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Ben Averis

@averisben.bsky.social

1.2K followers 680 following 460 posts

Botanist and artist living near Edinburgh, Scotland. Botanical surveying/monitoring/teaching (http://www.benandalisonaveris.co.uk/). Botany, bryology, lichens, habitat classification, ecology, biodiversity, art, music, poetry...

www.benandalisonaveris.co.uk

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 17m

Thanks! Alison is very pleased to hear that!

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 17h

Thank you!

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 1d

My wife Alison had these five Merveille du Jour moths in her moth trap this morning, here in SE Scotland.

Five Merveille du Jour moths found by Alison Averis in her moth trap here in SE Scotland on the morning of 14th October 2025. Background: bark with lichens.

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 1d

Yes indeed. Both of them utilising exploratory observation and thinking, aiming for development and progress in our understandings. The development and use of technology could have played an additional role in making them appear very different to many people.

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 1d

Very well said (the whole thread).

I also see the arts as part of a continuum with science, because of shared aspects of thinking.

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 2d

Good to have that clarification! Thanks.

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 2d

He’s from central Europe and seems to have been in Scotland for only a few years, so it’s understandable that he might not be familiar with the difference in meaning between those two spellings.

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 4d

Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) has a very wide world distribution.

World distribution of Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

Source: https://www.picturethisai.com/wiki/Pteridium_aquilinum.html

Reposted by Ben Averis

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · 7d

I refuse to let hopelessness prevail. This may just be one essay, by a lawyer few have heard of, in a newsletter read by a fraction of the public. But I will not stay silent.

Will you?
www.democracydocket.com/opinion/i-re...

I Refuse to Stay Silent. Will You?

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

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Reposted by Ben Averis

Donnachadh McCarthy @donnachadhmc.bsky.social · 9d

Please help combat BBC news blackout of Green Party!
@zackpolanski.bsky.social was the only party leader not interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg during their party conference.
So please RT his cracking conference speech..

Donnachadh McCarthy @donnachadhmc.bsky.social · 11d

Whatever your party politics, @zackpolanski.bsky.social leaders speech deserves to be heard..

www.youtube.com/live/TZx9Vng...

Leader's Speech - Zack Polanski at Green Party Conference 2025

YouTube video by Green Party of England & Wales

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Ben Averis

Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 9d

May 2015. David Cameron was Prime Minister, UK an EU member, Barack Obama was US President, and this male Marsh Tit hatched in Monks Wood. Colour-ringed 28 August 2015. Photo 2 April 2016. Observed every year since. @martamaziarz.bsky.social & I saw him again today, 10 yrs 5 mo old, still surviving.

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Reposted by Ben Averis

KOJAMF🤘🖤🤘 @kojamf.bsky.social · 10d

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 10d

Somewhere around here?

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 17d

I agree, especially as someone with an art school background. Creativity is so important, is linked to all sorts of things that people do (including science), and should be highly valued, encouraged and supported.

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 20d

Yes - that is a great photo of yours!

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 20d

I have wondered what happened to that piece of ground since I was there in 2014. Perhaps it has been built on.

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 20d

* Long Island City (not just Long Island).

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 20d

There's something about that Long Island skyline, with tall buildings well spaced, that has a special feel so different to that of the more crowded Manhattan skyscrapers. A bit like ancient standing stones, but huge. I drew this picture of it from a photo I took (from Manhattan) in 2014.

Long Island City, Queens, New York, looking east from 1st Avenue (somewhere near the intersection with E 39th Street) in eastern Manhattan. Drawn in coloured pencil in 2015, based on a photo taken in 2014. Drawing size: 21 x 30 cm.

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Reposted by Ben Averis

The Wildlife Information Centre @twic.bsky.social · 22d

Join us!

We are seeking 2 directors to fill vacancies on our Board. We are looking for individuals with expertise in finance, governance, communications/PR or fundraising. An ecology background is desirable.

📅 Application deadline: 12/10/25
💬 Interviews: 20/10/25
🔗 More info: tinyurl.com/pzu6j6yc

Dawn chorus workshop at Hadfast Valley SWT Reserve, Midlothian. Photo by Natalie Harmsworth.

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Reposted by Ben Averis

Argyll Countryside Trust @actinargyll.bsky.social · 22d

🔍 ACT is looking for rope access specialists to manage Rhododendron ponticum control on steep sites near Tayvallich.

🗓️ Tender deadline: 20th October 2025
💰 Estimated value: £200,000
📍 Location: North Knapdale, Argyll

Full details on Public Contracts Scotland: buff.ly/zo9T4Ym

📷 Ian Dow/ACT

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 27d

I actually quite like cottage cheese, but don't often buy it and sometimes do need to be reminded that it exists. This is when I've bought it, opened it, left it in the fridge and then forgotten about it, only to eventually remember when it's too late and it's started going mouldy!

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · 29d

A recent poem.

Ain’t no Honey

He’s gotta lotta money
but he ain’t no honey

He’s a criminal, a liar,
whose insatiable desire
is for power, from a tower,
so the minions cower
and obey his every word,
no matter how absurd

He’s vulgar, cheap
He’s a lecherous creep
He’s loathsome, lewd
He’s tacky, he’s crude
He’s a philistine,
a pantomime,
whose intellect
is a minus sign

His tabloid prose
appeals to those
facilitating
his dictating,
lavishing praise
on the ravaging ways
of the bullying lout
who cheats, who flouts
the word of the law,
who steals from the poor,
who arrogantly stands
in denial and defiance
of the value and significance
of nature, science,
culture, art,
people with a heart
It’s a shameless sham
and he doesn’t give a damn

He’s like a lava flow
spreading layers of corruption,
an intrusively insidious,
felonious eruption
He’s a boastful, bloated,
tangerine-coated,
overly promoted,
self-devoted,
puerile, juvenile,
hideous-hairstyle
tool of trite,
greed and spite,
who has no sight
of good or right

Officials with a lot of clout
could block his domination
Sad to see them bottle out
in limp capitulation
But when the revolution’s risen,
and the people have their say,
and put that monster in a prison,
where the walls are thick and grey,
(this is if he hasn’t died;
just noting that as a wee aside),
behind the bars is where he’ll stay,
and we will shout a big “Hooray!”

So take him away
It’ll make our day
The whole regime
His evil team
Yes, take them away
Don’t delay
Gotta clear this ground
for a better kind of way

Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · Sep 14

There are millions feeling queasy
about the visitation
from that criminally sleazy
man who’s ruining his nation

Reposted by Ben Averis

Stop Trump Coalition @ukstoptrump.bsky.social · Sep 14

Yesterday, the largest far-right protest in UK history marched through London, led by racist Tommy Robinson.

Today, we say: They don’t speak for us — and they won’t have the last word.

This Wednesday we come together against Trump and for a better future. Do everything to be there.

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Ben Averis @averisben.bsky.social · Sep 13

Not sure about this moss, but to me it has something of the look of Distichium capillaceum. Some of the shoots look like they might have the laterally-flattened form of that species.

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