The Holy Grail of urban birding in spring, a male Redstart, was on Warneford Meadow, Oxford, today. It has taken eight years, but was worth every moment this morning. It even burst into song on a couple of occasions, just magical! @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @patchbirding.bsky.social #UKbirding

Marsh Lousewort (Pedicularis palustris) is a biennial hemi-parasite that weakens reed, sedge and rush. Rare in Oxon and Vulnerable nationally, it's thriving here where we use it as a key part of our #FenRestoration work. Here a young plant is showing the halo effect of reduced growth around it. 🌰🌍

Meeting at Brookes' Headington Hill Hall campus on Wednesday 15 April 2026, 7–9pm to identify and discuss the green spaces in urban OX3 and to design a walk (followed by a walk on Saturday 18 April)

An urban Sedge Warbler, singing on Warneford Meadow, Oxford, today was only the 3rd patch record and the 1st in 5 years! All records have been between 9th and 27th April, today’s bird being the earliest. macaulaylibrary.org/asset/654556... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @patchbirding.bsky.social

Lots of male Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) butterflies patrolling the sunny banks of the Valley yesterday. A huge patch of Garlic Mustard proved to be a popular refuelling stop! #UKWildlife #UKButterflies #OX3 #iRecorded @savebutterflies.bsky.social @upperthames.bsky.social

The unseasonably warm weather brought our Common Lizards (Zootoca vivipara) out this morning. The first we've seen so far this year! 🦎 😍 #reptiles #UKWildlife @arc-trust.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social @tverc1.bsky.social

Despite the low temperatures, one of our volunteers counted 16 Slow worms (Anguis fragilis) sheltering under our reptile mats yesterday. Four adults and twelve juveniles. Seems like a good start to the year! #reptiles 🐍 [archive pic] @arc-trust.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

4 Sand Martin over Warneford Meadow, Oxford, this morning were only the 3rd Lye Valley area record & the first in 7 years! This is a rare bird in urban areas with no open water. A memorable way to mark my 900th patch visit to the Lye Valley! @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @patchbirding.bsky.social

83 species of #spiders ! and quite a few still to find from historic lists, we are not finished yet...

Headington Action kindly funded a survey of spiders and other invertebrates in the Valley. 506 invertebrate species in total, 83 species of spiders, one Nationally rare beetle, and seven Nationally Scarce other invertebrates. Link to report below. #inverts @tverc1.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

An amazing 3 minutes in the Lye Valley, Oxford this morning, as an OSPREY circled over the Churchill Hospital before flying north! 🤯 ebird.org/checklist/S3... An incredible new species for the Lye Valley area! @friendlyevalley.bsky.social @patchbirding.bsky.social @headingtonnews.bsky.social

For today's #BirdOfTheDay theme of #speckled I have this rather flamboyant male Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus). It had clearly escaped being shot "for sport", and was rather incongruously wandering round one of Oxford's urban green spaces. #birds #ECK #UKWildlife #lucky #LyeValley 📷

More #SignsOfSpring here in the Valley, the first of our Marsh Marigolds (Caltha palustris) is just coming into flower! 😀 #WildFlowerHour #OxfordshireFens @judywebb.bsky.social

Today’s #BirdOfTheDay theme is #tricolour, birds with three colours or more and an alt of #YearRound birds. I rarely photograph Mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) — familiarity breeds contempt maybe — but here's one from Oxford's #LyeValley fen that fits both themes. #birds #ECK #UKWildlife

We've got good numbers of Scarlet Tiger (Callimorpha dominula) moth caterpillars on Comfrey plants in the Peat Moors entrance to the Valley at the moment. Looking forward to seeing the colourful adults later in the year! #inverts #TeamMoth #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography @judywebb.bsky.social

We've got tadpoles! Hundreds of tadpoles! Quite appropriate for #WorldFrogDay! 🐸 #UKWildlife #amphibians #nature #PondWatch @judywebb.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social

A Peacock (Aglais io) butterfly refuelling on Blackthorn blossom in the warm Spring sunshine. 😍 #inverts #UKWildlife #SignsOfSpring #BlossomWatch @upperthames.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

One of our volunteers finished counting the eggs of the scarce Brown Hairstreak butterfly in the Valley this week, and the total for 2025 is 37 eggs, a little down on last year's total. Anyone know if this is in line with national trends? 🤔 #inverts #UKWildlife @savebutterflies.bsky.social

The first of our Primroses are just starting to flower in The Slade entrance to the Valley. 😊 Planted by our volunteers over a number of years, they're one more #SignsOfSpring. #WildflowerHour #OX3 #LocalWildlifeSite #GreenSpace @judywebb.bsky.social

No expectations of anything in the fog today, but the first Meadow Pipit and Skylark of the year passed over & take me to 66 species in the Lye Valley, Oxford, in just 68 days. 85% of last years points total already, how will this end?! @patchbirding.bsky.social @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

Our Wildflower Enhancement Project at Rock Edge has increased populations of important wildflowers such as Field and Small Scabious and vastly increased the resource of nectar and pollen-rich flowers available to insects on this amenity grassland. Link in next post. 🌰🌍 #WildflowerHour

Forget about an elf on the shelf, look at what we've got! 😀 #UKWildlife #amphibians #frog #nature #photography 📷🐸🐍

And here's the two-handed scrape-seeding dance being expertly performed by a volunteer at Rock Edge! The Wild Marjoram was the last seed to go out.....Followed by a light rake to settle the seed in.

