What is Native - Where does Nature Belong? ukeconet.org/nature-in-it... 'Rosebay Willowherb': native or non-native? The late Oliver Rackham felt today's plants were 'intraspecific' hybrids of the small, uncommon British native & USA imports triggering 'hybrid vigour'. Interesting!

Jackdaw pausing for a drink on a very hot day at Clumber Park, Notts

Chaffinches on a very hot day at Clumber Park, Notts.

Sir Isaac Newton's apple tree that changed the world, or at least our understanding of it. This is the now collapsed, 400-year-old "Flower of Kent" variety of cooking apple in the orchard at his birthplace, Woolsthorpe Manor, Lincolnshire.

Adult Blue Tits on the suet-bar feeders. We now have lots of baby Blue Tits and Great Tits too.

More of the juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker and the baby Starling.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker on the peanuts and a voracious 'late-brood' baby Starling demanding to be fed!!

The downfall on the River Poulter at Clumber Park - calming and cooling on a very hot day!! It arises near Scarcliffe in Derbyshire and joins the Idle and then the Trent on its way to the North Sea. We recently saw an Eel here too - once the 'Common Eel' but now quite rare!

From TITO Magazine:

Dunnock sunning and preening:

The male Bullfinch is now visiting the sunflower hearts with a female and youngsters, and I guess they have nested close by. The soft 'hueet' calls are very distinctive.

Pecking order....... Adult male Blackbird and then a youngster which is finally displaced by an adult Starling.

The Goldfinch was delicately feeding on the seed-heads of perennial knapweed in the wildlife garden. Greenfinches will sometimes join them as well.

THE MAJOR OAK: More information on what has happened and on the future - courtesy of Sherwood tree expert Luke Steer: visitsherwood.co.uk/wp-content/u...

Some key highlights from our recent conference on Meadows & Scrub: youtube.com/shorts/yXOfj... More to follow!!

Our Autumn conference is fast approaching!! Nature in its Place? What is Native? Where does nature belong?? UKEconet-Wildtrack Publishing / Biodiversity Research Group & Landscape Conservation Forum www.ukeconet.org/nature-in-it...

This may also be of interest, with a feature on the Major Oak that I wrote back in 2023: ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2026/06/18/t... Pictured back in August 2023 and looking very poorly:

A Jay has been visiting the feeders for about a week or so - quite unusual for summertime, I generally get them in winter - if at all!

The first of this year's baby woodpeckers is now visiting the feeders! It was a little nervous at first.

A Fond Farewell to Sheffield's Famous and Iconic Chelsea Road Elm - please circulate to let people know ianswalkonthewildside.wordpress.com/2026/06/16/a...

The essential Whitby!! This is along with the Abbey and of course the 'Dracula Experience'....!!

Restoring ecology one small patch at a time! Wildflower meadows & pollinator patches. This is what can be done by one garden - just imagine what we could achieve with say 20 million private gardens in England.

Amazing root-plate and root-mass of this ancient oak at Studley Royal in North Yorkshire.

Amazing old oak with 'peep-hole' at Studley Royal Deer Park in North Yorkshire. A remarkable and irreplaceable tree.

Orange Hawkweed, Fox & Cubs, Devil's Paintbrush, or Grim-the-collier, is spreading s part of our non-native, recombinant ecology. A popular garden plant noted by the RHS it is very pretty & loved by bees & other pollinators. This has also been mown from the verge - no more bees!

A Buzz in the garden!!

Gone are the Ox-eye Daisies & Buttercups. From 'No Mow May' to 'Mow Mow June'.... the same roadside verges got mowed today. I wonder what you think? Pretty much zero pollen & nectar, no 'slowing the flow', no significant biodiversity benefit. Also it doesn't look great either...

Alexandrine and Ring-necked Parakeets on the feeders with Starlings. The differences between the 2 Parakeet species are very striking. Shortly joined by a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers .... but not on this clip!

A Blue Tit struggling with the heat!!

No Mow May & June - we have the choice - wildflowers, a cost-effective attractive landscape, & biodiversity plus more benefits - or not....... You decide what you want. We pay for this and can, if we choose, improve biodiversity a little at a time!

More on 'No Mow May' Just easing off on the mowing for a few weeks can turn a green desert into a rich pollinator plot...... This is just a neighbour's short-grass front lawn. Not a bad result & it is attractive too!!

No Mow May - reaping the benefits. This is my first post on 'No Mow May' impacts & opportunities with more to follow in due course on my blog 'ianonthewildside'. There's plenty of good stuff happening but still too many missed opportunities, & we are paying for these too!

This Great Spotted Woodpecker is costing a small fortune in suet bars - which will increase even more when it brings the rest of the family ........

Female House Sparrow feeding a hungry fledgling with its typical yellow gape .....

More antics from the same individual....

It is that time of year again - when the Grey Squirrels are 'in the mood'. This female was pursued relentlessly by a would-be amorous male. She leapt into & through the pond, & then straight through the herbaceous border, up the fence & onto the roof....... then away!!

Blue Tit feeding on the hanging suet bars.

The young Starlings are learning to feed for themselves by copying their parents - not always with the greatest success!

Spectacular Alexandrine Parakeets in the wildlife garden. I realise that not everyone approves of these exotic additions to our avifauna - but they are stunning! Considerably larger and brighter than their cousins the Ring-necks. Amazing plumage and bright red beak.....

Male Bullfinch visiting the sunflower hearts. I have heard them calling close-by for a few weeks now but the Bullfinches are often quite secretive. This male seems spoilt for choice of which feeder to choose!

Great Spotted Woodpeckers enjoying the suet bars and sunflower hearts! Today, both male and female together as well.

No Mow May Meadows ........ join the upcoming conference youtube.com/shorts/sVr4M...

And more of the baby Starlings!

This year's baby Starlings arrive to feast on the mealworms - & they are demanding & greedy!

‘WallFest 26: 'Charles Waterton - naturalist & pioneering environmentalist’ - free talk, open to all, just turn-up! Part of a celebration of the pioneering naturalist & conservationist who inspired others from Charles Darwin to Sir David Attenborough. Sat. 16th May, 4 pm

'Meadows, Scrub & the Urban Wild' - how ecotone edge habitat is often the missing 'glue' in the biodiversity system... Join the debate!! youtube.com/shorts/tqHfj...

Hedgerows and scrub - join the big debate at this year's May conference in Sheffield. youtube.com/shorts/0eLNt...

This drake Mallard's mate was hidden behind in the vegetation. Very pleased with himself, he was preening and showing off after they had just copulated ......