How sad that Thurrock Council celebrated #EarthDay by strimming the remaining long grass on top of last weeks mow, removing all the wildflowers + insects in it.
They've left the grass where they cut it, so it doesn't even look neat,which I assume was the purpose of cutting it!?

Who’s gunna find the first one in bloom? 😍 saw these today in Buckinghamshire
Wild Orchids UK & Ireland

A strimmed (by Canal & River Trust ) Southern Marsh Orchid has reappeared along the canal near my house in Kidderminster. Big strong plant, it will be protected and should flower, like it did last year 😀

Although the Brown Fish Owl failed to show, a freshly-arrived Scops Owl made the night trip into the mountains worthwhile.
Akseki, Turkiye, 30/3/24.
Hamza Nobes

Four from Akseki and Antalya, Turkey, 30/3/24: Orchis anatolica & punctulata, Ophrys lucis & 'osmanica'.
Hamza Nobes

1)The Betteshanger experience shows that the planning system is designed so that wildlife, no matter how rare or threatened, doesn’t get in the way of development. Legislation to protect wildlife is failing. It needs to change.

Hamza Nobes dream grave 😂

Turkey, day 4. Sadly, Orchis punctulata reduced to 3 plants at a site that held 250+ in 2019.
Ophrys mammosa & padiliconi.

The queen.
Orchis punctulata, Antalya
Hamza Nobes Worldwide Orchids & Wildflowers

Some orchids from day 3 in SW Turkey: Ophrys 'climacis', Orchis italica, a massive Cephalanthera kurdica and delightfully graceful Orchis anatolica 😍
Hamza Nobes Worldwide Orchids & Wildflowers

Some early season Turkish orchid action while the UK season gets going...check out the eyelashes on that Sawfly!!
Hamza Nobes

Surprised to see Viola arvensis - Field pansy in bloom already in Oxfordshire as well Viola hirta - Hairy violet in a wood in Berkshire. These violas are fast becoming some of my favourites.

More Viola odorata from Wendover Bucks, viola odorata var. leucoium and f. lilacina.
BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland

Nice little selection of Viola today on my misty morning walk. I managed Viola odorata var. odorata, var. dumetorum, and var. imberbis as well as a lovely little Viola reichenbachiana.
BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland
wildflowerhour

It's shameful that Thames Water expects hard-working residents to foot the bill for their own failures.

It's a symptom of a broken system. We need radical action. Water companies need to protect the environment & bring down bills, rather than thinking about their profit margins.

Mike Tapp what is your position on the proposed development at Betteshanger Country Park? How is the Labour Party going to prevent the destruction of protected species under their watch?

So many protected species at Betteshanger Country Park- a site to be celebrated for its biodiversity treasures not developed as a tourist resort.

No one is checking the hedges for dormice before the destruction is happening. There are no ecologists present. This is not what was agreed by planning enforcement at all. This is not wildlife or dormice friendly 😡

Tree planting is important, but it must not destroy much rarer, valuable habitats. This wildflower-rich grassland in Cumbria has been planted without thought to the Butterfly Orchids, Betony, Scabious, Restharrow, Harebell and assoc'd biodiversity.
Please RT to raise awareness!

The Oxfordshire Giant Orchids aren't far behind those on the Continent, opening early this year, presumably due to the unseasonably warm and damp spell.
Photos Hamza Nobes