Jake Dalzell
LightNews LightNews
banner
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Jake Dalzell
@bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
640 followers 500 following 430 posts
botanist and micromycologist from Belfast
luıḃeolaıḋe ⁊ mıcrıṁíceolaıḋe 'e ḃunaḋ Ḃéal Feırste

network ecology, evolutionary ecology, conservation etc

my website: https://irishplants.org/
Field Guide to Plant Pathogens: https://plantpathogens.net/
Posts Replies Media Videos
Pinned
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Jake Dalzell @bitheolaidhe.bsky.social · Jun 5
I am starting a PhD and am looking for grassland restoration/rewilding sites in Northern Ireland! Please forward this flier to anyone who might be interested in having their land surveyed for fungi!
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Interactions between plant pathogens (left) and plants across five quadrats in a restored species-rich grassland. The basic premise of my PhD is to see if these interaction networks differ between restored and ancient grasslands.
#FungiFriends #NetworkEcology
November 19, 2025 at 11:15 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
donnarainey4.bsky.social
Waxcap #fungi
November 9, 2025 at 6:47 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Meadow, Snowy, Pink Waxcap at an ancient grassland site I am sampling today. The wonders of rural South Down!
#FungiFriends
November 8, 2025 at 11:36 AM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
My soil sampling partner for the day. Very interested in sniffing all my equipment! All I could think of was "an Mhuc Dhubh" which killed one of the Fianna in a story I heard last week...
November 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
wikimediaaotearoa.bsky.social
The success of Wikipedia demonstrates the good that comes from trust between strangers, says founder Jimmy Wales.

With his new book The Seven Rules of Trust released today, Jimmy spoke with RNZ about building the world's largest online encyclopedia on trust.

🎧📖 Listen and read below 👇
'I was very nervous at first' - how the founder of Wikipedia learnt to embrace trust
The success of Wikipedia demonstrates the good that comes from trust between strangers, says founder Jimmy Wales.
www.rnz.co.nz
October 27, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
donnarainey4.bsky.social
Parrot waxcaps in local Hazelwood.#fungi
October 27, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
lukaslarge.bsky.social
Fungi specimens collected for DNA sequencing. Raffle tickets are useful for tracking specimens as they are dried
October 25, 2025 at 8:10 AM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
I had a great time this morning learning to use the Scanning Electron Microscope. Here are urediniospores of Puccinia rusts from the grassland restoration projects of @donnarainey4.bsky.social and @ceanncait.bsky.social . I'm hoping it will help with ID!
#FungiFriends #PlantPathogens
October 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
botanybeck.bsky.social
The craziest coloured Parrot Waxcaps I’ve ever seen!! Aren’t they amazing!!!! 💚🩵💛🩷🧡

#FungiFriends #MushroomMonday
Parrot Waxcaps can be many hues from green to orange but this is the first time I’ve seen pink, blue, green, orange and yellow all on the same mushroom!
October 20, 2025 at 3:27 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Polka dots of Entyloma calendulae on Marigold in Aberystwyth today.
#FungiFriends #plantpathogens
October 18, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
moorfoots2peasebay.bsky.social
Thanks for this - and thanks to @norwichbirder.bsky.social for reposting it - found my first locally in Penicuik yesterday - something I definitely would have overlooked otherwise 👍
October 15, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
bsbicountries.bsky.social
I'm delighted that we have a whole range of talks from our Northern Ireland Botanical Skills Project taking place this winter on Tuesday evenings.

Want to learn more about conifers? Rushes? Clubmosses? Hawthorns? Plant Pathogenic Fungi? ROBOTS??

