Justin Walker
@arcanelove.bsky.social
Field ornithologist, amateur entomologist, Norfolk heteroptera recorder; enjoys the company of trees, picks litter, runs.
Sorry @specsaversuk.bsky.social, @cloudflare.social strikes again!
November 18, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Sorry @specsaversuk.bsky.social, @cloudflare.social strikes again!
Quite a few flowering Brambles in Thetford at the weekend. I'd be very happy to have more blackberries but I fear that, while pollination might not be a problem, ripening any fruit might well be.
October 14, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Quite a few flowering Brambles in Thetford at the weekend. I'd be very happy to have more blackberries but I fear that, while pollination might not be a problem, ripening any fruit might well be.
A pencil thick young Grass Snake in the garden this afternoon, presumably quite active given it hit 20°C in Thetford today.
October 6, 2025 at 9:36 PM
A pencil thick young Grass Snake in the garden this afternoon, presumably quite active given it hit 20°C in Thetford today.
Just one Willow Warbler among 25 Chiffchaffs ringed at @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes yesterday. Sadly, now an uncommon species here outside of Thetford and King’s Forests. What are we doing to our world?
September 7, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Just one Willow Warbler among 25 Chiffchaffs ringed at @btobirds.bsky.social #NunneryLakes yesterday. Sadly, now an uncommon species here outside of Thetford and King’s Forests. What are we doing to our world?
This isn’t a test! The #ClimateEmergency is already impacting the lives of millions globally and unless necessary change is immediately made the situation will threaten life on Earth.
September 7, 2025 at 8:38 PM
This isn’t a test! The #ClimateEmergency is already impacting the lives of millions globally and unless necessary change is immediately made the situation will threaten life on Earth.
Norfolk naturalists, please look out for nymphs and adults of the non-native Southern Green Shieldbug ~ Nezara viridula. With this being the second county record it would be useful to know more about their spread. Please add records via iRecord, or DM me. www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...
August 24, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Norfolk naturalists, please look out for nymphs and adults of the non-native Southern Green Shieldbug ~ Nezara viridula. With this being the second county record it would be useful to know more about their spread. Please add records via iRecord, or DM me. www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/...
I wasn't entirely sure if these are dog toys or stress relief for their owners. Apparently, much like reality, Elon was quite unpopular.
August 24, 2025 at 9:34 PM
I wasn't entirely sure if these are dog toys or stress relief for their owners. Apparently, much like reality, Elon was quite unpopular.
Google plans to bulldoze a wildlife haven in Essex – home to rare species – for a data centre. Sign the petition now to help save it before it’s gone forever 🐝🦋 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
Save Arena Essex- Tell Google to search elsewhere!
Wedged between the Mar Dyke Valley and Lakeside Retail Park, the former Arena Essex Raceway is not your usual wildlife haven. Where once stock cars and speedway bikes lined up to cross the fini...
you.38degrees.org.uk
August 20, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Google plans to bulldoze a wildlife haven in Essex – home to rare species – for a data centre. Sign the petition now to help save it before it’s gone forever 🐝🦋 you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/sa...
Reposted by Justin Walker
The good weather is back, let's celebrate with some FIT-counts! 🌞 🐝 🪲 🪰 🦋
These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect
Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts
@pomscheme.bsky.social
These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect
Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts
@pomscheme.bsky.social
FIT Counts: help us monitor pollinators | PoMS
The UK PoMS recording season runs from 1 April to 30 September each year. Read on for how to join in, and download the guidance documents.
ukpoms.org.uk
June 19, 2025 at 11:02 AM
The good weather is back, let's celebrate with some FIT-counts! 🌞 🐝 🪲 🪰 🦋
These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect
Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts
@pomscheme.bsky.social
These ten-minute counts are vital for tracking pollinators and can be done anywhere—garden, park, or on your transect
Find out more ⬇️ ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts
@pomscheme.bsky.social
In West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St. Edmunds waiting for surgery to fix my disfigured left hand. Last bird seen was a confiding male Blackbird collecting food in the grounds.
