Kevin Walker
@bsbiscience.bsky.social
Plant ecologist based in North Yorkshire. Formerly @ukceh.bsky.social and now Head of Science @bsbibotany.bsky.social. Coauthor of http://plantatlas2020.org
Out with lovely peeps from Harrogate District Naturalists’ Society yesterday visiting a private SSSI near to Knaresborough. Bee and Fragrant Orchids (Ophrys apifera & Gymnadenia conopsea s.s.) were definitely the main crowd pleasers!
June 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Out with lovely peeps from Harrogate District Naturalists’ Society yesterday visiting a private SSSI near to Knaresborough. Bee and Fragrant Orchids (Ophrys apifera & Gymnadenia conopsea s.s.) were definitely the main crowd pleasers!
I don’t usually ‘do’ Hawkweeds but couldn’t resist this lovely one growing near to Pannal en route to my @btobirds.bsky.social BBS square this morning: Hieracium triviale f. subfasciculare apparently. The ability of these plants to thrive in zero substrate is remarkable! @bsbibotany.bsky.social
June 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
I don’t usually ‘do’ Hawkweeds but couldn’t resist this lovely one growing near to Pannal en route to my @btobirds.bsky.social BBS square this morning: Hieracium triviale f. subfasciculare apparently. The ability of these plants to thrive in zero substrate is remarkable! @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Time spent with some rather lovely plants and people from @bsbibotany.bsky.social in the Derbyshire Dales this week including Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium caeruleum), Shaggy Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Pilosella peleteriana), Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans) and Hoary Mullein (Verbascum pulverulentum).
June 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
Time spent with some rather lovely plants and people from @bsbibotany.bsky.social in the Derbyshire Dales this week including Jacob’s-ladder (Polemonium caeruleum), Shaggy Mouse-ear Hawkweed (Pilosella peleteriana), Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans) and Hoary Mullein (Verbascum pulverulentum).
I never tire of seeing Jacob’s-ladder, so named because its leaves resemble the ladder that Jacob used to access heaven. In Britain it is a very rare plant confined limestone regions such as the Yorkshire Dales where there are a few colonies on steep, scree slopes below limestone cliffs.
June 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
I never tire of seeing Jacob’s-ladder, so named because its leaves resemble the ladder that Jacob used to access heaven. In Britain it is a very rare plant confined limestone regions such as the Yorkshire Dales where there are a few colonies on steep, scree slopes below limestone cliffs.
What happens when you don’t cut the grass? Rare orchids appear! Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) recorded for the first time on The Stray, Harrogate in an area left uncut for biodiversity. Found by @clarepinches.bsky.social Well done North Yorks Council 👏
June 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
What happens when you don’t cut the grass? Rare orchids appear! Southern Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa) recorded for the first time on The Stray, Harrogate in an area left uncut for biodiversity. Found by @clarepinches.bsky.social Well done North Yorks Council 👏
Mountain biking at Dalby Forest, North Yorks with @clarepinches.bsky.social yesterday produced this rather lovely Red-necked Footman amongst the conifers. Not a moth I’d seen before but not surprising as it seems to be a recent colonist in this part of the world! @savebutterflies.bsky.social
May 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
Mountain biking at Dalby Forest, North Yorks with @clarepinches.bsky.social yesterday produced this rather lovely Red-necked Footman amongst the conifers. Not a moth I’d seen before but not surprising as it seems to be a recent colonist in this part of the world! @savebutterflies.bsky.social
Sadly Wood Crane’s-bill Geranium sylvaticum no longer occurs in hay meadows in Nidderdale, due to a shift to silage production, but it still survives on road verges like this one here near to Lofthouse.
May 25, 2025 at 7:25 PM
Sadly Wood Crane’s-bill Geranium sylvaticum no longer occurs in hay meadows in Nidderdale, due to a shift to silage production, but it still survives on road verges like this one here near to Lofthouse.
Holy Moley! Some serious control going on in Upper Nidderdale. We counted 157 in this larder and there was an even bigger one just down the road. I naively thought that these public displays were a thing of the past, sadly not here in North Yorkshire anyway.
May 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Holy Moley! Some serious control going on in Upper Nidderdale. We counted 157 in this larder and there was an even bigger one just down the road. I naively thought that these public displays were a thing of the past, sadly not here in North Yorkshire anyway.
Can’t resist posting a flowering Bay Willow Salix pentandra! This is a male tree which have been widely planted for their lovely yellow catkins. Female trees are much rarer, certainly here in North Yorkshire.
May 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Can’t resist posting a flowering Bay Willow Salix pentandra! This is a male tree which have been widely planted for their lovely yellow catkins. Female trees are much rarer, certainly here in North Yorkshire.
Astonished by the resilience of this Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica on Ingleborough the other day. Growing on a tiny scrap of moss on a bone dry slab of limestone during one of the longest spring droughts on record. 🫡 ✊
May 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Astonished by the resilience of this Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica on Ingleborough the other day. Growing on a tiny scrap of moss on a bone dry slab of limestone during one of the longest spring droughts on record. 🫡 ✊
Small but mighty. Dwarf Milkwort Polygala amarella is super rare with a stronghold in the Yorkshire Dales. Easily told from Common Milkwort P. vulgaris by its smaller flowers and large-leaved basal rosette.
