Prof Pen Holland

Soil Ecology Group - British Ecological Society Understanding the vital ecosystem services provided by soil

We are happy to introduce the Soil Ecology SIG @britishecologicalsociety.org! Our aim is to connect soil ecology researchers across career stages, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration. Check out www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/plan... and feel free to get in touch!

📣 We are hiring! An education-focused Lecturer or Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Biomedical or Biophysical sciences. It’s a chance to be a part of a team of single molecule /cellular biophysicists building a brand new undergraduate curriculum, here at UNSW in sunny Sydney. Happy to answer queries.

Environmental Personhood: an indigenous tool for nature recovery? What is environmental personhood and how can it help nature recovery?

🧵Can recognising rivers, forests, and mountains as legal persons help heal our planet? 🌏

Our new blog explores environmental personhood — from Ecuador’s pioneering constitution to Māori perspectives on the Whanganui River.

📣Calling ecological leaders!

We're looking for people with a passion for effective leadership and management in the ecology workplace to join our Emerging Leaders and Managers (ELM) network committee.

'Golden Park Light' linoprint by contemporary printmaker Alexandra Buckle #ReframingWomenPrintmakers #Autumn #Fall

‘Innit Marvellous?’: The Galton and Simpson Archive project Saving Hancock and Steptoe and more

FOLKS!

We are SO VERY NEAR to securing the peerless archive of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson for the nation, forever. That's Hancock, Steptoe and Son plus so so much more. Its all their scripts, professional correspodence, plus diaries, working notes - the lot

yustart.hubbub.net/p/galtonands...

…and the alt text escaped me: photographs and watercolour panels of bluebells and bee orchids attached, as part of my #WildflowerHour -a-day 2025 challenge

My #FavouritePlant for #WildflowerHour is probably the late spring bluebells, but I always enjoy looking out for the bee orchids on campus @york.ac.uk every June 🥰

A quick reminder: if you read something you love, don't forget to write to the author to thank them for it, and tell them why you loved it.

We are looking at a large room with a timber framed roof. It is a sunny morning and the sun is coming through unseen windows casting puddles of light on the pine floor boards.

Good morning from the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall.

May your day be as serene as the Great Hall is on a Sunday morning.

Some a bit faded around the edges, but aren’t we all? 🌸

Yellow balls of tansy flower

Pink and white striped bell of a field bindweed flower

Pink dog rose blooming next to a rose hip

Red poppies with faded petals clinging on to bring cheer against a dry grass background

Tansy, field bindweed, dog rose and poppies still valiantly bringing their colourful cheer to the end of the summer for #WildflowerHour

“What it has done, though, is made me think in more detail about the nature of what we define as work and what we define as “rest” from work.”

We are looking at the Tudor extension of the Hall, it is timber framed with mustard yellow plasterwork. There are carved lions on the ornate ground floor door and grape and vine decoration on the barge boards.

It’s the weekend!

May your Saturday be as colourful and bright as the plasterwork on the Hall is yellow. 💛

Jalene LaMontagne, colleagues win Robert P. McIntosh Award from the Vegetation Section of the Ecological Society of America for research on community synchrony in seed production - UMSL Daily Their study found that synchrony among species is correlated with trait similarity as well as climate.

Jalene LaMontagne, colleagues win 2025 Robert P. McIntosh Award from the Vegetation Section of the Ecological Society of America for research on community synchrony in seed production. #ESA #LTER #MastSeeding blogs.umsl.edu/news/2025/08...

(a) This story sounds amazing and (b) that mysterious character on the cover is clearly related to the legendary #LongBoi of York 🦆 so (c) how could I not pre-order it before I’ve even had breakfast?

I'm very proud to receive the 2025 Robert P. McIntosh Award from the @ecologicalsociety.bsky.social Vegetation Section at #ESA2025 with an amazing group of colleagues, for our paper on Community #MastSeeding. 🥳

Paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Award info: esa.org/vegetation/a...

