iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Jo Durrant @jodurrant.co.uk · 18/06/2026

🎧 Ep 285 of Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe podcast is out now, 2026 Chelt Sci Fest special: 🤩 Guests including: @juleshoward.bsky.social @sarahbearchell.bsky.social @turiking.bsky.social @russellarnott.bsky.social @markmiodownik.bsky.social & more! 💻 jodurrantsbeautifuluniverse.libsyn.com

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Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Jo Durrant @jodurrant.co.uk · 05/04/2026

🎧 Ep 276 of Jo Durrant’s Beautiful Universe podcast is out Weds: 🤩 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social talks about The Future of Agriculture 🎲 Highlight from 2025 Chelt Sci Fest with @kityates.bsky.social on predictions 📲 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/j... 💻 jodurrantsbeautifuluniverse.libsyn.com

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The 2026 UK Josh Award is open! Pic shows when I won it back in 2014. It came with funding and help to develop and run an activity - part of a huge change in career for me. @big-stem-network.bsky.social has all the details: share.google/BUGpXXZ73d2J... #SciCom #STEM

A white woman with long dark brown hair is looking at a beautiful trophy which consists of a twist of metal. She's clearly in love with it!

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

. #NoticingNature late afternoon sun on some deciduous woodland which is almost ready to burst into leaf! #Nature #SciComm

A landscape. In the foreground is a long shadow, created by a hillside and the sky is dark threatening above, with bare tree branches silhouetted. In the mid-ground is a band of bare deciduous trees brightly lit by the late afternoon sun

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

I've been running an online challenge for @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social - with the help of my pal, Oso. In Imaginary Aliens, primary school children were challenged to invent an alien which combined adaptations to climate with their amazing imaginations. Amazing science and creativity!

A Zoom screenshot. The host of the call, Rod Hebden appears in a tiny window at the top, surrounded by a Festival of Tomorrow backdrop. Most of the screen is occupied by Dr Sarah Bearchell, a white woman with long straight brown-grey hair and round glasses wearing an emerald green jumper. She is accompanied by Oso, an orange muppet-type puppet with bushy eyebrows.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

The Cloud Factory is coming to @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social STEAM, #Swindon Saturday 14 February! Free shows at 10.30am, 11.30am, 12.30pm, 1.30pm and 2.30pm Everyone in the audience gets to see, hear, touch, taste and smell clouds - make sure you're seated early! #Family #Science #SEND #FREE

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

. #NoticingNature A disease resistant elm thriving at Christchurch #Oxford. Their flower buds are just about to burst open! Most of Europe's elms were devastated in the last century by Dutch elm disease, caused by the fungus Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, spread by bark mining beetles. #Nature #SciComm

Two photos. The first shows an immature Elm, Ulmus procera, devoid of leaves on a February day. It is thin with an upright habit. The second shows a close up of a young lateral branch with regular, spherical pink buds. They look as if they'd have the texture of those liquorice sweets that are covered in hundreds and thousands.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

. #NoticingNature Very appropriate for Bluesky! Buddleja will take hold in the cracks of any abandoned city space. It looks gorgeous in summer and is an excellent nectar source for butterflies but can crowd-out caterpillar food plants. #SciComm #Nature

The forecourt of an abandoned office block has become clogged with dead leaves and litter. In the cracks where the pavement meets the facade is a row of self-seeded butterfly bushes, Buddleja davidii. In February they are straggly and green, with the remnant of last year's flower heads.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

. #NoticingNature One of those plants which can live in the tiniest pocket of soil! Pellitory-of-the-wall, Parietaria Judaica, looking glorious in #0xford #Nature #SciComm #PavementPlants

A wall of grey engineering bricks meets a tarmac path. Growing at the interface is a ragged looking plant with clusters of tiny flowers, only noticeable when pointed out to you.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 07/02/2026

. #NoticingNature A *slightly* warmer day sees his ladybird out for a walk #Nature #SciComm

A photo taken through a window looking outwards. There's a blurry grey sky and treetops but in the centre of the frame, in sharp focus, is the silhouette of a ladybird walking across the window.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

. #NoticingNature LOOK VERY CLOSELY! Pull aside some dead leaves and you might find some springtails! These little jumpers were only about 2mm long. There are over 9000 species of Collembola, which are not insects but hexapods. #Nature #SciComm

