Jo Wimpenny
@jowimpenny.bsky.social
Science and nature writer | 📍Oxford | 📚 BEAUTY OF THE BEASTS (Feb 2026); AESOP’S ANIMALS (2021); TEN THOUSAND BIRDS (2014) | Dr of crows | Champion of unloved beasts
I’m just a poppy,
Standing in front of a person asking,
Why TF am flowering in November??
Standing in front of a person asking,
Why TF am flowering in November??
November 7, 2025 at 2:27 PM
I’m just a poppy,
Standing in front of a person asking,
Why TF am flowering in November??
Standing in front of a person asking,
Why TF am flowering in November??
Here it is! So happy to announce that my next book, Beauty of the Beasts, will be released by Bloomsbury Wildlife on Feb 26th (April 28th in the US). And I couldn’t be happier with this stunning cover, designed by Abby Cook, which works so well to show a vilified creature in a beautiful way 😍
October 26, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Here it is! So happy to announce that my next book, Beauty of the Beasts, will be released by Bloomsbury Wildlife on Feb 26th (April 28th in the US). And I couldn’t be happier with this stunning cover, designed by Abby Cook, which works so well to show a vilified creature in a beautiful way 😍
Squelching through the soggy bogs on Coll this week we saw quite a lot of grass-of-parnassus - such a beautiful flower 🤩 #wildflowerhour
September 14, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Squelching through the soggy bogs on Coll this week we saw quite a lot of grass-of-parnassus - such a beautiful flower 🤩 #wildflowerhour
It’s #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay, so let’s make a fuss of these phenomenal birds! I took these at the Horstmann Trust last year, and will tell their stories in my (nearly finished!) new book... They deserve so much more recognition for all they do, and up close are utterly charming 😍 #IVAD2025
September 6, 2025 at 1:40 PM
It’s #InternationalVultureAwarenessDay, so let’s make a fuss of these phenomenal birds! I took these at the Horstmann Trust last year, and will tell their stories in my (nearly finished!) new book... They deserve so much more recognition for all they do, and up close are utterly charming 😍 #IVAD2025
A bit of lepidoptera love in the air tonight 🤩
August 24, 2025 at 9:39 PM
A bit of lepidoptera love in the air tonight 🤩
Seek tells me this is an ashy mining bee, but it doesn’t look right. Anyone able to confirm an ID? It’s quite a dinky bee and is absolutely loving the stonecrop 😍
August 24, 2025 at 4:49 PM
Seek tells me this is an ashy mining bee, but it doesn’t look right. Anyone able to confirm an ID? It’s quite a dinky bee and is absolutely loving the stonecrop 😍
You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?
(Couldn’t let this pass having just watched this episode. Think I’m onto a winner)
(Couldn’t let this pass having just watched this episode. Think I’m onto a winner)
August 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
You’ve been kidnapped. The characters from the last TV show you watched are trying to rescue you. Who’s coming to save you?
(Couldn’t let this pass having just watched this episode. Think I’m onto a winner)
(Couldn’t let this pass having just watched this episode. Think I’m onto a winner)
Is this a fossil or just a cool bit of rock? Found on Le Brévent in the French Alps on the weekend.
July 29, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Is this a fossil or just a cool bit of rock? Found on Le Brévent in the French Alps on the weekend.
Giant bees 😮 These are sculptured resin bees, Megachile sculpturalis, huge members of the leafcutter family that are native to Eastern Asia and accidentally introduced to the US and France. They’ve not made it to the UK yet - I’m at a friend’s in Geneva - but it’s probably only a matter of time.
July 19, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Giant bees 😮 These are sculptured resin bees, Megachile sculpturalis, huge members of the leafcutter family that are native to Eastern Asia and accidentally introduced to the US and France. They’ve not made it to the UK yet - I’m at a friend’s in Geneva - but it’s probably only a matter of time.
It’s #WorldSnakeDay so here’s a photo of me all goggled up (cos of spitting cobras) looking goofily at this little egg-eating snake, during research for my next book. Snakes are incredible, and this little one completely charmed me 🐍
July 16, 2025 at 2:50 PM
It’s #WorldSnakeDay so here’s a photo of me all goggled up (cos of spitting cobras) looking goofily at this little egg-eating snake, during research for my next book. Snakes are incredible, and this little one completely charmed me 🐍
Not quite sure what’s happening here - guessing some sort of fungus on the snail? But is the ladybird attracted to it? It stayed on it so wasn’t just in transit. Let me know your thoughts, BlueSky nature bods!
July 13, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Not quite sure what’s happening here - guessing some sort of fungus on the snail? But is the ladybird attracted to it? It stayed on it so wasn’t just in transit. Let me know your thoughts, BlueSky nature bods!
