(@johnfen1)

@johnfen1

Countryside Ranger in Rural Access and Urban Green Space. Gardening for Wildlife. Botany, Trees and Hedge Laying

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johnfen1@johnfen1· 1d

Silver-washed Fritillary perched on Greater Knapweed. Grinda Island, Stockholm archipelago, Sweden. A nature reserve in its own right, the woodland glades and open grassland were literally awash with this species of butterfly.

A Silver-washed Fritillary perched on Greater Knapweed. Grinda Island, Sweden 4 August 26

johnfen1@johnfen1· 2d

Still no rainwater to be found in the fused watertight leaf “bowls” around the stems. Tough drought resistant Wild Teasel flowering on #WildflowerHour

Formidably spiney egg shaped Wild Teasel flowerheads. Individual florets are opening around each one. The tough large leaves form a bowl around the stem that (when it does rain) collect and store water.

johnfen1@johnfen1· 16d

Great Willowherb, Purple Loosestrife, Reed Canary Grass and Hemp Agrimony. #WetlandPlants softening the edge of an urban Local Nature Reserve boardwalk. #WildflowerHour

A wooden boardwalk passing through tall herb vegetation. In the background a derelict local authority building, trees and bramble scrub. The boardwalk was part of a project that I was involved in back in 2023 enhancing access along the edge of an urban nature reserve pond.

johnfen1@johnfen1· 19d

This Hornet Hoverfly a large mimic species buzzed down low to settle on Frogbit for a drink in my garden pond. For scale the kidney shaped Frogbit leaves are at least 20mm across. #InsectThursday

A gingery yellow, black and chestnut Hornet Hoverfly with brown tinged wings settled on Frogbit leaves - an aquatic floating plant amongst oxygenated algae in a small pond

johnfen1@johnfen1· 19d

“What’s not to Love?” Quite clearly littering Greggs customers that do not love their environment.

A littered Greggs Pizza or Bakes and paper bag on an urban green space. The box has the catch line “What’s not to Love” on it. An easily accessible litter bin is available on site.

johnfen1@johnfen1· 23d

After clearing a good swathe of Great Willowherb earlier on in the year Common Fleabane, Common Ragwort, Spear Thistle and Hemp Agrimony now have the chance to find themselves #StillFlowering on an otherwise parched Lincolnshire urban nature reserve #WildflowerHour

A swathe of yellow flowering Common Fleabane and Ragwort in the foreground merging with crimson flower head specks of Spear Thistle and taller whitish pink Hemp Agrimony. Great Willowherb and Willow species trees in the background

johnfen1@johnfen1· 23d

Still no rain on the horizon in Lincolnshire for #StillFlowering Common Ragwort amongst the sun scorched grass and leaves on urban green space #WildflowerHour

Yellow flowering Common Ragwort amongst sun scorched grass and leaves against a background of other tall vegetation and trees underneath a heavy sky.

johnfen1@johnfen1· 27d

A Long Hoverfly with a longish Latin name. Sphaerophoria scripta, feeding on Wood Avens, Geum urbanum in the garden. #WildWebsWednesday

A slender shaped black/brown/yellow Long Hoverfly perched on a yellow Wood Avens flower against a backdrop of blurred green foliage.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jul 12

I don’t get to see much heathland in lowland Lincolnshire so it was great to see some Bell Heather in flower during a visit to North Yorkshire this weekend #WildflowerHour

Bellflower Heather against a backdrop of Common Heather, scattered Birch and Bracken, drystone walling and blue sky

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jul 12

Oh, no #AquaticPlants to be found on this North Yorkshire stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal but this partially submerged Oxeye Daisy is keeping its head well above the tree reflected canopies in the water surrounding it. #WildflowerHour

A partially overhanging Oxeye Daisy partially submerged in a reflection of tree canopies on a canal water surface

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jul 9

Powder blue and ink dot smudge. The underwings of Holly Blue on show whilst nectaring the white form of Valerian in the garden. #InsectThursday

A small powder blue coloured butterfly with black dots on its underwings. Holly Blue butterfly on the white flowers of Valerian.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jul 5

Having looked at this first and foremost through a phone lens, all I can offer is pointy sepals. No hairs and no black dots and if present blurry stem wings so hopefully Square-stalked St John’s wort. #WildflowerID #WildflowerHour

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jul 5

White Bryony clambering up through and eventually around a standard Ceanothus shrub and Verbena bonariensis in the garden #Climbingplants #WildflowerHour

Greenish white flowers of White Bryony attaching its tendrils to a a blue lilac flowered Ceanothus shrub and aiming for the tall stemmed light purple flowered Verbena bonariensis against the background of a red brick wall.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 30

No one else about. Just me, the Chiffchaff, Crow and the Wren

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 28

A different shade of blue. Viper’s-bugloss amongst a carpet of Bird’s-foot-trefoil and Lady’s Bedstraw #WildflowerHour

Viper’s-bugloss in two shades of blue against a background of grassland carpeted with a yellow hue of Lady’s Bedstraw other spikes of Viper’s- bugloss and specks of bright yellow/orange Bird’s-foot-trefoil. Trees and cloud filled Lincolnshire sky.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 23

My first ever live encounter with a Javelin Wasp scoping out one of my solitary bee hotels in my wildlife garden. This species of wasp featured in the BBC iplayer program “My Garden of a Thousand Bees” belonging to wildlife film-maker Martin Dohrn. Well worth a watch if you have not seen it.

