Sam Thomas
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sjthomasbotany.bsky.social
Sam Thomas
@sjthomasbotany.bsky.social
Naturalist, botanist and entomologist. He/him.
England Officer @bsbibotany.bsky.social views my own
Pinned
However you arrive in the UK you are welcome. People who are 'concerned about immigration' are racist. The government is at fault for poverty. Stop punching down.
Other thing that works well is a 96-well plate with strips of snap on lids of the kind used for PCR, nice and easy but obviously means not storing the specimen and gen together so needs a good cross-reference system
January 14, 2026 at 9:40 PM
Tried various things, not found anything I'm fully happy with. Currently use 3mm internal diameter PVC flexible tube with a 3mm solid plastic bung. I then cut one section of tube and two of bung and fill with a drop of glycerol. Quite fiddly, sometimes leaks and heavy so spins pins in the storebox
January 14, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Reposted by Sam Thomas
Help us unlock the Plants of the Past, by supporting volunteers to digitise decades of paper records & inform C21st science!
@biggive.bsky.social
From #GivingTuesday to 9 Dec, we have £10K in matched funds to unlock: every donation, however small, will be doubled:
donate.biggive.org/campaign/a05...
Unlocking the Plants of the Past – Big Give
Decades of botanical observations of our vital wild plants are trapped in paper records and archives - through the efforts …
donate.biggive.org
December 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
A dipterist's dipteron, the elusive Borboropsis puberula. The only member of the family in the UK. Restricted to the Scottish Highlands. This one from Ben Lawers is probably the 7th UK record.

#Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 5:04 PM
I'm speaking on #Chloropidae, trying to make a difficult and neglected group a little more accessible via a group-sourced Flickr photo library. Also looking forward to hearing the other speakers.

www.flickr.com/groups/chlor...
November 9, 2025 at 10:20 AM
I'm currently updating and making corrections to the Ephydridae key prepared for the @dipteristsforum.bsky.social workshop. Please let me know if you've noticed any errors or anything that might need updating. Comments, DM or email to sjthomasbotanyATgmail.com please.

#Diptera #entomology
November 8, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Empis digramma female #Empididae. A distinctive pale yellow species with short bristles and two stripes on the scutum. Frequent in the north of the UK.

#Diptera #Entomology #insectphotography #inverts #bugsky #macro
October 26, 2025 at 12:13 PM
The very small #Chloropidae Pseudopachychaeta ruficeps swept this spring from alpine sedge flushes, Beinn Ghlas, Ben Lawers NNR. This species develops in the inflorescences of Eriophorum (Cottongrass) species.

#Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
October 25, 2025 at 7:10 AM
Gonatherus planiceps female #Scathophagidae. A uncommonly collected, spring-flying, species of upland flushes and other wet habitats in the mountains. This one from Beinn Ghlas in the Ben Lawers NNR this May.

#Diptera #Entomology @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
October 19, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Sam Thomas
It's not asylum seekers who jack up rents, undermine the NHS, hold down wages and keep people insecure.
It's capital.
The role of the far right is to shift the blame for decades of economic attacks by the rich and powerful onto powerless people who have only just arrived here.
August 24, 2025 at 4:19 PM
However you arrive in the UK you are welcome. People who are 'concerned about immigration' are racist. The government is at fault for poverty. Stop punching down.
August 23, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Sam Thomas
Ranunculus x levenensis with parent spp R. reptans Creeping Spearwort & R. flammula Lesser Spearwort on a Cumbrian lake shore. The hybrid has larger flowers & broader lamina than reptans with linear leaves. R. reptans has few GB locations, often ephemeral being introduced from the arctic by birds
August 1, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Rock sea-lavenders from the Afon Crigyll Estuary Ynys Môn: Limonium recurvum subsp. crigyllensis (with rough scape) described in 2022 by Ivor Rees and only know from this site where it grows with the more widespread L. procerum (smooth scape). @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
July 27, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Hypopitys monotropa (Yellow Bird’s-nest) from an evening woodland walk. This is subspecies hypophegea which is completely glabrous, often delicate, yellowish with fewer flowers. Now is the time to check the subsp. ID of your local populations with Fred Rumsey's
@bsbibotany.bsky.social News key.
July 10, 2025 at 2:43 PM
Thanks Tristan
June 22, 2025 at 4:20 PM
A final stop on Rannoch Moor before the long drive south rounded things off nicely with Scheuchzeria palustris (Rannoch-rush) and Nuphar pumila (Least Water-lily). The latter out in a loch and impossible to photograph properly. 5/5
June 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
In a steep gully near the summit were three very rare small plants with white flowers: Cerastium cerastoides (Starwort Mouse-ear), Saxifraga cespitosa (Tufted Saxifrage) and Saxifraga rivularis (Highland Saxifrage) 4/5
June 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Then the big 14 hour day on Ben Nevis with many amazing alpines including: Veronica alpina (Alpine Speedwell), Poa flexuosa (Wavy Meadow-grass) and Carex lachenalii (Hare's-foot Sedge) around Coire na Ciste 3/5
June 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Between Mallaig and Fort William I dropped in on two very rare sedges: Carex buxbaumii (Club Sedge) and Carex salina (Saltmarsh Sedge). The latter only discovered in the UK in 2004. 2/5
June 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Scotland trip started on Skye: Koenigia islandica (Iceland-purslane) only just germinating and the weather too bad for Arabis alpina on the Cuillins. However, Ligusticum scoticum (Scots Lovage) was looking lovely at Armadale. 1/5

@bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
June 22, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Just back from a mostly productive botany trip around western Scotland, still need to edit the plant photos so here's a delightful male Snow Bunting singing on the summit of Ben Nevis in the evening sunshine.
June 21, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Thanks Jen
May 8, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Received the pdf of my paper adding Philotelma parvum to the UK list in the upcoming issue of Dipterists Digest. A rather obscure little Ephydridae (shore fly) collected from the New Forest, emphasising again the importance of New Forest mires for rare Diptera
drive.google.com/file/d/1FCwH...
May 8, 2025 at 11:55 AM
Very unexpected & rare: Anticheta obliviosa female #Sciomyzidae from saltmarsh on Hayling Island, Hampshire. Previously known in the UK from fens around Huntingdon and singles from Cheshire and Yorkshire - all inland. Nice find for a quick evening sweep
#ento #diptera @dipteristsforum.bsky.social
May 2, 2025 at 5:51 PM