Kevin Walker
@bsbiscience.bsky.social
Plant ecologist based in North Yorkshire. Formerly @ukceh.bsky.social and now Head of Science @bsbibotany.bsky.social. Coauthor of http://plantatlas2020.org
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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...
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
September 18, 2025 at 2:47 PM
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...
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...
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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."
"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."
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
www.theguardian.com
July 14, 2025 at 5:45 AM
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."
"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."
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
July 14, 2025 at 5:44 AM
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
#Books #Nature #Naturewriting #naturebooks #conservation #naturebookchallenge #booksky
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
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
June 15, 2025 at 6:59 AM
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
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
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!
June 15, 2025 at 12:58 PM
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!
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
June 15, 2025 at 12:53 PM
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
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).
June 14, 2025 at 7:47 AM
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).
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
June 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
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
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.
June 8, 2025 at 8:14 PM
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.
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
June 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
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
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
June 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
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
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 👏
June 8, 2025 at 4:59 PM
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 👏
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
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
June 3, 2025 at 12:32 PM
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
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
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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...
June 5, 2025 at 6:48 AM
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...
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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...
More info here: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... & here: bsbi.org/download/467...
June 3, 2025 at 2:35 PM
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...
More info here: plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9... & here: bsbi.org/download/467...
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
May 29, 2025 at 9:33 AM
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
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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...
May 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
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...
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.
May 25, 2025 at 7:25 PM
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.
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.
May 25, 2025 at 6:56 PM
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.
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.
May 23, 2025 at 7:34 PM
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.
Astonished by the resilience of this Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica on Ingleborough the other day. Growing on a tiny scrap of moss on a bone dry slab of limestone during one of the longest spring droughts on record. 🫡 ✊
May 15, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Astonished by the resilience of this Yorkshire Sandwort Arenaria norvegica subsp. anglica on Ingleborough the other day. Growing on a tiny scrap of moss on a bone dry slab of limestone during one of the longest spring droughts on record. 🫡 ✊
Small but mighty. Dwarf Milkwort Polygala amarella is super rare with a stronghold in the Yorkshire Dales. Easily told from Common Milkwort P. vulgaris by its smaller flowers and large-leaved basal rosette.
May 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Small but mighty. Dwarf Milkwort Polygala amarella is super rare with a stronghold in the Yorkshire Dales. Easily told from Common Milkwort P. vulgaris by its smaller flowers and large-leaved basal rosette.
Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala growing alongside Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa in Yorkshire today. Possibly the only place in the world where these two species grow together?
May 15, 2025 at 9:46 PM
Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala growing alongside Horseshoe Vetch Hippocrepis comosa in Yorkshire today. Possibly the only place in the world where these two species grow together?
The Alps? No, Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala at its southern limit in Yorkshire today. Enjoy.
May 15, 2025 at 9:40 PM
The Alps? No, Mountain Avens Dryas octopetala at its southern limit in Yorkshire today. Enjoy.