Barry 🏳️‍🌈 🇵🇸 🌿🌿

Orchis provincialis, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Ophrys reinholdii, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Ophrys korae, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Neotinea maculata, Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

There's good reason our orchid tours are over-subscribed and fill years in advance. Our guests value their authenticity, our leaders' knowledge & convivial company, and our commitment to donate promptly to support @bsbibotany.bsky.social. We don't settle for second-best, and nor should you.

Just 3 places remain available to join my good pal @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social and I for the Mariposa Nature Tours flagship orchid tour, #OrchidsOfRhodes in 2028.

Is it worth the wait? Just take a look at what our recent guests have to say!

www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Playgrounds would become crack dens if greens were in power policing minister says.

Drug deaths have risen every year for 13 years.

That’s 13 years of a failed “war on drugs”.

Labour should be looking at legalisation, control and regulation - not playing politics with people’s lives.

This is a public health crisis. Treat it like one. Not a game.

In December, the UK Government rejected all of the recommendations made by the UK’s statutory nature conservation bodies in its response to the Seventh Quinquennial Review of Schedules 5 and 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (QQR7).

Parnassia palustris, VU on the England Red List
Stroh, P.A., Leach, S.J., August, T.A., Walker, et al 2014. A Vascular Plant Red List for England. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, Bristol.

Succisa pratensis, Devils-bit Scabious, NT, (Near-threatened) on the England Red List

Briza media, Near Threatened, England Red List, widespread but declined by 20–30%

Plantago media, Hoary Plantain, Near Threatened on the England Red List

Comprehensive Red List highlights threatened plant species in Britain A new Red List for Great Britain’s vascular plants has shown that while a quarter of species are threatened, there have been success stories, including some rare orchids. It has been produced by the B...

www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med...

Reddish orange upright unopened male bog myrtle catkins

Reddish orange upright unopened male bog myrtle catkins

Reddish orange upright unopened male bog myrtle catkins

It's yet to have much of its beautiful scent, but the colour of these unopened male bog myrtle catkins from last week more than made up for it.
#botany

It’s official!

The 'Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside' will be published on Monday 9 March 🌿 📖

I’m hugely proud of this, and ever so grateful to @nenature.bsky.social and @bsbibotany.bsky.social for their support in making it happen. #botany #urbanflora

And so it begins. Emergent Early Purple Orchid rosette. this afternoon

Left to right. April 4th; April 17th; 4th May; 13th May. Orchis mascula, Early Purple Orchid. My favourite population.
@jelltex.bsky.social

Check out our new paper on the newly defined oceanic wet grasslands of Scotland in the latest issue of British and Irish Botany 👀👀 @bsbibotany.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social
britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

Historic Floodplain Meadows in the Landscape: Investigating Anthropogenic Habitats Important for Nature Conservation, Carbon Sequestration and Flood Attenuation - Environmental Management In contemporary river valley floors, floodplain meadows are associated with rare grassland plant communities that are important for their conservation value. This article outlines a desk-based method ...

🥳🌱New Paper!🌱🥳

Check out how we have been working with our friends at Fjordr to detect historical locations of floodplain meadows using physical and documented traces in the landscape, suppporting the case for restoration. 👇

tinyurl.com/y8frpr2h

📚OUT TODAY ! This new book bundle from us combines our 4 popular Seasons in the Wild ecology story titles:

Winter Sleep: A hibernation Story
Busy Spring: Nature Wakes Up
Wild Summer: Life in the Heat
Autumn Feast: Nature’s Harvest

“A Year in Nature” is published by @quartokids.bsky.social #KidLit

Comic book critics often say things like, “That's stupid. How could anyone think Clark Kent is a different person to Superman just because he put on glasses?” 



But then Farage says Robert Jenrick has gone from “a total fraud” to “Chancellor material” just by wearing a different colour rosette 🤷‍♂️

Reform UK Councillors Gone: Updated

Dean Burn and Peter Colley have defected to Restore Britain.

➡️ Kicked Out
Brian Black
Oliver Bradshaw
Paul Thomas
Bob Ford
Bill Barratt
Ed Hill
James Regan
Mark Broadhurst
Paul Bean
Adam Smith
Daniel Taylor
John Allen
Nicole Brooke
Patrick Lambert

What a wonderful #wildflowerhour despite the soggy weather!! Just a reminder that there are lots of useful ID resources like this amazing @naturelark.bsky.social guide to violets on our website! Why not take a peek! 👀 See you again next Sunday! ☺️

The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported

It’s beyond insane that the BBC World Service might end in 7 weeks when its funding runs out. A beacon of information, education and UK soft power - Ministers would be crazy not to find money to support it

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

This is the aftermath of an ICE kidnapping a few blocks from my home in St. Paul—an hour ago. A quiet street full of broken glass and at least three wrecked cars. The target of the kidnapping was taken away by ambulance. He was on a stretcher and covered by a sheet, though a cop said he was alive.

We're trialling something new this year at the BSBI - an activity designed to support absolute beginner botanists with identifying *and* recording their first ever 100 plants in 2026 🌿

If you know anyone that might like to take part then please spread the word:

bsbi.org/take-part/ac...

Tiktok took this video down seconds after we posted it on there. They said it goes against their community guidelines. But we checked and kissing doesn’t go against their guidelines.

We appealed it and minutes later Tiktok actually completely deleted our account.

Moor views on past, present and future landscapes Clemency Cooper’s PhD research aims to understand how perceptions of the landscape have shaped the North York Moors, and how evidence of past change might influence decisions about its future characte...

I've been scaling my own wuthering heights since a momentous move to York last autumn to start a PhD investigating landscape change in the North York Moors #moorviews

Read more about the aims of my research in this blog post for @anthropocenebio.bsky.social www.york.ac.uk/anthropocene...

Sudan civil war: RSF war crimes saw 6,000 killed in three days in el-Fasher, UN says Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) committed the atrocities in el-Fasher, says a UN report.

"The report cites evidence of mass killings, summary executions, torture, abductions and sexual violence against civilians. These amount to war crimes and possible crimes against humanity, it says."
@bbcnews-world-rss.bsky.social
www.bbc.com/news/article...

Exciting PhD opportunity!
Would add that the area is lovely and with low living expenses

7-Year-Old Migrant Girl Dies Of Dehydration And Shock In U.S. Border Patrol Custody The girl's death underscores the crisis precipitated by large groups of families seeking asylum where there are inadequate facilities to detain them.

CBP didn’t give her or anyone any water; she asked 3 times accg to other reports. CBP killed a 7yr old.

“8 hours after the girl & her father were taken into custody, she began having seizures & her body temperature was measured at 105.7 degrees by emergency medical technicians. shorturl.at/d2OTJ

European Parliament Votes Overwhelmingly For "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women" The resolution, though nonbinding, is a significant shot at those who seek to erode transgender rights on the continent.

In incredible news, the European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly for "The Full Recognition Of Trans Women As Women."

Even the center-right European People's Party voted for the declaration.

It will form a foundation for their position at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Our latest.

A brief history of Israel’s theft and trafficking of Palestinian organs There are over three decades of evidence that Israeli doctors harvest Palestinian organs in direct violation of international law. These stolen body parts were not just used for transplantation and re...

mondoweiss.net/2025/02/a-br...