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

. #NoticingNature An earthworm running (?!) for the cover of darkness after I accidentally removed its safe covering of dead leaves. #Nature #SciComm

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

. #NoticingNature A patch of the neatest rosettes with the scruffiest hairs (until you look at the underside of the leaves!) #Nature #SciComm

A close-up of small rosettes of long rounded leaves with coarse hairs on the upperside. One leaf has been removed to show the white felted underside.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

. #NoticingNature Petty Spurge looking gloriously healthy by this sunny wall! Have a close look at the remains of an old flower to see the horned glands (spiky bits on the paler rounded structure) typical of this species #Nature #SciComm #Oxford

A distant and close up shot of petty Spurge, Euphorbia peplus. You can see it's a short, lightly branches annual with rounded leaves. Up close there is a strange circular structure with eight horns around the outside. These are the glands.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

Recently, I've been posting about #NoticingNature, which is something I asked students to do today as part of my Imaginary Aliens workshop for @festivaloftomorrow.bsky.social To get them thinking, I use real animals and Oso, a creature I found living in my shed. #SciComm

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

. #NoticingNature Oriel Square, #Oxford. Not a lot of nature...but look closely under the bike rack! Low foot traffic and kept damp through a permanent rota of locked-up bikes. This helps plants and mosses grow larger between the cobbles. Zoom in to see the flush of green! #Nature #SciComm

A rainy street scene in historic Oxford. There's Oriel College facing onto Oriel Square, a tarmacked street with a wide cobblestone boundary. This area is covered in electric scooters but there is also a permanent bike rack and the ground in this area is covered in grass and moss growing between the cobbles.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

. #NoticingNature Beech tree seed pods silhouetted against the January sky, each like a like hairy pac man. Look closely and you'll see this spring's buds developing, tightly packed for now! #Nature #SciComm

The branch of a beech tree is silhouetted against a grey January sky. Last autumn's seed pods remain. They are covered in hooks and have a mouth-like opening so each looks like a hairy pac man! The long slender buds are growing for spring.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

. #NoticingNature Next time you see a snowdrop, take a closer look. Those six petals aren't actually petals 🤔 There are two whorls (circular patterns) of TEPALS, a structure which is neither leaf or petal. Look closely and you'll see the inner set has green markings. #Nature #SciComm #Spring

A shady wintry bank with a weak sun just dipping behind it. There are snowdrops bravely emerging from a covering of dead leaves

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I've been #NoticingNature Clusters of tiny white flowers and heart-shaped seed pods tell me this is Shepherd's Purse, Capsella bursa-pastoris. Apparently, the pods produce mucus which traps nematodes. So it's a #protocarnivore (on the evolutionary path to #carnivore!) #Nature #SciComm

Clusters of tiny white flowers on the raised stems of a plant with lance-shaped leaves. You can also see heart-shaped seed pods.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

I made a library book! It's a childhood dream come true! Lovely to find my book in #Kennington #Oxford #Library today.

Three photos: 1. A non-fiction shelf in a community library, red arrow points to one book. 2. The cover of The Future of Agriculture by Sarah Bearchell. 3. The book plate marking it as the property of Oxfordshire County Council

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Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Joanna Bagniewska @joannabagniewska.com · 27/01/2026

Today, I found out that the French term for "science communicator" is "vulgarisateur scientifique". Science vulgariser. There is literally no better descriptor for someone who talks about animal sex and poo. Joanna Bagniewska: Science vulgariser. Wulgaryzatorka nauki. #scicomm 🧪

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

#NoticingNature A worm cast! Earthworms eat dead plant material, and a lot of soil, so it's no surprise that some of their poos look like coiled piles of mud. Earthworms provide vital nutrient cycling and help aerate soils - so worm casts are something to celebrate! 🎉 #Nature #SciComm #Oxford

A small mound of mud in short wet grass. The mud has a lumpy, coiled look, as if it has been squeezed out of a toothpaste tube!

