Wonderful veteran Sweet Chestnut by the Pony Path at Ty Nant, below Cadair Idris. A celebration of this week's #thicktrunktuesday from Gwynedd.

Thank you @phoebeweston.bsky.social for such a wonderful and optimistic article on Hedgerows! It's great to celebrate the wonders we have, appreciate the legacy, and use that to inform our combined future www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Blossom is so often overlooked when we choose a new apple tree, but as this wonderful montage from @thepackingshedtamar on IG shows, some varieties have especially beautiful flowers. Scent also varies greatly from variety to variety.

It's been a hell of a spring for Blackthorn. Anyone doing aerial remote sensing (drone or plane) of woodland, hedgerow or rewilding habitats in past 10 days would have a bonus of easily mapping this pollen/nectar resource. Hawthorn might do the same favour when it flowers later this/next month.

The Orange-tips were seeking out the Cuckoo flowers, (Cardamine pratensis) in the River Frome water meadows today. #butterflies #botany @dorsetandbeyond.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

I'm currently reading Michael McCarthy's wonderful book 'Say Goodbye to the Cuckoo', so over the moon that he's coming to speak on 24th April in #Shaftesbury, #Dorset. A perfect excuse to visit friends. Tickets available, but limited, so book soon: www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/fol... #birds

Glorious twisted oak by the Dorset Frome at Stinsford to celebrate this week's #thicktrunktuesday.

Blackthorn spring in Dorchester this week. The Cherry Plum blossom is beginning to fade leaving its confetti on the ground. The path by Ten Hatches, today.

A Plane in Dunster Park to celebrate this week's #thicktrunktuesday.

Meanwhile, 2km downstream, this. 📷 One of several courses of the Dorset Frome at Kingston Maurward.

Friday morning at Hangman's Weir on the Dorset Frome, 400m from Dorchester's High Street.

'Another Old Chestnut' - etching by Kent based artist and printmaker, Claire Longley More of this artist's stunning work, here: clairelongley.com #art #landscape #trees #treeart #nature

A gentle alternative to all the mayhem? Look to nature... and #naturewriting It's a joy to work with Kirsteen Bell & share stories of our Scottish Highland homes. Here's our latest in the series 'Croft, Coast & Hill: letters from the NW Highlands' www.caughtbytheriver.net/2025/02/crof...

Other work of the Ladybird artists ‘The riverbank’ Artist: Rowland Hilder

Chalk Ridge - etching, by contemporary British landscape painter and printmaker, Kathleen Caddick #art #etching

“Heavy rains that often fall in February have flooded the low-lying meadows in the broad valley.” ‘What to Look for in Winter’, 1959 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer: EL Grant Watson

Bridport in bud in today's @theguardian.com country diary by Sara Hudston. #countrydiary #naturewriting

The gaps in our knowledge about eels are fertile places for art and ideas to grow, writes Peter Rogers, as he releases a new eel-inspired EP https://buff.ly/40YbnhM

The Haydon Oak in Sherborne Deer Park. One of Dorset's ancients - in celebration of this week's #thicktrunktuesday. 📷 February 2023.

Today we celebrate #WorldWetlandsDay2025 from the Dorset Frome and its floodplains. Join us to explore the river, its braids, meanders and backwaters, ponds, scrapes and soggy margins, flood meadows and veteran trees.

Coastal Path (Inspired by breezy walks along the South West coast path) - by Dorset illustrator and graphic designer, Laurie King More of this artist's work, here: #landscapes #routes #art #Dorset

Song Thrush calling nearby. A summoning, a reminder maybe. 📷 Old water meadows by the Dorset Frome this morning.

A love letter to libraries, on the Nature Library’s first year in Irvine and being stunned (but not speechless, apparently) by the great people who walk through its doors. Another year of libraries facing cuts and also of them literally rising from the ashes. Thank you @caughtbytheriver.bsky.social!

"If ever one examines the processes of nature then very few of them happen in a hurry." Mark Cocker writing in 'Claxton'. 📷 The old water meadows to the north of Dorchester this morning.

"As I sobbed in front of my computer screen during one of our online sessions, mumbling about turtle doves (the bird most likely to be the next extinction in the UK), he said: “Do something.” He gave me three rules: make it simple, immediate and collaborative...." #volunteering #action #WorthaRead!

Blue Bridge, where three rivers meet. One has water from the Cerne, one from the Frome, the other not named on OS maps. Downstream the water is blended, as always.

