Neil Forbes
@treebeard793
Ecologist, based in South Cumbria, working across NW England and SW Scotland. Mostly focused on coastal, wetland, limestone and upland habitats; botany, birds & Natterjacks. Views my own.
Last one for tonight, Marsh Willowherb, Epilobium palustre. #StillFlowering at #RSPB Campfield Marsh, in both lagg fen and upper saltmarsh/freshwater transitional habitats. #WildflowerHour
A fine upstanding specimen of Restharrow, Ononis repens. #StillFlowering on the #Solway #saltmarshes #WildflowerHour #Cumbria
Flat Sedge, Blysmus compressus #StillFlowering on the #Solway #saltmarshes #WildflowerHour
Wood Dock, Rumex sanguinius (cool name). Late-flowering, seed-rich & deep-rooted, the Dock family are brilliant for #biodiversity and are much under-rated just because a couple of species can become "problematic" in intensively managed (i.e. damaged) swards. #StillFlowering #WildflowerHour
#StillFlowering - Sagina nodosa, Knotted Pearlwort. Near Greenodd, #Cumbria for #WildflowerHour
Bifid Hemp-nettle, Galeopsis bifida #StillFlowerimg at #RSPB Campfield Marsh. #WildflowerHour @rspbengland.bsky.social
#StillFlowering for #WildflowerHour - this wildlife garden is full of seed and nectar sources for bees and butterflies. The ponds are bringing in Dragonflies, Hoverflies and Bats. Loads of species in flower despite the ongoing drought. Diversity = Resilience (in so many ways) 💚💚💚
All sedges are brilliant but Carex pseudocyperus, Cyperus Sedge, is one of the brilliantest of them all. #StillFlowering #WildflowerHour 💚
A really lovely patch of blanket bog / wet heath in the Duddon Valley. Heath Spotted-orchids, are at their brilliant best right now, growing amongst the Bog Asphodel & Cross-leaved Heath. #StillFlowering #WildflowerHour
Two species that you don't often find growing side-by-side: Common Yellow-sedge, Carex demissa (wet habitats on neutral to acidic substrates) & Selfheal, Prunella vulgaris (a wide variety of grassland types). #RSPB Campfield Marsh, #Cumbria @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Reed Sweet-grass, Glyceria maxima. A frequent component of some reedbed communities. It can form floating rafts in deeper water. #AquaticPlants for #WildflowerHour #RSPB #LeightonMoss @rspbengland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Carex pallescens, Pale Sedge growing at Haweswater. #WildflowerHour #Cumbria @wildhaweswater.bsky.social
Vaste swathes of Crepis paludosa, Marsh Hawk's-beard at Haweswater. #WildflowerHour @wildhaweswater.bsky.social
Two #Hedgerow plants at different stages: Torilis japonica, Upright Hedge-parsley is just getting going, whilst Chaerophyllum temulum, Rough Chervil is developing seeds. #WildflowerHour #Lancashire
Epilobium palustre, Marsh Willowherb. A species of damp habitats but hardly an #AquaticPlant. No idea on the species / genus of the fly. #WildflowerHour #Cumbria @wildhaweswater.bsky.social
Small-leaved Lime, Tilia cordata #flowers #WildflowerHour #Roudsea #NNR #Cumbria
A solitary Sneezewort growing by the shore of Coniston Water. #WildflowerHour #Cumbria
Purple Small-reed, Calagrostis canescens, #Roudsea #NNR A speices of fens and other wetlands,here growing with Phragmites and a nice selection of sedges (C. Laevigata/ Paniculata/ acutoformis). Only a handful of sites in #Cumbria #WildflowerHour
One of the absolute classic #ClimbingPlants - Honeysuckle, Lonicera periclymenum. Here growing through Phragmites on the edge of a wet woodland pool. Roudsea NNR, #Cumbria #WildflowerHour
Carex flava, Large Yellow-sedge. A particularly attractive member of this particularly attractive group of sedges (Yellow Sedges). If you don't find sedges to be attractive and fascinating, I don't think you're looking closely enough 😁 #WildflowerHour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
You can see why it was named Royal Fern. King of the Ferns - Osmunda regalis. #WildFernHour, #WildflowerHour #Roudsea #NNR @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Bog Asphodel, Narthecium ossifragum growing in a wet heath on Lowick Common, #Cumbria A good indicator of wet heath and blanket bogs in the uplands. It also occurs in flushes.
Enchanter's-nightshade, Circaea lutetiana. Not actually a "nightshade" but certainly enchanting 💚 #WildflowerHour
Bog Pimpernel, formerly Anagallis, now, Lysimachia tenella. Upland wet flush amongst wet and dry #heathland. Wet flushes provide important refuges for wildlife even in some of the most highly modified (damaged) parts of the Lake District. #WildflowerHour
Leopard's-bane is a #neophyte & can occasionallybe invasive in woodlands according to Plant Atlas 2020. It's easy to be quite taken with neophytes, but important to remember that Japanese Knotweed showed no signs of being invasive for many years #WildflowerHour #InvasivePlants
Whie Water-lily, Nymphaea alba. At it's best right now at High Dam, an artificially created tarn / mesotrophic lake in #Cumbria #WildflowerHour
Zigzag Clover, Trifolium medium. Similar to Red Clover but with a much longer flower stalk (no leaves at the base of the flower) and longer, narrow stipules. #WildflowerHour #Cumbria
Hardly the most showy member of our native flora but I like, perhaps all the more for that. Floating Club-rush, Eleogeton fluitans. So easy to overlook. #WildflowerHour