Would you recognise the same mushroom twice? You might not with the Blackening Waxcap. But why is that? Well, the clue is in the name! Take a look at the photos to find out more 👉 📸 Thumbnail: Keilidh Ewan

Henbit Dead-nettle starting to flower again and I think these are the seedlings I saw at the end of august which appeared after the first rains at the end of the summer drought - which would be 4-5 weeks from germination to flower

I think this is an Indigofera, possibly I. heterantha (a form of?). In Zetland Park at Redcar, so a bit milder being by the sea and sandy soil. Someone, probably in the 70's or early 80's chose some interesting plants.

do you mean re-commoning in the way of community buying of land removing hedges/creating species-rich grassland/grazing - that sort of thing. I'm generally sub/urban based so it's not something that I come across but it makes sense on a Parish level in England

Definitely! Our current commons equivalent are green spaces in towns and cities, road verges, etc. (& elected councillors) & in the future those spaces could become species-rich grassland/moorland and biodiverse SUDS rather than the current mown grass & underground drainage systems

Curlews in 'Rockband Photoshoot Formation' at North Cave Wetlands. It's a fab place with varied habitats and the brilliant 'Little Butty Bus' for a proper bacon sandwich and a cup of tea as a reward for the walking! One of our favourites! @yorkswildlife.bsky.social

This is an interesting point that has come up in our Local Nature Recovery Strategy: If you start post Enclosure (circa 1600-1650 in Tees Valley) then your story now is loss of hedgerows. Start before & the loss is of wetlands and massive amounts of grassland/grazing moor; hedges are irrelevant.

I have been known to decry Elaeagnus for being boring. I’ve almost changed my mind, on account of the heavenly scent of these unobtrusive little flowers. Another late nectar source that the bees were taking full advantage of. I’ve never seen them so floriferous up here in the north east.

Yes i think so - I don't know of another purple-leaved form. I'm growing seedlings on of the wild form so I guess I'm about to find that out

Bradford-on-Avon excels again! Vervain along Christchurch and the delightful purple variety thoroughly escaped along Woolley Terrace 🙂

Vervain on a sandy road verge in Constantine, Cornwall today. Given that there's easily over 100 plants it's surprising this is a first monad record for them here. Verbena officinalis

that looks amazing! Both of them! I grow the purple variety and it is a fantastic garden plant ... doesn't self seed quite as much as that up here though

never seen so much in one place - looks good as a verge plant

Sea-purslane (Atriplex portulacoides) a saltmarsh undershrub and not something I can recall seeing before (don't get to the seaside often enough). There was lots of saltmarsh (we didn't explore); the Sea-purslane was growing fairly near the base of the cliff