Have you seen a Cowslip in bloom this year? This week’s challenge is to find one and share your pics for #wildflowerhour this Sunday using the hashtag #CowslipChallenge. Happy flower hunting! 💛

Broomrapes of the World, published by Kew, out now. Years of fieldwork, collaboration, observation and passion went into these 600 pages. We hope it will inspire others to enjoy these beautiful plants:

Sometimes when we are botanising we can forget to look up! Which would be a shame as #treeflowers are both fascinating & beautiful! This week’s challenge is to go looking for wild & naturalised trees that are blooming. Share your finds for #WildflowerHour this Sunday 8-9pm!

An interesting story 👇 from @henk-janvdveen.bsky.social to close this evening's #WildFlowerHour and a brilliant #storyplants challenge set by @botanybeck.bsky.social! Have a great week, keep an eye out for the next @wildflowerhour.bsky.social challenge & hope to see you again next Sunday at 8pm!

I nominate Lady’s-slipper Orchid for the £20 note. Spectacular, iconic, flamboyant and coming back from the brink thanks to conservation efforts #notjustaboutanimals @bsbibotany.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

A carpet of Wood Anemone. Hundreds of stunning flowers, but (and I always find this bonkers) - there’s not a petal in sight. All the ‘petals’ are actually modified sepals (petaloid sepals or tepals), the protective outer parts of the flower modified to look like petals #storyplants #wildflowerhour

Moschatel, Adoxa moschatellina, also known as Townhall Clock or Herb Peter, has been used as an ingredient for perfumes due to it's musk scent, and folk medicines, for centuries. Another plant it was a tonic to meet this week. 💚 #wildflowerhour #storyplants

Colt’s-foot brightening up an Edinburgh street as a #pavementplant #UrbanPlants It is also time for #storyplants, as this plant is used to flavour Colt’s-foot rock candy by Stockleys Sweets of Oswaldtwistle. Let’s hope they don’t use plants from the ‘dog pee zone’ 😂

The hoof-shaped leaves of the Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, were once dried & smoked in pipes to relieve asthma! The juice was regarded as a cure for coughs & it was also used to make British Coltsfoot rock! Tussilago is from the Greek tussis meaning ‘a cough’ #storyplants #wildflowerhour

Peak primrose unlocked! For #wildflowerhour #storyplants, in the Middle Ages, concoctions of these beautiful flowers were used to treat gout & rheumatism, & more fittingly I think, also employed in love potions! They certainly seemed a great favourite with the Bee-flies today!💛

As we wait for the arrival of spring to catch up in some places, something a bit different for this week’s challenge! Many wild plants have interesting stories to tell. Find one & share your pics with a fascinating fact using hashtag #storyplants for #wildflowerhour Sunday 8-9pm!

16/3/26 Cumbria - Today's stereotypically gloomy British weather was a stark contrast to the glorious sunshine I enjoyed in Cyprus last week. There are some lovely spring species emerging but this fabulous example of Moschatel (Adoxa moschatellina) delighted me most of all #wildflowerhour

Lovely to see so many spring blooms tonight, including lots of #WhiteFlowers for this week's challenge. Huge thanks to everyone who shared pix for #WildFlowerHour! Have a great week plant-spotting & keep an eye out for the next @wildflowerhour.bsky.social challenge, set by @botanybeck.bsky.social!

My local Cherry Plum was looking breathtakingly beautiful this week, perfect for the #whiteflowers #wildflowerhour challenge! 🤍

Can you find any wild or naturalised plants that have white blooms? That’s the #wildflowerhour challenge this week! Share your finds this Sunday 8-9pm using the hashtag #WhiteFlowers. Happy flower hunting! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Purple toothwort in @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social. #WildflowerHour

8/3/26 #OrchidsOfCyprus - One of our invertebrate highlights from the last full day of our tour, an African Green Mantis (Sphrodomantis viridis) found by one of our guests @jelltex.bsky.social here on the Akamas peninsula. An absolutely awesome creature and our second mantis species at this site

We found some treasures on a glorious walk along the Alyn yesterday looking for #SignsofSpring! I was so happy to see my first Early Dog-violet of the year, open Willow catkins, the weird & wonderful Toothwort emerging, Butterbur & Moschatel looking gorgeous!💚 #WildflowerHour

Imagine going to Cyprus and not seeing the jewel in the Ophrys #orchid crown, Ophrys kotschyi... Fortunately for our guests, that's the stuff of abstract nightmares only, for our brilliant guide @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social knows exactly where the best of them are to be seen. #OrchidsOfCyprus

This Oxford Giant Orchid is scant consolation for missing my trip to Cyprus. But it is lovely. @mariposanature.bsky.social we're wonderful. Mail from David and call from Jon whilst at airport. No hassle refund. This is why they are so successful. Nice guys, brilliant guides and top customer service.

