A wonderful (but rainy) day spent on the lovely water meadows of Lower Loch Erne, Co. Fermanagh We came across local highlights such as Oenanthe fistulosa, Stellaria palustris, Ranunculus lingua and Carex diandra. Loads of Pedicularis palustris too

Lythrum salicaria, Lycopus europaeus, Helosciadium inundatum and Peltigera praetextata from reedmarsh and wet woodland today, Mill Pond, Co. Down First time seeing lesser marshwort and great to see it since it is a declining species

New site for Climacium dendroides from Camloch, Co. Armagh (H37) growing on rocks along shoreline.

Join myself on the 15th July for an intermediate training course on sand dune plants at the stunning Murlough NR, Co. Down, one of the country’s best sand dune systems!! We will cover the plant ecology of sand dunes but also look at the rarer plants on Murlough too! bsbi.org/take-part/ev...

This evening I paddled across to Camlough lake’s (Co. Armagh) western & southern shores which are pretty inaccessible. There is a lovely native woodland regenerating on the western side of the lake and of course I recorded plants growing along the shore & aquatic species growing in the shallows:

Happy Summer Solstice - the sun has just about set here in NE Ireland. A beautiful but solitary Greater Butterfly-orchid (Platanthera chlorantha) helped mark this bittersweet day. Common blue taking a rest in the long sun and lovely views of my beautiful home. Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo aríst

Orchid appreciation from the Aberystwyth area, Cymru - great to be back to this lovely part of the world!! - Lesser Buttterfly-orchid (Platanthera bifolia) - Northern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza purpurella) - Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris) - Pyramidal Orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis)

A few days in the limestone Derbyshire did not disappoint botanically! All new to me Rock-rose (Helianthemum nummularium), Limestone Fern (Gymnocarpium robertianum), Melancholy Thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) & Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A few nice finds around Dundalk, Co. Louth today: Bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) False Fox-sedge (Carex otrubae) Hairy Sedge (Carex hirta) Goat’s-beard (Tragopodon pretensions) I was too late in the day to see the goat’s-beard with an open flower! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Large heath butterfly seen today at Peatlands park during Botanical Skills NI: Plant-Pollinator Relationships of Wetlands training day. With thanks to @dmac00.bsky.social @obeckett98.bsky.social for leading the training, it really was excellent. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #worldpeatlandsday

Seriously damp and humid day today in Rostrevor Oakwood, Co. Down Melica uniflora and Galium odoratum stood out today, but really the lush mosses and epiphytes were the stars of the show!!

Platanthera bifolia, Selaginella selaginoides and Pedicularis sylvatica subsp. hibernica and Pinguicula vulgaris from the Cooley Mountains, Co. Louth (H31) I suspect there are many lesser butterfly-orchids on upland wet heath and blanket bogs lurking out there!

Always a pleasure botanising in Murlough, Co. Down. Site specials include Cynoglossum oficinale (Hound’s Tongue) and Erodium lebelii (Sticky Stork’s-bill). Plenty of marsh fritillaries on the wing along with other insects. Lovely place all together! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

You can’t discuss flowering plant ecology without discussing pollinators (and vice-versa)!! If you want to learn how identifying plant assemblages can aid in identifying their insect pollinators, sign up for this event - only a few spaces left!!

I’ve been enjoying mesotrophic wetland plant species recently. Great to see so much crowfoot in Newry Canal, along with Carex versicaria, Dryopteris carthusiana and Iris pseudocorus from some fen ditches in south Down #botany #fen #rivers #plants #ferns

Killard NR looking as stunning as ever. How nice to find Ophioglossum vulgatum and to check in on the green-winged Orchids (Anacamptis morio) County Down is rather special…

Are you based in Northern Ireland and taking part in the National Plant Monitoring Scheme @npms.bsky.social ? We have a great event for you on 19 May, with #WildFlowerID at Ecos Nature Park, Ballymena in the morning followed by training on how to survey a #NPMS square: bsbi.org/take-part/ev...

Sherardia arvensis (field madder) and Conium maculatum (poison hemlock) with plenty of stonechats today at Greencastle, Co. Down

Early-purple orchid, bulbous buttercup, Ivy-leaved crowfoot and glaucous sedge along an ancient pathway in Moygannon, Rostrevor Co. Down (H38) All new tetrads! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Killarney Fern (Vandenboschia speciosa) from a wooded glen in Co. Tyrone today. Gametophyte being locally frequent forming colonies up to 1m^2. Sporophytes also present in ~relatively~ open conditions. What a treat! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

French Flowers (Paris/Lyon) 1. Luzula nivea 2. Salvia pratensis 3. Ornithogalum umbellatum 4. Sherardia arvensis

Ceratocapnos claviculata from Croslieve Mnt, South Armagh - the county’s only (known) population. Strangely such a rare plant in Ireland despite plenty of available habitat - one of those botanical mysteries again! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Few lovely liverworts up on Dá Fhiacail Mhóra in southern Gullion, co. Armagh. The striking Ptilidium ciliare at its only SE Ulster site growing with Marsupella emarginata, Scapania compacta and Bartramia pomoformis as an unusual bryophyte mat community on acidic rock @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Nice mixture of botanising in March. Exploring Rostrevor Oakwood for old toothwort records (no luck) but met some wych elms in the rocky/mossy woodland Peatlands Park, Co. Armagh is home (unfortunately) to the pitcher-plant (Sarracenia purpurea), although it is very cool and they were full of bugs!

