Stark and beautiful snow-covered Frampton Marsh NR, where @ckirbylambert.bsky.social and I spent a magical time with a flock of six confiding Snow Buntings last week, watching them fossicking on the strand-line for washed-up seeds. @rspbframptonmarsh.bsky.social @lincswildlife.bsky.social

Introducing Westings Meadow and the Maxey Cut - hyperlocal histories of a long-forgotten 500 year old meadow and its current-day wildlife and restoration. open.substack.com/pub/kathrynp... #WestingsMeadow #MaxeyCut #localhistory

Lot of wonderful photos from @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social holidays now available at www.flickr.com/photos/wildl..., including mine from the joy-filled Cyprus Christmas 2025 trip and some amazing bird images from @wildlifeprecey.bsky.social in Bhutan… Ideal to banish the winter blues!

🦅 Learn to ID raptors with Henry Stanier online on 14 Jan! 🌤️ Optional Great Fen walk on 17 Jan. Book here: www.wildlifebcn.org/events/2026-... #RaptorID #Birdwatching

🌿 Youth Rangers of the Fens 🌿 Free conservation skills workshop for ages 11–17 at The Great Fen, Ramsey. 🪚 Tool use 🌳 Tree management 🦋 Fenland wildlife ID 📅 Sat 24 Jan | 10am–1pm 🔗 wildlifebcn.org/events

back to the beginning... I started my #Bhutan trip with a roadside Ibisbill just outside Paro, and 10 days later I'm back, just a stone's throw away from a male Wallcreeper: two monotypic families within sight of each other. Winter in Bhutan... beats Storm Goretti any day! #Ibidorhynchidae

January definitely isn't prime botanising time in Bhutan, but just to show willing... a couple of bizarre members of the Lamiaceae: the nectar-rich shrubby Leucosceptrum canum and the red-flowered vine Holmskioldia sanguinea Buddleja asiatica & Primula denticulata #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan

a Bhutanese photographic pheasant phoursome completed this morning with a whole load of Khalij Pheasants feeding (on grit?) at the roadside above Punakha. not at all bad for a "pheasants aren't easy outside of the spring" winter recce suffice to say, we will be back #VisitBhutan with us in 2027

all the #oof used up for today, with a hyperactive group of Fire-tailed Myzornis (Myzornises?) at Latong La, Bhutan well, that's the colour scheme for the spare room sorted! #NotARealJob #BirdsArentReal

Ward's Trogon, a right little weirdo, and haunter of the tall, middle-altitude Quercus lanata forests of Bhutan #VisitBhutan with us in 2027

Bhutan is full of exciting, exotic, near mythical birds: Himalayan Monal, Beautiful Nuthatch, Fire-tailed Myzornis, Ibisbill, Ward's Trogon... but the bird I most wanted to see was this one, White-crested Laughingthrush, a feature of childhood nature books and zoo visits #DreamBird #JobDone

gotta love a funky Dunnock Maroon-backed and Rufous-breasted Accentor both performing magnificently in #Bhutan (I'll let you work out which is which) #FunkyDunnock

A final #NewYearPlantHunt on my birthday round suburban streets of Longthorpe in Peterborough - a much lower total than on previous hunts, with just 37 species but some new including Wild Radish, Oat and the first few flowers of Cut-leaved Dead-nettle. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A surprise find while carrying out my final #NewYearPlantHunt of 2026 in Peterborough, a non-flowering specimen of Tree Spinach on an area of disturbed ground resulting from recent road improvements. Seems to be new for VC32 #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Today's journey took us to Phobjikha Valley, home to Hodgson's Wagtail, Royle's Pika, swarms of Plain Mountain-Finches and at least 150 Black-necked Cranes Fingers crossed for closer crane encounters tomorrow... #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan #VisitBhutan #BhutanBirdingTours

a covey of 14 Blood Pheasants along the old Pele La road #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan

a wing-flicking Wallcreeper, just before lunch road verges are a bit different in Bhutan! #VisitBhutan #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan

and I'm not the only one stalking these Bhutan roadsides... came round the corner this morning to see a pack of Dhole, who quickly put some distance between us and the same stretch of road had some very fresh Tiger pug marks #MammalWatching and #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan

five minutes from the airport... a bird I first looked for 25 years ago, unsuccessfully, on the Kosi River with @birdingdad.bsky.social something tells me I'm going to enjoy Bhutan!

