Spot of Wombling on the Tees today downstream of Preston Park. Easily managed to fill 3 large bags with mainly plastic bottles 🍼 On a brighter note, I spotted my 1st Coltsfoot 🌼 of the year 😀
@teesriverstrust.bsky.social
@paddleuk.bsky.social
Fifty moths of five species over night at #Saltholme was more than expected with the temperatures we had...Common Quaker, Clouded Drab, Dotted Border and Twin-spotted Quaker (only 2nd site record) all pictured. Also had Hebrew Character #teammoth @teesbirds.bsky.social
A new report from wildlife charity Buglife reveals that pesticides from common flea and tick treatments are now widespread in rivers across Britain and may be contributing to major declines in freshwater invertebrates bit.ly/4b1Pu50
Stop scrolling! Spring is around the corner🌸
And we can’t wait! What’s your favourite thing about spring?🌱
#Spring #BritishWildflowers
As one of the first spring flowers to bloom, the lesser celandine provides a valuable nectar source for early insects. Despite its name, it is not actually a close relative of greater celandine and is a member of the buttercup family instead.
#FactFriday
Indicative Content to 3-day course: plant and habitat identification skills, June 2026, Middlesbrough, Northeast England
As the we are nearing spring and the sun is finally showing itself, I thought I'd provide a more information about the 3-day course I am offering in June. Full details and…
What have we missed? Let us know what you've been up to or what you've been reading about below👇
Featured this month: Calder Rivers Trust, Don Catchment Rivers Trust, @ribbleriverstrust.bsky.social & @teesriverstrust.bsky.social
#rivers #nature #environment #volunteering
🎉 February's Positive River News!
From creating wildlife ponds and creating leaky dams to help with natural flood management, to opening up a piped ford to allow trout to more easily travel upstream, teams all across our Movement have been making a real difference to their #rivers.
🌱 This #WorldSeagrassDay we'll be celebrating amazing growth from this year’s seagrass pasties 🌊✨
Planted in January → thriving today.
Next stop: the Tees Estuary, where they’ll:
💧 Improve water quality
🐟 Create habitat for marine life
Seagrass = ecosystem superhero. 💚
#Seagrass #Restoration
If you ever worry about bumblebees in cold weather, just remember:
🧥They are covered in thick fur.
🌡️They can raise their body temperature by dislocating their wings and shivering their flight muscles.
❄️Their body can produce an antifreeze to stop ice crystals from forming and freezing their insides.
Screengrab from UK Water Resources Portal with lots of blue showing recent wetness in a lot of the UK
In partnership with others, UKCEH brings together soil moisture, rainfall, river flows and groundwater data to produce the monthly UK hydrological summaries.
You can view much of this data in near real-time via the UK Water Resources Portal
ukwrp.ceh.ac.uk
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Alice and Sue chat to senior hydrologist Lucy Barker about the complexities of the UK's weather and water cycle.
And micrometeorologist Jon Evans explains how cosmic rays from space are used to measure soil moisture at different sites around the UK.
Listen now: audioboom.com/posts/885879...
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From drought to downpour, 2025 brought the UK
whiplash weather 🌦️
New on our Counting the Earth podcast, we delve into the UK's weather extremes.
After a dry spring & four heatwaves we had
significant rainfall later in the year. By December, total
rainfall reached ~90% of the UK average.
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The #GreatYorkshireRivers website is now live 🫶
www.greatyorkshirerivers.org
On it you can meet Kate Colledge who's leading the prioritisation and removal/mitigation of barriers to fish passage.
💦 If you have a ford / sluice / weir or culvert on your land then Kate would love to hear from you! 🐟
Want to help our efforts to ensure the #hedgehog, the UK’s only spiny mammal, remains a familiar part of British life?
🦔
You can join the BHPS & become a supporter online, via post or over the phone!
🌐 ✉️📞
➡️ buff.ly/3LYeGNY ⬅️
Developing innovative low-emission fertilisers 🚜
We're involved in new research to convert farm waste into high-performance, low-emission fertilisers, which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and farmers’ costs.
Funded from the Farming Innovation Programme.
www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-med... 🧪
Orchid, Lady's Slipper with a yellow slipper-like pouch is surrounded by rich ribbons of dark maroon petals.
Pink Waxcaps with a water droplet hanging from the conical waxy cap.
