James Harding-Morris

Endemic Meet the rare, obscure and utterly British species found nowhere else on earth.Around 70,000 species call Britain home, but how many of them can be found here a…

For more about the unique wildlife of the Great Orme, and other endemic species across Britain, then you might enjoy my book Endemic.

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It is *tiny*, with a wingspan of just 15-22mm, compared to the usual 26-32mm of the nominate subspecies found elsewhere.

Unlike most Silver-studded Blues, which take flight from mid-June, the Orme Blue emerges earlier - typically from late May.

Britain has no endemic species of butterfly, but we do have a few unique subspecies.

This is the endemic subspecies of the Silver-studded Blue found on the Great Orme, Plebejus argus ssp. caernensis, what I call the 'Orme Blue'.

Check out those gorgeous silver-studs 😍

I'm glad that - even for such a dedicated naturalist as yourself - there's something new and interesting in there for you. Thanks again for all your help with the Interrupted Brome chapter.

Cover of a book: 'Endemic - Exploring the Wildlife Unique to Britain' by Kames Harding-Morris.

Excited to get my copy of Endemic by @bsbicountries.bsky.social today. Not because *ahem* I'm in the chapter on Interrupted Brome, but because of the many other spp & subsp to explore - some of which (like Great Orme's Graylings) I realise I've already seen without realising their significance.

Two endemic Welsh whitebeams, both with Rowan ancestry.

Top is Ley's Whitebeam, Sorbus leyana, which has 9 remaining wild trees. Plant Atlas: share.google/INMlwgNZvgI7...

Bottom is Least Whitebeam, Sorbus minima, which has a wild population of over 700. Plant Atlas: share.google/E4VQ14l0PvKL...

On Saturday, we held a Northern Ireland Recorders Meeting in the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre. From far and wide, recorders came to learn about willow identification and hybrids, then roamed the site, willow-hunting. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @mikekally.bsky.social

Least Whitebeam, Sorbus minima

Distribution map of Sorbus minima

The Least Whitebeam, Sorbus minima, is in my humble and biased opinion, one of our best looking whitebeams. Small, adorable leaves with those deep lobes reflecting Rowan ancestry. This endemic tree has a very restricted range, but is abundant within it with over 700 trees known.

Did you submit the record??

Definitely a non-native, but it's not classed as invasive: www.nonnativespecies.org/non-native-s...

Very different looking seeds between Drosera anglica (gwlithlys mawr / great sundew) and D intermedia (gwlithlys hirddail / oblong-leaved sundew). In the hybrid between D anglica and D rotundifolia the seed pods don’t really open and the seeds are just soft pale brown bits. #sundews #drosera

Jealous! One I'd love to see 😍

😂

“A remarkable discovery”: Rare fern found in Welsh valley 150 years after being wiped out by Victorians | Countryfile.com The young holly fern was rediscovered by a naturalist on the rugged slopes of Cwm Idwal in Eryri National Park.

Some positive plant news from the BSBI - Holly Fern rediscovered in Cwm Idwal after 150 years! share.google/ZlNYNfC4f6h2...

And with a quote from our very own @bsbicymru.bsky.social

Plant Atlas maps for Holly Fern here: share.google/9t1TB44l1G1i...

Thanks Katie 😊

I always impressed by how everyone in the area at the time remembers exactly what they were doing that day. My dad was caddying for some golfers in Brough, East Yorkshire, and remembers hearing it and seeing a cloud of smoke over the Humber. I didn't know about the brickworks - I'll have to visit!

I find these plants at Flixborough interesting; they have no normal conservation value, yet I think they're important because of their 'heritage' value, for want of a better word. I'm probably, and obviously, biased!

But can anyone else think of other alien plants with arguable 'heritage' value?

And one of the bricks from these houses is now built into my fireplace.

Flixborough 1974 Memories - Debra Harding-Morris - North Lincolnshire Museum Memories of the Nypro disaster recorded by Debra Harding-Morris, who lived at Stather Road, Flixborough with her family.

You can read my mum's recollections here: share.google/mv6RkWQUcoas...

As well as Lilac, which my mum remembers growing in my great grandparents' garden who lived a couple of houses down (they were there at the time of the explosion and both went to hospital, fortunately only with superficial injuries)

Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis) and my personal favourite, Garden Speedwell (Veronica longifolia)

Lupin (Lupinus x regalis) and Cypress Spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)

This is, except for the few garden plants that still persist here 50 years on.

Double-flowered Sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica) and Apple Mint (Mentha x villosa)

This is actually a thread about plants!

This is the site today. All the houses were pulled down. If you look down the left hand side of the road you can just make out slight indents where driveways used to be.

Other than that, it's just a wide roadside verge with nothing to show people lived here

This house, on the left, was my mum's. Though the building still stood, it was no longer structurally sound, and almost everything inside had been ruined.

The Flixborough Disaster happened on June 1st 1974. A chemical plant in North Lincolnshire exploded, killing 28 people, injuring many others, and destroying houses. My mum was 10 years old & on a family trip to the seaside. When they got home they found that their house had been ruined by the blast.

Please pass on my deepest apologies to your husband 🙏

I would have loved to include some photos - not my decision.

Hopefully it can still largely be enjoyed in the theatre of the mind.

Just posted another thread for you 😀

Endemic Meet the rare, obscure and utterly British species found nowhere else on earth.Around 70,000 species call Britain home, but how many of them can be found here a…

And if you'd like to read more about Lundy, its cabbage and beetles, as well as dozens of other species unique to Britain, my book Endemic is available wherever books are sold, such as here: share.google/dRqMynWRN8QM...

Lundy is therefore a very special place. It has been described as 'Britain's own Galapagos' which is maybe overselling it a bit, but with two (or three!) interrelated endemics, it is unique in a British context.