Dr. Sara L Middleton
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saralilplants.bsky.social
Dr. Sara L Middleton
@saralilplants.bsky.social
3.3K followers 700 following 190 posts
Open Science Coordinator 👐🏾 | PhD in plant trait ecology @ Oxford Uni 🌱 | Editorial Board @plantperspectives.bsky.social 🌿 | Founder & Filmmaker 🎥 | 💚 Fabaceae, Crinoids, Outreach | AuDHD | She/her. Own views

saralilmiddleton.com
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saralilplants.bsky.social
A first for me and @geologyjohnson.bsky.social to see trilobites in the wild. Look at the beautiful preservation 😍

Rocks likely heterolithic limestone with black shake and chert interbeds from late Devonian-early Carboniferous from southern Belgium.

#FossilFriday
A trilobite fossil with clear view of segments amongst a death assemblage of other marine fossils (like crinoids) preserved in limestone. Size about two human fingernails long. A very small trilobite rear end the size of pinkie finger nail. The segments are very well preserved. There is a bryozoan fossil next to it too. Close up of a trilobite fossil with clear view of segments surrounded by other marine fossils. Size about two human finger nails long.
November 14, 2025 at 8:14 AM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Plant mood: the emotionally withered looking black bean

Peeps waiting for an email/peer review/work from me thanks for your patience, there's a lot going on right now. I will respond when I can. I’m also taking time away from here for a bit. Like this perennial black bean, I will resurface again 🖤
A photo of a black bean (Lathyrus niger) with withered looking pods against a grassy backdrop.
September 16, 2025 at 2:04 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Lovely assemblage of early carboniferous crinoids seen on the paving slabs in Leuven train station in Belgium 🤩

#FossilFriday
A dark grey paving slabs with a jumble of light grey fossil crinoid stems deposited at various orientations.
September 5, 2025 at 4:15 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Regular reminder to authors to please acknowledge and cite people who have contributed to your work. Yet again I find a paper that I collected data for and I’m not acknowledged. 🧪

Also see our recent paper that provides a toolkit for more just and equitable citation practices👇🏽

🔗 osf.io/qjecy_v3
Conceptualization of the citational justice toolkit, organized around the research cycle. In the top right quadrant of the cycle, we start with Planning, which includes the Ideas and Funding stages of research. This section contains two practices: citational politics training module and the Academic Wheel of Privilege, and one tool: the citational transparency browser extension. In the bottom right quadrant of the cycle, we have the Project, which includes Research and Journal Selection stages of research. This section contains one practice: diversify your reading. In the bottom left quadrant of the cycle, we have the Paper, which includes Paper writing and Submission stages of research. This section contains three practices: citing R packages and other tools, annotated citations lists and the citational diversity statement, and nine tools: Genderize, the Gray test, the citation audit survey, Mirya Holman’s pre-submission checklist, GBAT, the citational diversity codebook, a template for citing Indigenous peoples, the inwardness metric and GCBI-alyzer. In the top left quadrant of the cycle, we have Publication, which includes the Peer Review and Publication stages of research. This section contains one practice, the Academic Wheel of Privilege.
August 20, 2025 at 7:57 AM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Visited a cat cafe this weekend. 12/10 would recommend.
Cute ginger cat snoozing in a grey cat bed in front of a fiddle leaf fig plant. A small ginger cat curled up sleeping on a top of a cushion. Two ginger cats sleeping curled up on opposite sides of a square cat bed. One cat is curled up like a bagel the other more like a croissant. A black cat on a chair snoozing with their head upside down and with one paw slightly raised, the other stretched out. The cat's eyes are slightly open.
July 28, 2025 at 8:06 AM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Honestly a mood given current state of things.

Trying to blossom in less than ideal growing conditions.

Found a teeny teasel growing out of a crack in the side walk 💜💚
A teeny teasel growing from a crack in the side walk.
July 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Found a large patch of tufted vetch 💜

Photo of me for scale taken by my sister.

#WildflowerHour
Close up of the top of a tufted vetch patch. You can tendrils and seedpods too. A dense patch of tufted vetch bathed in a lovely sunset glow. There are hundreds if not thousands of purple flowers! A photo for my smiling, wearing all black crouching in a dense patch of tufted vetch. The patch is probably 20 by 30 m and the photo doesn't capture the full size of the patch!
July 13, 2025 at 7:38 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
These super dense patches of pineapple weed looked otherworldly. The smell was delightful!

