from the hilltops, we dropped down to the beach, to "admire" the critically endangered Colchicum reichingeri, a December-flowering geophyte found at just a handful of coastal locations in western Crete and across in Libya
#WildlifeTravelling in #Crete
a couple of gory highlights from our sunny day on the Akrotiri peninsula, in the fleshy form of Cytinus hypocistis, (ant-pollinated, parasite & member of the Rafflesiaceae) & the always wonderful Dragon Arum, filling the hillsides with the aroma of rotting sheep...
#WildlifeTravelling in #Crete
What a great idea!
I’m sitting in a hotel room in Gatwick about to head off to Crete so may have to respond more fully when I return!
Bedford Purlieus is reliable for Purple and White-letter Hairstreak.
All the Peterborough sites have Marbled White and Brown Argus.
Two female botanists stand by a lake, with grassland behind; they are smiling, holding aquatic plants they have fished out of the lake for identification
We're looking to recruit a manager for 2 fabulous botanical projects in Ireland:
#AquaticPlantProject
#IrishGrasslandProject
You'll be coordinating expert-led field events & developing training materials for botanists at all skill levels.
2 days per week.
Apply by 25 May:
bsbi.org/about/news/l...
Find a flower with 4 free petals arranged in a cross shape & you’ve found a member of the Brassicaceae! It’s a huge family & the challenge this week for #Wildflowerhour is to find a wild or naturalised member of the #CabbageFamily in flower. Share your finds this Sunday 8-9pm!
Excellent news - I wondered if it might be!
Pine Cone Tortrix Gravitarmata margarotana, a small moth with silvery-grey winges patterened with black and rust-red.
Still low numbers of moths, but today was about quality rather than quantity, with the first ever Pine Cone Tortrix Gravitarmata margarotana in our Peterborough (VC32) garden trap. A recent arrival to the UK (2011) with no obvious records nearby
#mothsmatter #teammoth @markhammond1966.bsky.social
On a breezy April afternoon, in the midst of John Clare Countryside, a Nightingale, hidden in the heart of a Hawthorn bush, pours out its song…
#johnclarecountryside #birds
Yes, that's Common Whitlow-grass : )
Pale-pink, four-petalled flowers of Cuckooflower agains the dark background of the River Nene
Sinuous yellow catkins of Crack Willow
Flower spikes of Meadow Foxtail, the first of the meadow grasses to flower
Along the Nene valley, Crack Willows are smothered with golden catkins, the first Cuckooflowers are in bloom on the river margin and tall spikes of Meadow Foxtail have appeared - spring has definitely arrived...
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
The chequered, purple, bell-shaped flower of Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris backlit by evening sun
An early evening walk from home to a small fragment of flood meadow by the River Nene where Fritillary has flowered for at least the last 16 years. Numbers are very low this year, but I was pleased to find a couple of nice clumps.
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Flowering spike of Early Purple-orchid with magenta flowers on a purplish stem
First British orchid of the year for me - a perfect Early Purple-orchid in its usual location at Bedford Purlieus NNR - it gave much joy to my trainee botanists who'd never seen one before :)
#WoodlandPlants #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Crab-apple Malus sylvestris sens. lat.
Hedge Garlic Alliaria petiolata
Midland Hawthorn Crataegus laevigata
Ramsons Allium ursinum
A quartet of white (or nearly white) #WoodlandPlants seen at Thorpe Wood NR early this morning, while recording breeding birds - Crab-apple, Hedge Garlic, Midland Hawthorn and Ramsons, which is spreading rapidly into areas fromerly dominated by Bluebell...
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Woodland plants seen at Collyweston Great Wood NNR at a walk I led for the Peterborough Local Group of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust. Clockwise from top left: Bluebell, Toothwort, Wood Sedge, Early x Common Dog-violet, Greater Stitchwort, Bluebell, Wood-sorrel, Wood Spurge and Wood Anemone
#WoodlandPlants seen on a walk I led at Collyweston Great Wood NNR yesterday - perfectly timed for peak Bluebell - other highlights included Toothwort, masses of Wood Spurge and a colony of Wood-sorrel growing in the middle of the access track! Names in ALT
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Caucasian Comfrey Symphytum caucasicum, with tubular blue flowers and purplish-shaded calyces with shallow triangular teeth.
Caucasian Comfrey Symphytum caucasicum, with tubular blue flowers and purplish-shaded calyces with shallow triangular teeth.
Black and yellow caterpillar of Scarlet Tiger moth
Found a magnificent stand of Caucasian Comfrey (new to VC32) yesterday while surveying a churchyard in Etton, its clear blue flowers attracting a whole range of pollinators. The caterpillar of a Scarlet Tiger moth was also enjoying the bristly leaves!