Both Hymenophyllum species growing together on Sliabh gCuillinn summit, Co. Armagh (H37) in the scree. Associated with liverwort Plagiochila spinulosa, the 1st rec for the mountain. Nice to see some fir clubmosses too. #botany #ireland #filmyferns

Yesterday our Botanical Skills Northern Ireland Team practiced how to use underwater drones to collect under-recorded aquatic plant specimens! The drone will also be used for our @bsbiireland.bsky.social #AquaticPlantProject & we hope to raise money for a 2nd drone to survey Scottish lochs.

The moss Dicranum scottianum is endemic to high rainfall regions of Europe & Macaronesia. In this Welsh temperate rainforest it is growing as an epiphyte on Oak. This example also has its own epiphytes - little colonies of cyanobacteria or algae. Plants on plants on plants @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Marchesinia mackaii from south Co. Down growing on the ancient tropical seabed geology - new site record and the 1st record for the county since the 1930s it seems! Neckera complanata in association and a new hectad for that too, more used to seeing it on trees @bbsbryology.bsky.social #bryology

Now found in 5 Irish counties as of yesterday from Cos. Louth/Armagh and this marks the first for the east coast! Phenologically has been recorded In July, September, October and March #fungifriends #ireland #bryology #liverwort

**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 🧵

Asplenium ceterach recorded from an old mortared wall in north Co. Louth (H32) - last recorded in this vicinity in 1966!

Find out more about Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. rotundifolia - including where it has been recorded in Ireland - on its #PlantAtlas2020 page: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... This subspecies of Round-leaved Wintergreen has seen an overall "marked decline" since 1930 but we're not entirely sure why.

Plenty of Pyrola rotundifolia subsp. rotundifolia from a wet woodland of this west Monaghan lake - last years flowering spikes can still be seen. A very scarce species in Ireland!

Today’s lunchtime walk: Butterbur, spindle, young giant hogweed and Carex pendula tufts Things are starting to stir, botanically!

This week as part of the NI Botanical Skills Project we had three days of Conifer ID with Charles Shier at Castlewellan Arboretum. We covered 20 species likely to be seen as either a native, naturalised or ornamental. A lot of homework to do! @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Happy to see my two unis Aberystwyth and Queen’s Belfast got through the first round of BUC!

The latest issue of #BritishandIrishBotany is out! It's our Open Access, online scientific journal. 6 papers inc @bsbiscience.bsky.social on garden escapes, a new hybrid grass, @floodplainmead.bsky.social on Scotland's wet grasslands, a hawkweed, drift seeds & sea bindweed: bsbi.org/about/news/l...

Porella platyphylla from the mortared walls of the promenade in Co. Louth. Appears to be a first for the Cooley Peninsula and the first record of the liverwort from the county in a few decades! @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Slime mold on moss. NWT, Canada. #myxomycete #fungifriends #moss

Colura calyptrifolia on rowan and plentiful Hyocomium armoricum on granite boulders at Yellow Water, Rostrevor, Co. Down How amazing would this place be if it had some native woodland? Missed opportunity for restoration

Thug mé cuairt Uaimh Thalún na Fionnaise agus Liagán Áine, Co. An Dúin inniú Tá an uaimh 29m ar fhad - iontach suntasach Bhí na radharcanna ó Liagán Áine dochreidte, agus na Beanna Boirche ó dheas. Ainmníodh é i ndéidh Bandia an tSamhraidh, Áine

This is an amazing record if this rare fungi that is closely linked to temperate rainforest. Not before observed in the SE of Ireland!! Wow

Scapania ornithopoides. Céad uair agam an speiceas seo a fheiceail agus an chéad suíomh dhó sna Mám Toirce cé go bhfuil roinnt maith cuntais dhó ó na beanna beola. Rud aláinn a bhfaca mé fhéin agus @timoceallaigh.bsky.social lá oíche nollaig

New site record of Hymenophyllum tunbrigense for Co. Louth (H31) growing in a rocky woodland on a minor hill. Happy to find this one today. A very scarce species in the county. @bsbiireland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #ferns #botany #filmyferns

Likely Rhabdoweisia crenulata growing at high altitude on a NE rock face. Another first for me and the maamturks/Mám toirce records it seems. Thanks @nimbosaecology.bsky.social for ID help

Dryopteris affinis s.s on my St Stephen’s Day walk yesterday. Every day is a good day for some fernology I am pretty confident with this one @bsbiireland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #ferns #botany

Fontinalis squamosa from Bavan, Cooley Mountains, Co. Louth in upland boulder stream Doesn’t seem to be previously recorded from this region @bbsbryology.bsky.social

Mosses love to decorate with slime molds. Northwest Territories, Canada. #slime #fungifriends #myxo #moss #bryophyte #botany

To round up my year of biological recording, here are my favourite finds from each month of 2025! January - Jubula hutchinsiae I re-found this colony recorded in 2004 in the Glen Stream, co. Down. A v interesting & unmistakable oceanic liverwort of humid wooded stream valleys

Greenan Lough, Newry, Co. Down These drumlin valleys contain lakes, fen and transition mire. Important habitats for scarce spp like Marsh St John’s Wort, Sphagnum contortum and many wetland birds. Main issue = no public accessibility - I have not explored any of these wetlands properly