A very slender Javelin Wasp with a long white tipped ovipositor connected to an orange banded abdomen. It is clinging to a piece of hazel amongst garden cane nesting tubes. It uses the ovipositor to deposit its own eggs in other host solitary bee and wasp nest chambers. The hatched Javelin Wasp larvae will feed on nectar and pollen deposited by the hosts as well as their larvae for afters!

Javelin Wasp with a view of its prominent club shaped abdomen to which the white tipped ovipositor is attached.

In gentle flight peering into a garden cane looking for a host nest chamber. Its hind legs trailing downwards and its abdomen raised in flight mode perpendicular to the thorax.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 21

Meadow crane’s-bill and Oxeye Daisy mingling in an urban local nature reserve meadow #WildflowerHour

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 21

A Narcissus Bulb Fly that started life as a larval grub chomping its way through a daffodil bulb deep underground to become a bumble bee mimic that feeds on nectar and pollen. One of many Oxeye Daisy #PollinatorPals #WildflowerHour

A gingery coloured Narcissus Bulb Fly feeding on an Oxeye Daisy

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 18

Red Admiral Butterfly. Burnt orange, sun bleached timber fence. #InsectThursday

Red Admiral Butterfly with hues of black, brown, orange, specks of blue and white on a sun bleached timber fence.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 14

Farm track refuge. Pineappleweed and Hedgerow Crane’s-Bill avoiding the gigantic tyres of overarching farmland machinery #WildflowerHour

Wildflowers on the raised strip between the heavy farmland machinery tyre tracks

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 14

Common Daisy amongst Fox-and-cubs #ChurchyardFlowers by chance until the next mow? #WildflowerHour

Common Daisy amongst the orangey red of Fox-and-cubs emerging from relatively closely mown churchyard grass. Headstones and church building in the background

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 12

Unexpected Asteracae Movements in the Dark. Some late night Botany with Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark in the grounds of Lincoln Castle, Lincolnshire

Stage set in the grounds of Lincoln Castle. Bright orange effect light show. A digital projected representation of a flower resembling a member of the Daisy Family is rising up behind the band Orchestral Manoevres in the Dark. 11 June 2026

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 11

It must be extremely irksome to have all this “green” unruly vegetation in an urban green space on the other side of the garden fence. So much so that this resident felt the need to spray a harmless narrow lightly managed, not so unruly “verge” to perhaps stake their “tidy weed free boundary” claim

Timber garden boundary fence alongside a local authority access track to an urban green space. The verge has been sprayed with herbicide/weed killer. It is normally managed as a green verge through light occasional strimming to prevent it growing back through the fence. The verge in its green state with low growing flowering plants was not causing any harm.

Poppies areas of long rough grass Oxeye Daisy and Knapweed. Trees in the background within the boundary of the urban green space. Residential fencing

Swathe of Oxeye Daisy and Common Knapweed. Within the urban green space boundary.

A bit more around the fence corner up to the the gate just to make sure. Common Mallow at the time the only one on site was being nurtured here.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 10

I have rarely seen Mullein Moth caterpillars on the Mullein plant out in rural Lincolnshire and was unaware that they also fed on garden Buddleia. One of eight caterpillars found on the now sacrificial dwarf Buddleia in the garden. #WildWebsWednesday

A brightly coloured yellow, black and greyish white caterpillar clinging to a garden Buddleia stem. Black frass can be seen on the leaf below it.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 7

A magnificent Musk Thistle in a Lincolnshire pasture #WildFlowerHour

A formidably spiney plant topped with an open vivid red-purple flower against a background of grassland merging with a hedgerow on the horizon underneath a low cloud sky

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 7

Knotted-Hedge parsley is also doing well under the rotary washing line. #LawnFlowers #WildFlowerHour

Tiny white flowers and anthers of Knotted-Hedge parsley amongst grass at the base of a grey metal pole. The reddish coloured beaked seeds of Doves-foot Crane’s-bill can be seen in front of the pole

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 7

A great #WildfowerHour drying day for the Oxeye Daisy #LawnFlowers under the rotary washing line.

Oxeye Daisies caught in the breeze below a pair of trouser legs!

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 4

A South Lincolnshire field awash with Oxeye Daisy against a heavy sky laden with showers. The Haverholme Priory on the horizon started life as a Gilbertine Monastery in 1139 eventually remodelled in the 1830s as a Gothic country house, falling into ruinous disrepair and dismantlement by the 1920s.

A field of Oxeye Daisy against a heavy sky. The sky can be seen through the windowless ruin on the horizon amongst trees.

A nearby piece of artwork that I cleaned today whilst out maintaining the Spires and Steeples footpath network. A secondary turret on the main tower was still present at the time of this interpretation produced in the late 2000s.

johnfen1@johnfen1· Jun 3

A consumer of pollen and nectar. A metallic green Thick-legged Flower Beetle perched, on a so far this week, unusually wet Oxeye Daisy #WildWebsWednesday

A consumer of pollen and nectar this metallic green beetle is on one of its favoured food plants the large flowering Oxeye Daisy with white petals and yellow button like composite centre packed with pollen and nectar.

johnfen1@johnfen1· May 31

Climbing Corydalis delicately clambering through low growing bramble at the edge of a plantation woodland on the site of a former airfield munitions storage area in Lincolnshire #WildflowerHour