A wet grey week but still lots of fab flowers for #wildflowerhour Loved this Shepherd's Purse giving big jazz hands, gorgeous Gorse & pretty pink-tipped Daisy. Also Petty Spurge in a door, Annual Meadow Grass, Groundsel, Hairy Bitter-cress, Red Dead-nettle, Annual Mercury, Dandelion #thewinter10

First #wildflowerhour of February! 🌸 My #thewinter10 this week: Snowdrops, Red & White Dead-nettles, Common Field Speedwell, Dandelion, Groundsel, Shepherds Purse, ♂️&♀️ hazel, & purple catkins (Alder? no pic). One strange♀️hazel flower was erupting from the bud base! Plus some Scarlet Elf Cups 🍄

A beautiful old Yew tree in a churchyard. It's trunk slowly hollowing out as it ages and the heartwood rots away. The outer sapwood remains enabling these trees to live for hundreds, even thousands, of years. This gorgeous, girthy tree seems perfect for #thicktrunkthursday. 🪾

A comedy place name for this week's #wildflowerhour. The River Piddle 🤭 gave wet feet & #thewinter10 Yellow Corydalis, Daisy, Primrose, Snowdrop, ♂️♀️ Hazel, Annual Mercury, Annual Meadow Grass, Red Dead-nettle & Lesser Celendine. After the fab Steps musical yday was unsure I'd get past 5, 6, 7, 8!! 😂

Happy #FungiFriday! Delighted with my first Scarlet Elf Cups this year. Other highlights from the wonderfully named Spring Bottom, Dorset: a perfect Jelly Ear, Coral Spot, Velvet Shank, Yellow Brain (with tiny Springtails present?) and some spooky Dead Moll's Fingers. What a great #fungi walk. 🍄

Sending hugs to #wildflowerhour friends on National Hug Day! I found this super cute Bee #Orchid on a walk a couple of years ago, giving itself a hug and it always brings a smile to my face. Have a great day. 😍

In the natural history section of an 1849 atlas of natural phenomena, 'made with the co-operation of men eminent in the different departments of science', are wonderful pictures of animals of the old and new worlds, including an unusual 'perpendicular' map of wildlife habitat @bodleian.ox.ac.uk

These are a day late for #wildflowerhour, but I'm too excited to wait until next Sunday! My lunchtime walk and routine check of the local hazel hedge finally came good today with lots of tiny, hot-pink, female flowers now erupting from their buds. Gorgeous! A welcome splash of colour on a dull day.

I find it so uplifting to see the spring flowers starting to appear & enjoyed my first Snowdrops yesterday. They are simple, elegant flowers. But I'm fascinated by the details and inside there's a lot going on - yellow & green and the inner surface is grooved. Lovely from all angles. #wildflowerhour

Spring Bottom yesterday lived up to it's name with my first flowering Snowdrops & Sweet Violets of the year. Sping is coming! Also in flower Gorse, Greater Periwinkle, Winter Heliotrope, Daisy, Groundsel, Dandelion, Hogweed and Bramble, giving me 11 sp in flower for #thewinter10. #wildflowerhour

After heavy rain this morning the sun has come out so this gorgeous Common Sunburst Lichen seems perfect for #FungiFriday. 🍄 I love the orange cup-shaped apothecia. Being new to #Lichen I was thrilled to find a fab Intro to Lichen on @bsbibotany.bsky.social YouTube channel: youtu.be/qJa1OlJ3vRs?...

Just a quick local walk today to see what I could find for #wildflowerhour as been poorly all weekend. Incredibly, 18 species in flower found (list in Alt) - didn't expect to get #thewinter10 today with the stormy weather. I particularly loved this pristine Lesser Celendine, and a bonus Firecrest!

Happy #FungiFriday! 🍄 Discovered some dung-dwelling #fungi this week on a wonderful walk - Abbotsbury, Dorset. Three different species found in the cowpats - superb Petticoat Mottlegills, a couple of shiny dung-loving Deconica coprophila, and a swarm of tiny orange eyelashed Cheilymenia stercorea.

With warnings in place for some potential heavy snow in parts of the Midlands and Southern UK on Thursday, we may have some chances to photograph #snowflakes up close. I made a video tutorial on simple #Macro #SnowflakePhotography 4yrs ago; you can watch it here: tinyurl.com/6n6nzc4v

Hurrah - it's the first #wildflowerhour of 2026! Happy new year, everyone! I've enjoyed a busy few days taking part in the #NewYearPlantHunt walking on each of the 4 days I recorded 39 different species in flower. Collage below of some of the yellow flowers seen for maximum cheer. ☀️ #thewinter10

The final day of #NewYearPlantHunt. My 4th walk = 21 sp in flower (list in Alt). Willow in flower was new for me. Nearly all flowers white or yellow today, even Red Valerian! Bonuses en-route - some great birds incl Yellow Browed Warbler & I had lovely cat cuddles! Looking forward to #NYPH 2027!

