Beautiful pasture woodland pollarded sessile oaks. Rydal Woods

Photos from Great Wood and Ashness Wood (Borrowdale Rainforest National Nature Reserve)

1/2 A bit of dry-stone wall (made of andesite) just south of Keswick next to Derwent I saw on holiday last week. There is nothing rare here; but the combination of species seemed particularly beautiful. Species list below.

Steyning aerial with Starlings in winter plumage. Aerials often are a favoured perching spot for Starlings, especially juvenile Starlings. They are very social birds. Common garden birds, but their decline in the countryside makes them a Red List species. #birds 🪶

A Spindle Tree, Euonymus europaeus, part of the understory of the Beech; Ash, Field Maple & Sycamore ancient woodland of Chanctonbury Ring SSSI. An ancient woodland indicator plant.

A red rope in Mouse Lane, Wiston, West Sussex. Black Bryony, Dioscorea communis, growing up an Ivy-covered Beech. It looks its best in late Autumn, when all that is left of it are its bright red berries. A toxic member of the Yam family, all parts are poisonous.

On Armistice Day, Chance Memory (Mouse Lane) (1915) by 2nd Lt. John Stanley Purvis. Landscape & Memory. Mouse Lane is a scarp-foot sunken lane joining Steyning to Chanctonbury Ring. Boundary banks planted with veteran coppiced Ash & Hazel; lower banks; dominated by shade-loving by Harts-Tongue Fern

The Barn at Great Barn Farm, Wiston. Grade II listed. Probably C18. Faced with flints with red brick dressings. Hipped Horsham slab roof. Loop windows. With granary on staddle stones. Quintessential vernacular C18-C19 scarp-foot farm building. West Sussex.

What a stonking ancient Hawthorn. On the South Downs between Steyning and Chanctonbury Hill; at the edge of the escarpment.

This Beech was covered in a Pertusaria hymenea and a Graphidaceae lichen; possibly Graphis scripta s.l. At first I thought the P. hymenea was a Lecanora but I remembered that In shaded sites the apothecia of P. hymenea can develop pale discs Chanctonbury Hill SSSI. West Sussex.

Beech in ancient woodland on Steyning Downs; covered in lichen Lecanora chlarotera or L. hybocarpa (impossible to separate without microscopy) & the liverwort Frullania dilatata, Dilated Scalewort. I am not sure about the L. chlarotera/ hybocarpa: it's apothecia (fruiting bodies) seem very crowded.

Juniper & Box on same day in Sussex. 😀 Both on the Sussex Rare Plant Register. Juniper was on chalk grassland on the Steyning Downland; Box was in ancient scarp-face woodland on Chanctonbury Hill SSSI, next to Wiston Bostal. Checked SRPR when I got in; Box considered native. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

This lovely veteran beech was at the foot of scarp-slope ancient woodland on Chanctonbury Hill SSSI; on the side of the Wiston Bostal. Its roots were covered in Arthonia radiata, Asterisk Lichen; Dicranoweisia cirrata, Common Pincushion; Rhynchostegium confertum Clustered Feather-Moss. #lichen #moss

Corn Bunting. Emberiza calandra On a fence next to an arable field, on South Downs near Steyning. Bill adapted for seed eating. Declined by 83% between 1967-2022; steep decline between the mid 1970s and 1980s, with local extinctions accross their range. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #birds 🪶

Ancient pollarded Beech, Fagus sylvatica, in Bream Wood SSSI East Sussex. Paradigmatic High Weald ancient gyhll goodland

A flock of Redwings on Boar Head Wood nr. Crowborough. East Sussex. @sussexornitholo.bsky.social #birds 🪶

A profusion of Trumpet Lichen, Cladonia fimbriata, on a pear tree. Laurel Tree Farm. Boars Head. East Sussex.

Lookalikes! Dead Quercus petraea, Sessile Oak, Johnny Wood, Borrowdale Rainforest National Nature Reserve. Statue of Liberty

Sibelius saw Whopper Swans flying over him. This inspired the majestic main theme of the last movement of his 5th Symphony; emulating the majesty of swqn flight. Here is a Whooper Swan dabbling with bum in the air. Suppose he saw this instead. His swan theme may be different youtu.be/nJXll1UQfGs?...

This morning, I walked along a tiny lane lined with ancient dry stone walls. North West old lanes are great places to find lichens. Here are Parmelia saxatilis and its realtive P. omphalodes. P. omphalodes was called dark crottle by Scots tweed makers. Gaelic "crotal": lichens for red/brown dyes.

Stereocaulon vesuvianum is a common lichen of upland silicious rock, often on dry stone walls, and I associate it with holidays in the North West. l hadn't seen it till today - the last day of my holiday. So I can go home content now! Its pseudopotetia could make you think it's a Cladonis sp.

Castlerigg Stone Circle; constructed ca. 3000 BC, potentially one of the oldest in UK, just outside Keswick. From the circle, you can see the peaks Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Grasmoor and Blencathra. I got there at 7.30am. The light was beautiful.

But surely all Red Squirrels know the Green Cross Code. May be squirrel road safety has slipped a bit since the 1970s.

So underrated most of the #corvids and especially the #Crow which are amazing and clever birds! Great shot! Here's my choice of #underrated, the #HouseSparrow in their urban #Sparrowchatrooms in Brighton & Hove. Love them! #BirdOfTheDay #EastCoastKin #birds #photography

Yesterday, I saw the "world's largest" pencil in the Keswick Pencil Museum. Today, I saw "Scotland's largest" pair of binoculars at WWT Caerlaverock. My life goals are now completed.

