For our last #WildflowerHour of the year, nine little beauties. Pineapple Weed, False Mayweed, Ragwort, Red Campion, White Dead-nettle, Ragged Robin, Creeping Buttercup, Red Dead-nettle and Yarrow.

Snowdrops out in St Ervan, Cornwall for #wildflowerhour

Chatted to my great uncle yesterday – a northern, working-class guy, not that political. I told him my job involved exposing Farage. His first question was: “who funds him?” Investigations into Farage’s donors can have a major impact on Reform’s support – as this research has already shown 👇

It’s beginning to look a lot like… New Year! More wildflowers are beginning to stir, and I spotted these today for the last #WildflowerHour of 2025: groundsel, primroses, speedwell, hazel catkins, periwinkle, blackthorn, hogweed, sweet violet, cyclamen and snowdrop. #TheWinter10

The last batch of mince pies baked, the final jar of mincemeat emptied & cutters put away. 12 dozen mince pies 😯 made this season plus a couple of dozen more brought in by my mum... The homemade ones with rich butter shortcrust pastry, grated lemon zest & ground almonds are very popular 😋

Buddy carefully opening his present. He LOVES unwrapping 😄

Ideal wrapping paper for the dogs' presents 😄

BREAKING on MS NOW: Jack Smith, in his opening statement to House Judiciary, says: "Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power."

Just want to share with my American friends how the Australians respond to a shooting tragedy. Action, rather than thoughts and prayers.

The local robin seems to include swift calls in his repertoire - which is confusing 🤔

Homemade mince pies, the rich shortcrust pastry made with ground almonds, butter & lemon zest. Last year I didn't get to do anything Christmassy so it feels a privilege to be able to make treats for Christmas this year.

Quite impressed with myself: a) that I've made a wreath this early rather than Boxing Day b) that it looks half-decent It's just bits from the garden secured around a homemade wire frame with florist wires. How long it'll last in these winds - or just generally - I don't know!

The hellebores are such a resourse for bumblebees through winter and into the early spring. This was just now! In Bristol #bees

I’ll never forget the look of hatred Nigel Farage had for me at school, simply for existing

Just spent 20 v pleasant mins on the phone chatting about newts, fish, bats, otters, nightjar & much else to the guy ringing about picking up my broken down car. Can't remember how we got off the topic of engines but it was great to share wildlife enthusiasm Have tips now on where to find bullheads

I love long novels. If I've committed to learning about characters & their lives, a new place & even a new time, I like to stay with them a while. I've been re-relishing A S Byatt's Possession recently. What other long novels are favourites?

8. Anyway, please remember, amid all the noise about the prisons crisis, that it is caused not by rising crime or rising population. It is caused by rising demands from people who do not represent this country and do not have our interests at heart. Thank you. 8/8

1. Placing these two graphs side by side shows why we have a prisons crisis. They can also be seen as a kind of Authoritarianism Index, showing the trend in state attitudes. On the left is the Crime Survey for England and Wales. On the right is the UK prison population. 🧵1/8

Still thinking of this!

1. A little addendum to the bureau story: The lady I bought the bureau from took all my finds to show her uncle (their original owner)in his care home. Though suffering from dementia he kept saying 'How lovely' as he was reunited with all his lost treasures,obviously delighted. But the photo...

The pumpkin display at Tyntesfield (National Trust) is stupendous! 🎃 🎃 🎃

Here’s fun: just bought this old painting from a charity shop as I liked the style & pensive expression. After I paid, the lady at the till told me the person who donated it said they think it’s is maybe of the guy those books by the door are about. As I left, I looked at the books: it’s John Buchan

Blackening Waxcaps at their orange stage 🧡🖤 Ashton Court, Bristol

A daisy's last hurrah under a lowering sky, before the clocks go back this weekend for winter.

Today I am mostly thinking about the popular inter-war literary genre 'animal stories written by fascists'. Join me.

