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Kevin Walker

@bsbiscience.bsky.social
776 followers 318 following 113 posts

Plant ecologist based in North Yorkshire. Formerly at UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology @ukceh.bsky.social and now Head of Science at the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland @bsbibotany.bsky.social. Coauthor of plantatlas2020.org

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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
A quick stop in Glencoe on our way back to England produced masses of Whorled Carraway Trocdaris verticillatum not far from the Scottish Mountaineering Club hut. Lovely plant in a stunning setting.
Whorled Caraway Trocdaris verticillatumWhorled Caraway by a stream in GlencoeGlencoe looking down towards the Whorled Caraway site
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Moss Campion Silene acaulis growing below The Needle on The Quiraing and Northern Bitter-cress Arabidopsis petraea on The Cuillin Ridge, Skye. I’ve not seen either since I last visited Rum over a decade ago.
Moss Campion Silene acaulisThe Needle, Quiriang, SkyeNorthern Bitter-cress Arabidopsis petraea on the Cuillin Ridge, SkyeThe Cuillin Ridge, Skye
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Was passing the locus classicus for Pipewort Eriocaulon aquaticum on Skye so popped in to take a look. Lots growing in the pool but the yellow mass in the photo below appears to be uprooted plants growing happily together in a tangled mass. Quite extraordinary!
Pipewort Eriocaulon aquaticumPipewort in a lochan on SkyeTangled mass of pipewort on edge of lochan with Skye Cuillin in the backgroundTangled mass of pipewort on the edge of a lochan
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 28/06/2026
I recently purchased at auction one of SR Badmin’s sketchbooks. I had to have it because I’d spotted that one of the pages contained a study for an illustration in the Ladybird book ‘Trees’. As close as I’ll probably ever come to owning original Nature series artwork 😊
A small open sketchpad containing a study of trees and the final illustration from the ladybird book, published in 1963, of the page Ilex and Wild Cherry
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Arable Emily @arableplants.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
Happy Emily. This cultivated margin had it's time full of Thistles, Mugwort, Sterile Brome to name but a few. Now a sea of Cornsalads, Venus Looking glass, Rough Poppy & Night-flowering catchfly. Patience and attention to detail- topping, ploughing and working the soil has paid off. #itcanbedone
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Upper Wharfedale has a remarkable flora. In some places northern plants mix with those from further south. Here Dropwort Filipendula vulgaris and Horse-shoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa growing happily alongside Blue-moor Grass Sesleria cearulea.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
Thoroughly well deserved!
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 31/05/2026
‘Solution hollows’ on limestone pavement are a very rare habitat with a distinct assemblage of plants. On Ingleborough they are the main habitat of Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica growing alongside Sabulina verna, Thymus drucei, Sedum villosum and a range of mosses including Tortella tortuosa
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Nice to bump into a new population of Hairy Stonecrop Sedum villosum in Crook Gill, Wharfedale today. A specialist of flat limestone slabs with a thin crust of soil in the Yorkshire Dales, but uber rare with only a handful of large populations, most further west on Ingleborough. Pretty little thing.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Lead mine spoil above Cote Gill in the Yorkshire Dales yesterday with the three ‘leadworts’; Spring Sandwort Sabulina verna, Alpine Penny-cress Noccaea cearulescens and Pyrenean Scurvy-grass Cochlearia pyrenaica. How they colonised these tiny fragments of habitat in is a complete mystery!
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Nice comparison between Spring and Yorkshire Sandworts on Ingleborough today. Spring Sandwort Sabulina verna has purple anthers and narrow leaves; Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica has yellow anthers and broad succulent leaves. Both on thin soils on limestone pavement
Spring Sandwort Sabulina VernaYorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
I think we have a new grassland type! Bird’s-eye Primrose grassland on Sulber, Ingleborough today. The number of Primula farinosa in flower was jaw-dropping. Beautiful. I never dreamt this grassland could be this good when I first visited in 1995. Then just the odd Primula flowering in flushes
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Richard K Broughton @richardkbroughton.bsky.social · 20/04/2026
65 years of natural colonisation and natural woodland expansion at Monks Wood. Entirely self-sown by Jays, thrushes & wind; zero management: no planting, thinning or fencing. Oak-Ash canopy and Hawthorn-Blackthorn understorey dominate. Roe deer, Muntjac, Grey Squirrels haven't inhibited it.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
Two of Ingleborough’s finest flowers from today: Bird’s-eye Primrose Primula farinosa just coming into flower and a very early flowering Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica. Both on Sulber Pasture with Ingleborough brooding in the background.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 06/04/2026
Annual pilgrimage to count Fritillaria meleagris at Aubert Ings SSSI, Cattal where it appeared c25 years ago. Numbers now c250. Tulipa sylvestris seems to be spreading too as has the statuesque Heracleum mategazzianum which is now well established all along the River Nidd downstream of Knaresborough
Fritillaria meleagris naturalised at Aubert Ings SSSI near to CattalTulipa syvestris naturalised on the bank of the River Nidd at Aubert Ings SSSI CattalDead stem of Heracleum mantegazzianumSeed of Heracleum mantegazzianum
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
As we were passing Wordsworth’s Point on Ulswater today we thought it would be rude to not stop and pay our respects to the Wild Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus). And a few nice ones in the cottage we were staying in too…
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
In the orchard Artist: CF Tunnicliffe (The Farm, 1958)
A view through blossoming fruit trees towards an old stone farmhouse built of mellow Oxford Stone. In the pearly sky the first swallows dart about.
