Sarah Lambert

@sarahlambert7

Freelance botanist / plant ecologist / naturalist - supporting nature recovery in Cambs and Lincs. Keen photographer sharing stories and images from the natural world. BSBI recorder for South Lincolnshire and leader for Wildlife Travel.

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Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 17d

I went to Bedford Purlieus NNR this morning to visit the Broad-leaved Helleborines. As expected, plenty of vegetative plants and eventually a few with open flowers, but many flower-spikes had shrivelled in bud - a response to the prolonged drought... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Deep-pink flowered Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine)

Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) with flowers in shades of pink and brown

Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) with shrivelled flowers from the drought

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 17d

Celebrating the #wetlandplants of Woodwalton Fen NNR during a training day this week - from towering Marsh Sow-thistles to low-growing Common Comfrey (subsp. bohemicum), Yellow Loosestrife on the point of flowering and a rather shy Greater Water-parsnip... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Yellow dandelion-like flowers of Marsh Sow-thistle Sonchus palustris - often reaches 3 metres in height

Creamy-white bell-shaped flowers of Common Comfrey Symphytum officinale subsp. bohemicum - the rare subspecies found mostly in the fens of eastern England

Yellow Loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) flowers just about to open, showing the orange-rimmed sepals very nicely

A rather distant plant of Greater Water-parsnip Sium latifolium, peeping out from among the reeds at the edge of a fen ditch

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 18d

In the pink - a very fresh Roseate Marble new for our Peterborough garden, possibly on the roots of the Perennial Sow-thistle gracing our patio. And a smart Mint Moth- very common in the garden but just because it's so beautiful... #mothsmatter #teammoth

Roseate Marble Celypha rosaceana - a small moth whose wings are patterned in rose-pink and ochre yellow, with green eyes, facing right on a wooden plank

Mint Moth Pyrausta aurata, seen from above on a wooden plank, its wings patterned in purple and orange

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 18d

Non-botanical highlight of our recent survey visit to the Lincolnshire coast was finding hordes of Natterjack toadlets scuttling around in several recently scraped dune slacks. The Dynamic Dunescapes habitat restoration has clearly worked well...

A young Natterjack Toad, facing right, with a creamy stripe down its back and skin patterned with orange lumps outlined in black, sitting on some damp sand

A young Natterjack Toad, facing forwards, with a creamy stripe down its back and skin patterned with orange lumps outlined in black, sitting on some damp sand

A young Natterjack Toad, facing away from the camera, with a creamy stripe down its back and skin patterned with orange lumps outlined in black, sitting on some damp sand

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 23d

A couple of urban neophytes #StillFlowering in Sussex - self-seeded Garden Lobelia looking happy at the base of a wall in Pevensey and Yellow Corydalis lighting up a village churchyard in Hellingly, close to a native Great Mullein living up to its name... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Self-seeded pink variety of Garden Lobelia Lobelia erinus at the base of a cobble and mortar wall

A fountain of flowering Yellow Corydalis pseudofumaria lutea on a grave

A giant Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus in a churchyard

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 23d

Sheets of Strawberry Clover #StillFlowering on the Pevensey Levels earlier this week, coping well with the extended drought that's turned much of the grassland from green to gold. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Pinks flowers and inflated fruits of Strawberry Clover Trifolium fragiferum

The Pevensey Levels, with golden sheep-grazed grassland interspersed by darker green clumps of Hard Rush Juncus inflexus

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 23d

Horned Poppy was one of the few plants #StillFlowering on the shingle at Pevensey Bay. But great to see plenty of fruiting Sea Kale and to find the spiky seed-heads of Rough Dog's-tail, looking very at home in the dry conditions... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Yellow four-petalled flowers of Horned Poppy Glaucium flavum, with pinnatifid grey-green leaves and long seed pods

View east along Pevensey Bay showing brown vegetation with prominent blue-green clumps of Sea Kale visible on the shingle

Spiky fruiting heads of Rough Dog's-tail Cynosurus echinatus, a southern European and south-west Asian neophyte

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 23d

Three species #StillFlowering in the grounds of the cafe at Hastings Country Park when most other vegetation was dry and shrivelled - Chicory, Thrift and Pineappleweed - true survivors... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Blue flowers of Chicory Cichorium intybus with a background of brown grasses

Pink flowers of Thrift Armeria maritima emerging from sandy soil, baked hard.

