Of the techniques available to stay warm on a cold December morning, here’s one I’ve not tried yet. Make like a feather duster Grey Heron, Porter Valley, Sheffield #heron #localparks @everyheron.bsky.social #dentistswithherons

Currently rereading @dunnjons.bsky.social The Glitter in the Green and am happy to confirm it is indeed the perfect antidote to winter. Full of sunshine, adventure and the very best type of glitter ✨

The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens Join us for our Winter Talk! ⭐️ James Armitage, Editor #RHS Plant Review 📍Dorothy Fox Education Centre, SBG 📆 Monday 1 Dec 2025 🕐 1.30-2.30pm £5 entry (FSSBG members free) #Sheffield #florilegium #botanical #gardens #botanicalillustration

Me: Ooooh, I feel seen 🤗 (‘though I doubt Jon can guess the half of it) Also me: Harumph, I’ve lost the sweepstake on the subject of his new book 😤

Since we started doing #NoMowMay in 2020, I’ve been hoping for an orchid to pop up in my lawn. But I’ll take two Pink Waxcap (Porpolomopsis calyptriformis)! AKA Ballerina Waxcap… of course they are 🩰 #MushroomMonday #fungi #mushroom

I was photographing Reed Buntings on a path through the reed beds, when I was distracted by these bright golden flower heads. Could it be Buttonweed? #wildflowerhour #wildflowerID @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A confused Cowslip on an otherwise very autumnal day at YWT Potteric Carr, Doncaster @yorkswildlife.bsky.social #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Utterly bonkers about conkers! Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) #autumn #conkers

A floral display fringing the pond at Gloucester Services Southbound. Great Willowherb, Purple Loosestrife, Flowering-rush and the twirly-fruits of Meadowsweet. Overhead swallows and dragonflies locked in aerial combat. #wildflowerhour #M5botany @BSBIbotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

I love it when the #wildflowerhour challenge prompts me to find a plant I’ve never noticed before. Could this be Trifid Bur Marigold (Bidens tripartita)? On the banks of Damflask Reservoir, Loxley Valley, Sheffield #DaisyFamily @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Common Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) growing alongside Common Nettle (Urticaria dioica) at Thornhill NR, Bamford, Derbyshire #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social

I was photographing bees on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) when I spied something HUGE and GOLD out of the corner of my eye 😳. Hornet-mimic #Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria). Hope Valley, Derbyshire #wildflowerhour #PollinatorPals @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Green-veined White #butterfly on Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) for #wildflowerhour #PollinatorPals challenge. The flower’s landing pad is helpfully marked out with a cross, that of a 4-lobed stigma. Hope Valley, Derbyshire @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Tiny as they are, eyebrights (Euphrasia spp.) always catch my attention. Here growing on the floor of a disused limestone quarry, at the butterfly heaven that is Hoe Grange Quarry, Derbyshire #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social

Large leafy divided bracts, dark red central flower, umbels form a ball after flowering, spiny fruits. It must be Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), here buffeted by the wind on the approach road to Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

My camera was trained on this rather scruffy skipper when I realised it had led me to a plant new to me that I recognised from #wildflowerhour! Wild Basil (Clinopodium vulgare) at Hoe Grange Quarry, Derbyshire @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

So much here to share with parents who are struggling to support their child with #toothbrushing. All the obvious things but also, I’m embarrassed to say, a whole load of extras in the bathroom I’d not thought of. 👃🏻🚽 🧼 🥶 🥵 Well done toothPASTE study! #oralhealth #autism @amritchauhan.bsky.social

Effective toothbrushing in childhood is the gateway to a lifetime of #oralhealth. And I’m pretty sure that no one has taken more care to understand the needs of #autistic #children than Dr Amrit Chauhan. Resources developed by the toothPASTE study are now online 👀 👏 @amritchauhan.bsky.social

Three of the #DeadnettleFamily growing in the wall of Hind Wheel Dam, #RivelinValley, Sheffield. Hedge Woundwort, Water Mint and Skullcap (x2). Pleased to report neither phone nor glasses were lost overboard while taking these pictures, just a little dignity #WildflowerHour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Harebells were outnumbered by drifts of Small Scabious in the Yorkshire Dales nature reserves we explored this week, but there’s always something special about those perfect papery bells nodding in the breeze. #wildflowerhour #HarebellChallenge @bsbibotany.bsky.social @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

Lesser Meadow-rue (Thalictrum minus) One of many gorgeous plants seen on limestone pavements in the Yorkshire Dales this week. But this one was so dainty and hard to spot, it could be wearing an invisibility cloak #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

Field Scabious. Not the hairiest of #hairyplants, but it was the favourite of bees and butterflies on the #MonsalTrail this week. And it’s the one I’ve chosen for this evening’s #wildflowerhour challenge @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social

Growing side-by-side at the mouth of a spring. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and Fool’s Watercress (Helosciadium nodiflorum). Today at a butterfly-filled Gloucestershire SSSI #wildflowerhour #aquaticplants @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Every summer @trishgreenhalgh.bsky.social reposts this. And every summer I am grateful for the reminder, because I had almost forgotten that drowning doesn’t look like drowning