Fen Orchid with pretty pale yellow flowers.
Expert Dave Lamacraft helps to translocate a small patch of Scrambled Egg Lichen by reattaching it to its new home using a combination of water and bookbinding glue.
Over the weekend it was #ReversetheRedDay, so today we’re celebrating the rare species we’ve been helping to protect and restore:
🔴Orchid, Lady’s-slipper
⚪Pink Waxcap
🟡Fen Orchid
🟢Scrambled Egg Lichen
Donate today to help endangered species survive - https://joinplantlife.org/4klFJCV
Dark blue text on a light blue background reads: "Volunteering Opportunity Tree Health Surveyor. Help us tackle woodland pests and diseases as part of the Observatree network"
Two people face an oak tree and inspect the leaves on low hanging branches.
🌳 Are you passionate about protecting our beautiful woods and trees?
💚 Become an #Observatree volunteer and be part of an exciting citizen science project led by Forest Research!
Apply today, closing date 8th March 👉 buff.ly/zo32khl 1/2
A chinese water deer looking through a fence. It's just the head visible and it is looking directly at the camera
We'd love you to caption this.
We are looking forward to seeing leaves on the trees.... and our seagrass plants flowering....
Discover the thrilling career paths in entomology 🐝 From #Forensics and #MedicalScience to #Horticulture and ecological consulting, explore where this fascinating field can lead.
Dive into our careers pages and start your journey into #InsectScience 🔽
🌿 We’re Hiring! Help Restore the Tees Estuary 🌊
We’re looking for two passionate people to join our team and help bring back native estuarine species to the Tees Estuary.
💚 If you care about conservation and want to make a real impact, we’d love to hear from you.
👉 www.teesriverstrust.org/vacancies
A young seagrass seedling
Seagrass alert!! We have welcomed our first baby seagrass of 2026, a tiny shoot measuring about 1cm tall. This photosynthesising trooper will hopefully be the first of many grown this year at our nursery. With luck, this plant shall be deployed into our estuary as part of our restoration efforts. 🌱
At the UK Seagrass Symposium 2025, Rebekah Bajkó presented on their research, Coastal Roots: The History of Seagrass in Northern Ireland.
In a new blog article Grace Cutler, one of our 2025-26 Project Seagrass interns, reflects on Rebekah’s research: ow.ly/cMGi50XZAGq
In a new blog article Ewan Garvey, one of Project Seagrass’ Interns for the 2025-26 academic year, explores the role that seagrass plays in providing protection for our coastlines.
Read here: ow.ly/K0su50XKbO1
📸 Seagrass under Sorrento Pier, Australia. Credit: Sam Glenn / Ocean Image Bank
Let the dandelions grow! They support over 50 insect species, and are a great early season food source for pollinators like bees, butterflies, hoverflies. No need to mow and please don't use weedkiller!
Training: @batconservation.bsky.social: Bats and roost risk management in construction, British bats, their ecology and conservation, Bats for roofers and Bats for heritage professionals
c-js.info/TDSmammal
A vibrant poster with a green background showing a red squirrel, Scottish wildcat, and puffin wearing party hats. They are surrounded by green and pink confetti, streamers, and balloons holding up a banner that reads: “MSPs voted to pass the Natural Environment Bill! Scotland WILL have legally binding nature recovery targets.
Big win for Scotland’s nature! The Natural Environment Bill passed by MSPs will bring in legally binding targets to restore wildlife and habitats. Huge thanks to LINK’s members and supporters who helped make this happen! Let’s keep pushing for strong action and funding to restore Scotland’s nature.
Side view of a weasel's head and neck. Pic by Rosanna Forbes
The face of a weasel emerging from a crevice between two rocks. Pic by Rosanna Forbes.
What they lack in size, weasels make up for in appetite, eating a third of their own body weight daily. From birds to bank voles, the small creatures of the forest floor must be ever wary of this energetic hunter. It in turn has to be wary of foxes and birds of prey. 2/2
Full length portrait of a weasel.
The weasel is the smallest member of the order Carnivora, which also includes cats, dogs and bears. The largest member, the polar bear, can weigh more than 5,000 weasels combined!
(No wild polar bears in Scotland but plenty of weasels!)
📸 Amazing shots as always by Rosanna Forbes👏
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