Kittiwake was seen flying over Lymes Road today. The last, and only, other record is of a dead bird found in the SU car-park in 1970s.

i did a zoom talk on butterflies last week if you are interested. youtube.com/watch?v=FIO1TQ…

two Chiffchaffs singing at Keele today. Early records but welcome sign of spring.

Good to see a pair of Stock Doves prospecting one of our nest box's this morning.

Prunus 'Tom' & Prunus 'Early Pink' living up to its name 🌸 #cherryblossom #blossom #blossomseason #keelecherries

Mark Sutton found Keele's 2nd record of Jack Snipe this morning on the Science Park - previous record Jan 2013 (also on the science park aka Phase 3). Male Mandarin on lake 1 and 2 singing Chiffchaffs.

Spring at Keele is mostly filling your camera roll with endless photos of Cherry Trees 🌸 💚 📸 @martinbooth6 📸 Cerys

For Covid-related reasons I have not been on campus for 2 years. Today I made a brief visit and although the season is nearly over some of the late-flowering cherries still look great. Also found a new Ladybird for the campus (and for me) - Kidney-spotted. #keelecherries

It is with deep sorrow that we hear about the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Our sadness at this time is shared by the entire Keele community and people across Staffordshire, the country, and the world. A statement: keele.ac.uk/queen-elizabet…

#keelecherries 3 new cherries were planted opposite the Covert; Prunus 'Kursar', Prunus 'Shosar' and Prunus 'Gyoiko'. They replace trees that we lost.

#keelecherries Nice to be among the cherries of the Memorial Garden after what seems like an age. Lots of work to do over next few months. Meanwhile here is a reliable early flowerer.

#keelecherries Spring is coming and the cherries in the National Collection at Keele University are starting to flower. Here are a few of the early ones flowering now. Names are on the images. 1/2

#keelecherries two more early flowers plus the 14 additions to the Collection in the Memorial Garden. 2/2

Ariana Fazakas and Tobi Ewuosho gave an excellent presentation on the Keele Cherry Collection at the 18th Japanese Speech Contest for University Students. They were the only non-Russell group students and first time for Keele students to be selected as the finalists.

Peter Thomas and I will be leading a lunchtime walk to talk about the National Collection of Flowering Cherries at Keele. Meet Monday April 3 at 1pm by the entrance to Chancellor's Building. Hope to see you there. #keelecherries

Today, we welcomed Embassy of Japan UK to our campus, who came to see our fantastic collection of flowering cherries - and planted a new tree while they were here 🌸 We have one of the largest collections in the UK, boasting 283 varieties and species ➡️ bit.ly/3KWcjdg

Earlier this week, a plaque was unveiled on Cherry Tree Walk in memory of Keele's first Japanese student, Professor Fumiko Yonezawa, who studied theoretical chemistry and physics on campus from 1963-64. Read more 👇buff.ly/3RGTCiK

#keelecherries Prunus 'Catherine' in flower by the running track/Church Plantation. One of 240 species/varieties of Flowering Cherry at Keele University. See more here keele.ac.uk/cherries

If you are interested in Cherries you may be interested in this free talk at Keele on ‘Cherry’ Ingram, the man who saved the Great White Cherry.

#keelecherries This year is the 25th anniversary of the planting of the first cherries as part of what is now a National Collection over 300 trees. More at keele.ac.uk/cherries