Fantastic to have @bsbibotany.bsky.social Chief Executive Julia Hanmer @moschatel.bsky.social attending our #BSBIAutumnMeeting last Sat to speak about BSBI's work in #Ireland & some new region-wide initiatives. Luckily #StormAmy didn't steal the show! Thanks to @npwsireland.bsky.social for support.

Want to learn more about the National Plant Monitoring Scheme #npms? Join our online 10th anniversary celebrations on 18th October, or come along in person to our volunteer day in Oxford Island, Co Armagh on 25th October! www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...

My main reason for visiting the beautiful Port Meadow, Oxford, was to see Marsh Dock Rumex palustris. This species doesn't occur in Hampshire (one record, from 1928), so a special trip was needed. Very pleased, it's a lovely thing. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The mega rare Creeping Marshwort Helosciadum repens from North Hinksey, Oxford today. Great to see it doing so well there. I couldn't find it on Port Meadow, but that's a huge area! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Earlier this year we published a summary of our short-term study of the apparent changing phenology of Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort, at #Arnside Knott in @bsbibotany.bsky.social News. Had a quick visit yesterday and it was by some margin the most abundant flowering species. #wildflowerhour

Suaeda maritima, Annual Sea-blite. A pioneer #saltmarsh species that plays a key role in denitrification of soils, and also provides an abundance seeds for wintering passerines and wildfowl. #wildflowerhour #MorecambeBay #Arnside #Cumbria

Fraoch na haon chose / St Dabeoc's Heath brightening up the day in North Connemara in County Galway for #WildflowerHour

Lovely to spot Red Campion and Wood Avens flowering in the woods, providing an autumnal food source for pollinators. #wildflowerhour

Wood avens with Hoverfly, Blue fleabane, White bryony and Gypsywort. #WildflowerHour

Eyebright and Feverfew flowering after the rain and strong winds have eased. #Wildflowerhour

A 3-sided pod of Yellow Iris, Iris pseudacorus, that has split open revealing its many flattened red-brown seeds that have started to disperse into a nearby pond, seen in Wandlebury, Cambridgeshire #YellowIris #Seeds #Autumn #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Mistletoe - Viscum album berries ripening from pale green to white in the early autumn sunshine. #Wildflowerhour

A treat to see these gorgeous photos - it's not so common in NW Ireland, where I am, or the Scottish Highlands, as shown in the @bsbibotany.bsky.social #PlantAtlas

A great morning recording at Whisby Nature Park on Monday, where I was delighted to be able to introduce my friend to the diminutive but characterful Smooth Cat's-ear, flowering for the second time this year on acid sandhills - a particular favourite of mine! #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

This patch of Yellow Toadflax is from September, it really is a beautiful wildflower, so bright and cheerful. Happy Sunday everyone 💛🌿 #SundayYellow #Toadflax #Wildflowers #WildflowerHour

Sweet violet flowering again in Ely. #WildflowerHour

Searching for the few flowers left after the storm. A few Daisies survived but most are not tall as this one is #Wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @botanybeck.bsky.social @bsbiireland.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social #wildflower #October #Autumn After #StormAmy

Absolutely fantastic weekend,caught up with the brilliant @seanronayne.bsky.social at the @shhomeplace.bsky.social for a truly engaging talk on his work as an ornithologist recording birdsong, talking mimicry & how nature has had such an impact on his life.Dawn chorus at Lough Beg was wonderful.

Still lots for #wildflowerhour on the dunes: Harebell, Lady's-bedstraw, Pignut, Carline Thistle, Common Milkwort & sumptuous scarlet Waxcaps. More modestly: hairy-white leaves of Mouse-ear Hawkweed, wild thyme #seedheads, kidney vetch leaves and gorgeous goldy-green mosses. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Papery Carline Thistle (Carlina vulgaris) always looks spectacular, even when it's gone over (hmm, it always looks a bit like it's gone over!) Lots on the dunes at #Strandhill, #CoSligo @bsbibotany.bsky.social @organicbotanic.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #wildflowerhour #seedheads (just!)

A fascinating talk from Sue McBean @organicbotanic.bsky.social illustrating through her beautiful wild plant photos how we can look with new eyes at the plants we study. Very inspiring. I’m now going to be looking at the underside of celandines! @bsbiireland.bsky.social #BSBIAutumnMeeting

Fantastic talks at @bsbibotany.bsky.social #BSBIAutumnMeeting: here is Cilian Roden describing the unique vegetation on the islands in #LoughCorrib. Thanks to @npwsireland.bsky.social and the National Botanical Gardens, Glasnevin for their support.

