A tiny flightless midge, Eretmoptera murphyi, accidentally introduced to Antarctica in the 1960s, has spread across Signy Island and now dominates the soil ecosystem. Its larvae feed on dead plant material, enriching the soil with nitrogen and changing conditions in ways that could help other species invade. Octavia’s research reveals these midge-altered soils also release more greenhouse gases, meaning this small insect could be quietly accelerating climate change in one of the planet’s most fragile environments.
Category Archives: Blog
Hammersmith and Fulham Biological Recording Project
The Biological Recording Company is working in collaboration with Hammersmith and Fulham Council to deliver a series of free-to-attend biological recording events in 2026: a Biological Recording 101 training course and six Field Recorder Days.
Understanding a Bee’s Buzz: Biology to Robotics
Ever wondered how and why bees buzz? Or what determines the different properties of a bee buzz? In this webinar, Charlie reveals the answer. Join us to understand bee buzzes through his work from the lab and field to understand how bees produce their buzzes and how this understanding is being used to inform the design of micro-robots for pollination.
Innovative Moth Monitoring: Farmer Citizen Science Using AI
Farmland, covering 67% of England, is crucial in supporting nature recovery, yet good biodiversity data in farmland is often lacking. In this talk, Abigail presents results from a pilot involving 21 farmers across southern England who engaged in moth monitoring on their farms during 2024. Farmers used robust, portable LED light traps to capture moths weekly, and used an innovative AI-based identification app to generate real-time data. She gathered feedback from participants to understand farmer motivations, how this could be supported with effective, personalised feedback, and how the data is influenced by the accuracy of AI-based moth identification.
Barnet Natural History Training
The Biological Recording Company and Barnet Council are offering Barnet residents and volunteers a range of free natural history training courses and events, both online and in-person.
Plastic Pollution and Reef Manta Rays: Sources and Exposure
Plastic pollution is ubiquitous and increasing in the marine environment, particularly in remote locations. The effects on marine life include entanglement, ingestion, and potential leaching of toxic plastic additives into tissues. A study investigated the exposure of reef manta rays to plastic pollution in a remote archipelago in the Indian Ocean, including abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, and microplastics. Additionally, it examined the origins of plastic drink bottles on the beaches of the Chagos Archipelago to understand the origins of the debris, and make Extended Producer Responsibility recommendations in the Global Plastics Treaty currently being negotiated by the United Nations.
The Key to the Queendom: Driver Ants as Keystone Species in Tropical Africa
Driver ants, forming colonies of up to 20 million, are fascinating yet poorly understood. They engage in large raids, with workers of various sizes serving specific roles. Although their interactions with other species remain largely unexplored, studies are ongoing to clarify their ecological behaviors and dynamics as social insects. In this entoLIVE webinar, Max Tercel shared his research findings exploring the ecology of these fascinating ants.
The Shining Guest Ant: An Unexpected Houseguest
The Shining Guest Ant (Formicoxenus nitidulus) is a tiny and elusive ant that lives as an uninvited but harmless ‘guest’ in the nests of much larger Wood Ants (Formica rufa group). For a new Shining Guest Ant queen, establishing a colony is a challenging task. To avoid the inbreeding risk of saying local, she must disperse and not only find the right woodland habitat, but also locate a suitable new host nest. Because of their secretive nature and small size, these ants are underrecorded and their movements are poorly understood. In this entoLIVE webinar, Elva shared new, surprising research about Shining Guest Ant queens’ ability to find new homes, and provided tips on how to spot these elusive creatures on your next walk in the woods.
The Fungus Verification Consultation Project
The Biological Recording Company and the British Mycological Society are reviewing how fungi records in the Fungal Records Database of Britain and Ireland are verified and shared. Recorders are invited to join an online survey and workshop to help shape a new national verification protocol for fungal data in the UK.
Wild Tolworth Biological Recording
As part of the Wild Tolworth project, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Biological Recording Company ran seven Field Recorder Days at Tolworth Court Farm in 2024 and 2025. Across these events, 186 participants generated 825 biological records across various species, including pollinators, grasses, dragonflies, fungi, and beetles.
Biological Recording 