🌺 Invasive Rhododendron ponticum is choking Scotland’s native woodlands & costing taxpayers millions. 🌱 But it’s still sold in garden centres & used as rootstock. ☣️ We want a ban. Send pics to scottishcampaigns@woodlandtrust.org.uk if you see it on sale. 🙏 #MairTreesPlease #INNSweek #BePlantWise

@britishdragonflies.bsky.social Nymph survey at some local ponds and scrapes! 🌀

Love the slow-motion videos of dancing mayflies in this.

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3mo ago

Older than the dinosaurs: scientists finally unlock secret of the mayfly’s dance

Good to see the guillemot stacks filling up on a sunny Sunday morning at Sumburgh Head #Shetland #superseabirdsunday

Top plant hunter & #BSBICountyRecorder @trisnorton.bsky.social found Opposite-leaved Pondweed in the River Ems catchment: first find in the area since 1887! More about the plant: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... Tristan tells the full story: bsbi.org/about/news/l... @theriverstrust.bsky.social

I've been looking out for the Alder (Alnus glutinosa) female flower for a few weeks, and found fully open at Prestongrange Mining Museum on Sunday. A joyful sight. Next up will be Larch (Larix decidua) flowering. @bsbiscotland.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @edinburghnats.bsky.social

A series of remarkable photographs have documented Great Crested Grebes preying on Common Chiffchaffs in Spain:

Great Crested Grebes prey on Common Chiffchaffs in Spain

A rare case of Great Crested Grebes preying on Common Chiffchaffs in Spain has provided fresh insight into the opportunistic feeding behaviour of this waterbird species.

bit.ly

Puffins from the Shiant Isles are having a tough winter of it with an almost unprecedented 'wreck' on European coasts.

61% of Scots favour reintroducing lynx, a figure that's constantly growing, and is roughly the same in rural and urban communities. Now the challenge is to build acceptance among those opposed, like farmers, gamekeepers, and deer stalkers. Ireland next!! www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Lynx could return to Scotland – but can rewilders win over wary Highlanders?

With most Scots supportive of reintroducing the wild cat, charities are focusing on those whose jobs could be affected

theguardian.com

**BREAKING NEWS** - Marsh Clubmoss refound in Dunbartonshire, at a site where it was last recorded in 1854! Being more-or-less evergreen, clubmosses make great botanical targets all year round. With that in mind, I set out to hunt for Marsh Clubmoss near Inveraran on the shore of Loch Lomond 🧵

The 2025 #seabird breeding results are in from the Isle of May: Razorbills fledged 0.63 chicks per pair - right on the long-term average. Even better: 91.2% survival, well above the long-term average of 83.9% Strong productivity + excellent survival = a really encouraging year for #Razorbills. 💚

New paper: Most birds use day–night cycles to time activity - but how do Arctic birds cope with nonstop summer light? Male snow buntings keep a daily rhythm year-round, though it weakens during spring migration as flights are scheduled more flexibly ➡️ vist.ly/4rfdw #ornithology #birds 🪶

Writing is thinking "On the value of human-generated scientific writing in the age of large-language models." www.nature.com/articles/s44...

It's not every day you find a new native species for Scotland! Day 22 of my botanical #adventcalendar is Shiny Glasswort - a nationally rare plant never recorded in Scotland before Growing in a salt pan on the Forth Estuary - branching pattern, colour and flower size the ID clues #wildflowerhour

One to keep a sharp eye out for whenever you're in north-west Scotland. Distinguishing Narrow-leaved Marsh-orchid from the hybrids that often accompany this and other members of the genus can be a whole extra challenge though!

James Harding-Morris@jameshardingmorris.bsky.social · 8mo ago

Pugsley's Marsh Orchid (or Narrow-leaved Marsh Orchid), Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides, is a British and Irish endemic found in the north and west in calcareous fens and flushes. Though, as Plant Atlas states, there are possible challenges to its endemic status... share.google/agVCHeLwm59D...

