Good to see you on Look North just now Wendy. Great job!

Congratulations to you all! He looks gorgeous 😊

Fluffed-up Grey Heron perched on the branches of a dead fallen tree

Fluffed-up Grey Heron, cropped to focus attention on layer upon layer of subtly-shaded feathers

Of the techniques available to stay warm on a cold December morning, here’s one I’ve not tried yet. Make like a feather duster

Grey Heron, Porter Valley, Sheffield
#heron #localparks
@everyheron.bsky.social #dentistswithherons

When I first saw these for real, I couldn’t believe how tiny they are. And how difficult to photograph! That’s a perfect capture 🤩

Currently rereading @dunnjons.bsky.social The Glitter in the Green and am happy to confirm it is indeed the perfect antidote to winter. Full of sunshine, adventure and the very best type of glitter ✨

An image in the style of a poster advertising The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens’ Winter Talk on 1 Dec 2025, 1.30-2.30pm. Features a photo of speaker James Armitage, Editor against a floral background. James will be speaking on ‘The Plant Review: a hidden gem of RHS publishing’

An image in the style of a poster with text advertising a display of paintings from the archive of The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens, set against a floral background. Join us at 11.30am-1.30pm for festive refreshments or bring along your lunch. Stay for the Winter Talk 1.30-2.30pm

The Florilegium Society at Sheffield Botanical Gardens

Join us for our Winter Talk!
⭐️ James Armitage, Editor #RHS Plant Review
📍Dorothy Fox Education Centre, SBG
📆 Monday 1 Dec 2025
🕐 1.30-2.30pm
£5 entry (FSSBG members free)

#Sheffield #florilegium #botanical #gardens #botanicalillustration

Me: Ooooh, I feel seen 🤗 (‘though I doubt Jon can guess the half of it)

Also me: Harumph, I’ve lost the sweepstake on the subject of his new book 😤

Thank you. I’ll have a look at that

Such a pretty colour. Great find!

Thanks Richard. I think so too. Fingers crossed they pop up every year now 🤞

Indeed! After many fruitless searches at a nearby nature reserve, where they’re pictured on the notice board, I had almost given up on seeing them locally. And they were under my nose all along 😄

Two pink mushrooms surrounded by grass, the smaller one sheltering under the cap of the other. The stipes white, with a twist.

Since we started doing #NoMowMay in 2020, I’ve been hoping for an orchid to pop up in my lawn. But I’ll take two Pink Waxcap (Porpolomopsis calyptriformis)!
AKA Ballerina Waxcap… of course they are 🩰
#MushroomMonday #fungi #mushroom

Thank you Jo. It’s nice to have that confirmed!

I was photographing Reed Buntings on a path through the reed beds, when I was distracted by these bright golden flower heads. Could it be Buttonweed? #wildflowerhour #wildflowerID @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A confused Cowslip on an otherwise very autumnal day at YWT Potteric Carr, Doncaster
@yorkswildlife.bsky.social #wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

A pocketful of shiny conkers and their cases, tipped on to a kitchen worktop

The yellow-green spiky case of a ripe conker has split open to reveal the shiny chestnut-brown fruit inside

Utterly bonkers about conkers!

Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum)
#autumn #conkers

@everyheron.bsky.social

Corporal punishment carries ‘multiple risks’ to children’s health, says WHO An estimated 1.2bn children are subject to this ‘harmful practice’ each year, affecting physical and mental wellbeing, report finds

www.theguardian.com/global-devel...

It was a indeed… and a welcome break on a long hot journey!

Thank you for confirming

A floral display fringing the pond at Gloucester Services Southbound. Great Willowherb, Purple Loosestrife, Flowering-rush and the twirly-fruits of Meadowsweet. Overhead swallows and dragonflies locked in aerial combat.
#wildflowerhour #M5botany
@BSBIbotany.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

I love it when the #wildflowerhour challenge prompts me to find a plant I’ve never noticed before. Could this be Trifid Bur Marigold (Bidens tripartita)?
On the banks of Damflask Reservoir, Loxley Valley, Sheffield
#DaisyFamily @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
@bsbibotany.bsky.social

Common Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis tetrahit) growing alongside Common Nettle (Urticaria dioica) at Thornhill NR, Bamford, Derbyshire
#wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social

Gold and black striped hoverfly, looking far smaller in the photo than it did in real life!

I was photographing bees on Common Knapweed (Centaurea nigra) when I spied something HUGE and GOLD out of the corner of my eye 😳.
Hornet-mimic #Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria).
Hope Valley, Derbyshire
#wildflowerhour #PollinatorPals @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Green-veined White butterfly feasting at the purplish-pink flowers of a head-high forest of Great Willowherb

Green-veined White #butterfly on Great Willowherb (Epilobium hirsutum) for #wildflowerhour #PollinatorPals challenge. The flower’s landing pad is helpfully marked out with a cross, that of a 4-lobed stigma.
Hope Valley, Derbyshire
@wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social

😅

Thank you - I saw one of these last week and wondered what it was!

Awww, very kind words but now it’s my time to pass on the baton! ☺️

Tiny as they are, eyebrights (Euphrasia spp.) always catch my attention. Here growing on the floor of a disused limestone quarry, at the butterfly heaven that is Hoe Grange Quarry, Derbyshire

#wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social @derbyswildlife.bsky.social

Large leafy divided bracts, dark red central flower, umbels form a ball after flowering, spiny fruits.

It must be Wild Carrot (Daucus carota), here buffeted by the wind on the approach road to Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire

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