Pineappleweed Matricaria discoidea flowering in an area of parched stony soil

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 23d

Different shades of pink from three species of Ericaceae - Cross-leaved Heath, Bell Heather and Heather - #StillFlowering in Ashdown Forest this week, alongside some bright yellow-flowered Dwarf Gorse which provided a lively colour contrast. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Pale-pink flower clusters of Cross-leaved Heath Erica tetralix

Bright-pink flowers of Bell Heather Erica cinerea

A mix of Bell heather, Cross-leaved Heath and Heather Calluna vulgaris

Dwarf Gorse Ulex minor, with a cluster of yellow pea flowers atop a very spiny stem

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 26d

A few nice species I don’t often see, found in a very hot and dry corner of Ashdown Forest en route to the Pevensey Levels - Redstart, Small Red Damselfly, Grass Emerald and Evarcha arcuata

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· 29d

The entomological highlight of the recent LNU/LFG trip to Scrivelsby Park was this Yellow-legged Clearwing found by Peter Kirby. Very few records of this elusive moth in North Lincs (VC54). Its larvae feed internally on oak wood. @lincsnata.bsky.social #teammoth #mothsmatter

A Yellow-legged Clearwing Synanthedon vespiformis, mimicking a wasp, with three yellow stripes on its body and transparent wings patterned with fiery orange, sitting on an oak leaf

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 12

A very pale, almost silvery, variant of Cornflower, seen today in an area seeded with wildflowers at Tolworth Court Farm Fields LNR, during a very hot grassland NVC survey. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A very pale, almost silvery, variant of Cornflower Centaurea cyanus

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 12

Wild Parsnip and Field Scabious looking wonderful in our wild garden this week - and providing pollen and nectar for a wide range insects... #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildlifegarden

Acid-yellow flowers of Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa subsp. sylvestris

Soft purple flower of Field Scabious Knautia arvensis

Six-spot Burnet nectaring on Field Scabious

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 12

Looking for #aquaticplants along Scriveslby Beck with the Lincolnshire Flora Group yesterday. Little water remaining, but we found flowering Blue Water-speedwell and Peppermint, as well as Creeping Yellow-cress in the park...1st record in VC54 since 2017. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Blue Water-speedwell Veronica anagallis-aquatica

Creeping yellow-cress Rorippa sylvestris

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 12

Just a few of the #aquaticplants seen with my trainees in the River Nene on a swelteringly hot day this week - Perfoliate and Fennel Pondweeds and Spiked Water-milfoil. We survived until 11 am and then retreated for an afternoon of id indoors! #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

A mix of aquatic plants in the River Nene including Perfoliate Pondweed Potamogeton perfoliatus, Fennel Pondweed Stuckenia pectinata and Spiked Water-milfoil Myriophyllum spicatum.

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 10

The stunning Rusty Acorn Piercer Cydia amplana, new to out Peterborough garden today. This species was once a scarce immigrant but is now established in south and east England. Larvae feed in nuts of Oak, Hazel, Beech and Walnut. #teammoth #mothsmatter

Rusty Acorn Piercer Cydia amplana, a Tortricoid moth beautifully patterned in shades of orange and rust

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 8

While exploring John Clare Countryside @beardybirder.bsky.social and I found feeding signs of Pseudoprotapion astragali, a local species monophagous on Wild Liquorice. Eventually we found several of the tiny (c. 2mm) shiny blue-green weevils - not easy to photograph! #invertebrates #beetles

Pseudoprotapion astragali, a tiny weevil with a blue-green sheen seen on a leaf of Wild Liquorice, showing feeding damage.