Day 3 already of the #NewYearPlantHunt - just one day left! I revisited Lyme Regis today walking along the River Lim recording 27 sp in flower - see Alt text. I recorded 13 on the same walk last year. Was sunny, but a chilly, frosty start, so I warmed up at the excellent Lyme Regis microbrewery. 😄

For Day 2 #NewYearPlantHunt, I walked the ridge behind Abbotsbury. Breathtaking views in all directions - so invigorating. Just 5 flowering plants found - this pretty Daisy reaching for the sun, plus Gorse, Smooth Sow-thistle, Creeping Buttercup and Dandelion. Also 8 fungi species, incl waxcaps. 😃

A slug's eye view of Glistening Inkcaps, for this first #fungifriday of 2026. How imposing they look from the ground reaching up into the canopy. And a regular human eye view - I love how the caps split and the edges roll up as they deliquesce, parts just melting away. #fungi 🍄

What fun to take part in the #NewYearPlantHunt again. Keen to see how my walks this year compare to my finds last year. For Day 1, I walked my local loop - 14 species found in flower today. Such a lovely walk along the Fleet with plenty to enjoy including a bonus Little Egret in one of the channels.

First day of 2026 provided a gorgeous sky as the sun set over the Fleet, Weymouth. Came across this lush clump of Star Moss on my walk - like a cushion of fireworks celebrating the new year. So beautiful. New Years Resolution - get into #Bryophytes!

Get down with the trumpets! A veritable forest of Trumpet Cup #Lichen at Studland, Dorset yesterday on a beautiful, tranquil evening - what a lovely fanfare to end 2025, along with a stunning pair of Smew (ducks) present in the bay.

Keen to notch-up #thewinter10 I checked a small roadside verge today. Very productive - 11 species in flower! Favourite was Shepherd's Purse with it's heart-shaped pods 💚. Also Ivy, Smooth Sow-thistle, Yarrow, Red Clover, Oxeye Daisy, Gorse, Ragwort, Groundsel, Daisy & Petty Spurge. #wildflowerhour

Enjoyed a #wildflowerhour walk in Charminster today. Saw Winter Heliotrope, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Annual Meadow Grass, Smooth Sowthistle, Primrose and a very tired looking Lesser Celendine with just a single petal surviving Christmas. Also caught up with the Tundra Bean & White-fronted Geese. Lovely!

What a lovely gift I received yesterday - an absolutely gorgeous #fungi poster. Have incorporated it in the collage below alongside a selection of some of the many fungi (and slime moulds) I've enjoyed over the last couple of months in the woodlands and heaths of Dorset. Happy #FungiFriday. 🍄

#wildflowerhour 🫣

A Berry Merry Christmas #wlidflowerhour friends. 🎄 I tried to find 10 berries for this week, but fell short so have cheated with a needle-felted mistletoe! Real berries found were Holly, Wild Privet, Stinking Iris, Blackthorn, Hawthorn, White Bryony, Ivy, Dog Rose, and Cotoneaster. #thewinter10

A wet walk revealed 13 plants in flower, with a spectacular rainbow over roadside Yarrow. Other were Oxeye Daisy, Red Clover, Red Dead-nettle, Ragwort, Shepherds Purse, Petty Spurge, Winter Heliotrope, Annual Mercury, Creeping Buttercup, Hazel catkins, Groundsel & Daisy. #thewinter10 #wildflowerhour

What's more festive than Turkey?! 🎄 A fabulous pillar Turkeytail #fungi for this #fungifriday. Happy Christmas, #fungifriends 🍄

Only 11 more sleeps til Christmas, so here are 11 flowers for #thewinter10, from a local churchyard (and a bonus ladybird). 🎄 White Dead-nettles between gravestones seemed apt. Also loving the catkins (male Hazel flowers), Wild Strawberry and Ivy-leaved Toadflax. Rest in Alt text. #wildflowerhour

Ding Dong Merrily on High(er Hyde Heath)! 🔔🎄🌟 Keeping things festive with a beautiful Bell Heather for this #wildflowerhour.

A Russula rainbow for this #fungifriday! 🍄🌈 A throwback to October and some beautiful Brittlegills found in different woodlands in Dorset. A favourite family of #fungi - I love to see their gorgeous colours, though they often seem to have been nibbled!!!

Well, I've not managed to get out to find any flowers for this week's #Wildflowerhour. However, I've enjoyed indulging myself in the fabulous floral fantasies shared by @mariposanature.bsky.social this week and I simply can't wait to join their Orchids of Rhodes tour in April.

