Interesting talk about long term studies of changes in Wytham Woods

Another pretty Sphagnum moss!

mini-macaroni tube fungi...

This looks to me like that new Jubilee waxcap Gliophorus reginae found yesterday What do #fungifriends think?

Beautiful and strange little slime moulds

Wow, what a view!

Everything about biodiversity and the interconnectedness of species in food webs is more complicated than you think

Try the Fungus Survey of Oxfordshire (FSO) for a start www.fungusoxfordshire.org.uk

Wouldn't I just loved to have found this in a peat bog!

the Slimy Waxcap turns out to be not one species, but four!

Look at these lovely Oxycera soldierflies and the opportunity to learn all about them..

Pretty, pretty Sphagnum mosses. And they make peat and store carbon!

For @robcrank68.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #Reflections, here's a Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) looking for insects. #birds #UKWildlife #photography #EastCoastKin #LyeValley #Oxford @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

Female #kakapo Kohengi on her three eggs on Pukenui/Anchor Island today. We don't yet know if they're fertile, but will investigate soon. So far fertility on Anchor is very high: only 8 infertile out of 33 checked. We expect many more infertile eggs though. #kakapo2026 #conservation #birds

Slime mold hanging with lichens. The orange grapey thing is slime mold, Badhamia utricularis. The structures to the right and all around the slime mold is Cladonia lichen. NWT, Canada. #lichen #fungi #fingifriends The photo covers about 3cm left to right.

Always a fabulous event if you can get there...

Dreich is good for the #fen (lots of rain...) if not people; but tomorrow promises to be the one dry day this week. Wednesday is volunteer day in the valley. Why not visit and chat to us about all the good works for wildlife we are achieving?

Did you realise there are special wetland spiders and many of them are threatened?

What a beautiful snowdrop!

Sphagnum fallax and fimbratum or girgensohnii #moss #bryophyte

Should be good for all who want to identifly those long-legged Dolichopodid flies.

Looking forward to all of these

A chance to learn about fantastic soldierflies!

#LightPollution - we are just starting to grasp the #Biodiversity damage phys.org/news/2026-01...

Marmalade Hoverfly, Episyrphus balteatus. My first hoverfly of the year. #Diptera #VC55

A wonderful bee mimic, the Long-horned soldierfly.

Sphagnum mosses are so beautiful

Cladonia diversa is very variable, with some podetia bearing swollen bright red fruiting bodies, and others just tiny red studs on the cup rim. Heaths and dunes.

The local Great Spotted Woodpeckers are fully into the aerial pursuit phase of their breeding season. Three birds were chasing each other continually over the Lye Valley area, Oxford, this morning, giving these calls: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/649848... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #UKbirding

Early Arthropods xkcd.com/3199/

I'm so fond of caterpillars!

Slime mold, Stemonitopsis typhina. NWT, Canada. #fungifriends #myxomycetes. The slime mold is about 1cm high.

This has been confirmed by DNA analysis as being Cortinarius lividomalvaceus. With oak on a road verge in Oxon. Maybe new to Britain...Hoping to get the verge a County Road Verge Nature Reserve, the first for fungi in county! many other nice woodland fungi here as well #fungifriends

Wow, furniture designed to look like fungi!

A really pretty lichen..

Birch polypore, or Razor-strop fungus - for finishing off the sharpening of your cut-throat razor.

We all need some good news like this..

A remarkable fungus, alien looking

Some winter sunshine triggering ten species into song in the Lye Valley, Oxford, this morning, including the first singing Greenfinches of the year and a very brief burst of Blackcap song (in January!): ebird.org/checklist/S2... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @patchbirding.bsky.social #ukbirding

Lovely flower illustrations, what a book to have!

Biodiversity is incredible. Who could imagine this strange and beautiful deep sea fish?

Magpie (Pica pica) displaying its fantastically colourful tail feathers for Rob's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #TailsUp. And to think many people think of Magpies as just being black and white! #birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #LyeValley #WildlifePhotography

🎵 We're raking in the rain, Just raking in the rain, What a glorious feelin' I'm happy again 🎵 Despite heavy rain this morning we continued to rake cut material on part of our #SSSI onto drag sheets to build up the soft eroded peat banks of the Lye Brook. #FenRestoration #OxfordshireFens #OX3 🌰🌍

Arched Earthstar, Geastrum fornicatum. In a churchyard in South Norfolk, seen on yesterday's bike ride. www.jeremybartlett.co.uk/2024/02/22/a... #Fungi #FungiFriends

Flammulina velutipes by Hans Walty #FungiFriends #MushroomMonday

One to look out for on deadwood now..

For @alan678.bsky.social's #BirdOfTheDay theme today I have a Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) on an old log pile in low #WinterLight in Oxford's #LyeValley. Such restless birds! #birds #UKWildlife #WildlifePhotography #EastCoastKin

If you are in the Oxford area on Friday evening, I’m presenting a talk about the birds of the Lye Valley area. It’s a one hour multimedia celebration (sounds and pictures!) of some of the amazing birds recorded in this area of the city. All welcome. @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #Oxford #birds

Fungi can be so weird. Why is guttation necessary?

Here are some nice mushrooms