Staring into the week like…
June 30, 2025 at 8:45 AM
Staring into the week like…
Wonderful, thought-provoking, inspirational day at the Cuckmere wildlife festival yesterday, and in what’s got to be the best ever setting!
Also, I made friends with a crow over lunch - this is a wildlife festival that truly delivers 👏
@wildlifefestival.bsky.social
Also, I made friends with a crow over lunch - this is a wildlife festival that truly delivers 👏
@wildlifefestival.bsky.social
June 29, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Wonderful, thought-provoking, inspirational day at the Cuckmere wildlife festival yesterday, and in what’s got to be the best ever setting!
Also, I made friends with a crow over lunch - this is a wildlife festival that truly delivers 👏
@wildlifefestival.bsky.social
Also, I made friends with a crow over lunch - this is a wildlife festival that truly delivers 👏
@wildlifefestival.bsky.social
Yikes! A geyser has appeared by Florence Park and that is a LOT of water 🤯 Another headache for Thames Water (and all of us who are gonna end up paying more)
June 25, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Yikes! A geyser has appeared by Florence Park and that is a LOT of water 🤯 Another headache for Thames Water (and all of us who are gonna end up paying more)
Happened on this buff-tailed bumblebee nest in Shotover earlier. They typically nest underground in old rodent holes and it’s pretty cool to think how many bees might be down in there (some nests can have several hundred workers!).
June 8, 2025 at 8:34 PM
Happened on this buff-tailed bumblebee nest in Shotover earlier. They typically nest underground in old rodent holes and it’s pretty cool to think how many bees might be down in there (some nests can have several hundred workers!).
Phwoar! A thick-legged flower beetle, one of my favourite bugs to spot on a sunny spring or summer’s day. Generally found feasting on nectar and pollen from ox-eye daisies, brambles or in this case buttercups, only the males have those fantastically chunky thighs 💪 😍
#insects #bugsky
#insects #bugsky
May 25, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Hands in the air 🙌 Looks like someone knows it’s #WorldBeeDay!
May 20, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Hands in the air 🙌 Looks like someone knows it’s #WorldBeeDay!
Covered in mayflies! Two even stowed away on the bus home.
May 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
Covered in mayflies! Two even stowed away on the bus home.
When the bus stop, which happens to be in central Reading, also happens to be partyzone central - that is if you’re a mayfly.
May 11, 2025 at 7:01 PM
When the bus stop, which happens to be in central Reading, also happens to be partyzone central - that is if you’re a mayfly.
Tiny treasures! Each of these cuckooflowers has an added bonus - an egg of an orange tip butterfly 🤩 #WildflowerHour
April 27, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Tiny treasures! Each of these cuckooflowers has an added bonus - an egg of an orange tip butterfly 🤩 #WildflowerHour
Of course, now I’ve left the reserve it won’t blumming shut up 😆 Proof from the towpath!
April 26, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Of course, now I’ve left the reserve it won’t blumming shut up 😆 Proof from the towpath!
Phwoar, what a glorious weekend! Felt so good to be out in nature, and seeing a few firsts of the year too, including cuckooflower, cowslip and bluebell. Crowning glory has to be the pasqueflowers - absolute stunners spotted at Hartslock reserve 😍 #WildflowerHour
April 6, 2025 at 7:46 PM
Phwoar, what a glorious weekend! Felt so good to be out in nature, and seeing a few firsts of the year too, including cuckooflower, cowslip and bluebell. Crowning glory has to be the pasqueflowers - absolute stunners spotted at Hartslock reserve 😍 #WildflowerHour
Having seen the black oil beetle nominated as Invertebrate of the Year in today’s Guardian, I was v excited to spot a couple on Gower this morning 🤓 Very cool lifecycle (kleptoparasites of solitary bees) and one of just five oil beetle species in the UK.
March 30, 2025 at 8:39 PM
Having seen the black oil beetle nominated as Invertebrate of the Year in today’s Guardian, I was v excited to spot a couple on Gower this morning 🤓 Very cool lifecycle (kleptoparasites of solitary bees) and one of just five oil beetle species in the UK.
Absolutely obsessed with hazel flowers right now. #wildflowerhour
February 23, 2025 at 9:07 PM
Absolutely obsessed with hazel flowers right now. #wildflowerhour
What better on a day like today than a walk in the woods with lovely people. And spotting my first female hazel flowers of the year - I’m always captivated by these tiny, delicate beauties with their crimson tentacle-like styles 😍
February 2, 2025 at 9:16 PM
What better on a day like today than a walk in the woods with lovely people. And spotting my first female hazel flowers of the year - I’m always captivated by these tiny, delicate beauties with their crimson tentacle-like styles 😍