AgrimonySpikes

Grey Heron. #birds #birding #herons #nature #Canon #Sigma150-600 📷

A female Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) egg-laying on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Two eggs of the Small Copper butterfly (Lycaena phlaeas) on Common Sorrel (Rumex acetosa)

Excited to see one of my PhD chapters now published! We found a trade-off between the quality of host plants and how warm they were for a declining grassland butterfly (Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas) and looked at how this shaped their egg-laying choices: doi.org/10.1111/een....

These are the Marsh fritillary butterfly caterpillars. They've made it through winter & will hopefully be gracing the meadows of Glenullin this summer.

First Gwynne's mining #bee of #Spring here today Andrena bicolor #solitarybees on some pulmonaria.

Field margin with wildflowers that can support butterflies in arable farmland

Livestock grazing is essential to maintaining grasslands in the mountains of Europe. Extensive cattle grazing has been shown to be the most beneficial but any extensive system is good

Grassland butterflies are declining across Europe, but how do we reverse that trend? We have just produced a report with some simple guidance to land managers and policy makers on how to 'Bend the curve' and help increase butterflies and other pollinators. www.bc-europe.eu/webpage.php?...

The effect of different grazing managements on butterfly abundance, diversity and composition at a calcareous upland site Research from an upland calcareous site in the Yorkshire Dales finds light cattle grazing supports 4.9× as many butterflies and 1.7× as many butterfly species as light sheep grazing, while ungrazed a...

Here is the full paper
#conservationevidence
@richardfoxbc.bsky.social @djhbutterflies.bsky.social @martinswarren.bsky.social @ukbutterflies.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @chrisvanswaay.bsky.social @pietervantieghem.bsky.social

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

The Large Scabious Mining Bee Andrena hattorfiana needs our help...plant more scabious everywhere there is suitable soil for the bee to nest in

a group of men wearing sunglasses are standing next to each other in a living room . ALT: a group of men wearing sunglasses are standing next to each other in a living room .

It's cool watching Cheers again. Reminds me of my childhood Sundays at my grannies.

Sláinte @tg4.bsky.social

Asplenium ceterach recorded from an old mortared wall in north Co. Louth (H32) - last recorded in this vicinity in 1966!

Hay rattle Yellow rattle is germinating this week. A tonic for the bad weather and excitement of what summer will bring!

Tá a lán rattle buí ag teacht sa Gairdín.
Sin an tonic!

I think there was a record on Croagh Patrick Co. Mayo now extinct. But maybe its a disputed record.

How Can Art Save Meadows? Find out in this lovely article by @openuniversity.bsky.social team @artandecology.bsky.social, @vickybowskill.bsky.social and our own Emma Rothero 👇

(Image: ‘Long Mead in Late June’, by Julia Loken)

tinyurl.com/mssv8usy

Have you ever wondered what you would find if you could keep your eyes on a bee for more than a few meters? Us, too!

preprint (with videos!) + thread 🧵

Precise, individualized foraging flights in honey #bees 🐝 revealed by multicopter drone-based tracking

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

1/9

Text from a media colleague this morning: “Jesus. You’re not even the best journalist in your own home 😂” www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...

A few pictures from the Great South Wall, Co. Dublin today

Principle of OLBNS on the programme actually saida it pits one school against the other and 30 pupils in need will now be lucky to get 5 minutes a week so a) it is a cut! and b) it's not the schools parents or kids fault or that they are seeking to hold something selfishly.

Cordate leaves to meadow fans everywhere this valentines day!

Light-bellied Brent Goose. Coloured pencils on paper

Whooper Swan. Coloured pencils on paper

Northern Shoveler. Coloured pencils on paper

Cleavers?

Is it a newt instead?

Two pairs of cranes showing well and bugling away at RSPB Ouse Fen today. Majestic noise and views

Exploring the possibilities of habitat improvement for the Red-Listed Silver-studded Blue (Plebejus argus) this week. 🦋
Starting this project in a few weeks!
#butterfly #conservation

Effects of experimental drought and plant diversity on multifunctionality of a model system for crop rotation - Scientific Reports Scientific Reports - Effects of experimental drought and plant diversity on multifunctionality of a model system for crop rotation

🚨 Plant diversity in 6-species #multispecies mixtures generally increased multifunctionality (MF) (measured as 6 ecosystem functions related to agronomy). We also looked at effect of drought on MF.
short🧵

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Pennines delight as drone survey offers hope for one of UK’s rarest birds Conservationists find dunlin chicks thriving in boggy habitat created in collaboration with landowners

Dunlin needed some good news - @rspbscience.bsky.social
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Red-listed in UK:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2022/10/04/u...
Rapid decline in Iceland:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2025/02/20/i...
Really bad in the Baltic:
wadertales.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/d...
#ornithology

Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: Geranium sylvaticum* Geranium sylvaticum is a perennial forb of upland grasslands, woodlands and riverbanks in northern Britain, with scattered native occurrences also in Wales, central England and Northern Ireland. It h...

Our Biological Flora on Wood Crane's-bill is out in @journalofecology.bsky.social. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... A team effort w/ @ruthsk.bsky.social @sandravarga.bsky.social @spp-rich.bsky.social @duncanwestbury.bsky.social, irina Tatarenko & artist Lucy Hulmes on pen and ink.

Red Kite and buzzards happily sharing the same sky space in North Wexford today. A dreamers imagination in my growing up years. Amazing! Thanks to all the raptor introduction people for this red kite buzz today. (Buzzard made their own way back from NI).

Over 24k overwintering Lapwing recorded on site today epic!

(3/) The situation across the UK is fairly nuanced, with a 10 year trend that shows a 37% decline between 2013 and 2023. You can find out more about this distinctive species, with its brown head and black cheek spots, on our BirdFacts page: www.bto.org/learn/about-...