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Pictured is the beautiful Wood Sorrel, Oxalis acetosella. Many of the gorgeous plants to be found in woodland are ancient woodland indicators, as they grow and spread slowly over many years. Why not visit your local patch and see what you can find for #wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm!
What can you find flowering in woodland? That’s the challenge this week from Wildflowerhour! Post your finds using the hashtag #WoodlandPlants for #WildflowerHour this Sunday 8-9pm. Happy flower-hunting!
Your unknown rock-dweller is Danish Scurvy-grass, more often seen along verges of major roads these days!
Given the red buds and bluish colour on the more mature flowers, I think this is Hidcote Comfrey Symphytum x hidcotense - a species I'm recording more frequently these days
Flowers of Hairy Wood-rush Luzula pilosa, the open one star shaped with dark tepals edged in white.
Flowers of Pill Sedge Carex pilulifera
Two early-flowering species of acid woodland seen this week - the delicate star-like flowers of Hairy Wood-rush growing close to the even more understated flowers of Pill Sedge
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Tassels of pale-green Redcurrant flowers; shallow cups with recurved petals and a coral-coloured centre; anthers shaped like tiny dog bones.
It's always a treat to come across wild flowering Redcurrant, a species of damp woodland, part of a huge thicket growing on seasonally flooded silts alongside a spring-fed limestone stream in Bedford Purlieus NNR. Such strange flowers with anthers like tiny dog bones...
#wildflowerhour
White flowers of Summer Snowflake
Flowers of Ashleaf Maple with reddish-brown anthers
Emerging leaves of Ashleaf Maple
A couple of non-native species recorded from Morkery Wood (VC53) at the start of the week - Summer Snowflake (first recorded in 2006) and Ashleaf Maple, an American species, presumably planted - last recorded there in 30 years ago...
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Little Mouse-ear, the sepals with short glandular hairs and hyaline tips, the white petals scarcely exceeding the petals
Lesser Chickweed, an early flowering winter annual, with seed capsules and at least one petal-less flower. The uniformly small leaves turn a very distinctive shade of yellow-green by mid-spring.
Two very understated and often overlooked species seen at Barnack Hills and Holes yesterday - Little Mouse-ear and Lesser Chickweed - both in flower (though the chickweed flowers have no petals). Winter annuals that thrive in dry, open-structured habitats
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Cowslip flowers of golden-yellow with an orange mark on each petal, emerging from soft-green tubular calyces.
Cowslip flowers of golden-yellow with an orange mark on each petal, emerging from soft-green tubular calyces.
A Cowslip with soft-yellow flowers with an orange mark on each petal, larger than normal and showing evidence of hybridisation with Primrose, possibly a backcross...
Golden yellow Cowslip flowers drooping gracefully from their common stalk.
A good week for the #wildflowerhour #cowslipchallenge- flowering well at Bedford Purlieus NNR, Barnack Hills and Holes NNR and in our wild garden...plus one at Barnack with some Primrose genes in its pedigree
@bsbibotany.bsky.social
Beautiful!
On an overcast and breezy afternoon the first Pasqueflowers of the year were unfurling at Barnack Hills and Holes NNR, their purple petals backed with soft silvery hairs, the blooms emerging from a finely dissected, downy, purplish-green ruff.
#wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Great blog… so glad you both had a successful trip, though for the 2025 trip I seem to have turned into Philip - he definitely has a better beard!! 😆
very envious!! unsurprisingly not something we get round Peterborough...
Unfurling leaves of Large-leaved Lime at Bedford Purlieus NNR, clothed with silvery hairs, with distinctive raised veins on the underside of the leaf. Often planted, this huge coppice stool is probably native here and grows with abundant Small-leaved Lime.
@bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
A Pale Prominent moth, well disguised as a piece of broken wood, sitting on a wooden surface
A wonderfully vibrant Red-green Carpet moth, intricately patterned in shades of green with brownish patches and wiggly black lines.
A Brindled Beauty moth with buff-coloured wings striped with black, and feathered antennae.
Despite a coolish night, a few more species in the moth trap this morning including a Brindled Beauty, two very fresh Red-green Carpets and, most surprisingly, our earliest ever Pale Prominent, all new for the year.
#mothsmatter #teammoth
Ophrys kotschyi
Semicollared Flycatcher
Purple Marbled
Namaqua Dove
two wildlife-packed weeks in Cyprus comes to an end
a rarity-packed 1st half brought us Namaqua Dove, Desert Finch, Isabelline Shrike & Caspian Stonechats
then a 2nd half filled w/ flitting Ficedula
a new dot on the map for Kotschy's Orchid was a plant highlight, & Purple Marbled was a dream moth
