Huge thanks to 3,652 of you amazing #CitizenScientists who went out hunting for #NewYearPlantHunt! You sent us >25K records of an astonishing 663 different wildflower spp. blooming across Britain & Ireland Headlines in our infographic 👇 More details on our 2026 Results page: bsbi.org/take-part/ac...

Next up on the Snowdrop calendar! #3 Galanthus reginae-olgae subsp. vernalis and #4 an unidentified double form of #Galanthus × valentinei (nivalis x plicatus). Rather enjoying this geeky rabbit hole! 😁

Continuing in my efforts to document the flowering sequence of the snowdrops that seem to have overtaken our yard. Next up after rizehensis, it's Galanthus elwesii var. elwesii #galanthus 👀

If you missed my talk on alien plants and have an hour to kill before #TheTraitors (haha!), it’s now available here www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCdC.... Enjoy! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Discover one of the North East’s most extraordinary living natural history stories. Join Prof. Stephen Hall to explore Chillingham’s wild cattle, the world’s only near-untouched herd. 🐂 📅 Tue 3 Feb | 6–7:30pm 📍 Great North Museum: Hancock Book your tickets here: ow.ly/qKeI50XSQ3Z

Our final #NewYearPlantHunt of the year today on our usual route around North Shields. Only 24 species, down from 60+ last year but a few surprises to be had in the snow. Viper's-bugloss was unusual! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Day 3 of #NewYearPlantHunt: >1300 surveys, >17,000 records, 597 species recorded! In tonight's round-up: @commonbynature.bsky.social reports from NE England, @bramblebotanist.bsky.social braves the snow & a shout-out for #NYPH co-founders Tim Rich & @sarahwhild.bsky.social! bsbi.org/blog/2026/01...

A colleague has found a somewhat convincing candidate for Urtica membranacea on her #NewYearPlantHunt. Potentially a NCR if so! Flattened male flower stems, two stipules at each node and looking just a little 'different'. Does anyone have experience with this one? 😶 @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Winter blooming of hundreds of plants in UK ‘visible signal’ of climate breakdown www.theguardian.com/environment/... Great article by Ajit Niranjan in @theguardian.com about the @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt #NYPH

Judging by those rosy cheeks, I may have gone a bit too far with the fizz this Christmas! Still, exciting to be joined by BBC Look North and lots of lovely @nenature.bsky.social volunteers on today's @bsbibotany.bsky.social #NewYearPlantHunt 🥶

40 species on today's #NewYearPlantHunt around the Ouseburn area of Newcastle. BBC Look North even stopped by for a while... 🎥 @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Day One of #NewYearPlantHunt draws to a close with >450 surveys submitted so far, >6000 records, >400 different species in bloom. Plant-lovers of all ages out hunting for flowers. In today's blogpost, @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social reports on the #Norfolk Flora Group's hunt: bsbi.org/blog/2026/01...

And here's a few of our #NewYearPlantHunt finds... 📸 Atlas Poppy, Mexican Fleabane, Ivy-leaved Toadflax, Tansy, Meadow Buttercup, Welsh Poppy, White Melilot, Trailing Bellflower and Snowdrop. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A fab turnout for our annual #NewYearPlantHunt in Heaton! Despite recent frosts, we recorded 65 species in flower, including a few surprises in White Melilot, Early Crocus and Atlas Poppy. Now to defrost... @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Not many places where you can cycle beside one of Britain’s rarest ferns! A colony of Forked Spleenwort grows on a low wall near Llanrwst and is doing well, with quite a few young plants. Nice little treat for the end of the year while burning off the mince pies! @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The wonderful Guernsey Fern Asplenium x microdon, the hybrid of Lanceolate Spleenwort A. billotii and Hartstongue A. scolopendrium, growing with both parent species on the banks of a shady lane on Guernsey last summer

I’ve just released deets for a new wetland ID course, with a special emphasis on lowland fens! 😍🌱 Find out more here: britishbotany.co.uk/products/rea...

Starved Wood-sedge and the emergency efforts of the Species Recovery Trust to save the last few plants www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Early August 2025 and two very cool montane grasses on the slopes below Glas Maol, in the Aberdeenshire/Angus borderlands. Alpine Foxtail Alopecurus magellanicus and Alpine Cat's-tail Phleum alpinum. I had a very pleasant day in their company. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

More highlights from 2025. The old forefinger came in handy a few times this year, usually as a scale. Micro botany on the beach at Sinah Common, Hayling Island, Hampshire with Little-Robin Geranium purpureum ssp. forsteri and Sand Cat's-tail Phleum arenarium. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Oblong Woodsia is perhaps Britain's rarest fern, and Day 16's species for my botanical #adventcalendar It suffered big declines due to Victorian collecting, and the national population now consists of <200 individuals with little evidence of recruitment, despite conservation actions

Not long now until our 15th #NewYearPlantHunt! From 1 - 4 January, let's head out and see how many wild or naturalised plants we can find in bloom. Resources to help us: bsbi.org/take-part/ac... The data we collect will deepen our understanding of how our plants are responding to a changing climate.

