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Join us at the #ScotBotanistsConf Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to find out how this stunning but nationally rare Sticky Catchfly is getting on in the Ochils!

Scotland's nature is in trouble, and we need Scottish Government to put funding in place to help it recover. Join me in telling finance secretary Shona Robison MSP not to cut funding for nature in the Scottish budget on 4 December: scotlink.eaction.online/naturefunding #ScotlandLovesNature

It was obvious to any informed person, with their eyes open, that the Biodiversity Net Gain policy, would be abused to justify the destruction of important habitat. It is a horrible legalistic contrivance, and it means nothing. theguardian.com/environment/20… 1/4

Join us for the #ScotBotanistsConf Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to hear all about how Plantlife Scotland are giving our pinewood specialists like this amazing One-flowered Wintergreen a boost! Head to: bsbi.org/scottish-annua… to book your place, but hurry - they are filling fast!

Can’t tell you how many points I’ve probed on a 100m grid to eventually have a week where I found not just 1 of my target peatland species, but probably FOUR! First up, the nationally rare Rannoch-rush (Scheuchzeria palustris) at a new site!

Of course, being on peatlands I’ve always got an eye out for nice Sphagna so I was delighted to find quite a decent population of Sphagnum pulchrum! One of our most stunning Sphagnum mosses & an indicator of a reasonably good bit of bog but can cling on in suboptimal conditions.

Amazing field trip for #PineCon24 discussing native pinewoods missed from the inventory, how to identify them, what state they’re in & what to do about them. A great example site here.

Just opened instagram & saw this! Absolutely chuffed for this tree to get this sort of recognition! Nominated it on a total whim, wasn’t even expecting it to get shortlisted, was against some tough competition!

Obviously you can't vote any more, but do go and have a read of the blog by Gus Routledge about the Skipinnish oak, a very worthy winner of Tree of the Year 2024 #ScotlandsRainforest @WTScotsocial savingscotlandsrainforest.org.uk/blog/skipinnis…

Visited the Skipinnish Oak the other day as I happened to be passing the day after it won UK Tree of the Year. It's been through a lot & is still threatened but I hear positive things are in the pipeline...

So many Sika deer (Cervus nippon) around locally. Heaps of them. Can really see the trampling impact they're having on this local lochan (which I suspect is a kettle hole). A few nice Sphagna to be found still but the coralroot orchid still evades me... Must be there...

Head-in-the-sand response to this issue seems to be pretty common. Fortunately there are many trying to work on the issue itself.

Pretty galling seeing Rhododendron ponticum invading this strip of pedunculate oak woodland at the north end of Loch Ness. Also been historically underplanted with beech, pine & larch (not too bad) & more recently invaded by Sitka spruce, Doug-fir & western hemlock (pretty bad).

Attended a great wee workshop last week organised by Plantlife Scotland at NatureScot Muir of Dinnet NNR looking at the nationally rare aspen bristle-moss (Nyholmiella gymnostoma), also seeing the endangered Nyholmiella obtusifolia & nationally scarce Lewinskya speciosa.

Had to wait a bit to post this until both were confirmed, but my other 2 finds from this particular job that I was gey chuffed with were Sphagnum majus & S. affine, neither of which I’d seen before so it was great to pick them out! #Corrour

Looking for a research project? Keen on trees & the montane environment? Here's an exciting PhD project on "mountain birch" (first job surely will be defining what that even is!) in Scotland!

Found a new site for Canadian fleabane (Erigeron canadensis) whilst going to get my car washed in Inverness a couple days ago, second Invernesian record of this adventive.

Seems this pic I took of myself & Cuilean stood by a patch of mossy stonecrop (Crassula tillaea) at Opinan back in mid September is only the second Wester Ross record of this species. As per usual, growing in a car park.

Lepidozia cupressina was a nice find right by the path on a wee walk at Falls of Foyers, only the second record from around Loch Ness, the first being in 1961 by the notorious D. Ratcliffe.