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

#NoticingNature Spring IS coming! Currently tightly closed and rigid, but soon these male hazel catkins will be flexing their pollen into the air. Can you see a tiny flash of pink-red on a bud? These are the stigmas of the female catkin, just starting to emerge. #Oxford #Nature #Spring #hazel

A close up of a leaf-less winter hazel twig. There are rigid, closed male catkins - the large catkins which you can feel with your hands. There is and a bright flash of red-pink on a bud. These are the stigmas of the female catkins, just starting to appear - often missed by the sighted because they are so inconspicuous.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

#NoticingNature Hope! There may be few pollinators here in #January but that doesn't matter to wind-pollinated grasses like this Poa annua. A tiny bunch of flowers on a grey day. #Spring is coming! #Oxford #Nature #SciComm

A neatly painted exterior wall. White with a black border. There is a crevice where the wall meets the damp paving slabs. In this gap grow three grass plants, the central one is flowering, its inflorescence contrasts bright green against the black.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

#NoticingNature A damp day in the city. What could this smear of green be? Life! Raindrop splash moves nutrients and moisture up the wall creating a zone where algae and mosses can thrive. #NoticingNature #Nature #SciComm #Oxford

An old limestone wall with a smear of green at the base. The photo was taken on a wet January day and a bare deciduous tree stands to the right.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

This feels like a cheeky rebellion! Moss growing from a leaky downpipe in #Oxford #NoticingNature #Nature #SciComm

Bright green patch of moss growing on the leaky joint of an urban downpipe

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

This is a lovely resource to develop #ComputationalThinking skills and a #GrowthMindset - all while playing a game #Rodocodo I can personally vouch for the fun I had learning #VisualCoding by trial and error, all those 60 reward stars in the screenshots were earned while I was writing about it!

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

I'm bringing #TheCloudFactory to #ChelmsfordScienceFestival on Saturday and Sunday. Four free shows of hands-on multisensory science, suitable for all. Come along AND TOUCH A CLOUD!

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Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Robin Hayward 🌳 🏳️‍⚧️ @canopyrobin.com · 01/10/2025

The photoshoot for these ones was such a challenge! Hopefully I captured the colour-change background well enough but there's just so much beauty in the variation canopyrobin.etsy.com/listing/4376...

The they/she pin worn on a black lapel. The background appears a very dark blue with multicoloured glitter flecks

A range of pronoun pins in colours from light blue to golden yellow

Pronoun pins for every combination of he, she, and they, with gold text and backgrounds from blue to red

The they/she pin worn on a black lapel. The background appears a sea green colour

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

If you are doing any kind of #engagement, this new guide helps you to examine your work and teaches you how to make it more equitable and inclusive. #SciComm @big-stem-network.bsky.social

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Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Alom Shaha @alomshaha.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Sarah is not the target audience at all but it’s been wonderful to have so many professional scientists and science communicators read the book and say they got something out of it - just look at the reviews! It’s 99p on Kindle and £3 for a paperback at the moment www.amazon.co.uk/Why-Dont-Thi...

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

I'm reading this at the moment (I know, what took me so long?!). Alom has a lovely readable style, full of curiosity and great explanations. Worth a read for science centre explainers too. What a lovely offer! @associationscied.bsky.social @sciencecentres.bsky.social

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Science Centres and their outreach teams are often the first scientists children encounter and they aim to build long term community relationships too. However, they do not receive goverment financial support in the same way as conventional museums and other cultural centres. This needs to change.

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Reposted by Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻

Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) @sciencecentres.bsky.social · 01/09/2025

We've made it to Bluesky! Give us a follow for updates from our network of science centres, museums, and outreach organisations across the UK. We'll be posting about events, campaigns, and nationwide projects. Any suggestions for who we should follow? Let us know! 🔽

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Day One of the Talking #Maths in Public Conference is under way online and @uni-of-warwick.bsky.social! Excellent thoughtful and thought-provoking keynote from @jonchaseraps.bsky.social. @tmip.bsky.social am I right that its not too late to buy an online ticket?! talkingmathsinpublic.uk/programme/

talkingmathsinpublic.uk

Programme - Talking Maths In Public 2025

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

It's actually happened! My book is out today! It's called the Future of Agriculture. It considers how we can feed a growing population in a changing #climate. Political change will take time but there are actions we consumers can take now! coles-books.co.uk/the-future-o... #SciComm #Agriculture

coles-books.co.uk

The Future of Agriculture by Sarah Bearchell

Record rainfall and extreme weather has become a common occurrence around the world. The television news shows farmers standing in front of their flooded fields; the ground too wet to harvest one seas...