June 2, 2025 at 11:51 AM
In West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St. Edmunds waiting for surgery to fix my disfigured left hand. Last bird seen was a confiding male Blackbird collecting food in the grounds.
Tawny Wave and a male Fox Moth were the best from my Thetford Actinic yesterday. Elephant Hawk-moths and Buff-tip are always nice to see.
June 2, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Tawny Wave and a male Fox Moth were the best from my Thetford Actinic yesterday. Elephant Hawk-moths and Buff-tip are always nice to see.
Reposted by Justin Walker
@vc40orthops.bsky.social and I are pleased to announce the publication today of the “Micro ladybirds of Britain and Ireland”, in collaboration with the FSC: www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publica...
May 15, 2025 at 6:30 PM
@vc40orthops.bsky.social and I are pleased to announce the publication today of the “Micro ladybirds of Britain and Ireland”, in collaboration with the FSC: www.field-studies-council.org/shop/publica...
It's a real privilege to curate the data collected by the thousands of skilled volunteer surveyors that are used for these analyses. Sadly, for some common and once abundant species, the trends keep heading in the same downwards direction!
Falling finch numbers, fading farmland birds, declining Dippers and vanishing Cuckoo calls in England are worrying findings from the 2024 Breeding Bird Survey report out now! Read the report ➡️ www.bto.org/bbs-results
@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology
@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology
May 15, 2025 at 8:39 PM
It's a real privilege to curate the data collected by the thousands of skilled volunteer surveyors that are used for these analyses. Sadly, for some common and once abundant species, the trends keep heading in the same downwards direction!
A couple of bugs from the Stansted Estate in West Sussex. The plant bug Dicyphus globulifer, second West Sussex record according to iRecord, no records on the NBN Atlas; and Spear Thistle Lacebug Tingis cardui, also not frequently recorded in the VC, but a species I often find in Norfolk.
May 5, 2025 at 8:17 PM
A couple of bugs from the Stansted Estate in West Sussex. The plant bug Dicyphus globulifer, second West Sussex record according to iRecord, no records on the NBN Atlas; and Spear Thistle Lacebug Tingis cardui, also not frequently recorded in the VC, but a species I often find in Norfolk.
Back in Norfolk now but nice to have found two nationally scarce beetles yesterday, on the Stansted Estate in West Sussex; the fungus weevil Platystomos albinus and the false blister beetle Oedemera femoralis. Both species being new for the 10 km square according to the NBN Atlas.
May 4, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Back in Norfolk now but nice to have found two nationally scarce beetles yesterday, on the Stansted Estate in West Sussex; the fungus weevil Platystomos albinus and the false blister beetle Oedemera femoralis. Both species being new for the 10 km square according to the NBN Atlas.
This morning was about butterflies. No Woodlark on my @btobirds.bsky.social Heathlands Bird Survey at Oxenbourne Down in @southdownsnp.bsky.social, but it was fantastic to see Duke of Burgandy for the first time as well as Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Small Heath. @savebutterflies.bsky.social
May 2, 2025 at 8:56 PM
This morning was about butterflies. No Woodlark on my @btobirds.bsky.social Heathlands Bird Survey at Oxenbourne Down in @southdownsnp.bsky.social, but it was fantastic to see Duke of Burgandy for the first time as well as Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Small Heath. @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Reposted by Justin Walker
🌿 Celebrate the magic of migration at #Migfest2025!
Talks, guided walks, bird ringing demos, and more await at Spurn, East Yorkshire.
Tickets are on sale now 🎟️
Don't miss it: bit.ly/3T5Q9Ks
Talks, guided walks, bird ringing demos, and more await at Spurn, East Yorkshire.
Tickets are on sale now 🎟️
Don't miss it: bit.ly/3T5Q9Ks
May 2, 2025 at 6:02 PM
🌿 Celebrate the magic of migration at #Migfest2025!
