While digging about in the garden, I came across a medium sized very shiny black spider. It had brown horizontal markings on its back - almost as if it was giving a woodlouse a piggyback. Does anyone know what it might be?
@wild edges are you registering your various rare finds on some kind of national database?
I use the South East Wales Biodiversity Recording service for some stuff but it's not the easiest website to use. This beetle was species 450 so I've got quite a list built up that should probably be put to use somehow.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
This is something that bothers me. I'm trying to find details about a rare insect at the moment and, to be fair, there's a lot of publicly available details but the interesting stuff seems to be hidden. This may be for safety or because it isn't verified though but I want to make sure any data I submit is easily available for everyone.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
It's a bit of a jump, but a mudlarking friend was telling me that there is an excellent national data framework for archeological finds. Since most of these come from the public, it is public-ended and designed for their use primarily (rather than inward-looking niche, adapted later for public use, or grudgingly admitted). It makes a huge difference. The design has to be transparent, open globally to anyone, every find GPS linked and inclusive from the start. Apparently the UK set up is now the gold standard for the world. I believe the public gathering of star data works along the same model. Citizen science at its best. The best side of Wikipedia is the same.
I think the London mudlarking and metal detecting data collection system is good but I haven't found it so easily accessible around here. I contacted the Finds Liaison Officer about some things I've found around here but haven't heard back. I should chase them really though. I found this lead bag seal in a local river, it was probably used to seal a sack of wool or flax for one of the mills but I don't know where to start trying to date it. I love finding things like this that would otherwise be lost or destroyed but it's probably useful data to someone if I can record it in the right place.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Only in a very second-hand way. I'm inspired by the people that White inspired but I've had his book for a while and haven't quite got around to reading it yet
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Selbourne is good to dip and out of as it's mostly made of letters; in my 1873 edition, half the book is enthusiastic footnotes; The kind of book to read over lunch. It's one of the British books longest in continuous in print since it was first published; full of statements like 'I saw an amazing/beautiful/astonishing owl so I killed it'. He was a true explorer of the hyper-local. He found a wren was not a wren and that a field mouse was new and that some native species were also disappearing from the landscape.
Found this hawkmoth caterpillar a few days ago in the back garden, never seen one before so I was delighted. Huge, finger for scale! He was looking for somewhere to cocoon I think, he was on the gravel so I put him back in the border incase he got trodden on by hounds.
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Does anyone know what it might be?