Jane Powers
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powersflowers.bsky.social
Jane Powers
@powersflowers.bsky.social
3.5K followers 1K following 460 posts
Nature writer; award-winning garden writer; book author; evening knitter and crocheter; tomato 🍅 fancier; grudging patron of feral pigeons. Living in Ireland 🇮🇪


https://linktr.ee/janepowers
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powersflowers.bsky.social
Well, this was a disappointment. Is there an actually delicious brand, or are they all overhyped? The chocolate on this tasted so-so and the pistachio filling was nice enough, but nothing special.
#DubaiChocolate
#speirgorm
#spéirghorm
A piece of chocolate (with grey-green filling) and colourful packaging sit on a wooden board. The writing on the packaging reads: ‘Meltz… Dubai Chocolate… Made in UAE… Pistachio knafeh’.
November 20, 2025 at 2:05 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
There goes the Navy from Dun Laoghaire: LE George Bernard Shaw
Grey ship on grey seas with foamy waves washing against the grey-brown rock in foreground.
November 15, 2025 at 6:24 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
This fellow cleared the garden pretty quickly 😱 🐦‍⬛🐦 😨
I’m delighted to see him on the premises again. Look at his yellow eye 😍

#sparrowhawk
#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm
#spéirghorm
October 29, 2025 at 3:32 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Catherine Connolly will be elected as Ireland’s next president. The second news item at present is the vast number of spoiled votes.

My thoughts on spoiled votes in the ALT TEXT OF THE PHOTO

#aras25 #aras2025 #spoiledvotes #spoiltvotes #speirgorm #Spéirghorm
Over the last week, social media posts have quoted a letter to the Irish Times that says a spoiled vote counts as nothing, that certain groups have fought hard for the right to vote and that, ergo, a spoiled vote is the equivalence of silence. I feel this is a simplistic way of looking at it. In Ireland, all votes are counted. Spoiled votes are counted, along with votes for legitimate candidates. In the final tally, all votes — including spoiled votes — are reported. Those who spoil their votes are sending a message that some aspect of the election is unsatisfactory. In this election, for example, one of the three candidates on the ballot withdrew weeks ago. It is ridiculous to some voters that his name is still on the paper. Also, some felt that the two remaining candidates offered such a poor choice that it galled them to vote for either. Some wrote in their own choice, even though it voided the ballot’s legitimacy. It takes an effort to spoil your vote. You have to go to the polling station (instead of staying home and griping) and you have to perform an action that goes against the human tendency to take sides and to be part of a recognised cohort. It is not mindless vandalism. Some argue that it is troublemakers, jokers and begrudgers who spoil votes. Sure, a certain number of those who spoil their votes are doing it for badness. But, some of those are people who never set foot in a polling booth before. It’s possible that they quite liked making their marks, whatever they were, on a ballot paper. It’s possible that we now have some new voters for the next election. Good! Democracy happens in odd ways. A spoiled vote is a sure way for dissatisfied voters to make their voices heard. It is an important and visible indicator of public opinion. This election has a comparatively large percentage of spoiled votes. Political parties and media are paying a lot of attention to this fact. In summary: **Yesterday’s spoiled votes convey anything but silence**
October 25, 2025 at 11:55 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
They were too busy to go to the polling station. As you can see. We had to leave them behind.
#DogsForCatherine
Two dogs crowded together on a cushion on a leather sofa. The white terrier is partially sitting on the grey, spotty lurcher. There's actually loads of room, but the smaller one just likes to perch on the larger one.
October 24, 2025 at 3:05 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Production designers: “But we used chronologically correct references!”
October 1, 2025 at 10:02 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
A superb nature book by Chloe Dalton. The writing is so simple and *restrained*, leaving space for the reader’s own feelings and imagination. You become as intimate as any human can with the curious workings of a hare’s fragile but joyous life.

How anyone can support hare-coursing beats me.
Book cover: Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton. Sunday Times bestseller. Winner Wainwright prize 2025.
September 25, 2025 at 8:18 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Quite a gorgeous day for the autumn equinox in #Dunlaoghaire Harbour.
Beautiful day’s sea and sky. Sea is blue-green and lightly rippled, sky is clear except for a series of benign puffy clouds above the horizon. Two arms of the harbour can be seen in the distance, with lighthouses on each side.
September 22, 2025 at 8:43 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Excellent skies up there today and that's only right, seeing as it is #cloudappreciationday #lookup
Rows of Victorian chimneys march underneath a busy sky with lots of different kinds of clouds.
September 12, 2025 at 2:33 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Flower crab spider (Misumena vatia) tucking into a hoverfly for dinner. Isn't she just gorgeous? 😍

#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Bright yellow spider sitting in centre of purple hardy geranium flower, with small hoverfly in its jaws.
July 25, 2025 at 5:08 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Seven-spot ladybirds making more ladybirds 😍🐞 Lots of aphids to sustain them on this teasel 😊

#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
June 30, 2025 at 9:46 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Eristalis pertinax hoverfly doing her grooming routine: getting all the pollen and other garden detritus off her elegant wings and legs. Isn’t she a beauty? The looped vein in her wing denotes that she was once a rat-tailed maggot, bless her.