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Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
What a joy to celebrate the county #flower of #Hertfordshire in my @theguardian.com country diary today. #naturewriting #countrydiary
theguardian.com
Country diary: The rise of the rare pasqueflower is my Easter miracle | Nic Wilson
Therfield Heath, Hertfordshire: Soft and felty beyond belief, these springtime tremblers are also highly scarce – yet here are tens of thousands of them
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Some non-natives along the Oak Beck, Harrogate yesterday: Purple Toothwort, Caucasian Pennycress, and American Skunk-cabbage. These spread along streams from RHS Harlow Carr. Our paper in British & Irish Botany discusses their spread and implications for management of invasives in gardens.
Purple Toothwort Lathraea clandestina by the Oak Beck Harrogate. A parasite of roots of trees, in this case Salix x fragilisCaucasian Pennycress Pachyphragma macrophyllum along the Oak Beck Harrogate where it originated from RHS Harlow Carr American Skunk-cabbage by the Oak Beck, Harrogate. This originated from RHS Harlow CarrPaper in British and Irish Botany on the waterborne spread of ornamental plants from RHS Harlow Carr
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Lovely!
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Nic Wilson @nicwilson.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
In today's @theguardian.com country diary, Susie White checks out Newcastle's urban plants with James Common, whose new book - Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside - is out today! commonbynature.com/urban-flora-... @bsbibotany.bsky.social #countrydiary #naturewriting
theguardian.com
Country diary: A riverside walk reveals the city’s history written in plants | Susie White
Lower Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne: Under boardwalks, in concrete, on window ledges, seeds borne by water and carried on feet survive
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem Gagea lutea along the River Ure yesterday for #WildflowerHour
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
In London for a few days a bumped into Mediterranean (Roman) Nettle Urtica membranacea in Walthamstow. Not a species I’ve seen before but unmistakable with those long linear inflorescences! #urbanbotany
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Helen Day @lbflyawayhome.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
“Snow has fallen again, as it will sometimes do in February” What to Look for in Winter, 1959 Artist: CF Tunnicliffe Writer: EL Grant Watson
Snowdrops and crocuses appear through light snow on rocky ground
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
To me a more important point about reintroductions is that they shouldn’t divert our ambition/attention from conserving what we’ve already got. That is more mundane day-to-day work/less attention grabbing but absolutely vital not least so introductions have healthy ecosystems in which to thrive.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
The escape of ornamental plants from large gardens can pose a threat to native species and habitats. Here we provide evidence for this in riparian habitats near to Harrogate UK and discuss the lessons for managing potentially invasive species in gardens. britishandirishbotany.org/index.php/bi...
Aconite-leaved Buttercup Ranunculus aconitifolius along the Oak BeckPurple Toothwort Lathraea clandestinaAmerican Skunk-cabbage Lysichiton americanus by the Oak BeckCoralroot Cardamine bulbifera by the Oak Beck
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Markus Wagner @wagnermarkus.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
Our Biological Flora on Wood Crane's-bill is out in @journalofecology.bsky.social. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... A team effort w/ @ruthsk.bsky.social @sandravarga.bsky.social @spp-rich.bsky.social @duncanwestbury.bsky.social, irina Tatarenko & artist Lucy Hulmes on pen and ink.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: Geranium sylvaticum*
Geranium sylvaticum is a perennial forb of upland grasslands, woodlands and riverbanks in northern Britain, with scattered native occurrences also in Wales, central England and Northern Ireland. It h...
