Wendy English
@whitbybotanist.bsky.social
Botany recorder for Whitby Naturalists Club with a general interest in the natural world and conservation.
24th Oct 2026 2pm Normanby Room Whitby Museum The unfettered nature of Whitby By Mark Fisher Nature doesn't have to be sought in some remote location. The more we look the better appreciation of wild nature , knowledge and ecological understanding and also great joy. Members £1 Visitors £2
Exhibition of work by Ruby Tingle at Pannett Art Gallery in @whitbymuseum.bsky.social opened today with a musical performance. Ruby is inspired by nature. She spent a day last year with @whitbynats.bsky.social studying amphibians. This Exhibition is influenced by the gallery's Eileen Soper works
3rd Oct 2026 2pm Normanby Room Whitby Museum Linking Levisham landscape recovery project HannahKingsbury, project manager Giving us an overview of the landscape recovery project in the NYMNP on a 20 year agreement focussing on land management monitoring and evaluation Members £1 Visitors £2
Fab story from the Yorkshire beaver trial led by Forestry England in Cropton with Nodding Bur-marigold Bidens cernua colonising and first seen by @whitbybotanist.bsky.social last year, now already frequent. Only 3 previous records for the vice county before! @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Surveying botanical and ecological change in Cropton Forest beaver introduction trial What a privilege to survey ecology and habitat change following beaver introduction with this repeat surveys from 2019, 2021, 2024 and now 2026. Thank you to Forestry England for leading this fascinating beaver…
Surveying botanical and ecological change in Cropton Forest beaver introduction trial
What a privilege to survey ecology and habitat change following beaver introduction with this repeat surveys from 2019, 2021, 2024 and now 2026. Thank you to Forestry England for leading this fascinating beaver trial and for facilitating these surveys. The key findings so far have been published in Smith et al 2026 and in this wider public brochure. Thanks for help in the field to Edward and Miles this year, to Austine and Ezekiel in 2024 and to Ed in 2019.
plantsbiodiversityecosystems.wordpress.com
Saltwick Nab has a golden look at present - lots of wild Golden Rod, and a few late flowers of Dyer's Greenweed. #WildflowerHour
A visit to Skipworth Common (NNR) to see the aquatic fern, Pillwort , Pilularia globulifera, growing on a pond edge. I love the way the grass like fronds unfurl! A very unusual fern!
Upper Teesdale with @ynuorg.bsky.social VC65 excursion. Not the best time for plants, but some interesting species still around.
Dodder, Cuscuta epithymum, doing well on its only site in VC62. Hard to see what plants it's parasitising. @bsbibotany.bsky.social
A Greater Tussock Sedge living up to its name on the edge of YWT Fen Bog. The bog has no surface water, and White-beaked Sedge is severely depleted, probably others. Plenty of the speciality Keeled Skimmer around a damp flush on the edge. #WildflowerHour #WaterPlants (normally!)
A confused Field Bindweed, Convolvulous arvensis, climbing on an old wall around the grounds of Whitby Abbey for #WildflowerHour #ClimbingPlants
Pirri-pirri Burr for #wildflowerhour #invasiveplant challenge. Easy to see why this NZ plant came in for gardens - but Minsmere & Lindisfarne demonstrate the ease of spread and harm to habitat. It's found its way to a popular dog walking place @northyorkmoors.org.uk . No success removing it yet.
Bryophytes have taken advantage of the bare burnt ground after the Fylingdales wildfire, creating a multicolour carpet. @northyorkmoors.org.uk
One large plant of Heath Groundsel, Senecio sylvaticus, growing on the burnt ground following the wildfire on Fylingdales Moor last year. @northyorkmoors.org.uk #WildflowerHour
A good day - from village centre, to dunes to the station car park via back streets to woodland - all had their own grasses, and Ambroise found and explained them all! Thanks to @ambroisebaker.bsky.social for leading, and others for their company.
Ambroise Baker@ambroisebaker.bsky.social · 4mo agoA wonderful bunch of keen botanists took part to the 2026 #bsbigrasswalk yesterday! we are still counting and cross checking... about 50 species observed and lots and lots of learning! @wonkyeggs.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social @whitbybotanist.bsky.social and others Thanks all for coming!
Confusing colony of orchids growing on a @northyorkmoors.org.uk verge. Marsh orchids in this area are usually Northern - but these look different. @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social @dunnjons.bsky.social
The Petty Whin in Jugger Howe Beck is hanging on, but very few flowers and spindly plants this year. Conditions are very dry. #WildflowerHour
Not many orchids in flower here in N Yorks at present, Fly Orchids practically over, and Northern Marsh just starting to come out. #WildflowerHour
Ivy-leaved Water Crowfoot, Ranunculus hederaceus, a fairly #TinyPlant for #WildflowerHour. In a muddy hollow on the North York Moors.
Goldilocks, the woodland buttercup; fragile and somewhat misshapen. One of our Ancient Woodland Indicators. #WildFlowerHour #ButtercupChallenge
A Whitby special for #WildFlowerHour: Hoary Cress, Lepidium draba grows abundantly on the coastal cliffs around Whitby. A member of the Cabbage Family.
A lovely display of Cowslips and some unexpected Field Mousear in YWT Brockadale on a quick visit on my way back to Whitby today. #wildflowerhour @ynuorg.bsky.social
Our @mariposanature.bsky.social Rhodes tour ends tomorrow after a fabulous week of orchid hunting. The incredible number & variety has to be seen to be believed! Thanks to @dunnjons.bsky.social & @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social for site research & expertise. Good weather, good company, stunning scenery...
Wild daffodils @northyorkmoors.org.uk aren't confined to Farndale. Looking good this year in Scar Wood.
Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum, now prolific on the coast round Whitby, with the inevitable rust fungus, Puccinia smyrnii. #wildflowerhour
Your liverwort is Marchantia polymorpha, popular with scientists as a "lab rat" plant that's easy to grow - not so popular with gardeners. Here it's a pioneer species, resisting erosion and providing a substrate where seedlings can get started.
After the devastating wildfire on Fylingdales, it's interesting to see the appearance of some fungi specialising in fire sites, and a liverwort growing on bare damp soil. @fylingdalesed.bsky.social @northyorkmoors.org.uk
Almost 100 moths of 15 species in my LED trap in oak/birch woodland last night.