Talks, guided walks, bird ringing demos, and more await at Spurn, East Yorkshire.
Tickets are on sale now 🎟️
Don't miss it: bit.ly/3T5Q9Ks
Talks, guided walks, bird ringing demos, and more await at Spurn, East Yorkshire.
Tickets are on sale now 🎟️
Don't miss it: bit.ly/3T5Q9Ks
These bee boxes were installed on Monday and already have eleven tubes blocked up. Potential occupants were investigating the options as I was lining up the boxes before drilling holes in the wall. #instantimpact for #pollinators!
May 1, 2025 at 9:10 PM
These bee boxes were installed on Monday and already have eleven tubes blocked up. Potential occupants were investigating the options as I was lining up the boxes before drilling holes in the wall. #instantimpact for #pollinators!
Nice to be back in Hampshire for the weekend. Here's a view from Butser Hill in the @southdownsnp.bsky.social looking towards the south coast and the Isle of Wight.
May 1, 2025 at 9:05 PM
Nice to be back in Hampshire for the weekend. Here's a view from Butser Hill in the @southdownsnp.bsky.social looking towards the south coast and the Isle of Wight.
Naturalised non-natives I know, but Mandarin Ducks are smart looking birds. At @btobirds.bsky.social Nunnery Lakes this evening.
April 28, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Naturalised non-natives I know, but Mandarin Ducks are smart looking birds. At @btobirds.bsky.social Nunnery Lakes this evening.
Sad to find a discarded plastic bag full of water and numerous invertebrates at a popular duck-feeding spot on the Hampshire coast last month. This male Pachygnatha clercki spider and a few small Carabid beetles survived but many others didn't. What are we doing to this world!
April 23, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Sad to find a discarded plastic bag full of water and numerous invertebrates at a popular duck-feeding spot on the Hampshire coast last month. This male Pachygnatha clercki spider and a few small Carabid beetles survived but many others didn't. What are we doing to this world!
The nationally scarce darkling beetle Helops caeruleus from Hampshire last month. A very nice insect to stumble across.
April 23, 2025 at 8:40 PM
The nationally scarce darkling beetle Helops caeruleus from Hampshire last month. A very nice insect to stumble across.
Reposted by Justin Walker
Less than a week until the Bucks Invertebrate Group conference! Sunday 27 April, Great Missenden. All welcome, please book your place beforehand. More info at sites.google.com/site/bucksin... @bucksinvertgroup.bsky.social
April 21, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Less than a week until the Bucks Invertebrate Group conference! Sunday 27 April, Great Missenden. All welcome, please book your place beforehand. More info at sites.google.com/site/bucksin... @bucksinvertgroup.bsky.social
Reposted by Justin Walker
Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the Heathland Birds Survey so far! There are still survey spots to fill for our key species, Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Nightjar, so please sign up to a survey square near you on our website ➡️ www.bto.org/our-science/...
April 17, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Thanks to everyone who has taken part in the Heathland Birds Survey so far! There are still survey spots to fill for our key species, Woodlark, Dartford Warbler and Nightjar, so please sign up to a survey square near you on our website ➡️ www.bto.org/our-science/...
Reposted by Justin Walker
Eye-opening graph. The biggest wildfire incidents in the UK don't occur when it's hottest, in high summer: they take place in April - *when landowners set fire to their grouse moors & lose control of burns.*
Time to ban moorland burning.
Source:
www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/defaul...
Time to ban moorland burning.
Source:
www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/defaul...
April 17, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Eye-opening graph. The biggest wildfire incidents in the UK don't occur when it's hottest, in high summer: they take place in April - *when landowners set fire to their grouse moors & lose control of burns.*
Time to ban moorland burning.
Source:
www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/defaul...
Time to ban moorland burning.
Source:
www.iucn-uk-peatlandprogramme.org/sites/defaul...