See them all here:
bsbi.org/botanical-sk...
Botanical Skills Webinars – Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland
bsbi.org
October 14, 2025 at 1:30 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
It's that time of the year again – look out for blackened veins on yellowed leaves of Ribwort Plantain, caused by the fungus Spilopodia nervisequia!
#FungiFriends
October 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
judywebb.bsky.social
Accidentally scythed off in #LyeValley #fen, this small delicate inkcap toadstool made my day with its fragile beauty. Maybe a small Hare's foot inkcap, Coprinopsis lagopus?
#fungifriends @friendlyevalley.bsky.social
October 1, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
ryanclarkecology.bsky.social
It's impossible not to love the Merveille du Jour. Just incredible moths! #MothsMatter @savebutterflies.bsky.social
September 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
jeremybartlett.bsky.social
The Government is planning to roll out mandatory digital ID. It’s invasive and could mean millions of people unable to go about their daily lives. Right now it's just an idea - we need to stop it becoming a reality. Join me and sign the petition now! you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/re...
Reject plans for a mandatory BritCard (digital ID)
Sir Keir Starmer is considering a mandatory digital ID scheme called “BritCard” that would make us all reliant on a digital pass to go about our daily lives. Mandatory digital IDs give the state enor...
you.38degrees.org.uk
September 25, 2025 at 8:43 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
I've arrived in Aberystwyth where I'll spend the winter learning fungal (meta-)barcoding and working on some theoretical background for my research on plant-pathogen networks in grasslands. It was nice to find a species new to me as I explored the town: the rust fungus Puccinia umbilici on Navelwort
the underside of a round leaf with two pale circular patches on it; in the centre of each pale patch are small brown dots which are the sporulating structures of a rust fungus
September 21, 2025 at 3:26 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Thanks to everyone who gave me camera advice – as it turns out my grampa had a small camera he never used lying around that is absolutely perfect. I took it for a test run: here is Coleosporium euphrasiae on Eyebright and Podosphaera plantaginis on Ribwort Plantain.
#FungiFriends
September 19, 2025 at 8:33 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
On Saturday I led a workshop on plant pathogens. We saw a wide variety of species and found just how ubiquitous this group is, in spite of rain and hail! It's been great to see more people recording pathogens, and I hope events like this will make it more accessible.
#FungiFriends
September 15, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
donnarainey4.bsky.social
My favourite wildflowers of the year,meadows of Devil's bit scabious and Purple loosestrife. A joy to see these meadows.#wildflowerhour
September 14, 2025 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
ruhrpottpilze.bsky.social
Gymnosporangium cornutum ex Sorbus aucuparia

#Sorbusaucuparia #Sorbus #Eberesche #Vogelbeere #rowan #Sorbierdesoiseleurs #sorbodegliuccellatori #serbaldeloscazadores #Gymnosporangiumcornutum #Gymnosporangium #Phytopathology #Rustfungus #Rostpilz #Pilz #Fungus #Nature #FungiFriends
September 10, 2025 at 9:43 AM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
I had the pleasure of visiting a meadow managed by @donnarainey4.bsky.social today. Only when I got home did I notice the swelling on the midrib of this Dandelion leaf, which turned out to be the leaf smut Protomyces pachydermus.
#FungiFriends
September 8, 2025 at 8:16 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
alexwild.bsky.social
A clear sign we are no longer a democracy. When the regime loses in court, it continues to do the same illegal thing and no one is able to stop it.
sellars.bsky.social Andy Sellars @sellars.bsky.social · Sep 8
The Crimson, scooping every news outlet not run by undergraduates working in between classes, gets into how court orders mandating return of research funding have been flaunted, and makes a clear case for contempt proceedings against DOGE officials. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
"Young ordered the restoration of $783 million in federal funding for fiscal year 2025 — a portion of which, totaling millions, was allocated to Harvard — before the Supreme Court stayed the order nearly two months later. (The total multi-year funding pool affected by Young’s ruling included $3.8 billion in grants, many of which were partially paid out before the freeze. According to a Crimson analysis of court filings, Harvard was awarded more than 140 grants within that pool, with a combined multi-year value exceeding $60 million.) Harvard expected the grants listed in Young’s ruling to flow back to researchers, according to a person familiar with the matter, even though the White House had imposed a block on all Harvard grants as part of its initial funding cut in April. But the funds never arrived, and Harvard wrote in an August press release from the School of Public Health that the NIH was continuing to “block disbursement of any funds to Harvard University.” According to one person, Harvard has been unable to access any funds from the NIH since April because of the restrictions imposed by DOGE through its oversight of the NIH’s payment system, including in the two-month period in which Young’s ruling mandated that grant awards listed in the ruling be resumed."
September 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Reposted by Jake Dalzell
britishlichensociety.org.uk
An opportunity of a lifetime for budding lichenologists. The National Trust and the Royal Botanics, Edinburgh are offering a PAID lichen traineeship in #Scotland! The work programme looks fascinating and a great opportunity to develop skills. Deadline: 3/10/2025. www.asva.co.uk/jobs/trainee...
September 5, 2025 at 1:32 PM
bitheolaidhe.bsky.social
Phacellium alborosella on Mouse-Ear Chickweed.
#FungiFriends #WildWebsWednesday
September 3, 2025 at 6:08 PM