A Naturalist Abroad
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anaturalistabroad.bsky.social
A Naturalist Abroad
@anaturalistabroad.bsky.social
270 followers 190 following 300 posts
Sharing the wonders of nature from my base in Norfolk and on trips much further afield.
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Seems like the new, urban population of Jersey Cudweed has finally reached North Norfolk - I found these this week in Sheringham and Holt. Might be interesting to speculate on the effects of possible gene flow with the native population that is not too far away now...
Oh, that's a shame. I've had that with crocuses.
The wonderful Galanthus olga-reginae flowering in our garden today. Don't you just love snowdrop time!
Great Mullein can be ruled out because it has smaller, less broadly open flowers and the stigma is a different shape. You need to check details of the stem leaves, which can't be seen in the photos, but my guess would be for Dense-flowered Mullein as the petals are not strongly overlapping.
Don't wish to worry you, but there's over 600 parish churches in Norfolk!! 🙂
Krüper's Nuthatch is almost endemic to Turkey, extending only into the neighbouring Caucasus of Georgia and Russia and (as here) onto the island of Lesvos, Greece. Great to watch a family group coming to drink with my group yesterday.
Plants with a view: Recurved Thorn-apple (Datura innoxia), Molyvos, Lesvos, Greece. Introduced as a garden ornamental from Central America.
Today's Highlight - the much desired and very intriguing False Hemp (Datisca cannabina). An entirely new plant family for me. See Alt text on pictures for more.
Today's Highlight - the large and spectacular Bivon's Meadow Saffron (Colchicum bivonae). Lesbos, Greece.
Spectacular views of the Black-winged Kite at Hickling today. What a beauty!!!
First there was Canadian Fleabane (Erigeron canadensis), now we have some newcomers, rapidly spreading across our landscapes. These two are trail-blazing across Norfolk these days - see Alt text for more...
Sea-heath (Frankenia laevis) is considered a scarce plant in Norfolk, so it was a pleasant surprise to find a good quantity of this smart little plant on my recent coastal plant survey. They seem to especially thrive in the cracks on concrete revetments, turning bright red in the hot, dry weather.
Sometimes it's nice to post a 'just because picture. Blue Passionflower (Passiflora caerulea)... just because they're amazing!
Do you remember when we were kids, and we just 'went to the beach' and had fun?!
Still managing to fit beach plant recording days in between other work. Here's a few more from the past week (see alt text for more)...
We know that politicians in all parties support people who maime wildlife for pleasure, because those people pay huge amounts of money for lobbyists to line the politicians' pockets. So here's the perfect opportunity to ban the maiming for good and use health risk as a sneaky excuse. But they won't
Feeding the ducks creates a sideline in interesting plant records - Niger (Guizotia abyssinica) growing beside Salthouse duckpond.
Early morning at Salthouse Beach yesterday.
Not easy to see all of the features for certain, but the floral parts look good for either densiflorum or phlomoides. The rather blousy petals, apparently non-decurrent leaves and the overall pale grey look to the felted leaves tend to suggest phlomoides.
A popular twist... Our native Black Poplar (Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia) has a distinctive associate - Pemphigus spyrothecae, an aphid species that produces a distinctive gall in the leaf stalks which, over time, twist into a spiral and turns bright red.
Orange Balsam (Impatiens capensis) is native to North America, where it is generally known as Jewelweed and is famous for its sap, that has the ability to counteract the effects of Poison-ivy. Not so useful here in Norfolk, but not so invasive as its Himalayan cousin, either!
Undesirables! It was disappointing to come across several of the highly invasive, alien, Red Signal Crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) in the River Bure below Aylesham yesterday. Seems the local Otters are at least keeping them in check, though...
The amazing diversity of plants - that the seed-bearing cone of one species can dwarf the entire plant of another species is truly wonderful. Corsican Pine (Pinus nigra laricio) cone and Creeping Ladies-tresses (Goodyera repens), North Norfolk.
Mainland UK's only native population of Jersey Cudweed hangs on by a thread at its sole North Norfolk location, but there's a nice crop of young seedlings coming on for next year.
Common Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), sadly much declined in our area, so always a delight to find a sizeable colony of plants on the Norfolk coast.