Kevin Walker

In London for a few days a bumped into Mediterranean (Roman) Nettle Urtica membranacea in Walthamstow. Not a species I’ve seen before but unmistakable with those long linear inflorescences! #urbanbotany

I noticed that too. Mackenzie Crook is a birder / really good bird artist with a nice picture in the BTOs Red 65? I wondered about contacting him about doing a follow on based on a botanical club (rather than Detectorists). I wonder which society he might choose? Material would be similar!

Snowdrops and crocuses appear through light snow on rocky ground

“Snow has fallen again, as it will sometimes do in February”

What to Look for in Winter, 1959
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson

To me a more important point about reintroductions is that they shouldn’t divert our ambition/attention from conserving what we’ve already got. That is more mundane day-to-day work/less attention grabbing but absolutely vital not least so introductions have healthy ecosystems in which to thrive.

One of best sites I know is a drumlin that was unsuccessfully ‘gripped’ for drainage. SWO regenerated in huge numbers on the overturned mineral soils. Similar habitat on Straloch Moraines in Scotland (but more natural disturbance there)

I think maybe a bit more complicated than just grazing. To me this seems more an early successional species adapted to raw mineral soils in the Arctic (moraines, eskers, exposed riverbanks, etc. mires/flushed grassland is the nearest we have these close quickly in absence of disturbance (grazing!)

It is an increasing garden escape in northern England and spreading by bulbils along rivers where it can form very dense stands on sandy riverbanks disturbed during winter floods. Along the Oak Beck where this study took place there are 10s of 1000s of plants and it seems to be increasing each year

Been listening to Cinder Well all day. The same happened to me with Johnny Flynn and The Detectorists…

Aconite-leaved Buttercup Ranunculus aconitifolius along the Oak Beck

Purple Toothwort Lathraea clandestina

American Skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus by the Oak Beck

Coralroot Cardamine bulbifera by the Oak Beck

The escape of ornamental plants from large gardens can pose a threat to native species and habitats. Here we provide evidence for this in riparian habitats near to Harrogate UK and discuss the lessons for managing potentially invasive species in gardens.

britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...

Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: Geranium sylvaticum* Geranium sylvaticum is a perennial forb of upland grasslands, woodlands and riverbanks in northern Britain, with scattered native occurrences also in Wales, central England and Northern Ireland. It h...

Our Biological Flora on Wood Crane's-bill is out in @journalofecology.bsky.social. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... A team effort w/ @ruthsk.bsky.social @sandravarga.bsky.social @spp-rich.bsky.social @duncanwestbury.bsky.social, irina Tatarenko & artist Lucy Hulmes on pen and ink.

Bishopthorpe Parish Council want to sell a small wildlife oasis hosting rare wildflowers like Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem to a developer. This field belongs to the people of Bish who cherish its wildlife. Please sign this petition to stop them doing this. Thanks 😊 c.org/syGKBRcGBY

Painted in 1913, Paul Nash gave this picture the ultimate simplicity of a title, 'A Drawing.' The elm trees marked the boundary of his family's home at Wood Lane House, Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. Trees always held a spiritual quality for him.

I love that such a rare bird was secondary to the plant!

Male Holly has been flowering here in Northern England for a few weeks; lots of trees have buds that have yet to open. Apparently not uncommon to have a second flowering late in the year but the first time I’ve noticed it

Surely ‘normal for Norfolk’? 🤣 That’s a term I use a lot in our household!

We're hiring!
Could you help us support & grow the community of botanists across Northern Ireland?
Manage our @daera-ni.gov.uk-funded Botanical Skills Training Project?
Help boost participation in @npms.bsky.social across NI?
Please apply by midnight this Sunday, 21 Sept:
bsbi.org/botanical-sk...

Glad you made it to Imber! Stunning location and amazing grassland for miles around on each side

Garden Parsley Petroselinum crispum gone to seed?

The other millennium dome: how Wales’s National Botanic Garden came back from the brink Site had to be saved from closure after visitor slump in 00s but is now a thriving biodiversity success story

How Wales’s National Botanic Garden came back from the brink www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...
"Upcoming priorities include an ambitious project aimed at reversing Welsh-native flora decline, safeguarding Wales’s 58 endemic species from habitat loss, and creating a living native plant collection."

Book cover: sea beans and Nickar nuts by E. Charles Nelson, BSBI handbook no. 10 images is an arrangement of sea beans

Nature book challenge. A book per in no particular order, until you've s ALL of the best nature books in you personal library. No explanations, no reviews,

#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky

A trip to Ben Lawers b needed then!

We saw lots of Carex aquatilis when we went ‘off piste’ to get to serpentine outcrops and didn’t Matt Harding find lots of Carex rariflora on slopes just beyond outcrops last year? You can see I like sedges can’t you! Also Cerastium fontanum subsp. scoticum

You could always try for the Hobcarton Crag population. Less of a walk/climb than Meikle Kilrannoch

Which year for Desert Sessions? My fave is the one with PJ Harvey way back when

Sunday book review: Urban Plants by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social
Publisher: @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social
Review: bit.ly/402ICiU

'A great pleasure to browse, an even greater one to read'

'Book of Year contender'

@bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscience.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social

Out with lovely peeps from Harrogate District Naturalists’ Society yesterday visiting a private SSSI near to Knaresborough. Bee and Fragrant Orchids (Ophrys apifera & Gymnadenia conopsea s.s.) were definitely the main crowd pleasers!

I don’t usually ‘do’ Hawkweeds but couldn’t resist this lovely one growing near to Pannal en route to my @btobirds.bsky.social BBS square this morning: Hieracium triviale f. subfasciculare apparently. The ability of these plants to thrive in zero substrate is remarkable! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Jacob’s Ladder, Lathkill Dale

Shaggy Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Monks Dale

Nottingham Catchfly, Monks Dale

Hoary Mullein, Lathkill Dale

Time spent with some rather lovely plants and people from @bsbibotany.bsky.social in the Derbyshire Dales this week including Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium caeruleum), Shaggy Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Pilosella peleteriana), Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans) and Hoary Mullein (Verbascum pulverulentum).

A lovely Chimney Sweeper moth - it feeds on pignut

8/6/25 Yorkshire - A hop over the border to God's own country proved rather fruitful, with many fine #orchids to be seen. This reintroduced Lady's Slipper #Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) on a woodland margin above a stream is particularly magnificent this year #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social