We start March with an hedge-laying task, at North Hinksey Nature Reserve, off Botley Road in West Oxford. Some site maintenance and scrub clearing also available.. see what takes your fancy! Sunday, 1st 🍄‍🟫 No experience needed 🪿http://ocv.org.uk #Oxford

🐸 We have frogspawn at last! 🐸 And what looks like a frog free-for-all! #SignsOfSpring #SpawnWatch #ClassOf2026 @arc-trust.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

Delighted that ODS on behalf of @oxfordcitycouncil.bsky.social are creating a couple of new "scrapes" at Rock Edge. Turf and topsoil removed down to original limestone. We'll spread native wildflower seeds and transform this rather dull amenity grassland into a riot of colour. #OX3 #Headington 🌍

We spotted our fist butterfly of the year this morning, this splendid male Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). Unusually, it came to rest just long enough to take this photo. 😊 #inverts #FirstOfTheYear #UKButterflies #iRecorded @upperthames.bsky.social @tverc1.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

Our frogs (Rana temporaria) are back! 😍 #SignsOfSpring #UKWildlife #NaturePhotography 🐸 @arc-trust.bsky.social @freshwaterhabitats.bsky.social @tverc1.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

Here in the Lye Valley we not only have sunshine today, but real #SignsOfSpring with our first Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) in flower, and our Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) blossom just opening. 😍 #WildFlowerHour #OxfordshireFens

💥 patch mega 💥 An urban Firecrest in the Lye Valley, Oxford this morning, only the second here in over 7 years! ebird.org/checklist/S3... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #patchgold #ukbirding

Today's #BirdOfTheDay theme is #CollectingFood, birds with food in their beaks, the Alt theme is #Grey. This Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) with an unlucky fish fits both themes. 😃 [may need a click] #birds #UKWildlife #EastCoastKin #nature #photography @robcrank68.bsky.social

6 Redpoll, including this bird demolishing a silver birch seed pod, and some nice Sparrowhawk vs Magpie interactions, in the Lye Valley, Oxford, this morning. My eBird checklist is here: ebird.org/checklist/S3... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #UKbirding

Want to improve your botanical identification skills and confidence? Try one of the Ashmolean Natural History Society of Oxfordshire #Plant #Identification courses this year:

Volunteer work rejuvenating blackthorn scrub at tiny Barracks La Meadow in Oxford to favour egg-laying of the rare Brown Hairstreak butterfly. Site is a hot spot for this sp. but also need to stop blackthorn shoots colonising rich old meadow flora adjacent by digging & tree -popper in good use.

For @javajanegallery.co.uk's #SmallBirdSaturday, I have a Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) taking a short break from hunting insects in the Lye Valley in Oxford. #birds #UKWildlife #nature #photography

We found a fine crop of Witches' Butter (Exidia glandulosa) on a dead log this week. It's normally darker than this, but perhaps this batch is new? #FungiFriday #FungiFriends @fungiflowers.bsky.social @judywebb.bsky.social

Delighted to spot our first Scarlet Elf cup (Sarcoscypha austriaca) fungi of the season in the fen this morning. Here's two of around a dozen we found. #FungiFriends #OxfordshireFens #OX3 @judywebb.bsky.social

Inner city #patchgold this morning, with the first Woodcock since Nov 24 in Boundary Brook woods. My 7th Woodcock record in over 7 years, but the first outside of November/December. Perhaps an elusive wintering bird? 🤯 ebird.org/checklist/S2... @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #ukbirding

A #landscape view of winter #sunlight over Oxford's Lye Valley fen for today's #BlueSkyArtShow theme. (Or if anybody's lost a star, I've got it! 😀) @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

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

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

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?

I've shared this photo before, but it seems like a perfect candidate for today's #BlueSkyArtShow. Sunset over Oxford's Lye Valley with #altocumulus #clouds. A #SSSI, it's a 14,000-year-old internationally rare habitat, a tufa-forming valley-head alkaline spring fen. #Landscape #EastCoastKin

This single Redwing was singing on Warneford Meadow, Oxford, this morning, quivering its tail as it did so: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/649952... Odd to hear Redwing and Blackcap singing simultaneously! Hazelnut catkins were another #SignOfSpring 👌🏻 @friendlyevalley.bsky.social #ukbirding

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

At least two Blackcaps were in song in the Lye Valley today: macaulaylibrary.org/asset/649848... As our wintering birds come from eastern Europe, do these winter singers have a slightly different song from our breeding birds (currently in N Africa)? #UKbirding @friendlyevalley.bsky.social

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

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

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 🌰🌍