Richard Moyse
Kent-based naturalist, with a particular affection for plants, Orthopterans, aculeates, birds. Retired after a career in conservation. I'm here for wildlife, but can't promise not to repost the occasional political piece.
- Bright example of Arocatus longiceps, found under loose bark on a local Plane tree yesterday. Appears to be a new hectad record whether treated as A. longiceps or A. roeselii (considered to probably be a single species). #KentNature #heteroptera
- Spurge-laurel in flower this week, here on the North Kent Downs. #KentNature #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
- Is there a word for when you're watching a drama on film or TV, and some bird, plant or other species is so out of place or time that you can't think of anything else and the mood is ruined? Especially in a period drama when they appear to be trying make it look realistic?
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- Let's just say the Harris Hawk stuck out a bit ...
- Galls formed by Myopites eximius/eximia on Golden Samphire. At the top of the shore at Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey earlier this week. #plantgalls #KentNature @galling.bsky.social
- Surprise find at Stodmarsh yesterday. Tho' female Lesne's & Short-winged Earwigs are hard to separate, this one's size (c10mm head-and-body length) & dark appendages say Short-winged. #earwigs #dermaptera #KentNature
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- Thanks!
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- ✋️
- Also, is there something about the dark patches visible through the elytra? I have a vague recollection of something about this, and comparing photos suggests the pattern is different between the two species.
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- Some more thoughts on this. I have 25 records for 2025, from 17 monads across 11 hectads. Interestingly, I have the impression that I'm seeing macrolabic males much more often than I used to.
- Hard to say from the records I hold for @kentfieldclub.bsky.social. I tried graphing number of records by year, but found the graph very closely reflected recording by just two people - Eric Philp and Laurence Clemons - who between them account for 60% of all records since 1970!
- A second local #NewYearPlantHunt today, on roadsides & across fields between Doddington & Kingsdown Church, with a gang of 10 people. 27 plants in flower, plus Lapwings & Golden Plovers in the open fields. Finished with lunch in the pub! @bsbibotany.bsky.social #KentNature
- New Year's Plant-hunting around the village this afternoon with @ponddipping.bsky.social, and a not unrespectable 15 species in flower. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NYPH #KentNature
- Rustyback is a scarce fern in Kent, but is well established on this roadside wall in Wychling on the #KentDowns. Only when walking (as today) or cycling past do I get a chance to stop and admire it. #ferns #KentNature
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- It is indeed!
- Corky-fruited Water-dropwort in full flower on a roadside bank here on the Kent Downs. #KentNature #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
- Firecrest in a yew hedge in the village this morning. Why you should always carry binoculars while delivering Christmas cards. #KentNature #KentBirding
- Bats still active in Doddington (Kent) Church, judging from the appearance of new droppings over the last ten days. #bats #KentNature @kentbatgroup.org.uk
- What's the perfect last-minute Christmas present for the naturalist who has everything but my book about the amazing Ranscombe Farm Reserve? www.kentfieldclub.org.uk/ranscombe-st... #KentNature @plantlifeuk.bsky.social #NatureWriting #PleaseBuyMyBook
- A pleasant walk through Sharsted Wood and Doddington Place this morning - Mistle Thrush singing loudly in the park, Treecreeper and Bullfinch in the woodland. #KentNature
- Darn! Missed #wildflowerhour last night! But here's my #Winter10 from last week - better late than never. Names in alt-text. All from @rspb.bsky.social's Dungeness reserve, except for the Butcher's-broom which is from a local hedgerow. @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #KentNature
- It would be nice to see some government action on this actnow.peatfreepartnership.org.uk/end-peat-sal...
