The second paper from my PhD has now been published ✨ This paper explores using a combination of fossil pollen and place-names to provide a broader record of past landscape change and the connections to anthropogenic influences in Leicestershire. Read the full article here: doi.org/10.1177/0959...

The artist Niki Simpson pioneered the use of #digital techniques that were developing in the early 2000s for the purpose of botanical illustration, as shown here in her piece on the Poinsettia. #christmas #EYADigital

@amiesphilip.bsky.social @wonkyeggs.bsky.social @botanicalmartin.bsky.social www.ecos.org.uk/ecos-45-3-ho...

We've got them, or something like it, in our lawn..

Some spindles from last week's road verge on the North York Moors which I think are Golden Spindles (Clavulinopsis fusiformis)

Occasionally keep finding hairy versions of Heather and so popping it on here so I can search for it if I need to. I can find it listed as Calluna vulgaris (L.) Hull var. hirsuta (Waitz) S.F. Gray but Stace 2019 doesn't include it; a (recessive) mutation a bit like white flowers but less common?

I rarely see Stropharia aeruginosa, Verdigris Roundhead on my local patch and when i do they are typically single and small. Today I found a troop of about 20 some of which had caps approaching 90mm.

Giant Willow aphids, I assume, on Willow.

I don’t know about you but I’ve seen lots of fungi this week, shall we have a #WildFungiHour tomorrow for #WildFlowerHour & celebrate all those wonderful diverse grasslands that ‘flower’ in the autumn too! All the wild blooms that you’ve spotted in the last week are welcome too of course! See ALT ⬇️

This upcoming webinar series on grassland restoration across Europe looks very interesting. A series of weekly talks by experts in the field, running from 6 Nov to 18 Dec. See below for info on speakers, topics, free registration etc. www.interregnorthsea.eu/expbio/news/... #GenerationRestoration

Over the past couple of months I've repeated in various talks that 11 of our endemic plant species have gone extinct. I was delighted to read in the most recent BSBI News that one of these, the Glenridding Hawkweed, last seen in 1953, has been rediscovered!! 📷: Mark Lynes

Fabulous young little red Blackening Waxcap growing on a road verge on the North York Moors

A Bolete from the weekend, where I managed to include the stem in the photo only to find when I look at it on the computer screen that it's white because something has eaten the surface off and it should be brown and stripy like the smaller one.

Marsh Mallow in flower this week on Rye Harbour nature reserve #wildflowerhour

Alpine Cotula (Cotula alpina) on a North York Moors National Park road verge yesterday. Rabbit poo for scale. #WildflowerHour

More from the Wellcome collection. Morcella crassipes, by R. Baker, April. 1896, at Claverton. crassipes meaning thick-footed or thick-stemmed. One of its vernacular names is Big-foot Morel. Possibly painted at an art class in the Severn region of Clevedon, Avon. @botanicalmartin.bsky.social

Alpine Cotula (Cotula alpina) is currently a fairly rare non-native though abundant on some road verges on the North York Moors & probably spreading. Didn't seem to be adversely affecting the fungi which is good. #WildFlowerHour Link to BSBI Atlas - plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...

Bell Heather was still flowering up on the North York Moors, as was Cross-leaved Heath which was looking prettier ... but I forgot to photograph it. #WildFlowerHour

Some interesting earth tongues of different shapes, and a photo with a rabbit poo for scale. All on a grassy moorland road verge growing with some waxcaps yesterday. With @wonkyeggs.bsky.social who did all the digital recording because I (🙄)hadn't downloaded the @plantlifeuk.bsky.social waxcap app

The flower beds at RHS Harlow Carr provide a habitat for Crucibulum laeve (Common Bird's Nest) but you have to look closely to spot the numerous tiny nests. #fungi

Great to see almost 2000 plants for Nidderdale National Landscape leaving the habitat creation nursery at @nosterfieldnr.bsky.social Much of the material was collected in Nidderdale, bulked up in the nursery, and will be used to enhance a network of new upland ponds & scrapes.

📷 A fungus (Cortinarius purpurascens?): three fruiting bodies, one sectioned. Watercolour, 1897. Wellcome Collection. Notation: Cortinarius purpurascens Claverton Sept/97, in pencil: "Strong scented" Who led the classes? What was their intent? Nice botanical accuracy @botanicalmartin.bsky.social

Calling all Solanum fans - this keys out as S nitidibaccum apart from petal width. Several plants with all petals like this. Plenty of normal-looking, white-flowered nearby. Any ideas, please?

The final countdown has begun! This week we're publishing #95 in our #YorkshireIn100Species series & our star species, brought to us by our very own Josie Monaghan, is the iconic Lady's-slipper Orchid: www.neyedc.org.uk/100-species/... Click through to read more about this amazing species' revival!

