Neil Forbes
@treebeard793.bsky.social
Ecologist, based in South Cumbria. Mostly focused on coastal, wetland, limestone and upland habitats; botany, birds & Natterjacks. Views my own.
Pinned
Neil Forbes
@treebeard793.bsky.social
· Oct 5
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
#wildflowerhour
Reposted by Neil Forbes
"Wowsers!" is what I imagine Graham Goodfellow said when he found this beauty in West Sutherland this summer! This is the hybrid between Frog Orchid and Heath-spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza x conigera - just the 6th record for B&I and a worthy Day 7 for my botanical #adventcalendar #wildflowerhour
December 7, 2025 at 9:52 AM
"Wowsers!" is what I imagine Graham Goodfellow said when he found this beauty in West Sutherland this summer! This is the hybrid between Frog Orchid and Heath-spotted Orchid, Dactylorhiza x conigera - just the 6th record for B&I and a worthy Day 7 for my botanical #adventcalendar #wildflowerhour
#Yew saplings growing out of the walls of Minster Lovell Hall.
A handy reminder that we are never in charge for long. #Nature will always find a way.
#wildflowerhour
A handy reminder that we are never in charge for long. #Nature will always find a way.
#wildflowerhour
December 7, 2025 at 8:30 PM
#Yew saplings growing out of the walls of Minster Lovell Hall.
A handy reminder that we are never in charge for long. #Nature will always find a way.
#wildflowerhour
A handy reminder that we are never in charge for long. #Nature will always find a way.
#wildflowerhour
Shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris #StillFlowering
for #wildflowerhour
Minster Lovell, #Oxfordshire
for #wildflowerhour
Minster Lovell, #Oxfordshire
December 7, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Shepherd's purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris #StillFlowering
for #wildflowerhour
Minster Lovell, #Oxfordshire
for #wildflowerhour
Minster Lovell, #Oxfordshire
White & Red Dead-nettle, Lamium album & purpureum #StillFlowering for #wildflowerhour
Growing by the magnificent ruins of Minster Lovell Hall. Two #archaeophytes both of which can be found in flower for much of the year. L. album is a classic winter-flowering species.
#Oxfordshire
Growing by the magnificent ruins of Minster Lovell Hall. Two #archaeophytes both of which can be found in flower for much of the year. L. album is a classic winter-flowering species.
#Oxfordshire
December 7, 2025 at 8:15 PM
White & Red Dead-nettle, Lamium album & purpureum #StillFlowering for #wildflowerhour
Growing by the magnificent ruins of Minster Lovell Hall. Two #archaeophytes both of which can be found in flower for much of the year. L. album is a classic winter-flowering species.
#Oxfordshire
Growing by the magnificent ruins of Minster Lovell Hall. Two #archaeophytes both of which can be found in flower for much of the year. L. album is a classic winter-flowering species.
#Oxfordshire
Reposted by Neil Forbes
Opposite-leaved Pondweed Groenlandia densa by the River Ems, Hampshire. Although not flowering, the last time this species was recorded on the Ems -1887- Queen Victoria had just been celebrating her Golden Jubilee. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
November 30, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Opposite-leaved Pondweed Groenlandia densa by the River Ems, Hampshire. Although not flowering, the last time this species was recorded on the Ems -1887- Queen Victoria had just been celebrating her Golden Jubilee. @bsbibotany.bsky.social #wildflowerhour
Not so much about this week but I did find this Field Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis struggling on in the cold snap a few days ago.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
November 30, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Not so much about this week but I did find this Field Forget-me-not, Myosotis arvensis struggling on in the cold snap a few days ago.
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
#wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
Reposted by Neil Forbes
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1
Trickle-down economics was always a sham.
Nothing has ever trickled down.
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1
Trickle-down economics was always a sham.
Nothing has ever trickled down.
November 29, 2025 at 11:01 PM
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1965: 20-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1
Trickle-down economics was always a sham.
Nothing has ever trickled down.
CEO-to-worker pay ratio in 1990: 75-1
CEO-to-worker pay ratio today: 280-to-1
Trickle-down economics was always a sham.
Nothing has ever trickled down.
November 29, 2025 at 6:42 PM
Sea Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. maritimus.
Quite a bit sill in flower on the Arnside - Silverdale coastline.
#wildflowerhour
#NationalLandscapes
#Cumbria #Lancashire
Quite a bit sill in flower on the Arnside - Silverdale coastline.
