Gail Ashton
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gailashton.bsky.social
Gail Ashton
@gailashton.bsky.social
2.7K followers 780 following 140 posts
bug lover / nature nerd
photographer / author / illustrator
www.gailashton.co.uk

Books available here:
https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/gail-ashton-nature
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gailashton.bsky.social
New work from my Master’s research project, ‘The Alder’.

The Common Alder is home to a huge number of invertebrate species, including beetles, sawflies, leaf miners and at least 50 moths. Some of these species can be seen in the feeding signs on leaves.

#CommonAlder
#tree
#ecologies
Close up of a Common Alder leaf which is losing its chlorophyll and starting to decay. Close up of a Common Alder leaf which is losing its chlorophyll and starting to decay. It has a hole in it where it has been eaten by an insect. Close up of a Common Alder leaf which is losing its chlorophyll and starting to decay. Close up of a Common Alder leaf which is losing its chlorophyll and starting to decay.
September 27, 2025 at 7:19 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Saw this queen toda 💛🤍🖤

Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennechi)
#HertsSpiders
A female Wasp Spider (Argiope bruennechi) in her web in long grass.
August 16, 2025 at 3:44 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
It’s one of those evenings when you feel like you’ve accidentally walked onto a film set.
#sunset
Sunset over a farming field that has an irrigation system watering it. The sun is a low, bright red circle.
August 14, 2025 at 6:40 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Summer evenings don’t get much better than watching a Barn Owl hunting at sunset
💚💚💚
June 19, 2025 at 5:59 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Summer 💙💚💛
Evening view across a meadow in southern England
June 12, 2025 at 6:58 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
I don’t know what this type of cloud is called, but it’s a cracker.
A spectral phenomenon on the edge of a small cloud
May 14, 2025 at 7:18 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Queen of queens 💚
May 11, 2025 at 3:50 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Finding a little joy in the unexpected things.
A cat park stairwell light fitting with burn marks that make it look like it has a smiley face.
May 6, 2025 at 5:02 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Pear blossom is the gift that keeps on giving 💚
A bumblebee forages on white pear blossom An Orange-tailed Mining Bee forages on white pear blossom A Dark-edged Bee-fly forages on white pear blossom A Honey-bee forages on white pear blossom
April 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Making sun prints in situ.
#Cyanotype
Photograph of the making of a sun print on location. A clipframe holds cyanotype holds a flowering Blackthorn branch in place whilst it is exposed to the sun. Photograph of the making of a sun print on location. A clipframe holds cyanotype holds a flowering plant in place whilst it is exposed to the sun. Photograph of the making of a sun print on location. A clipframe holds cyanotype holds a flowering plant in place whilst it is exposed to the sun. Plant cyanotype sun print of comfrey, after it has been exposed to the sun and before it is washed.
March 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
“Live in the moment,
humans are often told,
but snails don’t need to
be told. We’re in the moment
all the time, and the
moment is in us.”

Margaret Atwood: Old Babes in the Wood
The shell of an aquatic snail laying on damp reed litter.
March 13, 2025 at 8:39 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
As you know I am a very casual birder at best, but my first Great White Egret at @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Carlton Marshes today was a bit special. Can you spot it?
View across Carlton Marshes nature reserve in Suffolk, with cloudy skies and broken sunshine illuminating parts of the marsh. A Great White Egret can just be seen on the water’s edge.
March 12, 2025 at 2:17 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Close encounters with cave spiders in the Peak District today. Meta menardi is a scarce and highly specialised spider that lives close to the entrance of caves. The egg sacs are beautiful, silken teardrops that suspend from the ceiling and ledges.

#CaveSpider
#MetaMenardi
#spider
#PeakDistrict
Close up of the egg sac of Meta menardi spider hanging in a cave entrance. Dewdrop covered web of Meta menardi in a cave entrance. Female Meta menardi spider in a cave entrance.
March 9, 2025 at 7:08 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Marram grass appreciation post.

• Stabiliser of cliffs and dune systems.
• Safe harbour for invertebrates, birds, reptiles and mammals.
• Harvested to make fishing nets, house roofs and even shoes.
• Looks, sounds and feels amazing.

