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stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Steve
@stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
910 followers 1.9K following 1.2K posts
Ants, fossils, beer. Drone mapping & GIS. Science PhD. Bambu Labs P1S. He/him, will also respond to “Oi you!”. AuADHD - if I seem over familiar in posts etc. that is probably why. 🇬🇧🇪🇺
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stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
The #sloes in the hedges around the fields near our house are laden with fruit this year.

I will probably make #sloegin again, although I actually prefer #sloeport.

When you drain the gin from the sloes, keep them. Add red wine and brandy and wait for a while. The result is ‘sloe port’!
Sloes, Prunus spinosa, hang from the branches of a shrub in a hedge near home.
November 9, 2025 at 9:51 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I don’t think that I can remember a year with as many acorns either on or falling from the local oak trees.

I imagine the local birds are stuffed and the jays have buried more than they can remember (although that may not be possible, they dug acorns out of our lawn under 4” of virgin snow).
The gutter of our road is completely choked with fallen acorns.
November 9, 2025 at 9:43 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I don’t quite know why we are #snailposting today but it seems to ba a ‘thing’ so here goes:

Trochulus hispidus the Hairy #Snail seen in Dudley, UK.

I haven’t seen them often so I was excited to see this little they/them moving across a limestone quarry.

#gastropod
#mollusc
Trochulus hispidus the Hairy #Snail seen in Dudley, UK.
November 9, 2025 at 8:58 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Indeed. Ants = beetle adjacent.

I spent some of the summer in France collecting for ant species… and sampling wine!
Sample tubes in an ‘ammunition pouch’ each of which contains a sample of ants and a carefully numbered and recorded label.
November 8, 2025 at 8:08 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Fly people: is this Entomophthora muscae? The dead fly had wings spread at the top of a plant after a fungal parasitism.

Other flies (I don’t think the same species?) seemed very keen to be close or on the dead one.

@dipteristsforum.bsky.social
@flygirlnhm.bsky.social
#fungi
#diptera
#flies
A dead fly sits on top of a white flowered umbellifer. It has fungi visible on its abdomen and its wings are held horizontally and perpendicular to its body. A dead fly sits on top of a white flowered umbellifer. It has fungi visible on its abdomen and its wings are held horizontally and perpendicular to its body. Another fly (I think a different species) sits very close to the dead infected one.
November 6, 2025 at 5:13 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Making this data open source is a fantastic gift to science. You need lots of disk space and quite a powerful machine but the ability to non-destructively ‘slice’ a specimen anywhere in the world is amazing.

#amber
#insects
#fossils
A computer monitor shows four views of a stacked set of micro CT scans of an ant. A computer monitor showing an ant in lateral view. A slice through an ant micro CT scan showing the curvature of the eye at the bottom of the image.
November 6, 2025 at 12:14 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I have a ‘car fossil’…I assume other people do too? It’s a rather nice Silurian (420M years old) coral from the Wrens Nest, Dudley, UK.

This lives in my car and brings me joy!
A nice Silurian (420M years old) coral from Wrens Nest, Dudley, UK. This lives in my car and brings me joy!
November 4, 2025 at 3:16 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
It’s not just the pins, you need to scale up _everything_!
Cavemen examine a mammoth under a giant microscope
November 3, 2025 at 7:24 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
An uncollectible, massive multi-ammonite block at Lyme. Molluscs ahoy!
My Estwing geological hammer sits as a scale on a large (50cm x 40cm), seaworn block of stone on the beach at Lyme Regis. It is covered in ammonites from tiny up to about 10cm diameter.
November 3, 2025 at 5:10 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I am such a child! BUMPKIN!

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate. Makes nice soup anyway!

(Photo at our local butcher/greengrocer)

#Halloween
#Halloween2025
#pumpkin
A pumpkin shaped like a curvy bum!
October 31, 2025 at 9:25 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge

@jennistockan.bsky.social
@elvarobinson.bsky.social
My hand holds my copy of ‘Wood Ant Ecology and Conservation’ edited by Jenni Stockan and Elva Robinson
October 30, 2025 at 6:02 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#BotanyBookClub
#CarnivorousPlants
A great slab of a book ‘Pitcher Plants of the Old World, volume two’ by Stewart McPherson.
October 29, 2025 at 10:06 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
For ants I use small tubes (2ml) with an O ring.