#wildflowerhour
#NationalLandscapes
#Cumbria #Lancashire
November 23, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Sea Radish, Raphanus raphanistrum subsp. maritimus.
Quite a bit sill in flower on the Arnside - Silverdale coastline.
#wildflowerhour
#NationalLandscapes
#Cumbria #Lancashire
Quite a bit sill in flower on the Arnside - Silverdale coastline.
#wildflowerhour
#NationalLandscapes
#Cumbria #Lancashire
November 23, 2025 at 8:55 PM
November 23, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Smooth Hawk's-beard, Crepis capillaris. Holding on after recent floods & frosts.
#wildflowerhour at #RSPB Leighton Moss & along the #Silverdale shore
#wildflowerhour at #RSPB Leighton Moss & along the #Silverdale shore
November 23, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Smooth Hawk's-beard, Crepis capillaris. Holding on after recent floods & frosts.
#wildflowerhour at #RSPB Leighton Moss & along the #Silverdale shore
#wildflowerhour at #RSPB Leighton Moss & along the #Silverdale shore
The #Winter10 (11) from the #Silverdale coast.
#wildflowerhour in #Lancashire
Sea Mayweed, Sea Radish, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Nipplewort, Yarrow, Herb-Robert, Cock's-foot, Annual Meadow-grass, Hogweed, Smooth Sow-thistle & Ragwort.
#wildflowerhour in #Lancashire
Sea Mayweed, Sea Radish, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Nipplewort, Yarrow, Herb-Robert, Cock's-foot, Annual Meadow-grass, Hogweed, Smooth Sow-thistle & Ragwort.
November 23, 2025 at 8:14 PM
The #Winter10 (11) from the #Silverdale coast.
#wildflowerhour in #Lancashire
Sea Mayweed, Sea Radish, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Nipplewort, Yarrow, Herb-Robert, Cock's-foot, Annual Meadow-grass, Hogweed, Smooth Sow-thistle & Ragwort.
#wildflowerhour in #Lancashire
Sea Mayweed, Sea Radish, Smooth Hawk's-beard, Nipplewort, Yarrow, Herb-Robert, Cock's-foot, Annual Meadow-grass, Hogweed, Smooth Sow-thistle & Ragwort.
A luxuriant patch of Black Spleenwort growing on a limestone wall in Silverdale.
Wonderful botanical name - Asplenium adiantum-nigrum. A somewhat scarce species locally these days.
#WildFernHour ahead of tonight's #wildflowerhour
Wonderful botanical name - Asplenium adiantum-nigrum. A somewhat scarce species locally these days.
#WildFernHour ahead of tonight's #wildflowerhour
November 23, 2025 at 3:39 PM
A luxuriant patch of Black Spleenwort growing on a limestone wall in Silverdale.
Wonderful botanical name - Asplenium adiantum-nigrum. A somewhat scarce species locally these days.
#WildFernHour ahead of tonight's #wildflowerhour
Wonderful botanical name - Asplenium adiantum-nigrum. A somewhat scarce species locally these days.
#WildFernHour ahead of tonight's #wildflowerhour
Reposted by Neil Forbes
One-flowered glasswort (Salicornia disarticulata) still looking good on a North Norfolk saltmarsh. Distinctive little thing once known. The single flowers seem to typically turn reddish. Most other glassworts had died off for the winter already.
November 17, 2025 at 8:58 PM
One-flowered glasswort (Salicornia disarticulata) still looking good on a North Norfolk saltmarsh. Distinctive little thing once known. The single flowers seem to typically turn reddish. Most other glassworts had died off for the winter already.
Reposted by Neil Forbes
Visted RSPB Arne in Dorset yesterday: the gorse was in flower in many parts of the heath, and I also saw some common heather, bell heather, and some hedge woundwort.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
November 16, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Visted RSPB Arne in Dorset yesterday: the gorse was in flower in many parts of the heath, and I also saw some common heather, bell heather, and some hedge woundwort.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
I thought it would be pretty much done by for the year now but there was actually a fair amount of Wild Thyme, Thymus drucei, still in flower up on Whitbarrow Scar today.
#Wildflowerhour
#Wildflowerhour
November 16, 2025 at 8:26 PM
I thought it would be pretty much done by for the year now but there was actually a fair amount of Wild Thyme, Thymus drucei, still in flower up on Whitbarrow Scar today.