Two interesting recoveries of Puffins ringed on the Isle of May and reported from the Faroe islands in the last week. The blog has the story: isleofmaynnr.wordpress.com

GREAT NEWS in #conservation: the government of New Zealand has announced that they will include feral cats in their PredatorFree 2050 strategy, aiming to benefit #seabirds and landbirds across NZ by removing feral cats:

Feral cats to be added to Predator Free 2050

The Government is delivering on its campaign promise to add feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 target species list to protect our precious native wildlife, Conservation Minister Tama Potaka says.

buff.ly

Hey seabird folks - have you ever thought "*ANOTHER* talk about <species X>?!" So did we. So we reviewed 3000 conference abstracts to see which species get the spotlight. Huge work from @ingridpollet.bsky.social with me and @seabirdsentinel.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Very cool new #seabird paper showing no difference in breeding success between healthy and black-eyed gannets, but a worrying overall decline in productivity following the #avianflu outbreak. 🦠🐣 Read the paper here 👉 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #seabirds #ornithology

Still my favourite strand line discovery to date - a female Phronima sedentaria (‘monster in a barrel’) - Isles of Scilly, October 2023! An amphipod crustacean, she parasitises salps, devouring them from the inside, forming a vessel to raise her young 👽 #MarineLife 🦑 #ukwildlife

Great to find flowering Water Lobelia in a Scottish West Coast loch. A very rare species to find let alone during its flowering period. A really nice species to find! 🌿 #bsbi #aquaticplants #botany

No more Beewashing please! Why beekeeping doesn't help conserve bees. Pls RT if you agree. youtu.be/fiBYBmlKSYU

No More Beewashing! Why beekeeping doesn't help conserve bees.

YouTube video by Dave Goulson

youtu.be

Boat guide, Sophie, captured this fantastic moment on the Isle of May last week - a razorbill chick being fed a (rather large!) fish🐟 Right now is the best time to see seabird chicks, with razorbills, guillemots, gannets & more all feeding their young regularly🍽️ 📷©️S Wilson

Had an amazing time on Eilean Nan Ròn last week as part of the BTO Seabird Grant 🌊 It was a great learning experience. Many Storm Petrels were ringed, Gull chicks and some other nice species. I can’t wait for more Island ringing in future 😊@btobirds.bsky.social @btoscotland.bsky.social

New #UKCEH dataset published on how breeding seabirds spend their time and energy. These data will help us to model the potential impacts of any changes in seabird behaviour in response to new offshore windfarms catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/documents/07...

New study reveals albatrosses make distinct flight hops that are almost exclusively seen when following a vessel It could help manage bycatch risk for 'hidden' fisheries 👇 bit.ly/3G86yuN @mcem-oxford.bsky.social w/ @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @marescience.bsky.social in @jappliedecology.bsky.social

Albatrosses make distinct flight hops when following fishing vessels

bit.ly

🦆 Eider Update! 🐣 The Bird Team have been busy over the past 2 months monitoring our breeding Eiders. They’ve been mapping nests, recording clutch size and catching the females as part of a long-term project. So far this season they’ve found 76 nests, predominantly in bracken and heather… 1/4

Lovely to find lots of Transparent Burnet moths on cliff edges amongst Wild Thyme and other wildflowers in the Kintyre Peninsula whilst out doing fieldwork! ☺️ Such lovely moths!

Beach season open! 🐠💦 This is an encounter I had with a young cormorant last summer, I think I spent 3 days talking about it 😁. Impatient for what I will discover this year! I'll upload it all to minka-sdg.org #cormorant #birds #nature #wildlife #beach #birdlovers #birding #seabirds #ocean #explore

Breeding Eiders are starting to pick up on the Calf of Man now with females starting to lay across the island. Slowly getting my eye in to this rather cryptic species #ukbirding