Tristan Norton

with profound connections to the place, landscape and objects they lived in/with. Another thing is that remains end up in storage for years, unstudied. The study of remains is illuminating and often fascinating, but to pretend it's always respectful is a stretch IMO.

My main issue is where - chiefly on TV shows - we are told the justification is to understand 'who they were, how they felt' etc as if we're doing them a favour. One thing we can be sure of (in most cases) is that the buried person and their loved ones had expectations about their remains,

It's along the verges at the N end of Broom Way for sure.

Looks more like Annual Meadow-grass that. Poa infirma is a very obvious sickly lime green!

Human management of the landscape created a diversity of habitats that were able to support a greater number of plant species. Fewer people: lower diversity.

The Black Death’s counterintuitive effect: as human numbers fell, so did plant diversity New study finds that plant biodiversity collapsed in landscapes where arable production was abandoned during and after the Black Death era.

Very interesting! Thank you @beccyscottuk.bsky.social

theconversation.com/the-black-de...

The beautiful Slender Speedwell Veronica filiformis scrambling over the graves at St Stephen's, Sparsholt, Hampshire. Speed-you-well seems a perfect floral sentiment. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Sea Thrift Armeria maritima getting to the spring party early. Hayling Island, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Yelp! Mediterranean Gull madness at Hayling Island's incredible Oyster Beds. Most of the UK breeding population nests in Langstone Harbour, and hundreds of birds gather for courtship and general gullness at the Oyster Beds. It's quite the sight at the moment. @hosbirding.bsky.social

Spectacular!

Continuing the 'spectacular' theme, here's Early Meadow-grass Poa infirma on Hayling Island. Once a rarity restricted to the SW of England, it's now quite widespread and a guaranteed find here in coastal Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The spectacular blooms of Lesser Chickweed Stellaria pallida 😅. Firmly in the niche botany bracket. Hayling Island, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Agree. BSBI app is SO much easier!

300 year old Canary Island Dragon Tree Dracaena draco at Los Realejos has fallen 😢

🙌

The true spring flower. Wood Anemone (Anemine nemorosa). Central Hampshire today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Toothwort Lathraea squamaria. Plant or creature? A couple of early spikes showing in central Hampshire today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Green Hellebore Helleborus viridis in a beautiful strip of Hazel coppice at Walderton, West Sussex today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Look at my Daz-white wings. Big flock of Mediterranean Gulls on floods by the River Ems at Walderton, West Sussex this morning. These birds are currently congregating/pairing at the old oyster beds on Hayling Island and moving up river valleys to feed inland. Land and sea connections.

Garden joyfulness today. Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara, White Ramping-fumitory Fumaria capreolata, and Sweet Violet Viola odorata var imberbis. None of these planted. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Rue-leaved Saxifrage Saxifraga tridactylites and Common Whitlow-grass Erophila verna. Happy as Larry on this old wall in Winchester, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Primrose Primula vulgaris, 8 feet up a plant-festooned wall at Winchester College. Not a species I usually associate with walls, so a pleasant surprise. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Ah, good luck with that! Winters here in the southern UK tend to be dreary, dull, and wet rather than a snowy wonderland, so I'm glad it's all ending 😅.

Coltsfoot Tussilago farfara has unexpectedly appeared under the rhubarb in the garden. Also a Peacock nectaring on Primrose. Well and truly spring today here in central Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Absolutely! I'll email 🙏

Hits the nail here...

Agree with the boy here, though 🤣

Trifolium striatum I reckon

Fumaria coccinea I think.

Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) shoots creeping across a wet, bare substrate. The shoots are bottle-brush like, bright yellow-green with narrow, untoothed leaves sticking out from the main stem.

A series of Marsh Clubmoss shoots criss-crossing the flush, looking like a group of yellow-green centipedes running across the muddy ground

**BREAKING NEWS** - Marsh Clubmoss refound in Dunbartonshire, at a site where it was last recorded in 1854!

Being more-or-less evergreen, clubmosses make great botanical targets all year round. With that in mind, I set out to hunt for Marsh Clubmoss near Inveraran on the shore of Loch Lomond 🧵