A clearer view of Pseudoprotapion astragali, approximately 2 mm in length

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 5

Least Bur-reed having a very prolific year in the Main Pond at Castor Hanglands NNR. A predominantly northern species, this is the only extant population in VC32 (Northamptonshire) of this species listed as Vulnerable in England. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Close up of flowers and young fruit of Least Bur-reed Sparganium natans growing in a pond

A floating raft of Least Bur-reed Sparganium natans in a pond at Castor Hanglands NNR

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 5

An absolute mass of Dodder seem at Castor Hanglands NNR yesterday with @beardybirder.bsky.social. This species is an obligate parasite that climbs and scrambles over it host plants, particularly Wild Liquorice and Marjoram. #climbingplants #wildflowerhour # @bsbibotany.bsky.social

The small white-flowers of parasitic Dodder Cuscuta epithymum, on filamentous stems that climb and scramble over its host plants

Dodder Cuscuta epithymum scrambling over a plant of Wild Liquorice Astragalus glycyphyllos

Dodder Cuscuta epithymum climbing up stems of Marjoram Origanum vulgare

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 5

Splendidly sinister Deadly Nightshade spotted on a ride edge at Castor Hanglands NNR while visiting with @beardybirder.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Dull-purple, bell-shaped flowers of Deadly Nightshade Atropa belladonna

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jul 5

Two water-dropworts seen yesterday at Castor Hangands NNR with @beardybirder.bsky.social - Parsley Water-dropwort in damp grazed grassland and Tubular Water-dropwort at the edge of the Main Pond, first confirmed record since 2009. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social

Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii flowering in damp grassland

Close-up of flowerheads of Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii with two Variimorda villosa beetles

Flowering Tubular Water-dropwort Oenanthe fistulosa growing among Water Horsetail Equisetum fluviatile

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 28

Find of the week, in a restored 'ghost pond' - a population of Bearded Stonewort Chara canescens, a rare species with the majority of its sites close to Peterborough, particularly in water bodies associated with former brick works #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social @wildlifebcn.org

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 28

The most problematical #InvasiveSpecies in many of our local disused gravel and brickpits is New Zealand Pigmyweed, which can form dense mono-dominant carpets. But increasingly I find it co-existing with wetland plants, including stoneworts, especially where rotationally cleared... #wildflowerhour

New Zealand Pigmyweed Crassula helmsii with pointed yellowish-green slightly succulent leaves arranged in 4s and tiny white flowers

Close up of white flower of New Zealand Pigmyweed Crassula helmsii

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 28

Both growing together here…colour is so tricky in photos but flower shape and overall structure of these plants does look more convincing - I think I can just about see a stalk!

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 26

This morning in our garden - an Elephant Hawk-moth nectaring on the Lavender bush by our back door... #mothsmatter #teammoth

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 24

A hot morning walk at Castor Hanglands with Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea scrambling on ride-margins, Parsley-leaved Water-Dropwort abundant in the fen meadow and Lesser Water-plantain and Least Bur-reed flowering in the pond... @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

Pink flowers of Narrow-leaved Everlasting-pea Lathyrus sylvestris

White-flowered umbel of Parsley Water-dropwort Oenanthe lachenalii

Flowers of Least Bur-reed Sparganium natans floating in a pond

Three-petalled pale-pink flowers of Lesser Water-plantain Baldellia ranunculoides

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 24

A hot, humid morning for my regular pilgrimage to a nearby population of Crested Cow-wheat. A bumper year with thousands of plants all in perfect condition...wonderful to see such profusion when this population was so nearly lost...

A flowerhead of Crested Cow-wheat Melampyrum cristatum, the tubular soft-yellow flowers becoming flushed with pink as they age, and enclosed by pink bracts which are deeply toothed

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 23

Solstice Sunday, guiding collection of herbarium specimens for the Love Lincs Plants legacy project at Saltfleetby-Theddlethorpe NNR. Key species gathered included Marsh Helleborine, Marsh Pennywort and Sand Leek @lincsnata.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour

The easily overlooked flowers of Marsh Pennywort Hydrocotyle vulgaris

Carefully collecting a specimen of Marsh Helleborine

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 20

A busy night at the moth trap, but the highlight was this Apple Marble which landed on the sheet - first record for our garden. It was very lively last night last night, but this morning it had calmed down enough for a short photo-shoot...I do love a tortricoid... #mothsmatter #teammoth

An Apple Marble moth sitting on weathered wood, its wings mostly mid-brown patterned in silver-grey and dark-brown, with a tuft on its thorax

Sarah Lambert@sarahlambert7· Jun 19

Yesterday, outside the Tolworth Premier Inn in Surrey, I made my first acquaintance with Rockrose Prickly Leaf Beetle, a quite spectacularly spiny species which was first recorded in the UK in 2021. The larvae mine the leaves of cultivated Cistus bushes, but don't sewm to cause major damage.