Happy spring, everyone! 🌺 Come celebrate the sunshine with us, on a task at Aston Rowant NNR, in South Oxfordshire @rowantnnr.bsky.social – that's tomorrow, Sunday 22nd. We will be removing scrub encroaching on the base Beacon Hill, and repairing a fence. #Oxford ocv.org.uk
Wonderful to hear Tom Bindoff awarded a BEM! Such a great volunteer for Aston Rowant NNR @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Chilterns beechwoods, stunning just now, before the beautiful autumn colour leaves all are blown to the ground. Then they are are nice to kick through as you walk through the woods & great for #fungi of course Aston Rowant NNR @chilternsnl.bsky.social @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Grassland #fungi time Excellent finds at Aston Rowant NNR included earthtongues, yellow spindles, beige coral, parrot waxcaps & the rare tiny brown toadstools called Fanvaults -the Hodophilus (Camarophyllopsis) species (last 2) some of which smell of mothballs! #fungifriends @rowantnnr.bsky.social
A big mystery of autumn. Why are certain #fungi fruiting bodies spectacular colours? Yes a lot are white buff /brown, but bright yellow, red, green, blue -just why? L -Parrot waxcaps here from @rowantnnr.bsky.social. Green (look hard) & yellow, go pink later. R- Orange cup Melastiza cornubiensis
Trying to help Juniper regeneration at Aston Rowant NNR chalk grassland on the Chilterns. Collecting Juniper berries to de-flesh & sow in scrapes & planting out a 3 yr old rooted cutting. Protection needed from rabbits, sheep and deer grazing for any young plants! @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Devil's bolete Rubroboletus satanas up in root zone of beeches at Aston Rowant NNR on the Chilterns. Nearby also Rooting Bolete Caloboletus radicans (yellow pores) and Lurid Bolete Suillellus luridus with Rockrose slow blueing with the first, faster with others #fungifriends @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Amazing in this drought in the south that fungi are somehow sourcing enough water from rain showers to fruit. Aston Rowant NNR on Chilterns shows spectacular growths of Giant polypore Meripilus giganteus at the base of several dead beech trees @rowantnnr.bsky.social
@fungiflowers.bsky.social
It's a male Chalkhill Bue butterfly but is the flower a gentian or a Clustered Bellflower I'm trying to turn it into... #pollinatorpals @wildflowerhour.bsky.social r. #WildflowerID @rowantnnr.bsky.social
The #Chalk downland @rowantnnr.bsky.social now enters its purple phase: clustered bellflower, hare bell and sways of scabious!
Our annual count of Broad-leaved Cudweed @rowantnnr.bsky.social under sunshine this year! Huge thanks to Oxfordshire Flora Group & @judywebb.bsky.social for joining us - the numbers are looking promising for this important species in our #arable plots - @rbgkew.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social
Congratulations Cathy 👏
Chalkhill Blue. Aston Rowant NNR 25/7/25
@rowantnnr.bsky.social @upperthames.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Silver-spotted Skipper beginning to emerge at Aston Rowant NNR. Six counted 25/7/25.
@rowantnnr.bsky.social @upperthames.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Unbelievable blue of the Adonis @rowantnnr.bsky.social 🦋
A cooler weather for our surveyors on their transect this week: Ringlet, Chalkhill Blue & Small Heath aplenty @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Great! found 8 Narrow-lipped Helleborines in flower at Aston Rowant #NNR in beechwood on chalk over last weeks - first time seen on site since 2016! Combo of two wet years followed by hot & dry yr? @rowantnnr.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @chilternsnl.bsky.social @wildflowerhour.bsky.social
Such a better #summer for our #butterflies! The downland @rowantnnr.bsky.social is heaving with lots of species including gatekeepers and peacocks 🦋 #pollinators
An interesting find @rowantnnr.bsky.social 🌸🌸🌸
Dingy White Plume
Reddish Light Arches
Brown Scallop
Shaded Pug
Enjoyable mothing at Aston Rowant NNR last night with @marcbotham.bsky.social A keen easterly wind limited the catch, but saw some really nice stuff that I don’t normally see incl Dingy White Plume, Reddish Light Arches, Brown Scallop, Large Nutmeg, Shaded & Satyr Pugs & Aethes tesserana. #teammoth
A peaceful end to a rather busy week @rowantnnr.bsky.social - Red kites calling all around - #conservation #grazing 🐑
A beautiful sunken way @rowantnnr.bsky.social - an interesting historic feature, now stuffed with #chalkgrassland #flowers & #butterflies 🌸🦋
What a stunner! A fantastic Privet hawk #moth found whilst a recent #volunteer group was working on some fence repairs @rowantnnr.bsky.social
Swathes of flowers @rowantnnr.bsky.social under the sunshine this week, including one of our favourites - Squinancywort. Here it can be found carpeting the tops of Yellow meadow ant hills #wildflower #NNR
Small-flowered Sweet-briar, Rosa micrantha, on chalk grassland. Aston Rowant NNR, South Oxfordshire. #wildflowerhour. Not #urbanplants but very close to the M40!
Spectacular swathes of Common Valerian & Dropwort at #AstonRowant #NNR. Two of my favourite flowers & Dropwort always characteristic of old #grassland in my experience. When does Dropwort ever colonise any new areas today? The Valerian scent was beautiful. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflower