John Ashburner

@johnashburner.bsky.social

612 Followers 1607 Following

Does things with computers and brain scans as a profession. Very amateur parent, naturalist, etc.

British Virgin Islands tax-dodgers and money laundering flag
British Virgin Islands flag
Painted Lady (Cumbria, 2026)
Ni Moth - a migratory moth. It's name may have nothing to do with the Knights Who Say "Ni!"
Church door/gates with a sign
A cuckoo bumblebee (not sure of exact species)
Speedwell
A view along the path showing Spotted Orchids and other flowers
Ragged Robin
Scaeva pyrastri hoverfly (f)
Text from Roger Morris on the UK Hoverflies Facebook page about Marmalade Hoverflies being scarcer in hot years.
Top down view of a black and yellow stripey hoverfly.
Clouded Yellow butterfly (Trumper's Field, Hanwell, London 18/07/26).
Ni Moth (Trichoplusia ni). This is a migrant to the UK (typically fewer than 50 records per year).
Brassy Longhorn moth on a scabious
Lady's Bedstraw in flower at Warren Farm in West London.
I think this is a Meadow Brown butterfly pretending to be a Ringlet (Warren Farm 14/06/26)
Himalayan Balsom flowers
Volucella pellucens on bramble
Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) in South Ealing Cemetery.
A flowering Bee Orchid
A montage of six bee species
A montage of six bumblebee lookalikes.
"Long-horned General" fly, looking very bee-like.
Green Hairstreak on Green Alkanet.
A hoverfly with a snout nose
Meligramma euchromum / Epistrophella euchroma (male)
A small brown and beige bird, holding on to a reed and looking left.
Bluebells growing by the South-West hedge
A half-digested sock found in the washing machine sump.
Roger Morris (UK national hoverfly recording scheme) musing about south London hoverflies.
Wood Speedwell
Garlic Mustard (with Helophilus pendulus). FitsHerbert Walk, by the River Brent.
Great Britain is between Accrington and Clitheroe - according to google maps
Parasyrphus punctulatus hoverfly (21/03/26, near Long Wood in West London).
Montage of six mostly little black job hoverflies.
Lesser Celendines with a Cheilosia sp of hoverfly enjoying some nectar. Photo from Long Wood in Ealing, yesterday.
Montage of Cheilosia variabilis, Platycheirus ambiguus (probably), Parasyrphus punctulatus, Helophilus pendulus and an Eristalis sp.
Dark-edged Bee-fly on Blackthorn.
Chiffchaff and Ash flowers
Blackthorn and Syrphus torvus
Blackthorn (I think). Trumper's Field 08/03/26
A rubbish brown blur that is supposed to be a Cetti's Warbler.
Autofocus and Cetti's Warblers are not a good mix
A montage showing 16 of the less common hoverflies seen in Warren Farm and Long Wood (west London) in 2025
A daffodil in flower in Russell Square, London, on 9th December.
Daffodil in flower with a distant Christmas tree in the background.
Montage of flowers photographed on 16/11/25 around Warren Farm, Trumper's Field and Fitzherbert Walk in Hanwell, west London.
Whinchat on a twig being photo-bombed by a Stonechat (Warren Farm, west London, October 2022).
View from behind the Jennings brewery in Cockermouth, Cumbria. A good place to look out for the occasional kingfisher.
View over Ennerdale Water in the west of the Lake district.
Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) on Hoary Mustard
Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca) on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) at Warren Farm, west London.