Neil Forbes

Downy woodpecker entangled in plastic artificial decorative Halloween spider webs.

What frightens me most about Halloween cobwebs isn’t how they look…..it’s that they catch the living.
Enjoy the season, but keep the plastic webs indoors; or skip them altogether.

Welcome to Super Seabird Sunday where we ask you to share photos, videos & artwork of seabirds to brighten up timelines. To get us started here are thousands of Puffins on the Isle of May #SuperSeabirdSunday

Blackening Waxcaps

Blackening #Waxcaps on the #Arnside Memorial Playing Fields.
#MushroomMonday

BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show

The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester

While saying they want to "preserve nature" the Conservative Party have just pledged to scrap the Climate Change Act.

This makes no sense.

How do more floods, more droughts, and rising temperatures "preserve" nature?

That's what scrapping the Act will lead to.

Suaeda maritima

Suaeda maritima, Annual Sea-blite. A pioneer #saltmarsh species that plays a key role in denitrification of soils, and also provides an abundance seeds for wintering passerines and wildfowl.
#wildflowerhour
#MorecambeBay
#Arnside
#Cumbria

Trirolium dubium

Lesser trefoil, Trirolium dubium. Another late-flowering species on the species-rich grasslands (some of the finest in the country) at Heathwaite, #Arnside Knott.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria

Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort. Arnside Knott, Heathwaite

Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort. Arnside Knott, Heathwaite

Earlier this year we published a summary of our short-term study of the apparent changing phenology of Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort, at #Arnside Knott in @bsbibotany.bsky.social News. Had a quick visit yesterday and it was by some margin the most abundant flowering species.
#wildflowerhour

It really does pretty much always look like it's gone over. None the less lovely for that though.

Crepis capillaris

Crepis capillaris is one of the most frequently encountered winter-flowering native species in our area (South Cumbria). There should be plenty about well in to November & it's usually possible to find the odd plant later than that too.
#Phenology is changing
#wildflowerhour
@bsbibotany.bsky.social

Scabiosa columbaria

It's not uncommon to find a few late-flowering Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria on the NW limestones in England. And that's exactly what this is.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside Knott
@nationaltrust.org.uk

Completely blown away today by how the Scarce Tufted-sedge (Carex cespitosa) was faring on the River Gade.
It was with trepidation that I entered the river. Vegetation had grown tall this summer. 2025 was one of the worst for reintroducing a wetland plant. Summer drought followed high winter water.

Woodland scenes 🍄🌳💚
The Fly Agaric, a species steeped in northern #folklore and #mythology

#Autumn
#Fungi
#Arnside
#Cumbria

Project Officer - Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms The successful candidate will be responsible for conducting and organising volunteer surveys of the 5 key insect species across the Cairngorms with a particular emphasis on Dark Bordered Beauty in ...

Project Officer - Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms - RSPB - environmentjob.co.uk/jobs/107624-... #entomology #ScottishBirding

Another recent paper in #BirdStudy showed autumn densities of Pheasant & Red-Legged Partridge in southern England can be an astonishing 2,500 birds per km2 on land near releases. After winter, there were still up to 700 birds/km2. That's huge numbers.
Paper: doi.org/10.1080/0006...
#ornithology

www.cumbriabotany.co.uk/the-flora-of...

Late-flowering Wild Thyme, Thymus drucei & Lady's Bedstrraw, Galium verum on the species-rich limestone #grasslands at Warton Crag.
#Wildflowerhour
@rspbengland.bsky.social #LeightonMoss
#Lancashire

Bell Heather, Erica cinera on a limestone outcrop overlooking #MorecambeBay.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria

Spergularia media

Greater Sea-spurrey, Spergularia media.
Larger flowers than the similar Lesser Sea-spurrey and always with 10 stamens (or stamenoides).
#wildflowerhour
#MorecambeBay #Saltmarsh
#Cumbria

Perennial Sow-thistle, Sonchus arvensis and the gall, Cystiphora sonchi, a species of #Midge. Many gall-forming species a host-specific & therefore easy (easier) to ID at this stage in the life cycle, so long as you know the plant that is.
@rspbengland.bsky.social #LeightonMoss
#wildflowerHour

One of my favourite #wildflowers, & one of the seemingly small subset of species that appear to be benefitting from #ClimateChange on the #Cumbria Coast. A rare plant register species for now. Unlikely to survive the next review (in a positive way).
Rock Samphire, Crithmum maritimum.
#wildflowerhour

Centaurium erythraea

Common Centaury, Centaurium erythraea.
#MorecambeBay
#WildflowerHour
#Cumbria

Curlew Sandpiper

Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica

Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe conica

The @rspbengland.bsky.social #LeightonMoss #MorecambeBay Allen & Eric Morecambe pools are always a good bet for a Curlew Sanpiper at this time of year. Blackening #Waxcaps by the path through the reeds were less expected.
#Waders
#Birds
#Fungi
#Autumn

Good news 🥳 For the 3rd year in a row, since the 2023 project to lower the sea walls and create new saltmarsh, surveys at Northey Island have shown an increase in fish such as sand smelt and bass - an essential food for other fish, mammals and birds on the island and the wider Blackwater Estuary.

Graphs from IMF showing patterns of income inequality 1910-2010 for United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan

Wealth inequality by country 1910-2010 Sweden, Finland, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Italy

IMF graphs of wealth inequality 1910 - 2010. Suggests people's income became much more evenly distributed in the decades after WWII in many countries, then started to become more unequal from the 1980s onward. Countries that remained more equal are often those perceived to have good quality of life.

It's a real highlight of this time of year isn't it? And Spindle is so unobtrusive and easily overlooked for much of the rest of the year.

Thank you

Mentha aquatica

Still in flower at @rspbengland.bsky.social Leighton Moss #reedbed. Water Mint, Mentha aquatica.
#WildflowerHour

Linaria repens

The archaeophyte, Pale Toadflax (Linaria repens) at @rspbcymru.bsky.social Ynys-hir. Often associated with railways as indeed it is here.
#WildflowerHour
plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...

Myosotis laxa

Still in flower at @rspbengland.bsky.social Leighton Moss #reedbed. Tufted Forget-me-not, Myosotis laxa.
#WildflowerHour