What happens when you don’t cut the grass? Rare orchids appear! Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) recorded for the first time on The Stray, Harrogate in an area left uncut for biodiversity. Found by @clare_pinches. Well done @northyorksc Good news @thestrayferret

Mesmerizing Starling murmuration at Ripon racecourse. Watch with the sound on 🔊 to hear the thousands of birds already roosting in the hedge #bioabundance

It is only by understanding what causes sampling bias that we can correct it... Check out our new Blog post by @roboyd91 here! 👇 https://t.co/Ny0s5sWGSE

Did my monthly flower hunt in Pannal for @BSBIbotany #NewYearPlantHunt. 14 species in flower which is 5% of the 275 recorded along the 3.5km transect. Flower abundance about normal - score of 25 compared to nearly 500 in July! Will be recording the transect weekly throughout 2025

Just published and a must read for anyone interested in Britain’s rarest plant; Paul Redshaw’s tantalising tale of the rediscovery of Lady’s-slipper Orchid in 1930, the controversy that surrounded it, and its conservation since then.

These lovely little beacons are keying out as Entoloma verae described in 2021 and split from the Mouse-pee pinkgill - Entoloma incanum group. Very rare in Britain and globally. To be sequenced soon 🤞🏼#FungiFriday #Fungi #Mycology #Mushrooms

Amanita echinocephala - Solitary Amanita on the Cotswold commons recently, considered a rare find, there were four of them #Fungi #Mushrooms #Nature

False death cap, Amanita citrina in a loval woodland this week. #fungifriday

Few other Waxcaps about yesterday. Dingy (Neohygrocybe ingrata), Citrine (Hygrocybe citrinovirens), Meadow (Cuphophyllus pratensis) and Ballerina (Porpolomopsis calyptriformis) 😍 Showing the variety of genera within this group. #FungiFriday

Leccinum scabrum WIP #mushroomart

Fantastic couple of days with the national @ForestryComm & @NaturalEngland trees & woodland teams in Hampshire - discussing areas of continued positive joint working and seeing some great sites to boot. Great views of a beautiful Hobby a real treat today.

I’m speaking to @bbc5live later today about my recent Ghost Orchid find - the second UK sighting in 37 years. It’s wonderful to see genuine enthusiasm about the find and plants in general - if you want to know more about plants please check out @BSBIbotany and consider membership

Huge thanks to top environmental journalist @horton_official for covering the #GhostOrchid story in today's @guardian https://t.co/8dOKluqQfF Congrats to @thenewgalaxy on refinding this most elusive of orchids & to @BSBIscience who visited the (secret) site to verify the find.

Having seen both @donnarainey4 & @BSBIscience's devil's-bit scabious (Succisa pratensis) meadow pics, here's my contribution, from the horse-grazed fields out the back of the house. Staggering display!

I think we’ve hit peak purple poms-poms. Devil’s-bit Scabious Succisa pratensis at Staveley Nature Reserve, Knaresboroygh yesterday with @clare_pinches. Also 2 hobby, greenshank and a black-tailed godwit @YWT_North @MikeMETCALFE10

An exciting first for me & for #FungiFriday … I believe this is Phylloporus pelletieri - the Golden-gilled Bolete. A bolete… with gills! Score! 🏆

So proud of this little cutie who passed all her GCSEs with flying colours today; our beautiful, courageous and creative daughter now moves on to the next chapter @clare_pinches

The big tides and strong winds of recent days have given the strandlines on Barra's beaches a good stir up and boosted our sea bean collection by one: a Grey Nickar Nut that's floated here from tropical America.

Found a strange gall on Pink Water-speedwell Veronica catenata at Farnham Gravel Pit, North Yorkshire this weekend. Turns out they are formed by the small weevil Gymnetron villosulum. Here’s one that emerged from a specimen I collected. Of any interest @MarkGurn?

My two plant highlights of a trip up to Malham Cove, Yorkshire with Lorna today Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium caeruleum) still flowering Baneberry (Actaea spicata) on the limestone pavement up above #wildflowerhour @wildflower_hour @BSBIbotany