I selected the orange tops because a dropped top in the field can utterly disappear, even in short grass!

~£14 per 100 tubes on eBay.
Small, 2ml, sample tubes with bright orange caps sit in an ammunition wallet which holds them safely for fieldwork.
October 27, 2025 at 2:05 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#BotanyBookClub
#CanaryIsles
My hand holds a Sunday night book. Reminding me of plant spotting in the Canary Isles ‘Native Flora of the Canary Islands’
October 26, 2025 at 9:48 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
We scratch-built my shed-office. insulation in the walls and ceiling makes all the difference.

At this time of year the big Nvidia gpu card dissipates enough heat to keep me warm.
My shed-office in ‘Palynology mode’, there is less ‘kit’ when I’m working with ants.🐜
October 26, 2025 at 6:30 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Happy Saturday to me! New point punch from @ecologysupplies.bsky.social .

Great service and quick delivery. I have been wanting one for a while and fed up of snipping wonky points. Not cheap but hopefully it will last well.

Oh… and an ant sticker too 🐜❤️

#ants #entomology #insects #myrmecology
Nice shiny new stainless steel hand punch. Alongside a sample card point and a nice ant sticker from ecologysupplies.com
October 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#grasses

My late Dad’s 1958 edition!
My scarred hand holds my late father’s little green 1958 hardback edition of ‘The Observers Book of Grasses, Sedges and Rushes’. Those of us of a certain age (published until 2003) grew up with these lovely little books in the house. These little books were published from 1937-2003 and could be bought for pocket money or a book token.
October 24, 2025 at 10:44 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
They’re spooktacular in our garden in Autumn.
Araneus diadematus sits in the middle of a large web outside the potting shed at the bottom of our garden.
October 23, 2025 at 5:02 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Bl🤬dy humans! A pox on Mother Earth.

Also, why not enjoy Araneus diadematus in October!
Araneus diadematus, a common autumn spider that makes fantastic dew covered webs.
October 23, 2025 at 4:54 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#InsectBookClub
#ants

@temnothorax.bsky.social
My hand holds up a copy of ‘Empire of Ants’ by Suzanne Foitzik and Olaf Fritsche. The cover is black with a pattern of iridescently shaded ants. The bottom text reads “The Hideen Worlds and Extraordinary Lives of Earth’s Tiny Conquerors”
October 23, 2025 at 8:54 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews.
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#InsectBookClub

@flygirlnhm.bsky.social
My hand holds ‘The secret life of flies’ by Dr Erica McAlister. A pretty green and black fly is spread out over the cover which is written in a big friendly font.
October 21, 2025 at 6:28 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Sorting through ‘stuff’ at home and found four of my own teeth, extracted when I was a child!

WTH do I do with them? Bin them, bury them in the garden for another generation to get the police to dig it over (the puckish side of me is tempted by that option).
My adult hand holds four children’s teeth. Extracted with roots. Maybe premolars? I’m not a dentist and can’t remember what was pulled decades ago!
October 20, 2025 at 4:34 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews.

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#InsectBookClub
A massive tome by Trevor James ‘Beetles of Hertfordshire’ ex libris Richard Jones. A brown longhorn beetle (Agapanthia villosoviridescens) A massive tome by Trevor James ‘Beetles of Hertfordshire’ ex libris Richard Jones. Open at the page for the Acorn Wevil (one of my favourites).
October 20, 2025 at 11:34 AM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
Nature book challenge. A book per day in no particular order, until you've shared ALL of the best nature books in your personal library. No explanations, no reviews.
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
#InsectBookClub

@jeffollerton.bsky.social
Pollinators and Pollination by Jeff Ollerton A bumblebee flies away from the viewer towards clover flowers.
October 18, 2025 at 6:15 PM
stevetypesstuff.bsky.social
I photographed these in Normandy yesterday as the recent avian dinosaur tracks reminded me so much of Jurassic/Ceetaceous tracks seen in the UK.
Tridactyl footprints from recent avian dinosaurs run in chains across tidal silts. Waiting for the next tide to fill them with sediment to preserve them forever.
October 14, 2025 at 6:37 AM