Downy Willow growing on crags on Ben Lomond, Stirlingshire. The handful of bushes remaining at this site, high on ledges out of reach of browsers, are all female - making the population functionally extinct. @n-t-s.bsky.social has collected male plants from nearby to introduce in a rescue bid

A non native invasive species session ahead for our volunteers up at Heriot Watt University grounds. Plenty of Giant Hogweed and Himalayan balsam deaths on the menu today

Bog Pondweed, Potamogeton polygonifolius, and Pillwort, Pilularia globulifera #wildflowerhour

I couldn’t resist returning to the Lesser Twayblades (Neottia cordata) that I saw last week for the #tinyplants challenge. Tiny plants with exquisitely tiny flowers. #WildflowerHour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Check out the power of #WildflowerHour tonight! @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Seapinks galore, Birds-foot-trefoil, Lesser Trefoil, Sea-Sandwort and ran out of time to #ID this last one ! @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #wildflowerhour #tinyplants #AberladyBay #GullanePoint #EastLothian

At last I'm at my computer for #wildflowerhour! Greater Stitchwort, Crosswort, Forget-me-not sp, native Bluebell. Woodhall Dean, @scotwildlife.bsky.social nature reserve. @bsbiscotland.bsky.social

The flower of a marsh violet is tiny, yet it packs a mighty punch for exquisite beauty when seen up close. This wee beauty on an upland bog in southern Perthshire #wildflowerhour

Butterbur is a dioecious species: this is the female plant, rarer and with a more elongated inflorescence than the male plant. Butterbur is a composite, so each of these 'flowers' are actually made up of lots of florets or #tinyflowers #WildflowerHour

Herb-paris, a stunning plant of ancient woodlands on calcareous soils. This is my first time seeing it in Scotland, where it is a rarity! Its name comes not from the French capital, but from the Latin 'par' meaning equal, due to the regular foliage and flower parts, making it the 'herb of equality'

The gorgeous Woodruff, a member of the Bedstraw family, for #WildflowerHour. I love this plant's cheerful white #tinyflowers and bright green leaf whorls. An ancient woodland indicator, and a great ground cover plant for the garden! Second pic shows Greater Stitchwort flower for scale.

One of these things is not like the others… white #Bluebell in a sea of blues, Inchmaholme island #WildFlowerHour

Want to brush up your identification skills? 🐞 🌱 Head to #GlenFinglas next Sat 23rd May for a free #BioBlitz 🌼 Free tickets👉 buff.ly/ee2R1Dx

Came to Dornoch on a quest to refresh a 1973 record for the dandelion Taraxacum obliquum. I think mission accomplished within a few metres of the beach car park: the combination of erect outer bracts and tubularly-inrolled ligules are seems distinctive.

I voted for the awesome emerald jewel that is the Green Hairstreak! (the green is on the underwing) britainsfavouritebutterfly.co.uk/butterfly/gr... Near broke my heart not to go Chequered Skipper - it's not you, it's me... 😭

The things we do for plants…

In case you are interested in Plant ID Apps, here is a review article published by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland in 2025 webprototype.bsbi.org/media/pages/...

This spell of strong north-westerly winds has so far failed to bring any Long-tailed Skuas our way, but it did bring this Grey Nickar in to Vatersay, the first sea bean we've found in months and one that's drifted 4000 miles or more since falling from its parent plant in the Caribbean. #beachcombing

Want to get started with plant recording this year? The #100PlantsChallenge website has some great resources! bsbi.org/take-part/ac... Catch up with our webinar series on Recording for Beginners, including this one on Plants by Habitat, on the BSBI YouTube channel ☘️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hK4...

Greater Celandine Chelidonium majus, I've only seen the one plant at Bawsinch NR, Edinburgh. It is well hidden, growing underneath a Juniper bush. Why is it called 'celandine' when it's not in the Ranunculaceae family? @scotwildlife.bsky.social @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @edinburghnats.bsky.social

Today I am mainly geeking out about this little thing - Hidden Bittercress (Cardamine occulta), a plant found on the Indian subcontinent and in South-east Asia that from 2019 has started appearing in and around garden centres in Britain & Ireland, presumably arriving with imported plants and soil.

Purple milk-vetch, Astralagus danicus I think, at St Abbs, Berwick shire today @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhoue

Summer Snowflake in flower in wet woodland on the shores of Loch Lomond, where it has been naturalised since 1973. Nice looking plant! #WildFlowerHour

A bit late for #WildFlowerHour, here is my #carrotsandpeas contribution: this lovely Common Vetch with bicoloured flowers, which I think makes it subspecies segitalis or the less frequent subspecies sativa. Need to revisit when in fruit to confirm

Field Pepperwort, first record for Stirlingshire for 29 years 😁 Growing by a roadside in Stirlingshire, spotted as driving past necessitating an unscheduled stop to investigate further! Flattened fruits with pale vesicles and style not protruding beyond the apical notch confirm. #WildFlowerHour

Fab morning in sunny Oban leading an urban plants walk around the town with Adventure Oban. Walls, pavements, garden escapes & woodland providing loads of stories. Lovely plants including Fairy Foxglove, London Pride, Welsh Poppy & Drumstick Primrose @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Welcome to world, baby Bird's-nest Orchids 😍 This crazy plant has no chlorophyll, and is entirely dependent on micorrhizal fungi for its nutrition. plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... #orchids #wildflowerhour

Ascended Cam Chreag in Mid-Perthshire today. Trailing azalea plentiful above 800 m. Flower buds closed but a lovely colour. Interrupted clubmoss and petty whin lower down, both with only 2 previous records in hectad NN54. Also a dandelion with inrolled ligules: maybe Taraxacum inopinatum or argutum?