This parent Whooper Swan, Cygnus cygnus, and its cygnet, were fascinating to watch. Parent did something (e.g. preen, dabble for food) chick did it. Seemed to be learning through mimicry. At @wwtworldwide.bsky.social Caerlaverock This cygnet was probably born in Iceland. First time in Scotland.

Pink-Footed Geese, Anser brachyrhynchus. Winter visitors from Spitsbergen, Iceland and Greenland. In a field on the way, walking, to WWT Caerlaverock. Solway Firth, Dunfries and Galloway, Scotland #birds 🪶

I think this terrible photo is a Merlin, Falco columbarius. I saw it flying low and fast and it had pointy wings. It flew into this tree just outside Bankend near Caerlaverock in Dunfries and Galloway, Scotland. Probrably a winter visitor from Iceland. #birds 🪶

A new life-list ✔️. Tree Sparrows at WWT Caerlaverock, Solway Firth, Scotland. Estimated 93% decline on 1970 abundance; probably extinct now in Sussex. Never seen one in Sussex despite visiting their former Sussex "strong holds". #birds 🪶 @rspb.bsky.social @wwtworldwide.bsky.social

Terrible photo of a Hen Harrier. A birding couple in the hide had scopes & were talking about sexual dimorphism of HHs. I couldn't see well enough with my bins, so I asked the woman what sex it was. The man answered for her. Casual misogyny is not unusual from my experience of RSPB volunteering.

Excellent day at WWT Caerlaverock Solway Firth, Dunfries and Gallaway; where the Svalbard (Norway) Barnacle Geese hang out for the winter.

My first Fieldfare of the year. Turdus pilaris. WWT Carlaverock, Solway Firth, Scotland. Red Listed in the UK because of loss of woodland. Usually, they hang around with Redwing, so I expect to see a Redwing soon. The UK's "winter thrushes"; they bread mostly in Scandinavia.

The magnificent neo-Tudor and neo- Gothic Carlisle station; designed by the architect William Tite. Until I passed through Carlisle on a train in my mid-twenties, I thought Carlisle was pronounced CAR-SLICE, because of my dyslexia - it was a revelation to me that it was pronounced CAR-LILE

Cumbria vs. Sussex observation! There are few Usnea sp. on Hawthorn in Sussex, and if there are, they are typically U. cornuta; but Usnea seems common on Cumbrian Hawthorns, especially U. subfloridana. Moreover, you never see the lovely liverwort Frullania tamarisci on a Sussex Hawtborn.

Thanks, Penrith Community Gardeners, for making Penrith Station a lovely place to wait for a train.

The difference between habitat in the south (where I live) & the north is fascinating. Sphagnum palustre in Sussex is found in bogs & wet flushes with a supply of water from springs or streams. In Borrowdale, it is also at the top of this rocky mound; in the south, it doesn't rain enough for that.

Cummacatta Wood, just north of the Bowder Stone, has a wet flush with the gloriously red Sphagnum capillifolium (rare in Sussex) plus gone-over Bog Asphodel. It also has Juniper as well as Yew. First Juniper I've seen in Borrowdale; saw lots around Arnside on Limestone

By walking a lot today I found that Lecidea lithophila is very common in Borrowdale, often in mosaics with Rhyzocarpon geographicum, especially on dry stone walls, made of the local dominant rock: igneous Andesite. There is no L. lithophila in Sussex; geology deternins the saxilious lichens you get!

"We told James that a Pink Camoflage Dryrobe would look naff on a Hardwick but he wouldn't listen." Borrowdale

Fluffy juvenile Chaffinch by the river Derwent. Borrowdale. 5#birds 🪶

In Johnny Wood (Borrowdale Rainforest NNR) looking for Wilson's Filmy-fern. I know it's here. I have never seen it. I'm exploring likely filmy-fern outcrops. Went up to this one & it "only" had mostly White Earwort & Tamarisk Moss, very common bryophytes. But many "common" bryophytes are beautiful

Weird tidal bore (wave) as tide came in on the River Kent estuary at Arnside. The fast tide is caused by the large area of Morecambe Bay narrowing rapidly at Arnside, plus a high tidal range. The Kent Estuary is a very odd place: a very long Vctorian rail bridge connects Westmoreland to Furness.

Creative Halloween. Cuddly Herring Gull with witch's cape, hat and broomstick, eating spiders with salt, outside the Arndale Chippie. Westmoorland & Furness, Cumbria.

Great White Egret, Ardea alba and Little Egret, Egretta garzetta, behind. Arnside, Morecombe Bay. #birds 🪶

Gait Barrows NNR near Silverdale; top of Morecombe Bay. A limestone pavement with stunted trees growing in the grykes, along with many mosses and ferns. Amazing. Learned about limestone pavements in A level in 1978-79; but never saw any then as they are too far north for a field trip from Brighton!

Pretty sure this is Lancastrian Whitebeam. Sorbus lancastriensis. Leaves right, but not many left - all fruit fallen (or eaten by birds). Its in the place that Cumbria Wildlife Trust says they are in Arnside, on the shoreline by Grubbin Wood. UK distribution - just limestone round Morecombe Bay

A pair of Red-breasted Mergansers, Mergus serrator, off Blackstone Point, Arnside, Morecombe Bay. Such a characteristic duck with their punk head feathers. #birds 🪶

Fabulous. Democratic socialism can win. I feel much more hopeful for the world today.

The Argus (Brighton) ran a headline a few years ago saying, "prehistoric gull tried to eat my Chihuahua." The mainstream media in Bighton frequently libels Herring Gulls. If Herring Gulls has access to libel legislation there'd be some rich gulls in Brighton

Gull-human interaction article. VERY interesting read. "It should also be noted that there were no observed cases of gull aggression towards humans (online Table S3). This was surprising considering that media discourse around gulls often centres around gull aggression and destructive behaviour."