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

Glorious afternoon at the limestone pavement at @plantlifeuk.bsky.social Winskill Stones Reserve #Yorkshire #SciComm

A view along the gryke (channel) of a limestone pavement. You can see some very dry moss, the soft leaves of a Yorkshire fog grass seedling and a patch of herb Robert. In the distance is a hill called Ingleborough (I think!). It's gloriously sunny.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Delighted to be included in Jonathan Powell's article on the use of signing in astronomy teaching. One of the cover stories in the current issue of @senmagazine.co.uk #BSL #Makaton #SciComm

The cover of SEN Magazine featuring a smiling white child with curly blonde hair. There is also a close up of the article with the words "I love it when audience members teach me new signs" and pictures showing how to sign moon: hold your dominant hand at head height with thumb and forefinger pinched together, then move them apart as you move your hand down, and back together again - it's like making a crescent moon.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 21/07/2025

It was lovely to catch up with @joannadurrant.bsky.social at last months' #CheltenhamScienceFestival. We chatted about bubbles, clouds, #Makaton signing and my book launch next month.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

HUGE congratulations to @steckl.es - the force of nature (and mathematics) who has won this year's #UK Beetlestone Award. Such amazing energy and dedication to share her love of #maths

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

A nectar thief! This buff-tailed #bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, landed on a Salvia flower, nibbled a hole in the flower tube, drank the nectar and flew to the next. Skipping pollination altogether. You can see identical holes in all the flowers. Cheeky! @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social #SciComm #Nature

A nice fluffy bumblebee with a buff coloured abdomen end is resting on the underside of a scarlet flowered ornamental Salvia flower.

A white circle is drawn around one of the scarlet Salvia flowers. It highlights where a hole has been nibbled in the petals. Closer inspection shows this same hole is present on all the open or old flowers in the inflorescence of about 10 flowers.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

New magnetic material discovered. Better tell the #GCSE and #ALevel examiners about this one! #SciComm

Care instructions on cotton polyester sheet packaging. The highlighted text says "Due to the magnetic nature of polyester when in contact with fibres such as nylon, pilling may occur"

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

The #fasciation on this Veronica spicata has left me with an #earworm. Sing it with me...MahNahMahNah! #Muppets

Veronica spicata is a perennial plant. It has spikes of tiny bright purple flowers. The tip of each inflorescence is almost neon green/yellow. Fascination has caused some to form with a flat end but the one in focus has an o-shape. It looks like a moth on top of a purple Muppet!

The Muppets who sang MahNahMaNah. The central one is beardy but is not the one I remember most. The Muppets on either side have fluffy pink bodies, pink horns, googly eyes on top of their heads and bright neon green/yellow mouths. They look like the top of the Veronica inflorescence!

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

A great conference, thank you! I've learned about using in-built apps as well and specialist technologies. But the best part was how so many speakers talked about making the tech available to all learners, so everyone is comfortable using it, especially important in mainstream classrooms.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

@kityates.bsky.social It was great to meet you at Cheltenham Science Festival. It's always lovely to put a real human to the name :)

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

My first Great Exhibition Road Festival - and what an audience! Can you see the expressions on joy, awe & wonder on children & adults alike? Look even closer and you'll see an array of stickers and make-and-takes from the research activities provided by @imperialcollegeldn.bsky.social #GERF

A backstage view of a packed audience at an outdoor festival. You can see a woman in a tartan dress and black cardigan from behind. She is making large bubbles. The audience facing her appear at first to be entirely children between toddlers and ten years old, but look closely and there are supportive adults in there too. The audience's faces are a mixture of awe, anticipation, delight and joy.

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Dr Sarah Bearchell 🌻 @sarahbearchell.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

Oooh! How exciting! A pyramidal orchid, Anacamptis pyramidalis, has taken up residence in my front garden! #WildflowerHour #Botany #SciComm #Nature #UK

A species rich "lawn" including a singular bright pink-purple orchid. The individual tiny flowers (about 0.5cm diameter) are arranged in a pyramid shape

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