Top urban botanist Trevor Dines is leading an Urban Plants Walk this weekend in Oban - sign up now! The sea front is one of the finest urban nature walks around, Black Guillemots popping out of the drainage holes in the sea wall to see how many cool plants you’ve spotted 😍😁

Henbit Dead-nettle flowers by the car park today, looking very bristly on top

We have such a great FREE webinar for you 7-8pm tomorrow night 6 May! Legendary ecologist, author & pan-lister @graemelyons.bsky.social will be explaining why getting to know your plants facilitates recording of other species groups. Book here: bsbi.org/take-part/ev... Ideal for beginner recorders!

Big walk in the hills next to Ben Lawers today. Plenty of purple saxifrage in flower, sibbaldia leaves just coming through. A bonus dotterel high up, then down (but still over 700 m) to Lochan nan Cat. The washed-up long-stalked pondweed surprised me, but the BSBI DDb shows known there since 1872.

Wood Anemones from beside Loch Broom for #WildflowerHour.

Keel-fruited Cornsalad, on a wall top in Stirlingshire #wildflowerhour

Ivy-leaved Toadflax, on a wall in Stirlingshire

A sweep of sea campion and thrift on the clifftops at St Abbs #Berwickshire #wildflowerhour

Cuckoo-flower adorned with an orange-tip butterfly on the haugh of the River Devon #Clackmannanshire #wildflowerhour

Bulbous Buttercup in flower for this week’s #wildflowerhour #ButtercupChallenge - telltale reflexed (bent down) sepals visible. This is in North Yorkshire this week, local pops not in flower yet at home in Stirlingshire

A couple of crackers by the seaside this bank holiday weekend - Thrift and Buck's-horn Plantain soaking up the sun at St Abbs in Berwickshire

First month done for my #100plants2026 challenge. 47 species recorded in Scotland in April so about halfway. Highlight so far was Toothwort near Lanark @bsbiscotland.bsky.social

Obligatory April Toothwort photos, just sneaking under the line before May Day! The third photo with an Early Bumblebee making a beeline (boom) for the flowers of this remarkable and bizarre plant is my fave... 😍 plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...

Well done Wales! Shouldn't be too long before our Scotland Newsletter hits the internet too 😀 Teaser trailer: national Tufted Saxifrage survey, Purple Oxytropis on the Edge, Marsh Clubmoss shenanigans, hybrid puzzles in Polystichum ferns in Assynt, and much more. Now back to the Welsh Bulletin...

The mountain botany season has begun! Purple Saxifrage, this gorgeous annual curtain raiser, is the earliest high altitude flowerer in the Scottish mountains, and it was out in all its glory on Beinn an Dothaidh in east Argyll this week! More finds in the 🧵 plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...

A wonderful update on the #100plants2026 Challenge! As of right now, 856 people have submitted 23,237 records of 960 species as part of the Challenge - absolutely brilliant work everyone! Check out the thread below for some highlights, and links to great skills webinars that support the Challenge

Our friend @milneorchid.bsky.social needs your help! He's working on an orchid book for the Collins New Naturalist series, and needs more orchid images. Find out how you could help Richard & maybe get one of your orchid photos (with credit) into this prestigious new book: bsbi.org/blog/2026/04...

Paul McHugh, one of our #Identiplant students, found a whitlowgrass in Co. Londonderry: turns out it was Glabrous Whitlowgrass & the 1st ever county record! Press release: bsbi.org/about/news/p... Hear Paul tell the full story on BBC Radio Ulster (starts c37 mins in): www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

A drift of thrift on the sea cliffs at St Abbs

Four plants from yesterday: Toothwort and Purple Toothwort in Roslin Glen and Slender Speedwell and Wavy Bittercress in Penicuik. All species I’ve likely seen before but this time I’ve taken the time to look 🌱 👀 @bsbiscotland.bsky.social #panspecieslisting now at 2300

Fancy being an ecologist for the day? 🐞 🌱 🐦‍⬛ Our springtime #BioBlitz at #GlenFinglas is happening on Sat 23 May. Activities include pond dipping, moth trapping and bird box surveys😄 Free tickets👉 buff.ly/ee2R1Dx

Wood anemones in my local wood. Often known as the windflower, the plant is named after the Greek word for wind, anemos. Some legends suggest that anemone flowers sprung up where Aphrodite’s tears fell as she wept over the death of her lover, Adonis.