Under the radar, Tory MPs & landowning lobbyists are trying to undermine nature protections in England. Yesterday, Tory MP Derek Thomas tabled a Bill in Parliament to strip Natural England of its power to create nature reserves (SSSIs) & instead give that power to Ministers. 1/

Taraxacum amicorum with it's unique stepped leaves flowering in the centre of Taunton at the weekend. #dandelions BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland #wildflowerhour

Cornish dandelion Taraxacum cornubiense is common in Swanage, Dorset! A spotty member of section Naevosa having toothed 'fleur-de-lis' end lobes to the leaves #dandelions BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland #wildflowerhour

Perhaps one of the easiest to recognise Erythrosperma #dandelions Taraxacum inopinatum growing on a sand dune, Holkham, VC28 yesterday. This is endemic to British isles and has dark spotted leaves unique to this section BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland #wildflowerhour

Heading off to Devizes tomorrow for BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland dandelion workshop. Here's a pic of Taraxacum subundulatum with it's outer involucral bracts forming a ruff, a specialist of 'mead' (ancient water meadow) #dandefest2024

A Sun Fly.( Helophilus Pendulus.) Doing what it does best. Sunning itself.

Spent the morning at Kilnsea. Here's Taraxacum fulviforme lacking pollen and characteristic leaf shape as well as a phone scope shot of the Collared flycatcher

The endemic Doward hawkweed Hieracium dowardense almost flowering today near King Arthur's Cave Symonds Yat #Hawkweed BSBI: Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland

This report from the BBC is truly jaw dropping. South West has been pumping raw sewage into our rivers onto our beaches when it is not raining - which is illegal - on an industrial scale. What’s worse, they’ve been doing it at some of our most precious nature spots. (1/3)

Lovely display of broomrape Orobanche coerulescens (and Bedstraw broomrape O caryophyllacea) at University of Oxford Botanic Garden and Arboretum #OxfordBotanicGarden and there's a fab Ivy broomrape O hederae next to the bins at the cafe! #broomrape

Something isn't quite right here.

EIGHT more hen harriers for the dead/missing list. The illegal killing continues...what will Mary Creagh CBE MP Steve Reed MP Sue Hayman Daniel Zeichner do about it? New blog 👇👇 raptorpersecutionuk.org/2024/09/10/eig…

Great views of arctic warbler and Pallas' grasshopper warbler today. Other nature photographer included Northern lights, Porpolomopsis calyptriformis, Metridium senile and Ciona intestinalis

No sign of any eagles in Berkshire this morning. Good fun with Michaela nonetheless 🙂

Found a cracking Clathrus archeri Devil's fingers today at Dolebury Warren Somerset. Thanks for the grassland fungi recommendation David Gibbs

I was very sorry to learn today that Bristol Birder and keen lister Jack Willmott died last week. The last time I saw Jack was at the Brunnich's Guillemot twitch, Portland Harbour December 2013 although that wasn't a bird Jack needed. Always enjoyed meeting him for a chat. RIP.

After only managing to get brief views earlier in the trip, we decided to try again for the incredible Marvelous Spatuletail. We were not disappointed. One of the worlds best Hummingbirds

At last, Veldgids Paardenbloemen, Handbook Dandelions, is coming in spring 2025. Together with Erik van den Ham, we worked for several years to prepare this new Taraxacum flora for the Netherlands, Belgium and adjacent Germany.

Just listening to LBC... Suella Braverman is so thick that she just told a caller that Italy had solved immigration problems by building a wall along their border with Turkey. Heaven help us 🤦‍♂️