Jim Horsfall

Floating leaves of Frogbit amongst Duckweed and other things.

Canalised section of the river Don where the Frogbit was found.

I was in the centre of Rotherham this morning for a meeting, right by the river. So I had a look for any interesting plants.

Plenty of Frogbit, which is otherwise rare in South Yorkshire, and declined enormously. It must be floating down from somewhere upstream.

@sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

Not so many things still in flower now, but a couple of things from this week. Nodding Thistle, and Autumn Gentian. From a couple of @yorkswildlife.bsky.social nature reserves on magnesian limestone (Brockadale and Sprotbrough flash).

@wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildflowerHour

I found a small one still in flower this week. Although in a heavily grazed field, so probably just trying to pop up between nibbles from the horses.

As long as you go in July or August I like to sample the fruits. Bilberry is purple inside, Bog Bilberry is white (as here). I think I'd have to see the two near one another like in your photo otherwise.

But eating a few berries is much tastier.

Cattle are often good at stopping Typha becoming established, and can reduce it too. I think it can be a useful tool, but you have to be brave and graze whilst other things are flowering (May-July) and accept less flowering/seed.

Great Mullein from earlier in the week at Lathkill Dale in the Peak District. Most had finished flowering, but found one or two still in flower. Rosettes will flower next year.

The hairiness of the filaments being a key thing to look for in this species.

@wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildflowerHour

There will no doubt be a flush of fungi associated with ash and general dead wood (and saproxylic beetles, woodpeckers etc). But it'll be short lived, and ash dependents will need to find a new home.

I don't remember DED, but did work in the Peaks for a bit in woods that had lost all (or nearly all) their big elms.

They were left with 50-90% ash!! They look horrendous at the moment.

It's terrible for wildlife ☹️

Yes, it's really obvious where a dale side has lots of ash dieback at the moment 😕

Large ash with no leaves, despite autumnal leaf fall not having started yet.

Tall ash with many bare branches, and odd looking regrowth typical of ash dieback.

Ash dieback is continuing to take a toll on some of the nature reserves I look after. @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

Some very large ash died this year, some looking ropey. Many small trees already dead. Lots of trees to make safe near paths and roads.

📷 Brockadale nature reserve

😕

Yellow flower of Mouse-eared Hawk-weed amongst moss creeping over scree

Wood Sage growing in an apparent lack of soil on a scree slope

Pink flowers of Red Hemp-nettle, tall thin annual plants. Amongst scree

Close up of the pink flower of Red Hemp-nettle.

I went investigating on scree habitat today. Looking fairly bare, it mostly has commoner plants. Wood Sage is frequently in bare scree, Mouse-eared Hawk-weed often where soil is starting to form.

The thing I was looking for though is very rare, Red Hemp-nettle. Declined in arable, but still ok here

Purple bell shaped flowers of Harebell were nodding gently in the breeze

The pale green leaves and large seed pods of Dark Red Helleborine were easy to spot

The eyebrights I saw were small, so I thought perhaps something different, but in fact just Common Eyebrights

I went for an autumn wander today, still a few things in flower, although mostly IDing things vegetatively.

Harebells still going strong, Dark Red Helleborine not in flower but easy enough to find at the moment, I tried IDing an eyebright, it was just the common one.

@bsbibotany.bsky.social

I struggle with sawflies (but have persisted this year) due in large part due to my inability to remember the wing vein naming system! It always takes ages to work out which vein I'm looking for.

Maybe I need a masterclass?

You can see the pinkish gill where the edge is split, so looks like an Agaricus, but there are several similar looking ones. It's better to see a few, sniff some, look if stem has any yellow staining etc.

As Rob said usually down to parasite treatment. But we have very limited treatments in our cattle and still got a few about possibly due to lack of rain and the pats being too dry to break down/be eaten.

It's hard to get external graziers who don't use loads of treatments, and impossible to enforce

A bit of both. I like to research where I might find something and then try and find it. But also like to go to places without knowing what I might find.

I also go to less well recorded places to find what is there (usually nothing exceptional) to add data to the national picture of plants/wildlife

Rare Spring Sedge, with male flower spike above and two female sikes below, with dinstinctive small purple bract below the lowest female.

Small pink flower of Grass Vetchling on a long stem, with grass like leaves.

Choosing a favourite for #WildflowerHour is impossible. So just a couple of things that I was pleased to find in 2025.

Rare Spring Sedge involved lots of crawling around on my knees looking at small sedges

You can't find Grass Vetchling if you want to, I just happen across it every couple of years

I think the water levels were fairly typical, maybe slightly low. But the shoreline was very vegetated.

Hopefully there are still enough spaces for birds to walk up onto the islands from the water, and by spring there should be plenty of space for nesting.

I rowed out to some of the islands at Parson's Carr nature reserve today. In spring these are home to many Black-headed Gulls, which prefer no trees and less vegetation, so was brushcutting, Sophie was chainsawing

Spear-leaved Orache was very common around the shore line

@donnybirding.bsky.social

The lower leaves are a little parsley like, so it might be that.

White compound umbells of Parsley Water-dropwort

Last of the Parsley Water-dropwort flowers. Only plants regrowing after browsing are now flowering, the rest are running to seed.

I rubbed a few plants today, and they do indeed smell like parsley or parsnips, but so many carrot family things do, maybe there is another reason for the name?

Bee with long antennae and yellow legs viewed from above

Underside of bee with yellow legs, and showing underside of antennae to be orange

Side view of bee with yellow legs, wing venation also visible

Sometimes bees key out easily, other times not. This male furrow bee was tricky, although I had a good idea what it was I struggled to get through the key to the right place. Discounting all the other species I came back to Orange-legged Furrow Bee (H. rubicundus)

@sorbynathissoc.bsky.social

Konik looking at squeeze gates.

Koniks corralled ready to see the vet and farrier

An early start this morning, our ponies needed a visit from the vet, who wanted to come at 9am. We needed to set up our temporary squeeze in the catching pen, and allow plenty of time for these fairly feral horses to not follow the script. But they did as was asked, in the pen first time.

Looks like an interesting talk, I do look for grassland fungi, but they can be illusive, and timing visits for best results not easy to predict.

Did you net from the water? Or search some timber? I don't usually net in rivers, but maybe I should?

I went to go find one of only 2 locations in South Yorkshire today. A golf course! I had to wait until after hours to avoid being hit by balls.

It's seems happy enough in the current management of the rough areas.

Even the Bracken is giving up for the year, browning off early.

What does climate change have in store for plants (and other wildlife) if droughts will be more common, longer and hotter?

@bsbibotany.bsky.social
@wildsheffield.bsky.social

Great Woodrush grows happily on the drier steep slopes of wooded valleys in Sheffield. On first look they look ok, but the drought is taking it's toll. Leaves lost shine and rolling up. Young plants probably dead as completely brown.

I found one the other day, and um'ed and ah'ed until looking at fruits. Then it should be obvious.

Pic of Marsh Dock seed

I agree with much of this, it is obviously a challenging thing to change the way wildlife conservation is thought about. As has been discussed by others before the word conservation doesn't help.

Even thinking about what success is or how to measure success of survival ecology is difficult.