There are different types of Amanita in a small space of this beech wood. The Blusher (Amanita rubescens) is clearest when it blushes, but they can be just brown & white so I'm guessing all of these are Blushers. Some are huge! There are also Fly Agarics (more Aminita types). #MushroomMonday

Amethyst Deceiver on a fallen beech leaf. The beauty in our woods right now💜🤎 #MushroomMonday

Beautiful Fly Agarics in vast numbers on Exmoor today. This birch grove led us astray as we wandered from one scarlet patch to another through the birch trees until we had lost the path. A peaceful, enchanted-feeling place.

I'm not used to seeing waxcaps in woods but Horner Wood on Exmoor had amazing fungi today. These Parrot Waxcaps were a treat!

Summer's over but my pots haven't got the memo. The one with white cosmos, vanilla-scented nemesia, magenta geraniums, trailing bacopa & a deep purple aeonium is at it's best ever! Except the cosmos, all the plants survived last winter outside! The other pot has purple salvia, verbena & petunia 💜🤍🩷💚

Buddy and Poppy ready for their walk. The pillow wasn't originally for them but they're enjoying the extra comfort 😄

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me. I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

Treasure hunting again on the magical Quantock Hills, a very good year for fungi 😀 #quantockhills #ukfungi

Continuing the theme of love for things that are looking a bit battered: this morning an end-of-season worse-for-wear Small Copper butterfly flew across my path & landed on a similarly coppery autumn leaf 🍂 copper & russet shades in perfect partnership. What more evocative symbol of the season?

This could be a long and rambling thread. Be patient with me. I bought an old mahogany bureau on Ebay. I didn't really want a bureau as we're meant to be downsizing, but it was a beautiful piece & obviously very old. Google lens suggests the brass chased handles are Queen Anne. That's 1702-1714 😯

Quinces in a blue bowl. I am planning a cottage garden & one of the trees I would love to grow is a quince.

'Reports of animals on the road' sign on the M4. A little further on a lane closure & two police cars on the hard shoulder. Two police officers out on the verge attempting to catch... a Swan! Very Hot Fuzz 😳

British media pumps out daily propaganda pieces for Farage, fails to offer *any scrutiny* and basically legitimises rampant racism, then puts on its ‘innocent face’ and clutches its pearls at the rise of the far right… What a grim betrayal of our democracy. www.thelondoneconomic.com/politics/how...

First Hummingbird Hawk moth I've seen this year. They really are extraordinary little insects that look so much like a hummingbird. This one is feeding on hardy plumbago flowers growing outside the house. Those lovely orange underwings! Beautiful 💙 🤎

Yesterday I went blackberry picking. The sun shone despite promises of rain. Dragonflies hawked the hedgerows & house martins skimmed the fields where large grasshoppers jumped lazily. A blue butterfly basked in the warmth & a roe deer crept out of the woods to enjoy fresh grass in a field corner.

Psychologically, we're living in very hard times for all who care deeply about science, empathy, equity, nature, and rights for all citizens of the planet, human or otherwise. Find strength, solace, and community in like-minded others, positive action, and in Mother Earth 🌎

The berries this year! Hawthorn bushes are loaded with them & sloes are turning the hedges blue. Even holly berries are already scarlet.

We went out to pick blackberries before it was too late as they are definitely past their peak. Ended up picking more Field Mushrooms than blackberries but a good harvest overall. Mushrooms on toast for lunch, & blackberry & apple crumble for pudding tonight 😋

A bite-size News Eye explainer on how Nepal made history this week. Inspiration for Gen Z everywhere? Online here: 👇 vm.tiktok.com/ZNdboW2fU/

Nepal appoints its first female PM after historic week of deadly protests

It was the Ted Lasso star, Jason Sudeikis, he saw in the pub on Friday😄 Rather amusing, after his 'Ted Lasso' week beginning coaching rugby - in prisons.

Son started work coaching rugby this week - to prison teams. Then on Friday, when out for a drink with the other coaches, he bumped into someone appropriate. Guess who?

#Fruits #Lancashire yesterday acorns & an oak 'apple' wasp gall, rosehips, middle row both sides dogwood I think, with sloes (Blackthorn) central, plus bramble flowers, gone over blackberries & fresh ones attracting #pollinators. #Wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social