#marram
#grass
#coast
#nature
A concrete sea wall, covered in faint graffiti. On top of the wall is a metal railing. Behind the wall and railing is a bank of marram grass, growing over the edges of the wall. Close up of marram grass growing over the edge of a concrete block wall. Tussocks of marram grass growing either side of a concrete slipway that leads down to the sea. Some of the grass in the foreground is illuminated by the setting sun.
March 6, 2025 at 7:15 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Spring spring spring spring
spring spring spring.

Black Oil Beetle out in the late February sunshine.

#MeloeProscarabaeus
#BlackOilBeetle
#BeetlesOfBluesky
February 25, 2025 at 4:15 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
My first cherry plum blossom of the year, in Bedfordshire today.

#wildflowerhour
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social
Cherry plum blossom emerging in a roadside hedge. Cherry plum blossom emerging in a roadside hedge.
February 9, 2025 at 8:29 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Happy Imbolc you lovely people of Bluesky.
In the Pagan calendar, Imbolc celebrates the halfway point between Winter solstice (Yule) and the Spring equinox (Ostara) in the Northern hemisphere, as tiny daily increments of increasing daylight pull us out of the long dark.
A bright pink male hazel flower blooming on a branch in winter. Trees are reflected in a large pond in winter woodland. The green pond vegetation makes the bare trees look green in the reflection. An uphill path through woodland into an open, grassy area, with a distant bench on the brow of the hill. Winter aconites flowering in the late winter sunshine .
February 2, 2025 at 9:00 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
January artifacts. 🍂 🧊
Dead, brown leaves in a frozen puddle with cracked ice shards.
January 26, 2025 at 8:54 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Early morning moonset accompanying us as we journey into the west. 🌙
Early morning moonset with small pink clouds, over fields and a treeline.
January 25, 2025 at 7:57 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Here are some images from my new photographic project, ‘Entomoscapes’. It is art of my MA in Photography at @falmouthuniversity.bsky.social, which aims to explore the human-insect relationship.

View the full project here: www.gailashton.co.uk/entomoscapes

#Masters #Photography #Insects
Close up photograph of the fur and wing venation of a bumblebee that died naturally, which has been encapsulated in epoxy resin. Close up photograph of the wing venation of a bee that died naturally, which has been encapsulated in epoxy resin. Close up photograph of the scopa and scutellum of a hoverfly that died naturally, which has been encapsulated in epoxy resin. Close up photograph of the wing venation of an insect that died naturally, which has been encapsulated in epoxy resin.
January 13, 2025 at 8:18 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
New product alert! Head over to BugTees, my online store, to see the new Inverted Stag Beetle oversize tee, and new colours for the Undertaker Beetle too!
bugtees.teemill.com

#beetle
#entoart
Model wearing a black oversized t-shirt which has on it an inverted image of a female Stag Beetle. Flat shot of a black oversized t-shirt which has on it an inverted image of a female Stag Beetle. Model wearing a black oversized t-shirt which has on it an inverted image of a female Undertaker Beetle. Flat shot of a black oversized t-shirt which has on it an inverted image of a female Stag Beetle.
January 10, 2025 at 11:05 AM
gailashton.bsky.social
Ladybirds are resilient little beasts. This Seven-spot was hanging out in 3°C today.

#ladybird
#winter
#nature
A black and white photograph of a Seven-spot Ladybird on a gate post.
January 8, 2025 at 7:42 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Last night’s snow is tonight’s saturated ground and the earthworms are out in force, scavenging on the surface and leaving their large, nutrient-rich casts behind.
An earthworm scavenging amongst alpine gravel in my back garden.
January 5, 2025 at 9:02 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Who knows what this year has in store, but randomly finding this little beauty on my bed this morning felt like a good sign.

Happy 2025 to you all x
A ladybird sat on the edge of a duvet on a bed.
January 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
gailashton.bsky.social
Suffolk, this morning.

#Sunrise
#FirstBirdofMyDay
Sunrise over the sea A crow silhouetted against a dawn sky and sea. Skyscape, sea and beach with broken erosion barriers at sunrise.
December 2, 2024 at 10:26 AM