My first Snowdrops of the year were out in Newcastle yesterday. Even by recent standards, that seems early! #urbanflora

Window now open to apply for a BSBI grant for 2026! We offer grants for short #WildFlowerID courses (our online course #Identiplant & courses from external providers), and for Plant Study & Research. Find out which grant is right for you: bsbi.org/learn/grants

We've had nearly 300 bookings for our talk on the Clubmosses of Britain and Ireland by Fred Rumsey next Tuesday evening (2nd December) and there's still places left! Book now for free (though donations towards our work are appreciated): share.google/lQL6JQ7E9SEQ...

Of the 8000 plant species introduced to cities around the world, about 300 are in cities on every continent and about 90 are basically in every city. Urbanization has selected for a common set of species that are the fingerprint of our activity: The urban florome. onlinelibrary.wiley....

And here I was thinking growing ferns from spores would be tricky! Having sown them in June, I am swimming in Brittle Bladder-ferns. Not entirely sure what I will do with them all, the significant other already thinks we have way too many 😬 #ferns

Last week on the North York Moors (Northeast England) - before the weather turned! The freezing cold will probably finish off most of the fungi; hopefully the birds will move out of the worst of it🤞 🪶🐡 #art #nature

#Invasive aquatic plants increasingly cause havoc in aquatic ecosystems. Learn to identify introduced aquatics at @bsbibotany.bsky.social's free #AquaticPlantProject webinar, led by Nick Stewart & funded by @npwsireland.bsky.social. Book at www.tickettailor.com/events/botan... #waterplants

#Galanthus season is officially underway in the yarden! Galanthus rizehensis 'Lady Latife' right on cue ☺️

New #GBRedList for vascular plants is published today by a team led by @bsbibotany.bsky.social with partners @naturalengland.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social @naturescot.bsky.social @natreswales.bsky.social @nhm-london.bsky.social @plantlifeintl.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @thebotanics.bsky.social

1/11/25 Cumbria - The fruiting bodies of the brightly coloured Caterpillar Club #fungus (Cordyceps militaris) mark the grisly demise of the unfortunate insect pupa it is a parasite of, growing from the remains of its host beneath the soil #fungi

A colourful display of #waxcaps on today's @nenature.bsky.social fungi foray. Scarlet, Parrot, Butter, Blackening and Golden were recognisable, but several others, not so much! 🍄

About as urban as they come. Couldn't help but pause to admire this burly Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus) on a neighbour's front step. #urbanflora

This morning I revisited the site where I found the Date Waxcaps (Hygrocybe spadicea) to take a better look and get more photos. There are more than I thought - they're well camouflaged - perhaps a dozen, some still just emerging brown bumps. Still buzzing from the find. 😍💚 #fungi @sewbrec.org.uk

Plymouth Thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) at (where else?) Plymouth Hoe and Plymouth Thistle selfie with @janettem34.bsky.social on the way back from the SW. Thanks to @andymus.bsky.social for the quality gen. Three plants in flower in this area #wildflowerhour

A few more #waxcaps, this time from a rummage about Morpeth where we found Butter, Glutinous, Parrot and Blackening 🍄

Scarlet Caterpillarclub (Cordyceps militaris) growing among the Waxcaps on today's wander. #fungi

Officially waxcapped out... 😬🍄 I’m an absolute beginner when it comes to #fungi, but think we managed eight species today along Hadrian's Wall including Snowy, Crimson, Scarlet, Meadow, Parrot, Golden, Butter and Vermilion Waxcaps.

Chuffed to stumble across a troop of rather pristine Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria) on today's woodland wander. Right on time for #UKFungusDay! 🍄

Pavement Parsley! Petroselinum crispum growing from the base of a wall during yesterday's @nenature.bsky.social Weed Walk. #pavementplants

Guernsey Fleabane (Erigeron sumatrensis) is a relatively new arrival in Newcastle but already seems to be replacing Canadian Fleabane in several parts. Wonder when the others will arrive! #urbanflora

Our annual membership special offer opens today! Join us this month & you'll enjoy 15 months of membership benefits for the price of 12. Those benefits are so numerous & fabulous you'll have to head over here to see them all: bsbipublicity.blogspot.com/2025/10/bsbi... Then join us! bsbi.org/join-us

A quick detour on the way home today turned up a new species for me in Rigid Buckler-fern (Dryopteris submontana). No need for a hand lens to see those glands! #ferns

A nice supporting cast of commoner ferns on today's wander, including heaps of Lemon-scented Fern (Oreopteris limbosperma). Matt trying and failing to be patient with me... 😅

Couldn't resist a later season visit to see the North East's only remaining population of Forked Spleenwort (Asplenium septentrionale). #ferns

Collared Earthstar (Geastrum triplex) today in Jesmond Dene 🍄

Coming soon: 'Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland'. This latest title, no.26 in the series of #BSBIHandbooks for tricky plant groups, has just gone to the printers! Available for #BSBImembers to pre-order now at the discount price of £16 (vs RRP £25). Sample pages here: bsbi.org/bsbi-handboo...

An interesting fern from today's wander in Throckley Dene - Dryopteris borreri morph. foliosum. A great big untidy looking thing with crimped pinnules. Certainly stood out! #ferns

Marginal veins of Nymphaea alba (left) and Nymphaea candida (right) for comparison.. Veins of candida join to form closed loops, those of alba end at the leaf edge. Of course there’s a hybrid too, which is common where they meet.