Neil Forbes
@treebeard793.bsky.social
340 followers 290 following 310 posts
Ecologist, based in South Cumbria. Mostly focused on coastal, wetland, limestone and upland habitats; botany, birds & Natterjacks. Views my own.
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treebeard793.bsky.social
Earlier this year we published a summary of our short-term study of the apparent changing phenology of Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort, at #Arnside Knott in @bsbibotany.bsky.social News. Had a quick visit yesterday and it was by some margin the most abundant flowering species.
#wildflowerhour
Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort.
Arnside Knott, Heathwaite Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort.
Arnside Knott, Heathwaite
treebeard793.bsky.social
Spindle really is such a highlight of Autumn 💚
#trees
#wildflowers
#Arnside & #Silverdale National Landscape
treebeard793.bsky.social
I love these strange (to us at least) adaptations that some plant species have.
bsbiscotland.bsky.social
An unusual one for #wildflowerhour this week - Ribwort Plantain with a new basal rosette developing from within the seedhead! Ok not a flower, but it’s all reproduction isn’t it?! 😁
A new rosette of green leaves growing out of the brown seedhead of Ribwort Plantain, held on a long green stalk above a background of green grass
treebeard793.bsky.social
The British distribution of the neophyte Narrow-leaved Ragwort, Senecio inaequidens has exploded over the past 25-years or so. Here in one of it's favoured habitats, a railway platform.
#wildflowerhour
#Carnforth #Lancashire
#InvasivePlants
#Neophyte
plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
treebeard793.bsky.social
You can rely on Sea Mayweed to brighten up a coastal scene at this time of year. A near-ubiquitous species around the coastline of the British Isles . Have a look, hardly any species have distributions that are this clear - plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9...
#wildflowerhour
#CumbriaBotany
#Arnside
Sea Mayweed, Arnside
treebeard793.bsky.social
A late-flowering Meadowsweet, Fillipendila ulmaria.
Ashmeadow Woods,
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside
Filipendula ulmaria. Arnside, Cumbria.
treebeard793.bsky.social
Sea Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. maritimus overlooking the extensive, and extensively flooded , restored #saltmarshes at @rspbengland.bsky.social Hesketh Outmarsh.
#Wildflowerhour
#Botany
#Ribble
#Saltmarsh
#ManagedRealignment
Sea Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. maritimus. Hesketh Outmarsh.
Reposted by Neil Forbes
race2extinct.bsky.social
What frightens me most about Halloween cobwebs isn’t how they look…..it’s that they catch the living.
Enjoy the season, but keep the plastic webs indoors; or skip them altogether.
Downy woodpecker entangled in plastic artificial decorative Halloween spider webs.
Reposted by Neil Forbes
steelyseabirder.bsky.social
Welcome to Super Seabird Sunday where we ask you to share photos, videos & artwork of seabirds to brighten up timelines. To get us started here are thousands of Puffins on the Isle of May #SuperSeabirdSunday
treebeard793.bsky.social
Blackening #Waxcaps on the #Arnside Memorial Playing Fields.
#MushroomMonday
Blackening Waxcaps
Reposted by Neil Forbes
adambienkov.bsky.social
The Greens requested an interview on the Laura Kuenssberg Show with Zack Polanski when he was elected leader, but were denied, with a promise to interview him during Green conference instead.

This was then scrapped citing the Manchester synagogue attack. Polanski is both Jewish and from Manchester
BBC Laura Kuenssberg Show Accused of Anti-Green Bias After Cancelling Zack Polanski Interview
The new Green Party leader was the only major party leader not to have been granted a conference interview on the flagship BBC show
bylinetimes.com
Reposted by Neil Forbes
rspb.bsky.social
While saying they want to "preserve nature" the Conservative Party have just pledged to scrap the Climate Change Act.

This makes no sense.

How do more floods, more droughts, and rising temperatures "preserve" nature?

That's what scrapping the Act will lead to.
treebeard793.bsky.social
Suaeda maritima, Annual Sea-blite. A pioneer #saltmarsh species that plays a key role in denitrification of soils, and also provides an abundance seeds for wintering passerines and wildfowl.
#wildflowerhour
#MorecambeBay
#Arnside
#Cumbria
Suaeda maritima
treebeard793.bsky.social
Lesser trefoil, Trirolium dubium. Another late-flowering species on the species-rich grasslands (some of the finest in the country) at Heathwaite, #Arnside Knott.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria
Trirolium dubium
treebeard793.bsky.social
Earlier this year we published a summary of our short-term study of the apparent changing phenology of Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort, at #Arnside Knott in @bsbibotany.bsky.social News. Had a quick visit yesterday and it was by some margin the most abundant flowering species.
#wildflowerhour
Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort.
Arnside Knott, Heathwaite Sabulina verna, Spring Sandwort.
Arnside Knott, Heathwaite
treebeard793.bsky.social
It really does pretty much always look like it's gone over. None the less lovely for that though.
treebeard793.bsky.social
Crepis capillaris is one of the most frequently encountered winter-flowering native species in our area (South Cumbria). There should be plenty about well in to November & it's usually possible to find the odd plant later than that too.
#Phenology is changing
#wildflowerhour
@bsbibotany.bsky.social
Crepis capillaris
treebeard793.bsky.social
It's not uncommon to find a few late-flowering Small Scabious, Scabiosa columbaria on the NW limestones in England. And that's exactly what this is.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside Knott
@nationaltrust.org.uk
Scabiosa columbaria
Reposted by Neil Forbes
astridbiddle.bsky.social
Completely blown away today by how the Scarce Tufted-sedge (Carex cespitosa) was faring on the River Gade.
It was with trepidation that I entered the river. Vegetation had grown tall this summer. 2025 was one of the worst for reintroducing a wetland plant. Summer drought followed high winter water.
treebeard793.bsky.social
Woodland scenes 🍄🌳💚
The Fly Agaric, a species steeped in northern #folklore and #mythology

#Autumn
#Fungi
#Arnside
#Cumbria
Reposted by Neil Forbes
richardkbroughton.bsky.social
Another recent paper in #BirdStudy showed autumn densities of Pheasant & Red-Legged Partridge in southern England can be an astonishing 2,500 birds per km2 on land near releases. After winter, there were still up to 700 birds/km2. That's huge numbers.
Paper: doi.org/10.1080/0006...
#ornithology
britishbirds.bsky.social
Ticks are more likely to carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease in areas where Common Pheasants Phasianus colchicus are released, according to new research.

Read more: britishbirds.co.uk/journal/arti...
🥇Subscriber Content
treebeard793.bsky.social
Late-flowering Wild Thyme, Thymus drucei & Lady's Bedstrraw, Galium verum on the species-rich limestone #grasslands at Warton Crag.
#Wildflowerhour
@rspbengland.bsky.social #LeightonMoss
#Lancashire
treebeard793.bsky.social
Bell Heather, Erica cinera on a limestone outcrop overlooking #MorecambeBay.
#wildflowerhour
#Cumbria
treebeard793.bsky.social
Greater Sea-spurrey, Spergularia media.
Larger flowers than the similar Lesser Sea-spurrey and always with 10 stamens (or stamenoides).
#wildflowerhour
#MorecambeBay #Saltmarsh
#Cumbria
Spergularia media