Helen Smith
@waveneycott.bsky.social
'Spiders the size of rats', fens and other curious and lovely things.
'Tis the season to be silly - again @thesun.co.uk, @express.co.uk among others.
Last year's quotes, this year's new misinformation: these still extremely rare animals are now thriving in a few restored wetlands but are NOT 'in our homes' #responsiblejournalism @patrickbarkham.bsky.social #Dolomedes
Last year's quotes, this year's new misinformation: these still extremely rare animals are now thriving in a few restored wetlands but are NOT 'in our homes' #responsiblejournalism @patrickbarkham.bsky.social #Dolomedes
October 14, 2025 at 1:45 PM
'Tis the season to be silly - again @thesun.co.uk, @express.co.uk among others.
Last year's quotes, this year's new misinformation: these still extremely rare animals are now thriving in a few restored wetlands but are NOT 'in our homes' #responsiblejournalism @patrickbarkham.bsky.social #Dolomedes
Last year's quotes, this year's new misinformation: these still extremely rare animals are now thriving in a few restored wetlands but are NOT 'in our homes' #responsiblejournalism @patrickbarkham.bsky.social #Dolomedes
More tiny finds from @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen: Five-striped Spider Thantaus striatus recorded here for the first time since 1957 and the Nationally Rare and Endangered Jumping spider Attulus [Calositticus] caricis. Photos: Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social
August 5, 2025 at 5:02 PM
More tiny finds from @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen: Five-striped Spider Thantaus striatus recorded here for the first time since 1957 and the Nationally Rare and Endangered Jumping spider Attulus [Calositticus] caricis. Photos: Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social
Reposted by Helen Smith
Not even half 9 and I've mapped about 30 clusters of webs, each with at least 4 webs in each cluster. It's going to be a slow day at this rate @britishspiders.bsky.social
August 5, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Not even half 9 and I've mapped about 30 clusters of webs, each with at least 4 webs in each cluster. It's going to be a slow day at this rate @britishspiders.bsky.social
A real glitter ball of a spider @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen today - maxing at just 3mm long, the minute Ray Spider Theridiosoma gemmosum has silvery plates of guanine shining through its cuticle. Photos Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social
August 1, 2025 at 8:53 PM
A real glitter ball of a spider @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen today - maxing at just 3mm long, the minute Ray Spider Theridiosoma gemmosum has silvery plates of guanine shining through its cuticle. Photos Anna Maka. @britishspiders.bsky.social
Trickster - sub-adult Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi
July 29, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Trickster - sub-adult Wasp Spider Argiope bruennichi
A great team out today @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Carlton Marshes, surveying the still expanding range of the Fen Raft Spider population established there in 2011/12 - and meeting a few other fun species too! @britishspiders.bsky.social
July 29, 2025 at 9:32 PM
A great team out today @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Carlton Marshes, surveying the still expanding range of the Fen Raft Spider population established there in 2011/12 - and meeting a few other fun species too! @britishspiders.bsky.social
Reposted by Helen Smith
Please share this like lives hang in the balance because they do.
June 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Please share this like lives hang in the balance because they do.
It's the egg-laying season @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen - three female Fen Raft Spiders Dolomedes plantarius holding their precious egg sacs... and a male hanging around waiting for new opportunities. @britishspiders.bsky.social
June 11, 2025 at 4:20 PM
It's the egg-laying season @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social Redgrave & Lopham Fen - three female Fen Raft Spiders Dolomedes plantarius holding their precious egg sacs... and a male hanging around waiting for new opportunities. @britishspiders.bsky.social
Synema globosum, AKA Napoleon's Hat Spider. A rare import to GB but on the list of potential future colonists, showing its 'muscle' at the wonderful Perchtoldsdorfer Heide reserve, on the outskirts of Vienna. @britishspiders.bsky.social
June 5, 2025 at 10:26 AM
Synema globosum, AKA Napoleon's Hat Spider. A rare import to GB but on the list of potential future colonists, showing its 'muscle' at the wonderful Perchtoldsdorfer Heide reserve, on the outskirts of Vienna. @britishspiders.bsky.social
An unexpected and familiar friend among the many treasures @worldwildlife.org Marchegg on the R. March/Morava. Thanks to @jubalbarca.bsky.social for inheriting the spider-spotting eyes!
June 5, 2025 at 10:04 AM
An unexpected and familiar friend among the many treasures @worldwildlife.org Marchegg on the R. March/Morava. Thanks to @jubalbarca.bsky.social for inheriting the spider-spotting eyes!
