Neil Forbes

#Wildflowerhour #Signsofspring. One of my favourite spring flowers is Yellow Star Of Bethlehem (Gagea lutea) seen in Cumbria this week.

Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale Cress) Arnside pavement

And Thale Cress, Arabidopsis thaliana, is now suddenly starting to appear.
#wildflowerhour
#PavementPlants
#Arnside

Erophila verna. Arnside Knott

Erophila verna, Common Whitlowgrass.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside Knott
#Cumbria

Larix decidua

No. 1. The Larch. The Larch.
#wildflowerhour

Sesleria caerulea, Arnside Knott

The first flowerheads of Blue Moor-grass, Sesleria caerulea. A sure sign that the wheel is turning and that #spring is here, even if we're not at the equinox quite yet.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside Knott

Prunus cerasifera

Prunus cerasifera

It's Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) time of year again. A widely planted #neophyte & it's easy to understand why given its attractiveness & early-flowering habit.
Reflexed sepals, green young twigs & 🌼 usually before 🌿 are ID features.
#wildflowerhour
Gait Barrows #NationalNatureReserve
#Silverdale

I'm sure they used to be 🙃

Campaigners outside SSE's offices in Glasgow holding a banner which reads: "Stop Berwick Bank"

Today we gathered outside SSE's Glasgow office to urge them to stop the Berwick Bank offshore wind farm.

Together we delivered a petition signed by 12,500 people opposing this damaging project.

@seabirdcentre.bsky.social @n-t-s.bsky.social @mcsuk.bsky.social @scotwildlife.bsky.social

Nice to see 💚
How is it this time of year already though?

With a few days of sun & warmth this week ☀️, the seabird breeding season briefly turned up to 11 on the south coast. At the West Hayling lagoons, Mediterranean Gulls continue ro build in numbers & perform courtship, whilst Black-headed Gulls select territories 1/ #SuperSeabirdSunday

Dear Shabana, I notice today that you referred to me in your speech on immigration at the IPPR think tank. You said: “A party leader should not be on the beaches of France encouraging people to make a perilous crossing on small boats.” I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised especially after the hateful Labour campaign in Gorton and Denton, but this is just the latest in a string of lies peddled by a discredited Government who intentionally fan the flames of racism and division. When I went to Calais, I was not there to encourage people to travel to the UK. I was there to see at first hand the suffering your Government and successive Governments have done in demonising migrants in a pathetic bid to pander to the base instincts of Reform and the flawed strategy of Morgan McSweeney. As you will know, if you even bothered to research my visit instead of taking Reform talking points, I was there to witness the brutality of families living in tents in freezing temperatures. I filled water tanks and picked up litter. What that visit did do is confirm my belief that if we are to smash the boat gangs and stop the boats, we need to offer safer and managed routes for migrants to come to this country. Showing compassion as a politician is not a crime. In fact, we need to see much more of it. It reminded me of a young MP who in October 2015 spent three days in Lesbos helping migrants fleeing war-torn Syria. She posted videos on X, talked about handing out water and croissants to refugees and food parcels. When she returned to the UK, she wrote a very moving piece in the New Statesman. She said “we have to work with our European partners and create new, safe, and legal routes for refugees to get to Europe. We cannot abandon them to their fate, left as prey for smugglers whilst risking death on the seas.” She said “maybe we can make ourselves feel better by saying no-one is making them get on the boats. And again, the Home Secretary is not entirely wrong when …

Dear Shabana,

Let's clear some things up around migration and remember we're talking about people's lives.

Bird nests support a diverse, dynamic and distinctive macroarthropod community on the forest floor Nests built by vertebrates, such as birds and mammals, constitute diverse microhabitats that are inhabited by many arthropod taxa and represent important hubs of local biodiversity. Compared to leaf...

New paper! Bird nests (Wood Warblers) are hubs of invertebrate biodiversity on forest floor, hosting more species/individuals than leaf litter. Probably due to heat & food detritus. Losing Wood Warblers = ecological networks lost. #ornithology
resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Arnside Knott sunset

First roding #Woodcock of the year for me just now. Not a bad backdrop either.
#Arnside Knott
#Cumbria

Sea Thrift Armeria maritima getting to the spring party early. Hayling Island, Hampshire. @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) shoots creeping across a wet, bare substrate. The shoots are bottle-brush like, bright yellow-green with narrow, untoothed leaves sticking out from the main stem.