- Harder to find a #winter10 this week. But managed it, with some rural, some urban, some native, some naturalised. Names in alt text. #Wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #KentNature
- I love #thewinter10 and the way it makes you get out and look. Definitely satisfying to get these together. Names in alt text. #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
- The Tachinid Ectophasia crassipennis was a surprise visitor to the last remaining Ox-eye Daisy in the garden today. Apparently new to Britain in 2019, and now widespread in Kent according to the NBN atlas. #flies #diptera #KentNature
- Queen Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, in the garden just now. #bees #bumblebees #hymenoptera #KentNature
- My morning constitutional took me through the parkland at Doddington Place. Heard my first Fieldfares of the autumn. Plus Redwing, Green & Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatch, Goldcrest, etc. Very pleasant. #KentNature #KentBirds
- Darn you, Bluesky - look what you've got me into! Delivery this morning from @fieldstudiesc.bsky.social. @vc40orthops.bsky.social @vc40ladybirds.bsky.social
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- An excellent day! Thank you for organizing it.
- A couple of bugs tapped out of a cypress tree in Doddington Churchyard today: Juniper Shieldbug and the smart red-and-black Corizus hyoscyami. They were also accompanied by a Common Green Shieldbug and a Box Bug. #bugs #truebugs #hemiptera #KentNature @caringforgodsacre.bsky.social
- Interesting-looking fungus growing from moss atop a tombstone in Doddington churchyard. I took it for dead leaf at first. ObsIdentify says it's Arrhenia spathulata. #KentNature #fungus #fungi @caringforgodsacre.bsky.social
- Still the occasional final instar Spurge Bug (Dicranocephalus medius) nymph warming itself on the south-facing front wall of the house. #KentNature #TrueBugs #bugs #Hemiptera
- Well, that was a great day! Always so much useful networking going on at an event like this.
- Rounding off our conference - the wonderful @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social on urban flora - the subject of his latest book. #KentNature #urbanflora #urbanplants #botany @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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- I thought this was interesting in showing two females using a single nest burrow, though I'm aware some Andrena species do share burrow entrances. It also made me get out Ted Benton's Solitary Bee book & check life-cycle - appears Ivy Bee eggs hatch in autumn and they overwinter as larvae.
- Rhyparochromus vulgaris on the bedroom curtain this morning. We must have put a dozen of these out of the house over the last month or two - unless the same ones keep sneaking back in! #KentNature #bugs #Hemiptera @britishbugs.bsky.social
- OK - am I seeing things, or does this bird have pale margins to its feathers, giving a scaly appearance? Doesn't show in the photos, but the flanks clearly looked scaly to the naked eye. It was very tame, allowing me within a few feet. *Awaits reply saying 'It's a Blackbird, you nana.'*
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- Thanks, Kev. The stockamsel type is new to me, so that blogspot piece was really interesting. I see what you mean about the scaling on the back, but pics were taken outside. Wondered about its origin - lots tamer than local birds, which made me suspect it hadn't come across many people.
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- Excellent - thank you!
- ... for the avoidance of doubt, I'm (very optimistically) trying to wrestle it into being a 1st-winter Ring Ouzel.😬
- Tawny Cockroach nymph, tapped from Ivy at the local churchyard this afternoon. Nice find - I haven't seen enough of these this year. #KentNature #Dictyoptera #Cockroach
- I'm excited about the Ecological Society's new Fakhri A. Bazzaz and Steward T.A. Pickett Mentorship Award for Enhancing Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging in Ecology. Nominate your colleagues who have been outstanding mentors! Due Nov. 13 esa.org/about/awards... @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social
- Well, this brings back memories. I studied under Fakhri Bazzaz at the U of Illinois when I was there as a naive, young, British exchange student back in 1982/83. Good to see him remembered in this way.
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- Excellent - I shall have to try it!
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- Registered!
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- Are these not silk-button galls? A common gall on oak leaves.
- Nothing uncommon, but it's nice to see fungi appearing locally, including this False Deathcap Amanita citrina and Parrot Waxcap Gliophorus psittacinus. #fungi #waxcaps #KentNature
- Just heard my first Redwing of the autumn, over the house. #KentNature #KentBirds
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- I shall have to pay attention to the weather. And try and get hold of the full paper!
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- Interesting reference you've found there. Personally, I'm struggling earwig-wise. So hot and dry this year, I wonder if they've been keeping hidden in cooler, damper spots. And despite repeated searching, have only found one specimen of one species other than Common.