A new species for the greenhouse (and wider patch), Zilla diodia hanging out at the hub of in her fine orbweb and continuing the species' rapid expansion in East Anglia @norfolknats.bsky.social @britishspiders.bsky.social
June 5, 2025 at 9:34 AM
A new species for the greenhouse (and wider patch), Zilla diodia hanging out at the hub of in her fine orbweb and continuing the species' rapid expansion in East Anglia @norfolknats.bsky.social @britishspiders.bsky.social
Reposted by Helen Smith
"On Wednesday, just days before her wedding, 25-year-old Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home in northern Gaza. Ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister, were also killed." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
‘If I die, I want a loud death’: Gaza photojournalist killed by Israeli airstrike
Fatima Hassouna, who had been documenting war in Gaza for 18 months and was subject of new documentary, killed along with 10 members of her family
www.theguardian.com
April 18, 2025 at 9:29 PM
"On Wednesday, just days before her wedding, 25-year-old Hassouna was killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit her home in northern Gaza. Ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister, were also killed." www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...
Reposted by Helen Smith
Please share. Data must be preserved.
Crying some tears of joy and of released pressure/stress:
One of the large repositories in Germany started safeguarding datasets from #NOAA, officially.
www.linkedin.com/posts/gloeck...
pangaea.de
This is the culmination of weeks of work 💖
#SafeguardingResearch @safeguardingdata.bsky.social
One of the large repositories in Germany started safeguarding datasets from #NOAA, officially.
www.linkedin.com/posts/gloeck...
pangaea.de
This is the culmination of weeks of work 💖
#SafeguardingResearch @safeguardingdata.bsky.social
PANGAEA is actively working to rescue data from the United States.
With… | Frank Oliver Glöckner | 11 comments
PANGAEA is actively working to rescue data from the United States.
With the recent announcement that numerous datasets - such as those from NOAA - are scheduled for decommissioning in May, PANGAEA has...
www.linkedin.com
April 19, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Please share. Data must be preserved.
Reposted by Helen Smith
"However, there is a nervousness around how these reviews will be implemented and that ‘streamling’ regulations becomes code for dumping environmental protections."
inews.co.uk/news/inside-...
inews.co.uk/news/inside-...
Inside Defra cuts, as 600 jobs face axe and nature sites 'left unchecked for a decade'
Environmental groups say Defra is already struggling to fulfil its legal duties
inews.co.uk
April 18, 2025 at 7:18 AM
"However, there is a nervousness around how these reviews will be implemented and that ‘streamling’ regulations becomes code for dumping environmental protections."
inews.co.uk/news/inside-...
inews.co.uk/news/inside-...
Reposted by Helen Smith
Planning to buy plants over #Easter? Check out the #PeatFree Nurseries List for over 140 #UK growers who don't destroy precious carbon-capturing #peatland habitat by using #peat to grow their plants. Pls let me know if your favourite #nursery isn't listed. Pls repost & let your friends know. Ta 🙏🌱💚
Peat Free Nurseries List
The response to the Peat Free Nurseries List has been incredible. It’s fantastic to see such interest in sourcing peat-free plants. Thousands of people have accessed the list which now includ…
nicwilson.co.uk
April 14, 2025 at 6:14 PM
The best of 'lawn' grasses, Good Friday Grass (AKA Field Wood-rush Luzula campestris), is right on queue this year. #wildflowerhour
April 18, 2025 at 7:31 PM
The best of 'lawn' grasses, Good Friday Grass (AKA Field Wood-rush Luzula campestris), is right on queue this year. #wildflowerhour
Reposted by Helen Smith
🕷 It’s Tick Bite Prevention Week! 🕷
⚠️ Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere. Help us spread awareness!
💚 Download your social media pack with graphics and images to share: lymediseaseuk.com/2024/02/20/g...
#BeTickAware
⚠️ Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere. Help us spread awareness!
💚 Download your social media pack with graphics and images to share: lymediseaseuk.com/2024/02/20/g...
#BeTickAware
March 26, 2025 at 3:49 PM
🕷 It’s Tick Bite Prevention Week! 🕷
⚠️ Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere. Help us spread awareness!
💚 Download your social media pack with graphics and images to share: lymediseaseuk.com/2024/02/20/g...
#BeTickAware
⚠️ Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the northern hemisphere. Help us spread awareness!
💚 Download your social media pack with graphics and images to share: lymediseaseuk.com/2024/02/20/g...
