Neil Forbes

Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar descending an Ash tree to pupate beneath ground. But plastic grass meant it couldn't. Plastic lawns are terrible on every front. Ban them.
@irishrainforest.bsky.social @nicwilson.bsky.social @nataliegreenpeer.bsky.social @markavery.bsky.social @katebradbury.bsky.social

My best botanical day of the year! While hillwalking in the #Cairngorms we discovered a new, unrecorded population of the ultra rare Marsh Saxifrage (Saxifraga hirculus). This beautiful upland plant is a protected species & only found at a few sites in Scotland. #WildflowerHour #MountainFlowers

Childing Pink, Petrorhagia nanteuilii

Childing Pink,
Petrorhagia nanteuilii. A very lovely, diminutive species growing #ByTheSea in Sussex for #wildflowerhour

Atriplex littoralis

I'm used to seeing this species in upper #saltmarshes, but hadn't seen it as a foredune pioneer before. Grass-leaved Orache,
Atriplex littoralis.
#ByTheSea
#wildflowerhour

Centaurium erythraea

Common Centaury, Centaurium erythraea.
#ByTheSea in #Arnside, #Cumbria for #wildflowerhour

Sarcocornia perennis

Perennial Glasswort, Sarcocornia perennis.
A species with a marked southern and southeastern distribution on the British mainland. Nationally Scarce here & rare in Ireland.
#ByTheSea for #wildflowerhour

Prickly Saltwort, Salsola kali is a fascinating species, adapted to ephemeral coastal strandline & foredune habitats. Populations can vary dramatically from year-to-year. Most recently assessed as Vulnerable (GB, 2021). Recreational disturbance is an ever increasing threat.
#ByTheSea #wildflowerhour

Limbarda crithmoides

We don't get Golden-samphire, Limbarda crithmoides in northwest England and so it was lovely to see lots on a south coast #saltmarsh this week.
#ByTheSea #wildflowerhour

Lax-flowered Sea-lavender, Limonium humile (L). Far less abundant here than it's close relative L. vulgare (R), with which it frequently hybridises. Both are excellent indicators of species-rich mid-marsh communities (here NVC SM13c, also SM13b).
#ByTheSea #wildflowerhour

Woody Nightshade, Solanum dulcerama looks very different when growing on #coastal #shingle.
#ByTheSea for #wildflowerhour on the south #coast of England.

#ByTheSea is very much my kind of #wildflowerhour challenge.
And so, let's start with a new species for me, the tiny but wonderful Sea Heath, Frankenia laevis.
15 years ago this site was an arable field!
#Coastal Restoration
#Saltmarsh
#ManagedRealignment

Broad-leaved Helleborine, Epipactis helleborine. Late for #wildflowerhour
Ashmeadow Woods, #Arnside #Cumbria

An excellent @bsbibotany.bsky.social species account here - BSBI: Achillea ptarmica L. share.google/5XITdCd6Kjb5... - which includes references to some alternative English names, Old Man's Pepper-box and White Tansy.

Sneezewort, Achillea ptarmica

Sneezewort, Achillea ptarmica

Sneezewort is one of my favourite #wildflowers but land drainage & agricultural "improvement" of #meadows has effectively done for it in much of lowland Britain, including the #Arnside & #Silverdale National Landscape. Here on a new pond margin in a brilliant #wildlife garden.
#wildflowerhour

Swifts gathering prior to heading off. 50+ over the village yesterday morning. They are with us for such a short period but summer without them would be unimaginable.
#Swifts
#Arnside
#Cumbria

Cinnabar Moth caterpillar on Ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris

#Ragwort
Brilliant for #Biodiversity
I've seen very few Cinnabar #Moths over the past couple of years & so it was great to see good numbers of #caterpillars on this small patch of Ragwort in a wildlife garden yesterday.
#wildflowerhour
@bsbibotany.bsky.social

🚨The UK Govt is asking the public to give their thoughts on whether they should extend bottom trawling bans in 41 English protected areas. 🌊 This is our chance! Use your voice to help kick this wasteful, destructive practice out of ocean havens! 👇
only.one/act/uk-mpa-c...

Thanks Helen. Also a pleasure to visit Eycott Hill. Such a stunning reserve. I'm usually focused on plants, especially sedges, but can't help getting distracted by species like this too 😁

Keen to know which other (once common) plants were listed as Near Threatened, like Harebell. on the England Red List?
Here's the List: bsbi.org/England_Red_...

One of my favourite non-Carex #sedges found at @rspbengland.bsky.social #Hodbarrow this week.
Floating Club-rush, Eleogiton fluitans (lovely botanical name too). Growing on the margins of a new pond - periodic disturbance is so important for pioneer #wetland plants.
#wildflowerhour

Squinancywort, Asperula cynanchica.

The exquisite Squinancywort, Asperula cynanchica growing in great abundance on Helsington Barrows, #Cumbria. It won't last long though. A blink and you'll miss it species.
#wildflowerhour

Epipactis atrorubens. Dark-red Helleborine.

Dark-red, Helleborine with a view.
#wildflowerhour
Helsington Barrows.
#Cumbria

Bog-rosemary 💚. A beautiful species which goes by the equally beautiful scientific name of Andromeda polifolia. Damage to both our upland and lowland peatlands has caused large-scale losses and impacted its distribution but it can still be common where habitats are still intact.
#wildflowerhour

Does any other species highlight so brilliantly the difference between the poetic & practical mindsets of #botanists (ok also #herbalists).
Fairy Flax, aka Purging Flax.
Linum catharticum.
Helsington Barrows.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria

Sneezewort, Achillea ptarmica. A lovely plant of "damp or wet, infertile, acidic habitats" - plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
It should be very common but has declined markedly due to land drainage in particular. Time to #rewet & #restore damp & wet habitats.
#Cumbria, #Pennines
#wildflowerhour

#HarebellChallenge
1 or 2 about up here, including some lovely white forms.
#wildflowerhour
Helsington Barrows, #Cumbria

Bitter-vetch, Lathyrus linifolius.

Bitter-vetch, Lathyrus linifolius from some lovely species-rich grassland in the Forest of #Bowland.
The national decline of Bitter-vetch is linked to the destruction of unimproved pasture. A habitat that is much scarcer than it should be but the potential for restoration is high.
#wildflowerhour

The lovely aromatic Bog Myrtle, Myrica gale, at Strumpshaw Fen. I was delighted to see (and smell) it.
A good species account here:
fermanagh.bsbi.org/myrica-gale-l

Common Hawker Dragonfly

Common Hawker Dragonfly

Common Hawker, Eycott Hill @cumbriawildlife.bsky.social reserve.
#Dragonfly
#Dragonflies
#Cumbria

It's really complex and becoming ever more so with climate change and some species expanding their range. A good approach I think is to focus on the potentially problematic species and to try to stop them from becoming established. Far easier said than done of course.