#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
June 24, 2025 at 7:55 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Midsummer in my bonkers front garden: it takes a lot of bashing around to make a place look this natural. Everything is drought-resistant & nearly all are friends of #pollinators
Plant names in alt text
#dunlaoghaire #Irishgarden #Gardening #flowergarden #pollinatorgarden #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Eryngium 'Big Blue' and Geranium 'Rozanne' in foreground; Linaria 'Peachy' and Salvia 'Royal Bumble' behind. Lobelia tupa in foreground with Salvia 'Royal Bumble', Echium candicans (Pride of Madeira) and Echium vulgare behind. Yellow plants in foreground: Phlomis russeliana, Sisyrinchium striatum; pink flowers: Geranium canariense and Rosa nutkana 'Plena'; white willowherb (Chamaenerion angustifolium). Echium candicans and Buff-tailed Bumblebee. There can be 40 or 50 bumblebees on this plant at any one time.
June 20, 2025 at 11:11 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
This monster of a Californian rose, Rosa nutkana ‘Plena’ flowers only once and it suckers everywhere, but I forgive it for a few weeks every summer. The scent is permeating my whole front garden.
Great lump of a shrub rose with vibrant pink flowers.
June 16, 2025 at 5:48 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
I’m slowly and deliciously making my way through this #urbanplants book by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social

Piece by piece he puts together the extraordinarily layered puzzle that is our urban flora. I just love this book. Just published.

I hope it’s okay to give it a plug on #wildflowerhour
Cover of Urban Plants by Trevor Dines. Published by Bloomsbury
June 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
I can’t resist two more #urbanplants for #wildflowerhour today

Wall Rue (such a perfect little fern)
Great Mullein (in my wall next to footpath — can’t believe a passerby hasn’t beheaded it)

#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Two tiny clumps of tiny fern poking out of a crack in a wall Tall plant with a spike of yellow flowers growing out of a wall.
June 15, 2025 at 6:39 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
More #urbanplants for #wildflowerhour

Dog-walk in #DunLaoghaire (where the council no longer sprays weedkiller! Hooray!)

Field Poppy
Long-headed Poppy
Creeping Thistle
Pineapple Weed + leaves of Broadleaf Plantain (swimming in blocked shore)
#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
June 15, 2025 at 6:20 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
#urbanplants for #wildflowerhour

#DunLaoghaire Harbour this evening:
Common Mallow
Mexican Fleabane
Buck’s-horn Plantain
Rock Sea-Spurrey
#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Tall plant of pink-flowered Common Mallow against stone wall Tufts of Mexican Fleabane growing from a stone wall Clump of Buck's-horn Plantain in flower Pretty Rock Sea-Spurrey with pink flowers
June 15, 2025 at 6:10 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Is this #hoverfly Luniger sp? Don’t think it’s Scaeva — but could be wrong. Couldn’t get better pic. Wings look a bit cloudy. Can #entomology or #diptera person help ID? In Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. @jillwhitelock.bsky.social

#insectID #invertebrate
#urbannature
#irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Striped hoverfly on bud of geranium
June 13, 2025 at 11:48 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
The current situation here. We got soaked on our walk (14mm rain so far) and this seemed the best idea.
White terrier on cushion in front of fire.
June 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Just got URBAN PLANTS by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social
Ecological, historical, social info, accessibly written. As an avid inspector of walls, pavements & other niches, this is perfect for me. You too, probably. Accompanying pics from this morning’s dog walk. More in alt text
#urbannature
Cover of Urban Plants by Trevor Dines. Published by Bloomsbury. Available from good book shops. I bought on Kindle, as I am running out of shelf space, but it’s also really nice to support your local book seller if your house isn’t creaking with books already (they make great insulation). Ivy-leaved Toadflax on gate post near me. White version of Red Valerian Herb Robert, Cleavers (or Sticky Willy as we call it in Ireland) clustered around my local park’s railing. Also Dog Nose.
June 10, 2025 at 12:39 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Yes! Been hiding (reading with my ears) in this for past couple of days. But have to drag myself back to my own work now.
June 4, 2025 at 10:25 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Perfect day in #DunLaoghaire
Sea and sky. Sea is crinkled with silver.
June 4, 2025 at 10:22 AM
powersflowers.bsky.social
Baby starling season! #urbannature #irishnature #speirgorm #spéirgorm
May 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
powersflowers.bsky.social
And then, this just happened! I forgive the grey day everything. #speirgorm #spéirgorm
Double rainbow! Houses and trees in foreground.
May 26, 2025 at 7:24 PM