#BeTickAware
A very dapper Pirata piscatorius Fishing Otter Spider soaking up the sun while escaping sensory overload from the nagging easterly wind @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social's Redgrave & Lopham Fen today. @britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #arachnids
April 3, 2025 at 5:51 PM
A very dapper Pirata piscatorius Fishing Otter Spider soaking up the sun while escaping sensory overload from the nagging easterly wind @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social's Redgrave & Lopham Fen today. @britishspiders.bsky.social #spiders #arachnids
Not that I have any bias but, please #spider friends, vote now for this awesome and globally threatened animal to be Invertebrate of the Year 2025 - visit www.theguardian.com/environment/... Anyone can vote, with the poll closing at midday on Friday (4th) #arachnids #arachnology
The mighty Fen Raft Spider makes the shortlist for Invertebrate of the Year 2025. Really hope this incredible predator and conservation icon gets a strong vote. Voting opens this Thurs btw. @britishspiders.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Vote for the beast that may be as ruthlessly predatory as us – the fen raft spider
With a leg-span the size of your hand, the UK’s biggest spider, ultra-rare and known for its extraordinary hunting skills, has many admirers
www.theguardian.com
April 2, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Not that I have any bias but, please #spider friends, vote now for this awesome and globally threatened animal to be Invertebrate of the Year 2025 - visit www.theguardian.com/environment/... Anyone can vote, with the poll closing at midday on Friday (4th) #arachnids #arachnology
Reposted by Helen Smith
Very sad news. Among my favourite poets, and no-one wrote more clearly about The Burren:
At Poll Salach
While I was looking for Easter snow on the hills
You showed me, like a concentration of violets
Or a fragment from some future unimagined sky,
A single spring gentian shivering at our feet.
At Poll Salach
While I was looking for Easter snow on the hills
You showed me, like a concentration of violets
Or a fragment from some future unimagined sky,
A single spring gentian shivering at our feet.
We are very saddened to hear of the death of the great poet Michael Longley. He read his poetry for the Irish Poetry Reading Archive many years ago and we remember his visit fondly.
Here he is Remembering Carrigskeewaun. youtu.be/0HpBq0N7eRs?...
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
Here he is Remembering Carrigskeewaun. youtu.be/0HpBq0N7eRs?...
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
January 23, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Very sad news. Among my favourite poets, and no-one wrote more clearly about The Burren:
At Poll Salach
While I was looking for Easter snow on the hills
You showed me, like a concentration of violets
Or a fragment from some future unimagined sky,
A single spring gentian shivering at our feet.
At Poll Salach
While I was looking for Easter snow on the hills
You showed me, like a concentration of violets
Or a fragment from some future unimagined sky,
A single spring gentian shivering at our feet.
Reposted by Helen Smith
A detailed extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna, covering more than 23,000 species, reveals that around 24% of the studied species are threatened with extinction. The analysis identifies major threats from pollution, dams, agriculture and invasive species.
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction - Nature
A global multi-taxon extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species finds one-quarter of species to be at high risk of extinction.
www.nature.com
January 8, 2025 at 8:41 PM
A detailed extinction risk assessment of freshwater fauna, covering more than 23,000 species, reveals that around 24% of the studied species are threatened with extinction. The analysis identifies major threats from pollution, dams, agriculture and invasive species.
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪
Reposted by Helen Smith
Exciting #Arachnology news! It's been clear for some time that spiders have 'noses' on their legs but we didn't really understand how they smell airborne sex pheromones.
Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪
www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...
Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪
www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...
“Olfaction with legs – spiders use wall-pore sensilla for pheromone detection"
Spiders can smell: they use pore-covered sensilla that are similar to hairs to detect volatile substances. This is the key finding of a study that has been published in the January 2025 issue of the s...
www.uni-greifswald.de
January 9, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Exciting #Arachnology news! It's been clear for some time that spiders have 'noses' on their legs but we didn't really understand how they smell airborne sex pheromones.
Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪
www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...
Now we do! Gabriele Uhl & colleagues have identified the sensilla responsible: 🕷️🧪
www.uni-greifswald.de/en/universit...
Reposted by Helen Smith
Two rare arachnids Hedgehog Harvestman Nemastomella bacilliferum and the Plymouth endemic Horrid Ground Weaver spider Nothophantes horridus, Plymouth, Devon today
November 27, 2024 at 7:38 PM
Two rare arachnids Hedgehog Harvestman Nemastomella bacilliferum and the Plymouth endemic Horrid Ground Weaver spider Nothophantes horridus, Plymouth, Devon today
Reposted by Helen Smith
A bit of #Harvestman action today - Dicranopalpus larvatus in their only known Norfolk location, Earlham Cemetery in Norwich. Still immature at this time of year but some are now discernable as male (first 2 photos) and female (3rd photo).
November 26, 2024 at 5:57 PM
A bit of #Harvestman action today - Dicranopalpus larvatus in their only known Norfolk location, Earlham Cemetery in Norwich. Still immature at this time of year but some are now discernable as male (first 2 photos) and female (3rd photo).
Reposted by Helen Smith
Clear skies and all that, let's start here as we mean to go on. Meet Pseudomaro aenigmaticus, a rather rare 1.5mm, subterranean money spider. Not seen in the UK since 1994. Very unexpected at saltmarsh on the Tamar recently. @britishspiders.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @cofnod.bsky.social
November 26, 2024 at 9:21 PM
Clear skies and all that, let's start here as we mean to go on. Meet Pseudomaro aenigmaticus, a rather rare 1.5mm, subterranean money spider. Not seen in the UK since 1994. Very unexpected at saltmarsh on the Tamar recently. @britishspiders.bsky.social @graemelyons.bsky.social @cofnod.bsky.social