George & I had an afternoon walk at Lochshaw Moss. We got caught in a few sharp showers but still very enjoyable. Saw 2 Common Lizards ( brief/poor views), on the walk out a lovely Northern Wheatear, then my 1st singing Cuckoo of the year. 👍

Seen this Holly Blue Butterfly at Figgate Park this afternoon, stunning wee thing. #butterfly #Edinburgh Butterfly Conservation 🦋 Figgate Park

Mandarin drake at the pond at Dalkeith Country Park but please respect nesting birds 🤩🙏🪺 (pair of Canada geese present etc)

The warmer weather today brought me my first Green Hairstreak, common lizard and Andrena scotica (Chocolate Mining Bees) of the season. The hairstreak favour the birch seedlings on Loch Shaw, while the Andrena use both the willow and birch at Dunn Moss. Forestry and Land Scotland

Tree sparrow 🥰
Liberton #Edinburgh

27 Apr. Musselburgh. 2+ Twite on 1st lagoon, 60 Sand Martin, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 16 Velvet Scoter, 12 Long-tailed Ducks Birding Lothian

Juvenile Lake orb mussel (Sphaerium lacustre) from the north pond at Lauriston Farm Edinburgh Agroecology Coop - quite lucky to find this as only 3 mm long! #Molluscs #Edinburgh

Holy Blue butterfly (Celastrina argiolus) on a Juniper bush yesterday at The Scottish Wildlife Trusts' Bawsinch Nature Reserve, Duddingston. #Butterflies Scottish Wildlife Trust

Popped out of county this morning for Black Grouse - rewarded with great views of greyhens. I’ve not seen a female fan its tail before. Not sure whether this was in response to the male display or towards a rival female? The fanning is just visible in the video clip…

Spring vetch at St Abbs, finally after 10 years looking. Last seen on the Head by M.E Braithwaite in 1983.

Welcome to Super Seabird Sunday. Today we are celebrating Puffins because from tomorrow, we are counting the puffin population on the Isle of May as the blog explains: isleofmaynnr.wordpress.com but keep on sharing seabird videos/photos to make people smile #SuperSeabirdSunday

Nice to see first ducklings along the Union Canal, one of The City of Edinburgh Council's most important and enjoyed designated wildlife sites. ENHS RSPB Edinburgh Area LG Birding Lothian Vastint UK #fountainbridge

How is the world’s most northerly bottlenose dolphin population getting on? In today’s blog, read about the latest monitoring results and research from an important habitat for this population along Scotland’s east coast. orlo.uk/v028z

So amazing to see the woods bursting with wild garlic. If you’re foraging for this edible plant, please don’t take more than a fist full from one location and, even better, consider foraging instead for its narrow leaved invasive cousin, few flowered leek.

Out now in paperback – Meetings with #Moths : Discovering Their Mystery and Extraordinary Lives Katty Baird 4th Estate Books HarperCollinsUK Butterfly Conservation 🦋 UK Butterflies British Moths Royal Entomological Society AES - amentsoc.org Insect Science #insects #entomology #lepidoptera

We loved having the brilliant Martha Kearney & BBC Open Country visit this month.
Hear about the early signs of recovery in the #BassRock gannet colony post #avianflu , the devastating impact of the winter storms on NB harbour & ancient #beachclean finds! ↙️
bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

Swifts are on the way! 😀 And you could see one in the next week as a mass arrival is on the cards in the current weather conditions🌥️ Discover species to look out for in this week’s BirdTrack migration blog 👉 bit.ly/44jRqll #ornithology #swifts

📷© Philip Croft / BTO

Our final #NationalMammalWeek video is the much-loved hedgehog. MammalWeb is a partner on the National Hedgehog Monitoring Programme ( #NHMP ) to better understand their population status – check out the project page to get involved!

Blog by Craig Macadam at @buzz_dont_tweet delving into the fascinating world of leeches, with guidance on identifying British species BENHS Royal Entomological Society Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) Freshwater Habitats Trust #leech #leech es Tanyptera Project

biologicalrecording.co.uk/2024/02/05/lee…

A few more images from Skinflats this afternoon.