Tour update 🚨 The current Orchids of Cyprus tour may be in just its second day, but next year's tour now has its first booking. This wonderful island is a tremendous destination at this time of year for orchids, and other wildlife besides. www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Whether it’s a first Lesser Celandine flower of the year or Elder leaves unfurling. The first #WildflowerHour challenge of the year is to spot #SignsOfSpring! Share your finds this Sunday 8-9pm. Below is the link if you would like to record your #NaturesCalendar sightings ⬇️ @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Lovely to see the blackthorn really going for it now! #SignsOfSpring #wildflowerhour

Yay! First #frogspawn of the year in my garden pond! 🥳🐸

So looking forward to this! 😍

It’s so easy to join in with #wildflowerhour why not see what you can find flowering this week and share your finds on Sunday 8-9pm! ☺️

Woohoo! For #wildflowerhour my first Colt’s-foot flower of the year! 💛🎉🥰

Sadly a day late for #CelandineDay but my favourite little Celandine patch is still flowering its heart out for #Wildflowerhour It was looking glorious in today’s sunshine! 💛🌞

What a wonderful #wildflowerhour despite the soggy weather!! Just a reminder that there are lots of useful ID resources like this amazing @naturelark.bsky.social guide to violets on our website! Why not take a peek! 👀 See you again next Sunday! ☺️

A very soggy week at work this week but made a little brighter by seeing my first open blackthorn blossoms of the year! 😀🥰 #wildflowerhour

For #MushroomMonday #fungifriends I’m still seeing plenty of winter #fungi in the woods at work, at least something is enjoying the rain! White Brain, Yellow Brain, Black Witches Butter, Turkey Tail, fresh Velvet Shanks & beautiful vibrant Scarlet Elfcups are always a joy to see! ❤️

Gorse still looking glorious for #wildflowerhour plus a couple of new things blooming in Warrington this week, top left, naturalised Cornelian Cherry starting to open, bottom left Alder Catkins & top right, not only is Elder shooting but the flower buds are well on the way too!

After all the rain, some welcome sunshine this afternoon, so I went to check on my favourite patch of Lesser Celandines. It didn’t disappoint! 😀 Aren’t they gorgeous! 💛🥰 #Wildflowerhour

I’m delighted that the #orchid tour of #Tenerife went as planned. Well, nearly - I had to drop out at the last minute because my wife decided to have a baby, and not quite when we expected him to arrive either! Our guests had a great time, expertly led by @dunnjons.bsky.social and Dave Fairhurst

The Radnor Lily or Early Star of Bethlehem (Gagea Bohemica) is a fabulous little plant. The leaves are small and grass-like and easily go unnoticed. But in mid winter a few of these plants pop up beautiful yellow flowers at their only known British site. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

One new to me this week! A species that I’ve not come across before, Winter Heliotrope, Petasites pyrenaicus. Sweetly scented but sadly an invasive introduced species but it was interesting to see it whilst visiting my daughter in Leeds. #wildflowerhour

Something new to photograph this week! The first primroses and snowdrops open for #wildflowerhour. Such a delight to see them 🥰

Excited #fungifriends to see my first Scarlet Elfcups of the year and one a perfect little❤️ too! 🥰 #fungi #mushroommonday #fungifriday

Every Sunday evening, #WildFlowerHour brings us all some joy in a world where joy is often in short supply. Huge thanks to all of you who share photos and observations! Thanks also to @botanybeck.bsky.social who keeps the @wildflowerhour.bsky.social show on the road!

It’s a good job I did @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt yesterday as this morning everything was covered in snow! Only 13 species seen in bloom but enough for #thewinter10! A single Cherry Plum flower looking lovely for #wildflowerhour & new to me, Hawthorn flowering alongside its berries! 😮

The first flowers of Green Hellebore are starting to open, part of a thriving population in a wood in deepest east Kent #wildflowerhour

Just a few spotted whilst out on a recce for the upcoming @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt Clockwise from top right Scentless Mayweed, Common Hogweed, Bush Vetch, Common Daisy and Hazel catkins with a pale female flower. #wildflowerhour Will they still be in flower next week? 😀

In recent years, I usually see the odd pink anemone-like female Hazel catkin before Christmas. I was surprised this week though to see so many fully open male catkins & producing lots of pollen too!!!! #wildflowerhour

A lovely walk in sunny Llandudno yesterday & happily I managed #thewinter10 😀 🔁 From top left, Fumitory, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Sweet Alyssum, cheeky goats! 🐐 Tree Mallow (at Penmaenmawr) Groundsel, Feverfew, Antirrhinum, Daisy & in centre Dandelion & Gorse. #wildflowerhour

Lovely to catch up with these two botanical superstars at yesterday's #BIBConf25! @naturelark.bsky.social (on left) and @botanybeck.bsky.social, the driving force behind @wildflowerhour.bsky.social! Looking good, #wildflowerhour ladies!

After recent frosts, it was slim pickings on my walk today for #wildflowerhour. The brightest pop of colour from Spindle berries. Flowering faithfully for months, there was just one flower on the Ivy-leaved Toadflax & a few Ivy flowers remaining, don’t think they will last for the #NewYearPlantHunt!

Ophrys lucis, your 'orchid of light' on Rhodes. I enjoyed shedding some light myself today. Remember the time a competitor who boasts of his conservation credentials lobbied BSBI to refuse charitable donations from my wildlife tour company? I do. It's an illuminating tale.

We're ready to share hosts of orchids with lots of people today at the brilliant @bsbibotany.bsky.social conference at Edge Hill University. 'Orchid Summer' author @dunnjons.bsky.social & Ghost Orchid finder @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social will be there all day, and would love to see you! #orchids

Discussing the Ghost #Orchid and its current status in the British Isles at the @bsbibotany.bsky.social Botanical Conference 2025, handily been put next to the @mariposanature.bsky.social stand so I can talk about our tours too, where you can come and see Ghost #Orchids in the wild if you want to!

Spent a lovely day visiting my daughter so my #wildflowerhour finds this week are from the Rodley nature reserve in Leeds. Fourteen spotted in flower for this week’s #thewinter10! Also lovely to see Nettle-leaved Bellflower, one which had escaped me until now 😀 Names below ⬇️