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Jono Leadley @birdingdad.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
Bishopthorpe Parish Council want to sell a small wildlife oasis hosting rare wildflowers like Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem to a developer. This field belongs to the people of Bish who cherish its wildlife. Please sign this petition to stop them doing this. Thanks 😊 c.org/syGKBRcGBY
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Richard Morris @ahistoryinart.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Painted in 1913, Paul Nash gave this picture the ultimate simplicity of a title, 'A Drawing.' The elm trees marked the boundary of his family's home at Wood Lane House, Iver Heath in Buckinghamshire. Trees always held a spiritual quality for him.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
I love that such a rare bird was secondary to the plant!
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Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
We're hiring! Could you help us support & grow the community of botanists across Northern Ireland? Manage our @daera-ni.gov.uk-funded Botanical Skills Training Project? Help boost participation in @npms.bsky.social across NI? Please apply by midnight this Sunday, 21 Sept: bsbi.org/botanical-sk...
bsbi.org
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Markus Wagner @wagnermarkus.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
How Wales’s National Botanic Garden came back from the brink www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025... "Upcoming priorities include an ambitious project aimed at reversing Welsh-native flora decline, safeguarding Wales’s 58 endemic species from habitat loss, and creating a living native plant collection."
theguardian.com
The other millennium dome: how Wales’s National Botanic Garden came back from the brink
Site had to be saved from closure after visitor slump in 00s but is now a thriving biodiversity success story
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Lukas Large @lukaslarge.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
Nature book challenge. A book per in no particular order, until you've s ALL of the best nature books in you personal library. No explanations, no reviews, #Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Book cover: sea beans and Nickar nuts by E. Charles Nelson, BSBI handbook no. 10 images is an arrangement of sea beans
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Mark Avery @markavery.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Sunday book review: Urban Plants by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social Publisher: @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social Review: bit.ly/402ICiU 'A great pleasure to browse, an even greater one to read' 'Book of Year contender' @bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscience.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
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!
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
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
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 14/06/2025
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).
Jacob’s Ladder, Lathkill DaleShaggy Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Monks DaleNottingham Catchfly, Monks DaleHoary Mullein, Lathkill Dale
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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
8/6/25 Yorkshire - A hop over the border to God's own country proved rather fruitful, with many fine #orchids to be seen. This reintroduced Lady's Slipper #Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) on a woodland margin above a stream is particularly magnificent this year #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
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.
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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
8/6/25 Yorkshire - The Small White #Orchid (Pseudorchis albida) is far rarer than it should be, as a species that tolerates a wide range of habitats. Unfortunately overgrazing (baa) and improvement has rendered this plant particularly rare in England and Wales #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Dr Richard Bate @thenewgalaxy.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
8/6/25 Yorkshire - It's become a tradition each year for us to see Pugsley's Marsh #Orchids (Dactylorhiza traunsteinerioides) at Kilnsey. There's a fair bit of hybrid shenanigans taking place, but this lop-sided plant with strongly lobed flowers is bang on #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 08/06/2025
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 👏
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Plantlife @plantlifeuk.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Orchid on the brink of extinction returns to the wild🌱 The iconic Lady’s-slipper orchid, once thought extinct in the early 20th century, was rediscovered in 1930. Find out how we've helped return it to the wild - loom.ly/gM2516E 📷Kevin Walker/Dr Elizabeth Cooke
Lady Slipper Orchid with its distinctive yellow slipper-shaped pouches.Newly planted seeds with copper ring for slug protection.
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TrevorTheBotanist @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
Woohoo! Publication Day! It’s finally hitting the streets, just like the plants it features. From walls to pavements, fallow waste ground, the grassy bits and street trees, it’s a celebration of urban botany and I really hope you enjoy it! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/urban-pla...
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Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) @bsbibotany.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
Great to work with partners @yorkswildlife.bsky.social @rbgkew.bsky.social @plantlifeuk.bsky.social & @naturalengland.bsky.social on a secret project to nurture Lady's-slipper Orchid back into the wild in Yorkshire! More info here: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... & here: bsbi.org/download/467...
plantatlas2020.org
PlantAtlas
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 29/05/2025
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
Red-necked Footman
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TrevorTheBotanist @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
Oh my word! Botanist about to explode! Just unboxed my presentation copies of Urban Plants & I’m as giddy as a bee in a bellflower. It’s a beautiful thing, from the gorgeous Carry Akroyd cover to the photos kindly provided by many lovely people. Hope you enjoy it www.bloomsbury.com/uk/urban-pla...
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
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.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 25/05/2025
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.
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 23/05/2025
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.
Flowering Bay Willow Salix pentandra with male catkins
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