BSBI Botany

Moschatel and Water Avens in flower today #CuerdenValleyPark Lancashire @plantlifeuk.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Each spring I look forward to the appearance of this little patch of naturalised Siberian squill (Scilla siberica) in Armstrong Park. It’s back again for a new season! #urbanflora

Big patch of Sweet Violets (Viola odorata) in a friends garden this morning.
Lovely in the sunshine !! 😊

@wildflowerhour.bsky.social
@bsbibotany.bsky.social

#wildflowerhour #botany #flowers #spring #nature #lincolnshire #wildlife #wildflowers #violets

A Purple toothwort flower in grass.

Purple toothwort in @cubotanicgarden.bsky.social. #WildflowerHour

Southall park confirmed as local nature reserve by council Warren Farm in Southall is already home to nesting skylarks, wildflowers, butterflies and bees.

So pleased to hear that #WarrenFarm has officially received Local Nature Reserve status, & props to the local groups who've achieved this. #urbannature @brentriverpark.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

If you fancy joining Richard and his co-leader Dave Fairhurst for a feast of orchids (and butterflies, wildflowers, herps, birds, et al) next spring, our #OrchidsOfCyprus tour is the one for you. It generates a donation to support @bsbibotany.bsky.social too.

www.mariposanature.com/tours/botani...

Star like white bells of Spring Snowflake (Leucojum vernum) with pale green blotches on the bell tips

Spring Snowflake clump growing on the sandy margin of the River Earn at Crieff

Close up of the Spring Snowflake bells

Spring Snowflake naturalised along the river banks near Crieff. Lovely plant, definitely #SignsofSpring for #wildflowerhour, even if I spotted it a day late…

Eeee, that was fun. Thrilled to top off today's #urbanflora launch day with an @nenature.bsky.social talk to over 100 local people tonight ☺️📖

A small selection of the orchids to be seen on our annual Orchids of Rhodes tour

We think a conservation charity shouldn't have to wait for a donation; not for months, and certainly not for years.

We've made our #OrchidsOfCyprus donation to @bsbibotany.bsky.social today, the day after the tour ended. We've donated to them after every orchid tour since Mariposa formed.

#orchids

Alternate-leaved Golden-saxifrage Chrysosplenium alternifolium in West Berkshire today. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

It's launch day! 🎉🌿

Absolutely chuffed to share that Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside is now available on Amazon.

If you're interested, you can grab a copy here 👉 www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1036970124

Mega thanks to @nenature.bsky.social and @bsbibotany.bsky.social for making it happen.

Like @commonbynature.bsky.social, I'm a #pavementplants enthusiast. Newcastle's a fab city for exploring #urbannature (it's featured in my book Wild Pavements) & I'll definitely be taking a copy of James' books when I next go there 💚

Here’s Mark Avery’s review of Amanda Tuke’s @amandatuke.bsky.social fabulous new book Wild Pavements. In a nutshell: if you thought there wasn’t much wildlife in town, let Amanda take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London, she’ll show you something to make you change your mind.

Perfoliate (Cotswold) Penny-cress Microthlapsi perforatum aplenty today! Only dropped by in the hope of seeing leaves and ended up with a real treat. Gloucestershire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) on a visit to Sheffield Botanical Gardens today.

It’s Welsh name is Llygad Ebrill which translates as ‘The Eyes of April’.

Climate change means flowers appear as early as January in Wales. Is a rename due?

#shiftingbaselinesyndrome
#signsofspring
#wildflowerhour

A sweet week for violets #wildflowerhour

To end this🧵on 3 #chalkstream tributaries of the River Cam, some wayside plants: Wild Privet indicating we are indeed on chalk, Cuckoo Pint leaves & early Cow Parsley coming into bloom, as well as the roadside Danish Scurvy Grass (Cochlearia danica). #Cambridgeshire #wildflowerhour #flower 10/10

A green plant of the carrot family with pale yellowy green flowers in front of a stone wall.

Belated #wildflowerhour - my first ever sighting of #Alexanders by the wall of #NottinghamCastle

Purple sweet violet plant with purple flowers. Sun is shining on the plant.

Sweet violet enjoying a bit of spring sunshine a couple of days ago. #wildflowerhour

Country diary: A riverside walk reveals the city’s history written in plants | Susie White Lower Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne: Under boardwalks, in concrete, on window ledges, seeds borne by water and carried on feet survive

It was such a pleasure to spend a few hours with Guardian Country Diarist Susie White, admiring #pavementplants and other urban treasures in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley 🌿

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

This means such a lot from the author of already-a-classic 'Urban Plants', which of course is included in Wild Pavements further reading list💚😊

You’re very welcome Jane! My personal favourite is xenicity - the proportion of non-native species in a community of plants. Enjoy!

Dense-flowered Orchid (Neotinea maculata), Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Dense-flowered Orchid (Neotinea maculata), Orchids of Rhodes © Jon Dunn

Been a busy day writing about #orchids*, and putting finishing touches on a *very* exciting new orchid tour I'll be leading for @mariposanature.bsky.social next year...

*Dense-flowered Orchid, as you ask. I'll be seeing you any day now, a personal, subtle favourite of the #OrchidsOfRhodes.

Upper (L) and lower leaf surfaces of Bluebell Hyacinthoides non-scripta (L) and Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Looking down over around six four-petalled pinky/purple flowers, with others about to open.

Cuckoo cuckoo! Cuckooflower is out.
aka Milkmaids
aka Lady's Smock
aka Pink Folly
aka Meadowcress
@sussexwildlife.bsky.social
@bsbibotany.bsky.social
#WildflowerHour
#UKwildlife

Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem Gagea lutea out in force in a Gloucestershire woodland today. About a fortnight earlier than I've seen them previously, so very glad I took a punt. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Yes it is! Over to @commonbynature.bsky.social to reply.

Congratulations to our dear friend @commonbynature.bsky.social on the publication today of his Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside.
James is a #BSBICountyRecorder for the area so knows whereof he speaks!
More about the book here:
bsbi.org/blog/2026/03...
Full interview coming very soon!

Launching the Urban Flora of Newcastle & North Tyneside Proudly supported by NHSN, the Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside, by NHSN Senior Naturalist James Common, is available now

A huge congratulations to our Senior Naturalist James Common (@commonbynature.bsky.social) on the launch of his book- Urban Flora of Newcastle & North Tyneside which brings together many local naturalists hard work and records!!!

Discover the book here: www.nhsn.org.uk/launching-th...

I found a big patch of Rough Horsetail in North Yorkshire, VC62, last weekend. Despite being on a footpath to a waterfall and presumably passed by thousands of people a year, this is the first hectad record in over a decade!

#RecordSubmitted