Thrilled to have seen the gorgeous Lesser Crested Tern y'day. Initially chasing rainbows with failed attempts at Turf Lock & Dawlish Warren. However a tumble down a dune & bag of doughnuts later, news of this gem settled off Cockwood Steps emerged, & wow, it gave brilliant views. Totally worth it.

The appeal to buy Giant Hill for conservation is underway but still far from the target. Please support if you can, to help the National Trust buy this vital site for butterflies www.nationaltrust.org.uk/support-us/a...

The autumn colours in Wareham Forest look great, almost glowing in the low rays of the sun - less #fungi now but still some to be found. An improbably delicate Bonnet surviving the frost and standing alone, and an army of Candlesnuff erupting from a stump were my highlights. Happy #fungifriday 🍄

For #wildflowerhour this week a festive offering - Holly. No surprise to find plenty of mature Holly in Wareham Forest absolutely covered in beautiful berries. More surprising to also see numerous Holly trees in flower. The diminutive white blooms providing welcome nectar for tiny visiting insects.

A fabulous, frosty morning in Wareham Forest - perfect for a walk, with the sun just peeping through the trees. Very uplifting and so peaceful. Underfoot the leaves crispy and sparkling with silvery highlights - such a pretty sight.

Just a quick post to say this is the last day of our full Early Bird booking discount on our 2025 week-long tours - offering £150 off the list price if booked before midnight tonight. Full list of tours and remaining availability here on our website: mariposanature.com/calendar

It's Black Friday, but other colours are available! Could anything be more vibrant than these incredible Orange Pore #fungi, also known as Orange Ping-Pong Bats (Favolaschia calocera). Growing on dead wood in Puddletown Forest, Dorset. Happy #fungifriday 🍄

Sharing (maybe) the BEST black thing on this Black Friday....the Boat-tailed Grackle, which I had the pleasure of catching up with in Holbury, New Forest. What a stunning bird - soooo glossy, gorgeous iridescent sheen, very confiding, absolutely full of character and check out his eyes! 😍

#Calwell31 / #IC405 the #FlamingStarNebula in Auriga, imaged from #Oxfordshire UK 19 Nov '25. William Optics 70mm refractor, astro-modded #Canon1100D + #AltairQuadband filter. 185x120sec at ISO3200, total exposure 6hrs 10min #Astrophotography #Nebula

How cheery to find this Oxeye Daisy still defiantly upright, despite the weather this week. A total of 22 sp in flower on my #wildflowerhour walk. Included also Lucerne, Knapweed, Annual Mercury, Gorse, Prickly Oxtongue, Meadow Buttercup, Creeping Thistle, Cinquefoil and Bramble. #thewinter10

Some fluffy #fungi for a chilly day.... Powderpuff Bracket (Postia ptychogaster) looking gorgeous, growing on a conifer stump in Dorset. Happy #fungifriday 🍄

Noticing lots of kerbside plants around my area so took an #urbanplants focussed walk this afternoon for #wildflowerhour and came across Petty Spurge, Daisy, Yarrow, Hogweed, Shepherd's Purse, Annual Meadow Grass, Stinging Nettle, Groundsel, Ragwort and Chickweed along the roadside for #thewinter10.

Having to arrive unfashionably early for #wildflowerhour this week as not around later. 🫣 Very pleased to see my first Winter Heliotrope flowers of the season, such pretty white flowers with a splash of purple, inspired a (failed) attempt to rack up #thewinter10 in pinks and purples - 7 found!

Purbeck Heaths provided a #fungi bonanza! 🍄 Including my first Nail Fungus! Black nail-like stems with white discs and black dots (the tips of perithecia structures with a pore to release spores). Also fantastic fluffy Hare's Foot Inkcap & Devils Fingers with "eggs" to top things off. #fungifriday

Rounding off my #wildflowerhour contribution this week with my final 7 flowers for #thewinter10 are: Wall Barley, Cocksfoot, and Annual Meadow Grass. Plus, Scarlet Pimpernel, Herb Robert, Red Dead-nettle and what I think is Nettle-leaved Goosefoot. And a bonus picture of fantastic Teasel heads.

My second set for #thewinter10 comprise white (and a blue) flowers! Daisy, Bindweed, White Clover, White Dead-nettle, Yarrow, Hogweed, Black Nightshade, Common Mouse-ear, Shepherd's Purse and Common Field Speedwell are my line-up for #wildflowerhour.

Incredibly, on my local walk this week for #wildflowerhour, I notched up 27 species of plant in flower! It's still so mild here, there's plenty of floral delights to enjoy. This collage shows my yellow flowers for #thewinter10 - I particularly loved this glorious Sun Spurge.