Jeremy Sanders

I can imagine! The blooms are gorgeous as just a single flowerhead, but en masse the impact is very impressive!

Wow! What a wonderful mass of flowers! 😍

What a splendid sight, Fran! 🤩

Top Row: Small Heath, Drone Fly, Chalkhill Blue (male) Middle Row: 6-spot Ladybirds, Common Carder Bee Bottom Row: White-tailed Bubblebee, Gatekeeper (male), Red Admiral

2nd of 2 collages of plants with #PollinatorPals (IDs in Alt text) in N. Wilts. #Wildflowerhour Creeping Thistle, Field Scabious, Wild Majoram, Wild Angelica, Purple Loosestrife, Hemp Agrimony, Small Scabious & Buddleja (naturalised). #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Top Row: Rosy Plant Bugs, Chalkhill Blue (male), Six-spot Burnet Moth Middle Row: White-tailed and Buff-tailed Bubblebees, Adonis Blue (male) Bottom Row: Small Copper, Small Heath, Large White

1st of 2 collages of plants with #PollinatorPals (IDs in Alt text) in N. Wilts. #Wildflowerhour Round-headed Rampion, Carline Thistle, Greater Knapweed, Woolly Thistle, Small Scabious, Common Ragwort, Black Knapweed & Grt Willowherb. #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Hope they’re spared the tidy brigade long enough to bloom!

This week’s challenge is #PollinatorPals! Find a flowering wild or naturalised plant with a pollinating visitor & snap away. Of course it’s not just about bees! Butterflies, moths, wasps, flies & beetles can all be #pollinators too! Share your pics for #Wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm!

I hope the saltmarsh of the Severn Estuary near Caldicot counts as #ByTheSea - clockwise from top left here’s Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea, Wild Celery, an unusually violet-blue Spiny Restharrow and Marsh Mallow for #WildflowerHour

Great finds, Fran! I love that bluish Spiny Restharrow! 🩵

#wildflowerhour challenge not viable in N. Wilts, but saw these this week: Willowherb, Wild Marjoram, Scentless Mayweed, Strawberry Clover, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Woolly & Carline Thistles, Common Fleabane, Common Toadflax; Soapwort. #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Common Dodder, Cuscuta epithymum, parasitising Gorse (Ulex minor I think in this case) on Thursley Common. This fascinating plant has no chlorophyll and no roots, and gains all its nutrition by attaching itself directly to the stems of its host plant via special structures called haustoria.

Oh, nice find, Moira! Last week, I found an area of downland with ~50 Dodder colonies parasitising a variety of plant species. I was thrilled because it was the first time I’ve encountered this fascinating plant.

Yes, let's hope so! 🤞

Lovely to see them, Pam! I looked at my local site yesterday and there was no sign of any at all. I have a feeling it’s going to be a bad year for them here because it’s been so dry here.

Dwarf Elder (Sambucus ebulus) & Dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) seen in N. Wilts, where they're scarce and rare, respectively. Here Dodder parasitizes various species, e.g., Lady's Bedstraw, Field Scabious & Wild Marjoram. #Wildflowerhour #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Some members of the #Deadnettlefamily flowering in N. Wilts. for the #wildflowerhour challenge: Marsh Woundwort, Hedge Woundwort, Gypsywort, Betony, Wild Marjoram, Wild Thyme, Wild Basil, Common Calamint; Water & Corn Mints. #WiltsBotSoc @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Great shot of the Green Woodpecker, Moira! It’s not easy to capture them without great stealth!

Thank you for your kind reply and ID for the tree frog. This species is a favourite of mine that I know from summers working in rural Niigata-ken. I have also seen Schlegel’s Tree Frog when hiking along mountain river valleys. I’m fascinated by Japanese flora and fauna. 😊

Such a beautiful capture! Is it a Japanese Tree Frog or a Schlegel’s Tree Frog? I think it might be the latter.

Thank you, Fran! This was on the site of your future visit: West Yatton Down

No Harebells this week unfortunately but, at the other end of the ‘delicate’ scale, this Cut-leaved Teasel Dipsacus lanceolatus was an exciting find 😊🥳 A first for me and, I think, Wiltshire. #WildflowerHour

Just gorgeous!

What a splendid find, Fran, for you and Wiltshire! 🤩 It looks to be a very sturdy specimen.

Despite the frustrations of breezy conditions, here are some captures of charming Harebells (Campanula rotundifolia) growing on limestone downland in N. Wilts. for the #Wildflowerhour #HarebellChallenge. @bsbibotany.bsky.social
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Same for me, Fran! Just too uncomfortably hot for safe botanising. 🥵 This coming week looks more promising, thankfully.

A delightful young #fox that drops by my N. Wilts. garden every day to eat up the dropped food under the bird feeders and play amongst the hostas. #wildlife #nature #mammals @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social @mammalsociety.bsky.social @britishnatureguide.bsky.social

Some are stellate, glandular, forked, simple or branched. What are? I hear you ask! Hairs! This week’s challenge is to find a hairy plant, the hirsuter the better and examine its trichomes! Post your bristly pics using the hashtag #hairyplants for #Wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm

Lovely finds, Tim!

That’s sad to see. The flower spike looks desiccated. I believe there are Broad-leaved and Violet Helleborines in NW Wilts but have never been lucky enough to come across either.

Goodness! Sell & Murrell next? 😅