Homosexual behaviour between male giraffes is very common. This can involve licking and necking, in which they rub their heads and necks together for hours. In some populations homosexual mountings between males account for 94% of all sexual activity observed. #PrideMonth #LGBT

Birds of paradise are known for their elaborate mating dances to woo females. But older male Victoria's riflebirds will also court younger males, performing the same ornate dances to mesmerise the younger birds and occasionally result in mounting. #PrideMonth #LGBT

Female cheetahs have been seen courting other females, performing courtship chases and mating circles under moonlit nights. Occasionally this results in one female mounting the other, clasping her with forelimbs and gently biting the scruff of their neck 🌔🐆 #PrideMonth #LGBT

Through science, people have often imposed their own social norms onto animal behaviour, with scientists overlooking some of the amazing diversity across the animal kingdom from intersex kangaroos to fish with four separate 'genders'. #PrideMonth #LGBT 🌈bbc.co.uk/earth/story/20…

Societal norms have frequently reinforced a binary outlook on sex & gender in nature, but there are many examples where this isn't the case. Evolutionary biologist Joan Roughgarden tells us how animals often fail to fall into neat boxes #PrideMonth #LGBT 🌈youtube.com/watch?v=KJ3lcC…

Is anyone doing the overnight ferry crossing from Liverpool to Belfast on the 8th December for the British Ecological Society Annual meeting?

Such a lovely blog post by Claire Wallace finding the positives of lockdown for our insect friends

#WorldBeeDay2020 Here’s the bee that started it all for me. These iridescent male Euglossa collect aromatic compounds from orchids and store them in the hind tibia (their funky flares). Their unique “perfume” concoction is thought to provide females with a measure of fitness

Does anybody know if this is likely to be a broken 2m-cu vein in the first photo of this Andrena species? The second photo shows it dropped completely on the other forewing Lynn Dicks Sarah Barnsley Liam Crowther Claire Wallace Steven Falk

Fundraising page still open for anybody that would still like to donate!

Attempting to pass off the introduction of this number of hives (for honey production) as ecologically beneficial is grossly misleading. Saturating the landscape with managed bees doesn't benefit wild pollinators and conflicts with any other pollinator conservation efforts.

Thank you to AAB for organising a great conference and inviting me to speak to such an esteemed audience.

Catch me on this mornings Farming Today This Week talking about my research on the use of honeybees for raspberry crop pollination and the risks to wild pollinators of overstocking honeybee hives #agroecology #pollination #honeybees UEA CEEC @biouea

Now on train no.3 of 5! 🇸🇪🇩🇪🇧🇪🇬🇧

Whistle stop tour of Brussels

I passed my viva!! Many thanks to my examiners Jake Bishop and Jen Gill (she/her) for a great viva and BerryWorld Group and Natural Environment Research Council for funding my PhD and to the farms, family and friends that made it all possible! I’ll miss you UEA and Norwich!