The ancient and remarkable Rowan on Twyn y Gaer towards the end of last year. In celebration of this week's #thicktrunktuesday.

Fascinating @theguardian.com country diary today about strange happenings - natural and otherwise - on the Isle of Portland. #naturewriting #countrydiary

Looking westwards. View over the mist from Tywn y Gaer. Time to think.

Time beyond Dorset. View south from the hillfort on Twyn y Gaer today. Beautiful.

'I long for a decent winter solstice. But whether or not it comes, I will go to the coast anyway and watch the shortest day die away, even if the sun sets in a disappointment of greys'. Crofters @annieworsley.bsky.social & Kirsteen Bell share their solstice preparations https://buff.ly/3VKphB5

“‘Tis the year’s midnight…” - John Donne. #WinterSolstice

'S'.... is for Starling! This fabulous murmuration is by Annie Ovenden - one of my favourite artists You can see more of this artist's stunning work, here: cattogallery.co.uk/artists/anni... #AlphabetBirds #birdart #birds #art🪶

Early morning alternative. The Dorset Frome downstream of Blue Bridge, the overhead sounds of two mute swans gently fading.

"The trees stand naked, shivering in their ivy innerwear..." Vivid post Storm Darragh account on Guardian Country Diary

'T' is for.... Turtle Dove! This charming woodblock print is by British painter and printmaker, Jean Armitage (1895-1988) #AlphabetBirds #birdart #birds #art🪶

For a little extra fun this week! Can you find a wild or naturalised plant that’s going all out for the festive season & really getting its Christmas on?! If you can, share your pics this Sunday 8-9pm for #WildflowerHour using the hashtag #FestivePlants! 🎄🎅🏻❄️✨

Small patch of seasonal wetland by the Dorset Frome at Ten Hatches. Sits in a meander, not grazed by domestic stock and prone to abundant Himalayan Balsam. Healthy patches of blackthorn and willow scrub adjacent. A little gentle tlc might help.

'L' is for.... Long-tailed tit! This delightful field sketch is by Dartmoor artist and naturalist, John Walters @johnwalterswildife.bsky.social #AlphabetBirds #birdart #birds #art🪶

Early Tuesday light over the old water meadows to the north of Dorchester.

A story tells of the little mice seeking shelter from a forest fire. The Douglas fir swept them up and kept them safe inside its fir cones. Still to this day if you look carefully, you can see their little feet and tails poking out from between the scales of the cone. #FolkloreSunday #nature

Good to see Dorchester's Riverside nature reserve wetting up after recent rain and high river levels. This seasonal pond, which is dry most of the year, can now fill your boots.

"Thriving in among the oak and chestnut, this wych elm is green-furred and almost animate, bulked up in its winter overcoat" Lovely #naturewriting by Mark Cocker in the Guardian's Country Diary www.theguardian.com/environment/...

The meanings of the word for a wren, from eight different languages... 8. Little walnut (Bulgarian) 7. Little bird in the ditch (Japanese) 6. Thumbling (Finnish) 5. Fence-skedaddler (Danish) 4. Fence-master (Hebrew) 3. Druid bird (Irish) 2. Mouse-brother (Faroese) 1. Little king of winter (Dutch)

And then on Wednesday morning, market day, this... 📷 The Dorset Frome downstream of Blue Bridge.

Day 4 of #ArtAdventCalendar - Fen Barn Owl - January 2024 One of the joys of the fen and fen-edge countryside around Peterborough is watching Barn Owls gliding over the flat fields at dusk, hunting for voles. Silent, ghostly, they capture my heart every time... #alteredimage #photography #birds

4th December is St. Barbara’s Day. On this day there is an old, countryside tradition of cutting a “Barbara branch” from a cherry tree. The branch is kept in a pot of water by the stove, and if it blossoms by #Christmas the household will have good luck, and a prosperous year will follow. #folklore

"The sea is in full swing. The push and pull of the waves on pebbles. The drag: peeling back the beach like Velcro. Wild and independent energy. The roar of the invisible moon..." Beautiful essay by @kathryntann.bsky.social on reaching the sea, cooking and #naturewriting.

Love this time of year when high river levels reveal the ghost watercourses that were used to irrigate the water meadows. This one, by Henchard's Oak near Ten Hatches on the Dorset Frome, is dry for most of the year.