Wow, even better value than before! Lots of benefits to be had...our superb magazine, offers on great publications, and first dibs at field events, to name a few - and you'll be really helping the conservation of wild plants too.

Last few days to book a place on BSBI's #IrishAutumnMeeting and AGM! Always a great day, with talks and workshops on all things botanical, and a chance to meet up with like minded friends. Book your free place at www.tickettailor.com/events/botan... @bsbibotany.bsky.social @npwsireland.bsky.social

Yesterday, NI Training Officers Kim and Jo led two groups on a tree Identification walk through Corbie Wood in Lagan Valley Regional Park, Belfast. We got to see the impressive 500-year old Belvoir Oak, amongst many other species of tree - and some beautiful fungi too!

On Saturday, we held a Northern Ireland Recorders Meeting in the Lough Neagh Discovery Centre. From far and wide, recorders came to learn about willow identification and hybrids, then roamed the site, willow-hunting. @bsbibotany.bsky.social @mikekally.bsky.social

The colours of Dunwich Heath #Suffolk: Common Heather, Gorse & Bell Heather, with a distant view of Sizewell. @midsandeastnt.bsky.social #WildflowerHour

Wildling apples by the roadside #Dartmoor #Devon #WildFlowerHour - presumably grown from apple cores lobbed out of car windows.

Nice to see Red dead nettle back in flower. #WildflowerHour

Even more spindles. I can never get bored of them. #wildflowerhour

Two different-looking Knotgrasses flowering by the roadside in Ely. Wondering about Equal-leaved knotgrass for the one on the top left, but didn’t know that was a thing so need to go back and check. 😆 #WildflowerHour

Even more white flowers! White Dead-nettle was flowering as well #WildflowerHour

Pop of yellow with perennial sowthistle. Lots in flower at the moment. #wildflowerHour #Yorkshire

Greater Sea-spurrey, Spergularia media. Larger flowers than the similar Lesser Sea-spurrey and always with 10 stamens (or stamenoides). #wildflowerhour #MorecambeBay #Saltmarsh #Cumbria

Viper’s-bugloss a tiny bit of blue in an overcast Lincolnshire sky #WildFlowerHour

Alfalfa by the motorway wearing tonic suit colours. #WildflowerHour

My Sunday offerings for #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social are wild Clary, roundleaved fluellen, sand spurrey and a blurry small toadflax. All Central Bedfordshire, variously on clay, chalk and sand.

White ivy! Seen on yesterday's Norfolk Flora group meeting @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Herb-robert is still flowering #WildflowerHour

This rather lovely seed-head was among a mixed group of Lesser and Autumn Hawkbits. I'm fairly sure it's Lesser Hawkbit. In a road verge in Sawston, Cambridgeshire, yesterday. #WildflowerHour

This Perennial Sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis) was flowering this week for #wildflowerhour, but far more exciting were the weird purplish bumps on its leaves. These are the galls of a tiny midge species called Cystiphora sonchi - according to NBN just the 5th time it has been recorded in Scotland 🥰

You can well imagine how much my friends were wishing I would move on and stop taking photos of spindle berries at this point... #WildFlowerHour

Red clover, Bundoran, Co. Donegal. #wildflowerhour

Common knapweed, Bundoran, Co. Donegal. #wildflowerhour

Pretty White clover. #WildflowerHour

The Least Whitebeam, Sorbus minima, is in my humble and biased opinion, one of our best looking whitebeams. Small, adorable leaves with those deep lobes reflecting Rowan ancestry. This endemic tree has a very restricted range, but is abundant within it with over 700 trees known.

It's always a delight to see violets coming out for an autumn encore. Common dog-violet (Viola riviniana) looking sweet in Dooney Rock woods, next to beautiful #LoughGill in #Co.Sligo. #wildflowerhour #springflowers @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @irishwoodlandtrust.bsky.social

Grass-of-Parnassus (Parnassia palustris) at St. John's Wood, Co. Roscommon yesterday. @bsbiireland.bsky.social

Pansies in the sand dunes. #wildflowerhour

Finally found deadly nightshade in the wild. Lovely glossy berries On a verge in Oxford. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour