Rebecca Wheeler
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botanybeck.bsky.social
Rebecca Wheeler
@botanybeck.bsky.social
3.3K followers 920 following 740 posts
Obsessed with the natural world, especially #fungi, #wildflowers and #orchids. 🍄

Wildlife gardener and Forest School Practitioner.

Leads @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Love needle-felting and always trying to recreate my nature finds in wool felt #SciArt
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botanybeck.bsky.social
Spent a lovely day visiting my daughter so my #wildflowerhour finds this week are from the Rodley nature reserve in Leeds. Fourteen spotted in flower for this week’s #thewinter10! Also lovely to see Nettle-leaved Bellflower, one which had escaped me until now 😀 Names below ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 7:21 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
It’s always nice #fungifriends to see a species for the first time, so I was super happy to see this lovely Stubble Rosegill, Volvopluteus gloiocephalus today with another interesting little fungus right at its feet! They were like tiny nails!! #MushroomMonday #FungiFriday
November 9, 2025 at 7:20 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
At first glance on my walk this afternoon, it didn’t seem like much was in flower but upon closer inspection I soon spotted twelve in bloom for the start of #thewinter10, the #wildflowerhour challenge for the winter months. See ALT for names ☺️
Top row Dandelion, Bramble, Scentless Mayweed. Second row, naturalised Michaelmas Daisies, Yarrow, Meliot. Third row, Hogweed, Autumn Hawkbit, Creeping Thistle. Bottom row, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, Common Knapweed and Common Daisy.
November 2, 2025 at 7:07 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
I’ve seen some beautiful grassland fungi for #WildFungiHour in the last few days. 🔁 from top left Mealy Pinkgill, Dark Fieldcap, Parrot Waxcaps, Persistent Waxcaps looking like flowers, Blackening Waxcaps, Poppies for #WildflowerHour & lastly gorgeous Crimson & Scarlet Waxcaps🥰
October 26, 2025 at 8:00 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
This had grass hiding the green and for a split second we thought we had found G reginae, the disappointment when we spotted the green bit 😂
October 20, 2025 at 5:42 PM
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
botanybeck.bsky.social
A lovely day yesterday seeing some of my favourite waxcaps 🥰 It was wonderful to see them again even though some weren’t looking quite their best because of the recent dry weather. Also saw Earthy, Snowy, Slimy, Blackening, Golden & Pale. 17 waxcaps in a day is not bad!! #FungiFriday #MushroomMonday
Grassland fungi are my favourite! Searching for them is like looking for treasure. The waxcaps come in an array of differing shapes and colours and every one is fascinating 🤩
October 19, 2025 at 10:56 AM
botanybeck.bsky.social
A lovely pair of parrots for #FungiFriday 🦜🦜
Gliophorus psittacina
#FungiFriends
At this time of year there are fungal treasures to be found! Stumbling upon a Parrot Waxcap certainly feels like finding treasure, glossy, green and gorgeous, they are a joy to behold!
October 17, 2025 at 6:27 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Here’s a strange fungus #fungifriends, the Blushing Rosette, Abortiporus biennis. It has 2 growth forms, it can form an attractive rosette but more commonly exists as an amorphous mass which exudes red-brown liquid. Just look at those guttation droplets!!! 😍
October 8, 2025 at 6:44 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Not seen this one before #FungiFriends, think it’s Green Brittlegill, Russula aeruginia, found beneath Silver Birch. Caps of the mature specimens were very green, younger ones were paler. Stipe chalk white & tapering at base, gills white & crowded. Such a pretty mushroom 💚
#FungiFriday
Photos of green-capped mushrooms beneath Silver Birch trees. I’ve not seen a Brittlegill with a green cap before! The young specimens were pale minty green deepening to a darker moss/olive green in the more mature examples.
October 8, 2025 at 5:14 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
I think, #fungifriends, this might be the prettiest Blusher, Amanita rubescens, I’ve ever seen!! Isn’t it beautiful! 🥰

#MushroomMonday #FungiFriday
Amanita rubescens commonly known as as the Blusher typically has a yellowish-brown cap with flesh that reddens when damaged. Pictured is a lovely pale example that I encountered today with the cap having a gorgeous peaches and cream colouration!
October 7, 2025 at 7:16 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
These lovely bramble flowers caught my eye this week for #WildflowerHour 🥰
Ever hopeful bramble flowers looking remarkably fresh in the hedgerows this week!
October 5, 2025 at 6:52 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
I have actually seen Flame Shield and from looking at the cap texture and the stipe I think yours looks like a Pluteus too : ) They also love very decomposed wood
October 3, 2025 at 7:38 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Perfectly purple, Amethyst Deceivers, Laccaria amethystina are looking glorious in the woods! 💜
#FungiFriends #FungiFriday
Vivid purple the Amethyst Deceiver is a gorgeous mushroom however its bright amethyst coloration fades with age and weathering, it becomes difficult to identify, hence the common name "deceiver’.
October 2, 2025 at 6:52 AM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Not seen this one before #FungiFriends, found it emerging from a very decomposed log in mature deciduous woodland. It reminded me of a Pluteus species. Could it be Pluteus chrysophlebius? Thank you in advance ☺️
#FungiFriday
October 1, 2025 at 8:01 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
WOW #FungiFriends! My favourite Amanita spot didn’t disappoint!!! I nearly lost my mind, a whole FAIRY RING of Fly Agarics, some as big as dinner plates!! 🥰🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🍄🧚
#FungiFriday
A fairy ring of Fly Agarics was a wonderful surprise this afternoon. Instantly recognisable, Fly Agarics are so vivid they have an unworldly feel to them and to see so many really did seem magical, straight from the pages of a fairy tale!! 🍄🧚
October 1, 2025 at 7:09 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
How flooofy is this Webcap! I’ve not managed to see a Cortinarius species at this stage before where the web-like universal veil is stretched from the bulbous base to the edge of the cap. Perfectly illustrates why they are named Webcaps!!
#FungiFriday #FungiFriends
Young specimens of Webcap mushrooms have a cortina (veil) between the cap and the stem, hence the name. Most of the fibres of the cortina are short-lived and leave just remnants on the stem or cap edge of the mature mushroom.
September 30, 2025 at 5:44 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Woohoo #FungiFriends! It’s definitely autumn when you spot your first Fly Agaric of the year! Isn’t it a beauty! Amanita muscaria, a bit early for #FungiFriday 🍄
The Fly Agaric, the pin up of the fungi world. Instantly recognisable with its vivid, scarlet cap and white raised spots, it looks as though it has jumped straight from the pages of a fairytale! 🍄
September 30, 2025 at 5:17 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Managed to fit in a little foray at lunchtime, so happy that the Rosy Bonnets are up and aren’t those Penny Buns just adorable!!! Absolutely love this time of year! #FungiFriends 🥰🍄‍🟫🍁
#MushroomMonday
A little collection of fungi spotted during my lunch break. The pale pink Rosy Bonnets are so pretty and I always look forward to seeing them. They appear reliably every year in this spot 🥰
September 29, 2025 at 12:32 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Nice to see more #fungi appearing for #MushroomMonday #FungiFriends. 🔁 from top left, lots of Persistent Waxcaps, Pestle Puffball, Redlead Roundhead, a white Poisonpie with fascinating weeping gills and lastly centre, a beautiful blush Brittlegill - possibly The Flirt? 🤔☺️
A collage of colourful mushrooms seen last week around the Merseyside/Cheshire area.
September 29, 2025 at 7:54 AM
botanybeck.bsky.social
A few wildflowers spotted for #WildflowerHour whilst out looking for mushrooms! 😃
A collage of wildflowers spotted this week, fresh white flowers of Yarrow, the four petalled yellow stars of Lady’s Bedstraw, bright yellow Cat’s-ear, pretty pink Small-flowered Crane’s-bill and vibrant Red Clover.
September 28, 2025 at 6:32 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
At last #FungiFriends, my first waxcap of the season!
Persistent Waxcap, Hygrocybe acutoconica 💛
The Persistent Waxcap has a pointed, slightly sticky, vibrant orange-yellow cap. The cap has a translucent striate margin, the stipe is dry and fibrillose. This waxcap is non-blackening.
September 21, 2025 at 6:12 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
This BSBI Plant Atlas 2020 map is more up to date now lost from England and Wales 😔
September 16, 2025 at 9:17 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
I hadn’t seen it for a couple of years so it was extra special in early June to catch up with my #FavouritePlant! The gorgeous Mertensia maritima, commonly named Oysterplant, as the leaves taste like the fruits of the sea! Caithness #Wildflowerhour
The gorgeous blue bell-shaped flowers of Oysterplant are tinged pink in bud like the other members of the Borage family in which this most beautiful plant belongs.
September 14, 2025 at 6:33 PM
botanybeck.bsky.social
Just some teasel #SeedHeads from me this week. My husband came off his motorbike and broke his collarbone so only walks from home for the foreseeable! I was happy to see them though, they are so statuesque!! #WildflowerHour 🤎
Spectacularly spiky, the seed heads of Teasel, Dispacus fullonum, were once used to card wool and process textiles. Its alternative common name, Fuller’s Teasel and its specific name (fullonum) both refer to this historic use. ‘Fulling’ is the raising of the nap on fabrics, particularly of wool.
September 7, 2025 at 6:26 PM