#Wildflowerhour
#Wildflowerhour
Reposted by Neil Forbes
It’s Sunday & it’s 8pm so it must be time for #wildflowerhour! Please share your pics of the wild & naturalised blooms you’ve spotted from across Britain & Ireland in the last week and did you manage to spot #thewinter10, our challenge for the coldest months! ☺️
#WildflowerHour #TheWinter10 from #Preston this week; a shy common daisy, ragwort, fox & cubs, hogweed, pineapple weed, angelica looking like snowflakes! Hedge mustard, white dead nettle, red campion, hazel catkins, buttercup, honeysuckle, spindle @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social
November 16, 2025 at 8:00 PM
It’s Sunday & it’s 8pm so it must be time for #wildflowerhour! Please share your pics of the wild & naturalised blooms you’ve spotted from across Britain & Ireland in the last week and did you manage to spot #thewinter10, our challenge for the coldest months! ☺️
November 16, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Common Cord-grass, Spartina anglica #StillFlowering despite being in the #sea repeatedly over recent days. It is a fascinating & remarkable species, albeit often a problematic one.
#Wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
#Wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
November 16, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Common Cord-grass, Spartina anglica #StillFlowering despite being in the #sea repeatedly over recent days. It is a fascinating & remarkable species, albeit often a problematic one.
#Wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
#Wildflowerhour
#Arnside #Cumbria
Hogweed, a most underrated species. The flowers are beautiful when you look closely - zygomorphic (mirror symmetry) & outer flowers with the biggest size difference between the petals. A late-flowering specimen seen at #RSPB Leighton Moss.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
November 16, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Hogweed, a most underrated species. The flowers are beautiful when you look closely - zygomorphic (mirror symmetry) & outer flowers with the biggest size difference between the petals. A late-flowering specimen seen at #RSPB Leighton Moss.
#wildflowerhour
#wildflowerhour
Hard Fern, Blechnum spicant is very common in the Lake District but as a calcifugous species you don't often see it on limestone habitats.
Found this nice specimen with both frond types in a limestone woodland at The Howe, Whitbarrow today.
#wildfernhour - #wildflowerhour
Found this nice specimen with both frond types in a limestone woodland at The Howe, Whitbarrow today.
#wildfernhour - #wildflowerhour
November 16, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Hard Fern, Blechnum spicant is very common in the Lake District but as a calcifugous species you don't often see it on limestone habitats.
Found this nice specimen with both frond types in a limestone woodland at The Howe, Whitbarrow today.
#wildfernhour - #wildflowerhour
Found this nice specimen with both frond types in a limestone woodland at The Howe, Whitbarrow today.
#wildfernhour - #wildflowerhour
Reposted by Neil Forbes
I am bewildered that this labour of Sisyphus is being carried out by volunteers, while Southern Water, which has admitted responsibility for the catastrophe, is doing nothing to remediate it.
‘We feel we’re fighting a losing battle’: the race to remove millions of plastic beads from Camber Sands
A huge cleanup effort has seen volunteers working to remove beads by hand and machine. They can only wait and see the extent of damage to wildlife and dune habitat
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:19 AM
I am bewildered that this labour of Sisyphus is being carried out by volunteers, while Southern Water, which has admitted responsibility for the catastrophe, is doing nothing to remediate it.
Always a bit of a surprise to flush #Snipe from habitats like this.
Gait Barrows #NNR #limestone pavement
Gait Barrows #NNR #limestone pavement
November 14, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Always a bit of a surprise to flush #Snipe from habitats like this.
Gait Barrows #NNR #limestone pavement
Gait Barrows #NNR #limestone pavement
Reposted by Neil Forbes
On Monday 17th November we have a webinar from our @npwsireland.bsky.social-funded Targeted Aquatic Plants Project.
This webinar, from the fantastic Nick Stewart, is about the identification of non-native aquatic plants.
Interested? Book yourself a ticket here: www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...
This webinar, from the fantastic Nick Stewart, is about the identification of non-native aquatic plants.
Interested? Book yourself a ticket here: www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...
November 11, 2025 at 8:53 PM
On Monday 17th November we have a webinar from our @npwsireland.bsky.social-funded Targeted Aquatic Plants Project.
This webinar, from the fantastic Nick Stewart, is about the identification of non-native aquatic plants.
Interested? Book yourself a ticket here: www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...
This webinar, from the fantastic Nick Stewart, is about the identification of non-native aquatic plants.
Interested? Book yourself a ticket here: www.tickettailor.com/events/botan...