#WildflowerHour
Close up side view of a dense patch of pineapple weed. A photo taken at ground level towards the sunset of a dense patch of pineapple weed.
July 13, 2025 at 7:04 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
My sunflower be sunflowering 😍
Close up of a sunflower growing next to a garden fence and looks like how you would imagine a sunflower to look. There are some water droplets on the ray florets.
July 11, 2025 at 7:06 AM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Soft evening glow in the meadow 💚💜

#NaturePhotography
#Plants
#Grasslands
A patch of meadow basking in the glow of the sunset. There are various grass species and tufted vetch.
July 9, 2025 at 6:53 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Grasses are also putting on a show at the moment! I think this might be Timothy grass.

#WildflowerHour
Close up of flowering grass species Timothy that looks like fluffy cylinders on thin stalks.
June 22, 2025 at 7:39 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Common centaury is started to bloom in my local area in Oxfordshire 🩷

#Wildflowerhour
Close up above view of common centaury blooming in the dappled sunlight.
June 22, 2025 at 7:20 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Always wonderful to be in the company of a Bee orchid.

#WildflowerHour
A close up picture of a bee orchid.
June 22, 2025 at 7:12 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
I have the day off work today so naturally I spent a few hours in a ditch looking for cool plants 😂

Came across this pretty pyramidal orchid which matched with my outfit🩷

#Botanist #Wildflower
A plant selfie of Sara crouching and pointing at a pyramidal orchid. The sky is blue and the sun is shining directly behind.
June 19, 2025 at 12:03 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
There is a lot going on in the world and small things like this fresh monstera leaf unfurling, adds a little joy to my day 💚
Side view of a single monstera leaf unfurling against the backdrop of cream coloured blinds.
June 16, 2025 at 4:19 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Being a bee is hard work and sometimes they nap on flowers 🥹

Found this cutie resting on a purple toadflax (Linaria purpurea) 💜

#Photography #Macro #Insects #Pollinators #Nature
A close up of a bee resting on top of a purple toadflax flower. A side view of a bee resting on a purple toadflax.
June 1, 2025 at 7:44 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Yellow rattle was my favourite plant find this week 💛

#WildflowerHour
Close up of a yellow rattle flowering.
June 1, 2025 at 7:36 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Nigella flowers are starting to bloom in the garden and they are magical 💙
Close up of a nigella flower, love-in-a-mist against a blurry background.
May 29, 2025 at 7:59 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
A lovely pink form of yarrow spotted this week for #WildflowerHour 🩷
Close up of a pink-form yarrow in flower.
May 25, 2025 at 7:41 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
A delight to see Ragged Robin bobbling in the evening breeze earlier in the week 🩷

#WildflowerHour #PinkFamily
A close up of a ragged robin in a meadow against a sunset sky. You can see other ragged robin flowers in the distance. A close up of a ragged robin flower in a meadow with a sunset glow. Close up of a ragged robin flower where you can see the flower structure and the characteristic straggly pink petals.
May 18, 2025 at 7:17 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Plants bring me so much joy, which was captured by my sister this evening when I spotted this lovely legume 🩷💚
Me excitedly smiling whilst crouching down in a meadow framing a red clover with my hands. A side view of a red clover in a meadow bathed in a sunset glow.
May 10, 2025 at 7:55 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Scurvy grass growing on Whitby Pier 🤍💚

#WildflowerHour #HighUpPlants #Yorkshire
Scurvy grass growing on the edge of Whitby pier. A bunch of scurvy grass growing next to a litter bin on Whitby pier.
May 4, 2025 at 8:10 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Was surprised to see bird's-foot-trefoil out already during a beach walk along Runswick Bay, N. Yorkshire 💛

#WildflowerHour #Yorkshire
A bird's-foot-trefoil in the foreground growing a grassy bank at the top of the beach. Close up side view of a bird's-foot-trefoil.
May 4, 2025 at 7:59 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
The wild garlic around Durham put on a multi sensory show this week 🤍💚

Shame pictures can't convey the phenomenal smell!

#WildflowerHour
A bunch of wild garlic flowering against the backdrop of Durham Cathedral. A verge covered in wild garlic in a wooded area. A steep river bank carpeted in wild garlic. Woodland understory covered in wild garlic.
May 4, 2025 at 7:43 PM
saralilplants.bsky.social
Belated #FossilFriday and highlight of the trip to Saltburn with @geologyjohnson.bsky.social was coming across this brittle star fossil deposited in the Ironstone Shales of the Redcar Mudstone Formation, Early Jurassic.

Scale = lil hand is 6.7 cm long

#Geology #Echinoderm #Paleontology
Side view of three arms of a brittle star fossil in ironstone shale. You can also see barnacles. A close up of an approx 10 cm long brittle star fossil in ironstone shale. You can see 3 arms of the brittle star. There is a little toy hand of 6.7 cm in length used for scale. You can see barnacles on the rock surface surrounding the fossil.
May 3, 2025 at 6:07 PM