May 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Small but mighty. Dwarf Milkwort Polygala amarella is super rare with a stronghold in the Yorkshire Dales. Easily told from Common Milkwort P. vulgaris by its smaller flowers and large-leaved basal rosette.
Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala growing alongside Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa in Yorkshire today. Possibly the only place in the world where these two species grow together?
May 15, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala growing alongside Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa in Yorkshire today. Possibly the only place in the world where these two species grow together?
The Alps? No, Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala at its southern limit in Yorkshire today. Enjoy.
May 15, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The Alps? No, Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala at its southern limit in Yorkshire today. Enjoy.
Also large stands of American Skunk Cabbage, the often confused Pick-a-back Plant and Fringecups growing side by side and finally Caucasian Pennycress at one of its few naturalised sites in GB 2/2
May 1, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Also large stands of American Skunk Cabbage, the often confused Pick-a-back Plant and Fringecups growing side by side and finally Caucasian Pennycress at one of its few naturalised sites in GB 2/2
Warning; may contain photos of alien plants! A quick recce along the Oak Beck, Harrogate this morning. All usual ‘escapees’ from RHS Harlow Carr including Coralroot, Aconite-leaved Buttercup, Purple Toothwort and Greater Cuckoo-flower 1/2
May 1, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Warning; may contain photos of alien plants! A quick recce along the Oak Beck, Harrogate this morning. All usual ‘escapees’ from RHS Harlow Carr including Coralroot, Aconite-leaved Buttercup, Purple Toothwort and Greater Cuckoo-flower 1/2
Birkham Wood (Knaresborough) is looking astonishingly beautiful at the moment; bluebells, yellow archangel, stitchwort all at their best and a few herb paris revealing themselves amongst a sea of dog’s mercury @bsbibotany.bsky.social
April 29, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Birkham Wood (Knaresborough) is looking astonishingly beautiful at the moment; bluebells, yellow archangel, stitchwort all at their best and a few herb paris revealing themselves amongst a sea of dog’s mercury @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Some lovely flowers from an evening stroll at Aubert Ings SSSI near to Knaresborough with @clarepinches.bsky.social. Wild Tulip Tulipa sylvestris, Snake’s-head Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris and the spring leaves of Meadow Saffron Colchicum autumnale @bsbibotany.bsky.social
April 18, 2025 at 5:46 AM
Some lovely flowers from an evening stroll at Aubert Ings SSSI near to Knaresborough with @clarepinches.bsky.social. Wild Tulip Tulipa sylvestris, Snake’s-head Fritillary Fritillaria meleagris and the spring leaves of Meadow Saffron Colchicum autumnale @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Not much of a tree but the best I can do: flowers of bog myrtle Myrica gale near to Kindrogan last week for #wildflowerhour
April 13, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Not much of a tree but the best I can do: flowers of bog myrtle Myrica gale near to Kindrogan last week for #wildflowerhour
Some gorgeous purple saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia seen on Ben Lawers last week for #WildflowerHour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
April 13, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Some gorgeous purple saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia seen on Ben Lawers last week for #WildflowerHour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Annual pilgrimage to see Purple Saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia on Pen-y-Ghent yesterday; lots of Draba incana too but no sign of Hutchinsia Hornungia petraea that was last recorded in 1978
April 4, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Annual pilgrimage to see Purple Saxifrage Saxifraga oppositifolia on Pen-y-Ghent yesterday; lots of Draba incana too but no sign of Hutchinsia Hornungia petraea that was last recorded in 1978
Hopefully @nationaltrust.bsky.social are controlling its spread by removing seedpods before they mature? Can be highly invasive if dispersed in wetland habitats downstream. Photo below shows a local patch in wet woodland below RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate
March 28, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Hopefully @nationaltrust.bsky.social are controlling its spread by removing seedpods before they mature? Can be highly invasive if dispersed in wetland habitats downstream. Photo below shows a local patch in wet woodland below RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate
Some early flowers from Yorkshire; Mezereum Daphne mezereum is a rare shrub which occasionally grows on limestone pavement. The gorgeous Blue Moor-grass Sesleria caerulea is another national rarity that is super abundant on limestone throughout the Yorkshire Dales. Ingleborough, 27/3/2025
March 28, 2025 at 6:08 AM
Some early flowers from Yorkshire; Mezereum Daphne mezereum is a rare shrub which occasionally grows on limestone pavement. The gorgeous Blue Moor-grass Sesleria caerulea is another national rarity that is super abundant on limestone throughout the Yorkshire Dales. Ingleborough, 27/3/2025
In York today to see England Red Roses triumph over Italy. So called in on York Radiate Groundsel Senecio eboracensis on the way back to the train station; lots by Lendal Bridge
March 23, 2025 at 7:48 PM
In York today to see England Red Roses triumph over Italy. So called in on York Radiate Groundsel Senecio eboracensis on the way back to the train station; lots by Lendal Bridge
A rapidly increasing non-native species in GB as shown by the results of plantatlas2020.org
February 25, 2025 at 7:59 AM
A rapidly increasing non-native species in GB as shown by the results of plantatlas2020.org