@markmccaughrean @mpi_astro

What a beautiful space. Reminds me of the Mendel center in Brno, Czech Republic, nowadays used as a conference center.

In our college, Pembroke, we've refurbished a former United Reform Church into a 220-seat auditorium. A fantastic venue for music concerts and also used daily during term time for lectures, and as a conference site. In the bell tower, we've built a rock climbing gym – just opened this September 2025.

A great use of a great space made of wood and stone, with wonderful acoustics. The college graciously refurbished the organ and installed a grand piano too.

#CambridgeUK #Pembroke1347

Autumn colours at #Pembroke1347
#CambridgeUK #Autumn2025 #autumn

#SilentSunday #Pembroke1347

Sixth: "To bee or not to bee", where we mourn the now departed hairy-footed flower bees and the many species of mining bees – see you next Spring –, and welcome a whole new range of bees, awoken at the right time to feast on the pink lampwick, bright yellow fear-leaf yarrow, and deep pink Deutzia bushes. The rooster includes mason bees, leaf-cutter bees, sweat bees, armoured-resin bees, masked bees, and the spectacular European woolcarder bee. The last two kinds are putting in quite the territorial control and mating show.
https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/bee-or-not-bee
#Pembroke1347 #iNaturalist #Spring2025 #UK #CambridgeUK

Fifth: "Fantastic colours on the wing", where we linger on the many beautiful flies that inhabit the college gardens, from beeflies to bright emerald greenbottle flies, hoverflies, dagger flies, assassin flies, and many others, plus the expected set of bees for late April and early May in Cambridge, UK.
(No images because an update to the blogging platform broke functionality needlessly and carelessly – so click on the iNaturalist links to see them.)
https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/fantastic-colours-wing
#Pembroke1347 #iNaturalist #Spring2025 #UK #CambridgeUK

Mating pair of masked bees, Hylaeus sp.
Spectacular setting, these two chose.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/282511229
#iNaturalist #WorldBeeDay #nativebees #Hymenoptera #entomology #Pembroke1347

When someone has lived a good life: “he died in college of eating too many custards” (p. 36-7)

By some definition of good life.

From: Aubrey Attwater’s lexicon: A guide to college life for the modern Valencian
https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/kit-smarts-blog/aubrey-attwaters-lexicon-guide-college-life-modern-valencian

#academia #CambridgeUK #Pembroke1347

A shiny mason bee, Osmia caerulescens, grooming on a rosemary trunk.

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/279464613
#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #nativebees #entomology #Pembroke1347

Landed on my laptop. Light conditions were such I could take photos with focus stacking. Working from Pembroke's gardens is a wonderful experience.

Syritta pipiens, a hoverfly.
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/279277541
#iNaturalist #Diptera #hoverflies #entomology #Pembroke1347

Glicina (Wisteria sinensis), a Pembroke.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/271253189
#iNaturalist #Pembroke1347

Arbre de l’amor (Cercis siliquastrum) al meu col·legi universitari, Pembroke.
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/271253054
#iNaturalist #Pembroke1347

Fourth: "Wishing well", where we wander towards the college orchard pond and spot a freshwater louse, tadpoles, skaters, backswimmer beetles, diving beetles, and planarians. Plus quite the set of mining bees, mason bees, nomad bees, bee flies, and a yellow-stripped Darwin's wasp: an Ichneumon.

https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/wishing-well
#Pembroke1347 #iNaturalist #Spring2025 #UK #CambridgeUK

#Bloomscrolling #Pembroke1347

To find the subject of my PhD in the garden pond at my very Cambridge college, that made my day.

Planaria, genus Schmidtea, swimming near the surface:
http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/270690367

#iNaturalist #flatworms #planaria #Pembroke1347

Third post: "Beautiful butterflies" and many more, with some comments on late emerging bumblebee queens and cuckoo bumblebees.

https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/beautiful-butterflies

#Pembroke1347 #UK #CambridgeUK

European peacock butterfly, Aglais io, filling all 12 megapixels of my pocket camera. Let me get real close.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/268092179

#iNaturalist #Lepidoptera #butterflies #entomology #Pembroke1347

First mining bee of the season, Andrena sp., leisurely feasting on rosemary flowers. Cambridge, UK.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/266811874

#iNaturalist #Hymenoptera #nativebees #miningbees #entomology #Pembroke1347

This Spring I'm documenting the awakening of Pembroke College gardens in Cambridge, UK. Posts will touch on flowering plants, bushes and trees, and their visitors – largely bees, wasps, flies and butterflies, but also all other critters I happen to stumble upon. Aiming at one post per week.

Posts will appear here:
https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/all

First post: "The return of the queens" https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/return-queens (March 13th, 2025).

Second post, today: "Magnificent magnolia" https://www.pem.cam.ac.uk/college/news/magnificient-magnolia

#Pembroke1347 #UK #CambridgeUK

Usual suspects starting to let themselves be seen out and about.

Weevil, Sitona lineatus, on a flower of holly-leaved hellebore, Helleborus argutifolius.

http://www.inaturalist.org/observations/266367113
#iNaturalist #weevils #Coleoptera #entomology #Pembroke1347

Mating season is loud and raucous. A melee of Rana temporaria in the Pembroke orchard pond.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/265043996

#iNaturalist #frogs #Pembroke1347