Beautiful botanical illustration by W Keble Martin from The Concise British Flora in Colour showing some of the members of the diverse daisy family. Can you find a member of the Asteraceae for #WildflowerHour this Sunday?

It’s late summer and the Asteraceae or daisy family are looking just splendid. Perfect for this week’s #WildflowerHour! See if you can find one & share your pics this Sunday evening 8-9pm using the hashtag #DaisyFamily. Happy Asteraceae hunting!

BES Journal of Applied Ecology call for contributions to answer, 'What is irreplaceable habitat?'.

Want to make a difference in ecological policy?

Join the first Journal of Applied Ecology and British Ecological Society Policy Lab to answer the pressing question: “What is irreplaceable habitat?”

Your expertise can drive real-world impact. Applications open until 15 September.

This is an official Skype a Scientist HQ Mayday Alert to all Archaeologists.

We've already gotten more requests for archaeologists than we have archaeologists. We have 38. We need a lot more than 38!

Dig yourself into this database, we NEED ya
www.skypeascientist.com/sign-up.html

Creeping cinquefoil - five yellow heart shaped petals

Scarlet pimpernel - five orange petals round a purple centre

Sea spurrey - five pink petals

Heather and gorse on a cliff above a bright sea

It was a week of five-petalled #WildflowerHour beauties for me - creeping cinquefoil, scarlet pimpernel, sea-spurrey, and then glorious heather and gorse sprinkled with ragwort above the sea cliffs (still #ByTheSea)

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!

Peacock butterfly on a white buddleia

Tormentil flowers - four heart shaped yellow petals with orange at the centre

Cornflower in bloom - the bluest of blue

Towering sandcastle with water filled moat and waves in the background

The sandcastles were the only thing I photographed towering #ByTheSea this week, but tormentil and heather covered the Northumbrian hills, cornflowers were in bloom and the butterflies were loving the buddleia for #WildflowerHour

A page of watercolour flower panels, showing twenty stamp sized pictures of plants jn bloom over the last couple of weeks.

I finished page 11 (220 panels) in my year of flower painting - five months to go! 🌸🌼

Tansy in flower, in a cluster of yellow bobbly flowers

Purple loosestrife standing tall in front of a sunny lake

Tansy and purple loosestrife glowing in the sunshine this week #WildflowerHour

British Ecological Society Annual Meeting 2025, 15-18 December, Edinburgh. Abstract submission and early bird registration are now open.

✨New science, new ideas, new friends. 

Our much anticipated BES Annual Meeting is here!  Join ecology's global community at the BES Annual Meeting, which brings together over 1,200 ecologists from around the world.

Beautiful botanical painting by Keble Martin illustrating some members of the Deadnettle Family. Can you find a member of this lovely family for #WildflowerHour this week? If you can, share your pics this Sunday 8-9pm using the hashtag #DeadNettleFamily

The image for this week’s #wildflowerhour challenge post is one from W. Keble Martin’s classic wildflower guide, The Concise British Flora in Colour. Isn’t it a beauty? There’s some very lovely members of the Lamiaceae or #DeadNettlefamily can you find one for #wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm?

The Lady Astronaut series by @maryrobinettekowal.com - just brilliant from start to finish ☄️✨

FRISBEE: Farm Rewilding Investigation into Species Biodiversity, Ecology and Environment Guest post by Prof Curtis Jarsdal, University of Borkshire

Introducing FRISBEE: the Farm Rewilding Investigation into Species Biodiversity, Ecology and Environment research project, by Prof Curtis Jarsdal, Uni of Borkshire. Curtis has written about the reason for the study and what he and his team hope to learn.
fieldworkpodcast.substack.com/p/frisbee-fa...

A new Ecological Management Plan is being developed, with the aim of delivering a nature-positive campus for all.

The @york.ac.uk campus includes parkland, grassland, meadows, lakes, ponds, wetlands, reedbeds & landscaped gardens. Tell us what you'd like to see:

york.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...