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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 · 04/05/2026
Hi Jo, definitely go to Sulber when you go back. It’s an amazing place and lots of interest on the limestone pavements as well
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 03/05/2026
Removed sheep in the early noughties and switched to extensive (premium beef) cattle. Both the grassland and limestone pavement Flora has responded very well, as well as inverts. There was a recent paper published on grassland changes
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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
Definitely a more dynamic system! We saw 100s of metres of snuffle lines in a wood in Norfolk…
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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 · 09/03/2026
Take some climbing ropes. It’s very steep and slippy!
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Doesn’t seem to be as it completes its lifecycle before the Impatiens takes off. My observations along the Ure suggest that it is usually in areas where the Impatiens has to recolonise due to flooding so keeps its numbers down although obvs it may have simply gone from majorly infested areas
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 08/03/2026
Here in Yorkshire we’re about 2-3 weeks away from flowering
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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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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
I noticed that too. Mackenzie Crook is a birder / really good bird artist with a nice picture in the BTOs Red 65? I wondered about contacting him about doing a follow on based on a botanical club (rather than Detectorists). I wonder which society he might choose? Material would be similar!
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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 · 15/02/2026
One of best sites I know is a drumlin that was unsuccessfully ‘gripped’ for drainage. SWO regenerated in huge numbers on the overturned mineral soils. Similar habitat on Straloch Moraines in Scotland (but more natural disturbance there)
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
I think maybe a bit more complicated than just grazing. To me this seems more an early successional species adapted to raw mineral soils in the Arctic (moraines, eskers, exposed riverbanks, etc. mires/flushed grassland is the nearest we have these close quickly in absence of disturbance (grazing!)
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
It is an increasing garden escape in northern England and spreading by bulbils along rivers where it can form very dense stands on sandy riverbanks disturbed during winter floods. Along the Oak Beck where this study took place there are 10s of 1000s of plants and it seems to be increasing each year
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Been listening to Cinder Well all day. The same happened to me with Johnny Flynn and The Detectorists…
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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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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Male Holly has been flowering here in Northern England for a few weeks; lots of trees have buds that have yet to open. Apparently not uncommon to have a second flowering late in the year but the first time I’ve noticed it
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 30/11/2025
Surely ‘normal for Norfolk’? 🤣 That’s a term I use a lot in our household!
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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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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 23/08/2025
Glad you made it to Imber! Stunning location and amazing grassland for miles around on each side
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Garden Parsley Petroselinum crispum gone to seed?
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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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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
A trip to Ben Lawers b needed then!
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Kevin Walker @bsbiscience.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
We saw lots of Carex aquatilis when we went ‘off piste’ to get to serpentine outcrops and didn’t Matt Harding find lots of Carex rariflora on slopes just beyond outcrops last year? You can see I like sedges can’t you! Also Cerastium fontanum subsp. scoticum
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