today we drove east, from Thimphu, the capital, to Bhutan's largest protected wetland, the Phobjikha Valley, via two passes over 3,000m asl, some good looking redstarts and a couple of exciting Himalayan finches #VisitBhutan #BhutanBirdingTours

Bhutan day 4: travelled down from Trongsa into the foothills, spending time with this characterful crew along the way jst in case it hasn't become immediately obvious, we will definitely be bringing a group to #Bhutan. Get your name on the list for spring 2027: you won't regret it! #VisitBhutan

and at last the temperatures rose high enough to get some butterflies on the wing #WildlifeTravelling in #Bhutan #ButterfliesOfBhutan #VisitBhutan with @langurecotravelsbhutan and @tourismbhutan

well there's a thing I never thought I'd see: not one but two Critically Endangered White-bellied Herons, of which perhaps no more than 60 birds exist, and even that is thought to be an optimistic count Bhutan is probably the best last hope for this stately bird #VisitBhutan #BhutanBirdTours

consider that gob well and truly smacked the first thing my guide did when I arrived in Bhutan, was manage my expectations. Spring is the time for pheasants: maybe we will find Blood Pheasant, Kalij perhaps, but for the others... no chance. a male Satyr Tragopan ambling calmly across the road wow

another couple for the Redstart fans White-throated Redstart (hiding his white throat) and Plumbeous Redstart (minus any red at all) Bumthang, Bhutan

An impressive nineteen people braved bitter cold to take part in the Lincs Flora Group #NewYearPlantHunt in Lincoln. We recorded 67 species including some unusual ones such as Tansy, Yellow-flowered Strawberry and Hollyhock. A fun and productive day! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Limbering up today with a solo @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt round urban Peterborough. A respectable 52 species recorded, but some species strangely absent. A good range of Geranium and Senecio seen as well as a surprise record of Cynoglossum amabile. Lincoln group hunt tomorrow!

How lovely to see the small-leaved lime in today's @theguardian.com country diary by @sarahlambert7.bsky.social #countrydiary #naturewriting

The final day of the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Cyprus trip found us wending our way down from the Smygies ridge to the coast meeting new plants on the way including Sedum cyprium, Muscari inconstrictum, Hemionitis acrostica and Ophrys omegaifera ssp. israelitica. A perfect finale…

A feast of botanical treats from Christmas Day in Cyprus including intensely fragrant Narcissus tazetta, beautifully patterned Cyclamen persicum leaves and architectural seed heads of the endemic Onopordum cyprium… Merry Christmas to all! @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social @beardybirder.bsky.social

Merry Christmas from Cyprus! Our @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social festive group enjoyed a range of botanical treats as we explored the Latsi hillsides today, including carpets of the beautiful (& delicately scented) Narcissus tazetta & the very first few flowering Fan-lipped Orchids of the season.

Tiny jewel-like blooms on the floor of the warm and sweetly pine and juniper scented Pegeia Forest today - the best of Christmas gifts… Hyacinthella millingenii, Spiranthes spiralis, Colchicum pusillum and the stunning Romulea tempskyana. @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social

Botanical highlights from Mandria Beach included a beautiful patch of Aphrodite’s Dandelion (a south-west Cyprus endemic on my wish list for ages), masses of flowering Horned Poppy, Three-horned Stock and seed-pods of Sea Daffodil. @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social