A series of Marsh Clubmoss shoots criss-crossing the flush, looking like a group of yellow-green centipedes running across the muddy ground

**BREAKING NEWS** - Marsh Clubmoss refound in Dunbartonshire, at a site where it was last recorded in 1854!

Being more-or-less evergreen, clubmosses make great botanical targets all year round. With that in mind, I set out to hunt for Marsh Clubmoss near Inveraran on the shore of Loch Lomond 🧵

Saxifraga tridactylites

Rue-leaved Saxifrage, Saxifraga tridactylites.
Fascinating #etymology:
Saxifraga = Stone Breaker, apparently referring to its use in herbal medicine to treat urinary stones rather than its habitat preferences. Tridactylites= 3 fingers (a little more obvious).
#wildflowerhour
#Yewbarrow
#Cumbria

Hazel, Corylus avellana

Hazel, Corylus avellana

Hazel, Corylus avellana

A study in Scarlet (or #Hazell)
#wildflowerhour
#Yewbarrow
#Cumbria

Tussilago farfara RSPB Leighton Moss car park

Colt's-foot, Tussilago farfara. A classic, & very lovely, #spring plant. It is now scarce in the intensively managed farmed landscapes of the UK, but does better in some disturbed urban and #brownfield sites, like this corner of #RSPB Leighton Moss car park.
#wildflowerhour
@rspbengland.bsky.social

Erophila verna s.s.

Common Whitlowgrass, Erophila verna s.s. Lots in flower on Yewbarrow. One of the earliest plants to really get going in #spring , and so the species epiphet is very appropriate.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria

Goldeneye, Tufted Ducks and Pintail RSPB Leighton Moss

RSPB Leighton Moss

Tussilago farfara, Colt's-foot RSPB Leighton Moss

Potentilla sterilis, Barren Strawberry RSPB Leighton Moss

A lovely mixing of the seasons at #RSPB Leighton Moss - Bitterns booming, the first Chiffchaffs are back & #spring plants are appearing, whilst wintering birds remain abundant with at least 33 Goldeneye this afternoon. Great views of an Otter too 💚
@rspbengland.bsky.social
#wildflowerhour
#nature

I eagerly await her return each year & this morning, there she was! 🥰 #Curlew CJ6 ringed as a chick in central #Finland in 2012, this is her 13th spring staging on the #AlstonWetland patch. 3-4 weeks fattening up on #Lancashire's finest earthworms then she'll be off once again. #waders #shorebirds

Primula vulgaris Eaves Wood, Silverdale

Primula vulgaris (Primrose) has an extended flowering period from Dec to May, but tends to appear mostly from March up here in NW England.
Eaves Wood, #Silverdale
#wildflowerhour
#Lancashire

Tactical voting groups say greens - not labour - will stop Reform in byelection.

On Thursday only Greens can beat Reform in Gorton and Denton. And we will beat their hate with a message of hope.

On Thursday help us make hope normal again.

Fox #Moths are pretty impressive critters, given that we've had plenty of cold weather lately. Quite a bit milder today and they're on the move.
Forest of #Bowland #NationalLandscape
@forestofbowlandnl.bsky.social

Loads of great #WildFlowerId resources on the @wildflowerhour.bsky.social website!

Sun Spurge, Euphorbia helioscopia

Here comes the Sun (Spurge), Euphorbia helioscopia. An #archaeophyte that thrives in open, disturbed habitats. Quite early for it to be in flower though.
#wildflowerhour
#Phenology

Common Field-speedwell, Veronica persica

Common Field Speedwell, Veronica persica for #wildflowerhour
This species thrives on bare & disturbed ground. Solitary flowers in the leaf axils, as fot all Field-speedwells. It has larger flowers than Green & Grey Field-speedwells, & the 2 fruits (no 📷) are set c90 degrees apart from each other.

Hazel, Corylus avellana flowers Manchester Ship Canal, Woolston

I never get tired of finding female #Hazel flowers. So tiny & yet so exquisite.
These on the banks of the #Manchester Ship Canal.
#wildflowerhour

The #Winter10 (11), Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve.
#wildflowerhour #Cheshire
Hazel, Gorse, Ragwort, Common Mouse-ear, Shepherd's-purse, Red Dead-nettle, Colt's-foot, Wavy Bittercress, Common Field-speedwell, Scentless Mayweed & Sun Spurge. A right mix of neophytes, archaeophytes & native species.

Colt's-foot, Tussilago farfara

The first Colt's-foot is an annual botanical highlight for me.
It's distribution is fairly stable overall but has been lost from farmland where it used to thrive amongst the messy edges. It often does well on #brownfield sites.
Woolston Eyes Nature Reserve, Cheshire.
#wildflowerhour 🌼
#Spring 🌿☘️