This year I've finally bitten the bullet and begun looking at whitebeams. Earlier this week it was the turn of the Menai Strait Whitebeam (Sorbus arvonicola) - easily separated from Sorbus aria at the same site by the grey leaf undersides (comparison in the last photo). @bsbibotany.bsky.social

I'm a bit late for #wildflowerhour as per usual but South Stack Fleawort (Tephroseris integrifolia subsp. maritima) has to be worth a post! I'm sure many a botanist will recognise this view.

A bit late for #wildflowerhour but a long-awaited trip to Bryher for the miniscule Dwarf Pansy (Viola kitaibeliana) was very successful, with hundreds of plants found rubbing shoulders with other tiny gems such as Small Adder's-tongue and Spring Vetch. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A successful post-work twitch this evening - Kentish Plover on Long Rock Beach. They don't get much better than this!

The Cornish endemic Western Ramping-fumitory (Fumaria occidentalis) is my contribution to this week's #wildflowerhour. This colony is probably the best known in the country, having grown on a car park edge on the Lizard for decades!

The stunning vivid purple flowers of Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) in the early morning sun are hard to beat! These were my first, but it might have to become an annual pilgrimage for me. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

While Mibora minima (Early Sand-grass) is usually at home on coastal sand dunes, this species has recently colonised the lawns of an estate in Thetford - where it has become locally dominant in places! #wildflowerhour

Anyone who knows me well will be aware that my favourite plant family are sedges, so I was particularly pleased to encounter Carex ericetorum (Rare Spring-sedge) for the first time on Tuesday! The Brecks is a stronghold for this scarce sedge of short, calcareous grasslands. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Perfoliate Penny-cress (Microthlaspi perfoliatum) was also a real treat to see on my way back home yesterday. Hundreds of plants adorned a few sections of this fairly unassuming Cotswold dry stone wall. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A stop at Brean Down in Somerset was very productive, with its unique assemblage on the S-facing limestone slopes. White Rock-rose, Dwarf Sedge & Dwarf Mouse-ear were in fine form already, while Somerset Hair-grass and Goldilocks Aster (far out of reach) were vegetative only @bsbibotany.bsky.social

I thought I'd check in on Sand Crocus (Romulea columnae) at their sole Cornish site (rediscovered in 2002) and was astounded to find hundreds in flower already! I counted at least 564 flowers over two outcrops. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A few early-flowering species for #wildflowerhour- Gagea bohemica (Radnor Lily), Draba aizoides (Yellow Whitlowgrass) and Hornungia petraea (Hutchinsia).

Always a joy to spend time birding around Norfolk with friends. 145 spp over 6 days with many highlights and many geese! Kite and Snipe 📸 @lukestoppard.bsky.social

Don't think I'll ever beat these views of Jack Snipe! Seen just a few miles from home this evening.

2025 was perhaps my best year of botany, so I thought I'd post a few highlights from Scotland. A well-timed trip to Orkney in May produced Oysterplant (Mertensia maritima), Holy-grass (Hierochloe odorata) and Scottish Primrose (Primula scotica). @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A colourful duo from the Loch Ness area today - Purple Saxifrage (Saxifraga oppositifolia) and Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem (Gagea lutea). @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Sounds like this is the place to be now… and why not start with some blue skies! Temperature inversions and Brocken spectres up Ben Wyvis with @sibthorpia.bsky.social last Saturday, certainly a day to remember! 😊