Verdigris Roundhead, Stropharia aeruginosa at Arger Fen near Sudbury, Suffolk today. One of my faves 😍 @suffolkwildlife.bsky.social

At this time of year I usually see lots of fungi that I can't name but I saw this and thought it was a Penny Bun!* because from above it literally looks like an egg-glazed bread bun. *Now I check it could also be Bitter Bolete** (I didn't photo the right bits). Either way, it was fun to find

Some Blackening Waxcap fungi from a local churchyard from last week - quite easy to spot in the grass and ID when they turn black

Today's work in progress: Cuphophyllus flavipes (Yellow-Foot Waxcap). This species grows on the croquet lawn of the Archbishop Holgate Hospital, West Yorkshire. #Fungi #FungiFriday

The Little Whirlpool Ramshorn Snail - one of a series of photographs I commissioned whilst working on the Back from the Brink project so that people could actually *see* some of our most threatened and beautiful species. 📷: Alex Hyde/Back from the Brink

The next blog in our series looking at the update of the Ancient Woodland Inventory is now live on our website: www.neyedc.org.uk/updates-insi.... This time, we're getting an insight into the survey techniques used on the ground to help verify potential 'new' ancient woodland 🌳

We have a fascinating insight into one of our smallest #YorkshireIn100Species subjects yet, the springtail Dicyrtomina saundersi, brought to us by macro photographer Tim Jonas. Read on to find out more about this intriguing group and view some stunning images: www.neyedc.org.uk/100-species/... 📸

Scroll down the linked page for North Yorkshire Waxcap events this October for beginners and improvers - a range of waxcap forays too!

We've brought together a diverse range of high-quality vegetation plot datasets to form a new National Vegetation Plot Database for Great Britain! Read more: www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... 🌱🌿🧪

A late flowering Dyer's Greenweed taking advantage of the recent rains #WildflowerHour

Giant Willow Aphids (Tuberolachnus salignus) in the garden today. #aphid #invertebrates

Had a quick internet about the Waxcap fungi and the issue is not lack of knowledge (therefore problem is political will/money) as an English Nature (!) Report from 2003 "Twelve sites fulfil waxcap criteria...for sites of international importance. A further thirty-two sites fulfil these criteria for

Today I’m mostly trying to do my bit for fungi conservation. Key point, the UK is globally important for grassland fungi. We protect just 5 sites in England. We have 26 #IUCN Red listed grassland fungi species i.e accorded the same status as Giant 🐼. I reckon we should be doing a bit better?!

Sat 4th Oct 2025 at 2 pm Normanby Room Whitby Museum Our first talk of 2025/26 'What is the Non-native Species Inspectorate and what do we do? Speaker Courtney Graham from the Animal and Plant Agency Current projects and information about non- native species Members £1, Visitors £2

Ready to take part? Follow this link: t.co/ovCptB4cb6

Fungi season is here! 🍄 Join #WaxcapWatch — our citizen science project to help protect ancient meadows by recording waxcap fungi. No ID skills needed!

A lot of competition, but my #favouriteplant from this year was this Round-leaved Sundew on the bog near Ballyshannon. It's been lovely looking back through photos from the year. A big thanks to #wildflowerhour, it always gives an extra incentive to get out and explore.

Whether or not it had a cunning plan was unclear.

Nice to see Donegal County Council going all out for nature in Letterkenny this morning 🤦‍♂️😂

I live in Australia now so rarely get to join in #wildflowerhour! But I’m in the UK for a few months for work, so here are some I’ve found this week! For comparison, some finds from last week, from our trip from home in Tasmania to our possible new home in Queensland! @wildflowerhour.bsky.social.

#WildflowerHour #MyFavouritePlants Primula farinosa

Far too many to choose from, but I've finally decided on this Marsh Pea, Lathyrus palustris, as my #FavouritePlant this year. A plant I had been longing to find for ages, and finally did so in July of this year at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen. 😍 #WildflowerHour

What a wonderful #WildFlowerHour, huge thanks to everyone who took the time to pull out photos of your #favouriteplant for the final @wildflowerhour.bsky.social challenge of the year! Now, how about entering those lovely pix in this year's Photo Competition? More info here: bsbi.org/photographic...

For my #FavouritePlant this year I think I'll go for Great Burnet which is always a joy to see - here in full flower at the end of August in its upland habitat, growing with Devil's-bit Scabious and Tormentil #WildflowerHour

Grass-of-Parnassus putting on a lovely show today at a SSSI in the Yorkshire Dales #WildflowerHour

Daedalea quercina (Oak Mazegill) growing on a stump at Falling Foss, North Yorkshire.