For the #wildflowerhour #urbanplants challenge, I was determined to put a name to one I usually walk past with barely a glance. I think this is Nipplewort (Lapsana communis) at Bingham Park, Sheffield. #urbanparks @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A riot of colour as good as any well-kept garden border. This is the bank beside a stream in my local park. Water Forget-me-not, watercress and Monkeyflower. #wildflowerhour #urbanplants #urbanparks @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

This beautiful group of #orchids stood out in the sunlight as we entered a clearing from a shaded wooded valley. I’m thinking Dactylorhiza hybrids, but just enjoying them before I reach for the ID guide! Derbyshire #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Nothing to see here. Oh, really? #duck #ducklings #mallard #PorterBrook #BinghamPark @everyheron.bsky.social

And now I’m finding it everywhere! A lifetime never noticing Round-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus omiophyllus) and now the 3rd site in a week 😁 @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #wildflowers #bogplants @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis), I think, with stripey visitor #PeaFamily #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Round-leaved Crowfoot (Ranunculus omiophyllus) I love a treasure hunt so I enjoyed being given directions to a #Derbyshire upland stream to seek this out. Then, having got my eye in, was thrilled to find my own in a boggy ditch closer to home #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Hemlock Water-dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) A plant I have wanted to see for a while but an unexpected joy to see it growing in such profusion. Bees were busy collecting the wine-red pollen, sporting stylish pink pollen sacs #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

This week I’ve been looking for flowers that aren’t Cow Parsley (Anthricus sylvestris). No offence to Cow Parsley! I think this dainty plant is Pignut (Conopodium majus) but I’d be grateful for confirmation #wildflowerID @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #Apiaceae #CarrotFamily #umbellifer

Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi) Growing in profusion in a damp clearing in the wooded Porter Valley, Sheffield near Forge Dam. A #WildFlowerShow that would have been worthy of last week’s challenge @wildflowerhour.bsky.social !

Bird’s-nest Orchid (Neottia nidus-avis) Wind and rain did not deter us from the opportunity to see 3 species of orchid, all in good numbers in a Hampshire wood. But it does mean I have a rather soggy offer for the @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #orchidchallenge 💦💨

Ah, so this is what Butterbur (Petasites hybridus) looks like in seed. I stopped intrigued by the first one, then a friend showed me an army of them round a bend in the river. Quite a spectacle #RiverDerwent #Derbyshire #wildflowers #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Ragged Robin (Silene flos-cuculi) looking pretty, pink and - you guessed it - ragged #PinkFamily challenge #Caryophyllaceae #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

This week, instead of breaking a long journey at motorway services, we diverted via a @WorcsWT.bsky.social NNR #SSSI. Green-winged #Orchid (Anacamptis morio) in the starring roles. Cowslips and dandelion clocks the supporting cast. Sublime! @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #wildflowers #orchids

Would this be Common Ramping-fumitory (Fumaria muralis)? Beneath hedge, arable field. Flowers 11mm, sepals 4mm x 2.5mm toothed at sides and base @wildflowerhour.bluesky.social #wildflowerID

Cuckoo Flower (Cardamine pratensis), or Lady’s Smock as I’ve always known it, for the #wildflowerhour #CabbageFamily challenge. #LathkillDale #Derbyshire #PeakDistrict @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Beautiful bluebell woods. Who needs a reason but today I had one - making sure to catch them at their best for #BSBIIdentiplant Unit 6: Liliaceae @bsbibotany.bsky.social Moss Valley, Sheffield @wildsheffield.bsky.social #wildflowers #wildflowerhour

All in good voice and enjoying the sunshine at Old Moor @rspb.bsky.social today - Great Tit, Robin, Wren and Chiffchaff 🎶 #birdsong #RSPBOldMoor

WORLD-FIRST: Ground-breaking research published today in the Ornithologist Journal has, for the first time, translated common UK bird vocalisations into equivalent phrases in the human language. The results tell us a lot! Extracts below... 🧵

51 & 52/52 #OrchidsOfRhodes April 2024 #AnOrchidAWeek As orchid hunters head to Rhodes for the 2025 season, I don’t want to steal their limelight. So I’m finishing now. Here are highlights of an 8-day holiday where the fun stretched the whole year! 🧵1/n #orchids #wildflowers

50/52 #OrchidsOfRhodes April 2024 #AnOrchidAWeek Ophrys sitiaca It’s brown (give or take a touch of claret and violet), it’s furry and I’m told it’s somewhere between O.omegaifera and one of the O.fusca group #orchids #wildflowers

Not a single ripple broke the mirror-like surface of the pond as we gazed into each other’s eyes. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder #frog #EasternMoors #PeakDistrict

Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa) growing beside the Porter Brook. Looks like a warm few days here in South Yorkshire encouraged them out #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

49/52 #OrchidsOfRhodes April 2024 #AnOrchidAWeek Ophrys phryganae The showy blooms of Cistus might distract a casual orchid hunter, with their petals like crumpled tissue paper. But a careful search is rewarded by a tiny treasure, sheltering from the wind #orchids #wildflowers

48/52 #OrchidsOfRhodes April 2024 #AnOrchidAWeek Ophrys lindia Catching a ray of late afternoon sunlight in a lowland olive grove. Jewel-like flowers scattered under ancient trees. #orchids #wildflowers