories happening beneath the water's surface.
#CitizenScience
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Wildlife group's trip to Morville yesterday was very wet indeed but we soldiered on... for a while. Finds included this splendid ground beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis.
January 22, 2026 at 6:22 PM
Wildlife group's trip to Morville yesterday was very wet indeed but we soldiered on... for a while. Finds included this splendid ground beetle, Anchomenus dorsalis.
And a plate illustrating a range of British jellyfish from the Oxford Book of Invertebrates (1971)
January 22, 2026 at 9:31 PM
And a plate illustrating a range of British jellyfish from the Oxford Book of Invertebrates (1971)
The jellyfish Cyanea capillata (see last repost) & the related blue C lamarcki from F S Russell's Medusae of the British Isles vol.2 (1970)
January 22, 2026 at 9:29 PM
The jellyfish Cyanea capillata (see last repost) & the related blue C lamarcki from F S Russell's Medusae of the British Isles vol.2 (1970)
Reposted by Ian Beavis
I felt the itch to post something a little bigger today! This is a lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata). Jellyfish are some of the larger pelagic organisms. I was lucky enough to see this one in the west of Scotland.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
January 17, 2026 at 7:45 PM
I felt the itch to post something a little bigger today! This is a lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata). Jellyfish are some of the larger pelagic organisms. I was lucky enough to see this one in the west of Scotland.
#marineplankton 🦑
#marineplankton 🦑
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Meet Duobrachium sparksae: a newly described comb jelly that looks like a glowing hot-air balloon drifting just above the deep seafloor. Transparent, delicate, and unmistakably transfixing, it reminds us how much biodiversity is in the deep oceans.
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...
January 16, 2026 at 3:54 PM
Meet Duobrachium sparksae: a newly described comb jelly that looks like a glowing hot-air balloon drifting just above the deep seafloor. Transparent, delicate, and unmistakably transfixing, it reminds us how much biodiversity is in the deep oceans.
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...
www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-stor...
Reposted by Ian Beavis
There’s a Moth Marathon in Australia running on #inaturalist this week… a good excuse for more mothing!!
Here’s some of the moths seen in our Perth Hills garden on 18/01 that are either new observations for us or moths we see very rarely. Details in ALT
#teammoth #ausinverts #wildoz #Lepidoptera
Here’s some of the moths seen in our Perth Hills garden on 18/01 that are either new observations for us or moths we see very rarely. Details in ALT
#teammoth #ausinverts #wildoz #Lepidoptera
January 20, 2026 at 8:41 AM
There’s a Moth Marathon in Australia running on #inaturalist this week… a good excuse for more mothing!!
Here’s some of the moths seen in our Perth Hills garden on 18/01 that are either new observations for us or moths we see very rarely. Details in ALT
#teammoth #ausinverts #wildoz #Lepidoptera
Here’s some of the moths seen in our Perth Hills garden on 18/01 that are either new observations for us or moths we see very rarely. Details in ALT
#teammoth #ausinverts #wildoz #Lepidoptera
Reposted by Ian Beavis
🏰 View from a hotel room 🏨
In York today – the view for those that like history 📜 – the wall, and for those that like natural history 🌿, the Jewel of York – the rare Tansy Beetle(Chrysolina graminis).
#Art #Nature #NatureIllustration #HiddenWonders #Insects #StreetArt #York #Cityscape #UrbanNature.
In York today – the view for those that like history 📜 – the wall, and for those that like natural history 🌿, the Jewel of York – the rare Tansy Beetle(Chrysolina graminis).
#Art #Nature #NatureIllustration #HiddenWonders #Insects #StreetArt #York #Cityscape #UrbanNature.
January 20, 2026 at 6:40 PM
🏰 View from a hotel room 🏨
In York today – the view for those that like history 📜 – the wall, and for those that like natural history 🌿, the Jewel of York – the rare Tansy Beetle(Chrysolina graminis).
#Art #Nature #NatureIllustration #HiddenWonders #Insects #StreetArt #York #Cityscape #UrbanNature.
In York today – the view for those that like history 📜 – the wall, and for those that like natural history 🌿, the Jewel of York – the rare Tansy Beetle(Chrysolina graminis).
#Art #Nature #NatureIllustration #HiddenWonders #Insects #StreetArt #York #Cityscape #UrbanNature.
And two more winter-flying moths with wingless females from Charles Barrett's British Lepidoptera. Mottled Umber (1) and Dotted Border (2)
January 21, 2026 at 8:40 PM
And two more winter-flying moths with wingless females from Charles Barrett's British Lepidoptera. Mottled Umber (1) and Dotted Border (2)
Spring Usher (1) and Early Moth (2), showing the wingless females and larvae. Plus (1c) an extraordinary gynandromorph (half male, half female, so wingless on one side) of Spring Usher. From Charles Barrett's British Lepidoptera vol.7 (1901)
January 21, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Spring Usher (1) and Early Moth (2), showing the wingless females and larvae. Plus (1c) an extraordinary gynandromorph (half male, half female, so wingless on one side) of Spring Usher. From Charles Barrett's British Lepidoptera vol.7 (1901)
Reposted by Ian Beavis
A 4th sp for the year this morning with an Early Moth 😊
January 20, 2026 at 11:06 PM
A 4th sp for the year this morning with an Early Moth 😊
Reposted by Ian Beavis
Spring Usher!! 1st Macro of 2026. A final check all around the trap and I found this right at the bottom of the wall of the house. I am so excited 😆 I suspect that if you are not a moth-er you won’t quite understand my level of excitement 😅 #teammoth
January 13, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Spring Usher!! 1st Macro of 2026. A final check all around the trap and I found this right at the bottom of the wall of the house. I am so excited 😆 I suspect that if you are not a moth-er you won’t quite understand my level of excitement 😅 #teammoth
Reposted by Ian Beavis
