A real beauty. A Mercedes N1000 in a semi campervan adaptation, very nicely cared for.

#weirdcarmastodon

They are saying a general strike in Spain over the housing crisis would be 'illegal' because it is not a 'labour dispute'.

One of the main drivers is vulture funds based largely in the USA buying up everyday essentials in Europe to protect themselves from the AI bubble.

They should be excluded from land, water, electricity and any other inescapable reality of survival.

#housingcrisis

For something like 15 years this has stayed vaguely alive, producing a few leaves. Suddenly this year it has thrown up a flower spike. I don't even remember quite what it is but some type of Amaryllis.

It could simply be that it has been slowly building up strength but I think much more likely the exceptional drought and heat triggered flower development.

#gardening

The thick as mince brigade now targeting the Royal National Institute for the Blind. Because abbreviations.

#ukpol

The caryopteris excelling itself this year. It laughed at the drought.
#gardening

A system-wide emergency alert in the UK. Extreme fire risk.

Edit: England and Wales.

#climateemergency

The shine on this 1939 Plymouth is breathtaking.

#weirdcarmastodon

Another Corvette. A Stingray.

@davidwilkins

Finally, windows open and a gentle through breeze.

This is a quite insane display of what appear to be sumptuously decorated patisseries but are in fact all candles. An object lesson in how to change joy into bitter disappointment in the space of a couple of seconds.

#homedecoration

Wasps really should sue. Hundreds of different insects fake their yellow banding to pretend they can sting.

This wonderful insect is a Wasp Beetle (Clytus arietis).

#insects #beetles #coleoptera

It really doesn't get better than this. A fruit tree arbour in a walled garden on a warm, sunny afternoon.

#gardening #England #gloucestershire

And when China sends a destroyer to accompany a convoy of Chinese oil tankers......?

#iranwar

This day flying moth on lantana has an almost unbelievable abstract art colouration. It is a Rattlebox, not sure of species. Quite large. 13-14mm.

#moths #andalusia

Naturalists are predominantly elderly.

Is this because they were socialised as children in a time when there was a greater abundance and variety of wildlife and were more free to roam or is it simply that in retirement they have time to let their interest flower?

If the former, we are in danger of seeing a collapse in data gathering for anything other than birds and butterflies, putting the natural world in greater danger.

If it is just a stage of life thing, there will be steady replacement and data will continue to flow.

Any thoughts?

#insects #entomology #biodiversity #birds #wildlife

I love this dahlia. Definitely one to multiply. Healthy, sturdy and floriferous.

#gardening #dahlias

The manual 60mm macro lens is ridiculously heavy so I put it to one side at first. When I am focused on the hunt though, the weight doesn't register. It is softer and lacks the pop of the portrait lens but it captures vastly more detail.

This is a Meadow Grasshopper (Pseudochorthippus parallelus).

I have been working on this for years. It finally delivered.

Iris borders are very rare. They need immense patience and a lot of space. They are over in days and rather dull most of the time.

But they are the pinnacle.

#gardening #englishgarden #iris

When fetching the twig photo, I noticed something red. I saw something scurry past at the time but on first look thought it had missed the frame.

Most of the creature is hidden in the groove. The obvious things are the huge antenna and the two segments which are grey, against the others in orange and red.

Ants are not my province at all. In the USA this could likely be a twig ant but we don't have those in the UK.

Or maybe we do...

#ant #insects

@BathNature

At first I thought this the same as yours but this visitor to my garden is more unusual.

This is (unsurprisingly!) a Dotted Bee-fly (Bombylius discolor).

The range is limited but I am in the middle of it.

#insects #pollinators