Botanical highlights from Day 2 of the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Cyprus trip - tiny spikes of Autumn Grape-Hyacinth, the diminutive Narcissus deficiens, an early-flowering Crown Anemone and autumn flowering Ranunculus cyathaerus -all at Tombs of the Kings, Paphos. @beardybirder.bsky.social

The 2nd full day of the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Cyprus trip was a fab mix of culture & wildlife, taking in Agios Neophytos, Tomb of the Kings, & Kato Pafos Archeological Park, plus the glorious Narcissus deficiens, Crown Anemone, Cone-headed Grasshopper, & several sublime Red-throated Pipits

A wonderful day spent exploring some of my old haunts east of Pafos whilst co-leading the @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social group, taking in some great birds (incl'g Pallid Harrier, Long-legged Buzzard, & Spur-winged Lapwing), a diminutive Kotschy's Gecko, & the SW Cypriot endemic Aphrodite's Dandelion

Christmas came early for our Cyprus @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social group in Peyia Forest today, as we encountered a wonderful array of flowering bulb species, including the tiny but statuesque Hyacinthella millingenii, the ephereal Colchicum pusillum, & the absolutely stunning Romulea tempskyana

If you go down to the woods today you could be in for a big surprise... Our @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Cyprus group were lucky to discover several wonderfully large & hairy European Tarantulas hiding beneath carefully tipped rocks in Peyia Forest this afternoon. Absolutely fabulous spiders.

Stormy weather couldn’t dampen the spirits of the group currently spending Christmas in Cyprus with @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Fascinating plants, birds, invertebrates and geology - something for everyone… Details of species in ALT Great to be co-leading again with @beardybirder.bsky.social

It's great to be back in (a currently rather soggy) Cyprus, co-leading the long-running @wildlifetraveller.bsky.social Christmas trip with @sarahlambert7.bsky.social - this morning's invert highlights along the quiet Latsi roadsides included Winter Pearl moth & several attractive spider species

a trio of screamers, a full house of Anhimidae, for no reason other than because they're ace Horned Screamer in Ecuador Northern Screamer in Colombia and Southern Screamer in Brazil great, aren't they! #WildlifeTravelling

A late afternoon walk round Ferry Meadows featuring a charm of Goldfinches on burdock, bare trees lit by low winter sun, the very last Parrot Waxcaps and a cheeky Carrion Crow, giving me the side-eye. #birds #fungi

A distinct dearth of flowers round Peterborough this week - let's hope there'll be more for the Lincolnshire Flora Group NYPH in Lincoln on 2nd January 2026. Meet at 10.30 a.m. on the bridge over the River Witham, NGR SK97307102, w3w///cakes.vague.makes @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Verdant mosses and sculptural lichens revelling in the recent rain at @wildlifebcn.org Old Sulehay NR. Bendy Ditrichum, Yellow Feather-moss and Field Dog-lichen all abundant in a former limestone quarry. A range of other species found on a fallen branch in nearby ancient woodland.

A colony of Badhamia utricularis (Hanging Slime-mould) feeding on Bleeding Oak Crust on the underside of a fallen oak in Old Sulehay Forest. Three stages were present - the orange-yellow plasmodium, and both developing and ripe fruiting bodies, the latter dark-grey hanging on orange threads. 📷🍄

For #fungusFriday a trio of crusts Stereum spp. found recently adorning fallen dead branches in @wildlifebcn.org Old Sulehay Forest - Bleeding Oak Crust, Yellowing Curtain Crust and Hairy Curtain Crust. 📷🍄

Over a pint in Oxford, we may have stumbled upon the holy grail of agriculture | George Monbiot

When the Aurorawatch red alert pinged last night, I headed into our urban garden not expecting to see much as there was an almost full moon.The perfect 22 degree halo round the moon was stunning and my phone did show subtle hues of green and purple... well worth the freezing toes! #aurora #moon

some more moths from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta Cosmosoma achemon, Erebidae Neonerita bernardoespinozai, Erebidae Feigeria mycerina, Erebidae Pantherodes sp, Geometridae #MothsMatter