Kevin Walker
@bsbiscience.bsky.social
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 http://plantatlas2020.org
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.
August 14, 2026 at 8:00 PM
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.
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.
August 13, 2026 at 7:41 AM
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.
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!
August 13, 2026 at 7:33 AM
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!
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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 😊
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 😊
June 28, 2026 at 6:39 PM
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 😊
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 😊
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
June 22, 2026 at 6:37 PM
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
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.
June 6, 2026 at 5:47 AM
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.
Thoroughly well deserved!
We are so proud of Pete Stroh (BSBI Scientific Officer) & Helena Crouch ( #BSBICountyRecorder & #BSBItrustee)!
Yesterday they were awarded the hugely prestigious 2026 Marsh Botany Award by the Marsh Charitable Trust for services to UK botany!
Here's why: www.marshcharitabletrust.org/award/marsh-...
Yesterday they were awarded the hugely prestigious 2026 Marsh Botany Award by the Marsh Charitable Trust for services to UK botany!
Here's why: www.marshcharitabletrust.org/award/marsh-...
June 2, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Thoroughly well deserved!
‘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
May 31, 2026 at 6:15 PM
‘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
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.
May 25, 2026 at 8:47 PM
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.
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!
May 16, 2026 at 9:14 AM
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!
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
May 2, 2026 at 9:24 PM
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
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
May 2, 2026 at 9:08 PM
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
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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.
April 20, 2026 at 10:58 AM
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.
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.
April 17, 2026 at 10:24 PM
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.
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
April 6, 2026 at 8:30 PM
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
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…
April 3, 2026 at 7:43 PM
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…
Reposted by Kevin Walker
In the orchard
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(The Farm, 1958)
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(The Farm, 1958)
April 3, 2026 at 7:10 PM
In the orchard
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(The Farm, 1958)
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
(The Farm, 1958)
Reposted by Kevin Walker
What a joy to celebrate the county #flower of #Hertfordshire in my @theguardian.com country diary today.
#naturewriting #countrydiary
#naturewriting #countrydiary
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
www.theguardian.com
April 3, 2026 at 7:21 AM
What a joy to celebrate the county #flower of #Hertfordshire in my @theguardian.com country diary today.
#naturewriting #countrydiary
#naturewriting #countrydiary
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.
March 29, 2026 at 7:17 AM
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.
Lovely!
Done! 30 wild flowers. Really enjoyed this project, was a bit like keeping a sketch book, but the pages were canvases. Made me try out things I may not have normally tried. Would recommend a little self-set goal like this to any artist! Honestly, been a joy. Plus I learnt some new flower names.
🌸🍃🌼🍃
🌸🍃🌼🍃
March 24, 2026 at 8:05 AM
Lovely!
Reposted by Kevin Walker
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
@bsbibotany.bsky.social #countrydiary #naturewriting
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
www.theguardian.com
March 9, 2026 at 7:40 AM
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
@bsbibotany.bsky.social #countrydiary #naturewriting
Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem Gagea lutea along the River Ure yesterday for #WildflowerHour
March 8, 2026 at 8:11 PM
Yellow Star-of-Bethlehem Gagea lutea along the River Ure yesterday for #WildflowerHour
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
February 17, 2026 at 7:18 PM
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
Reposted by Kevin Walker
“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
What to Look for in Winter, 1959
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson
February 15, 2026 at 8:48 AM
“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
What to Look for in Winter, 1959
Artist: CF Tunnicliffe
Writer: EL Grant Watson
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.
I agree that reintroductions are worthwhile, but I’d make 2 points about this article
1) Eurasian beavers are not ‘at risk’; they are doing very well within their range
2) The Large Blue butterfly reintroduction was accompanied by a large amount of scientific research
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
1) Eurasian beavers are not ‘at risk’; they are doing very well within their range
2) The Large Blue butterfly reintroduction was accompanied by a large amount of scientific research
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
'Moral imperative' to reintroduce at-risk species
Conservationisists explain the benefits to humans, land and wildlife that reintroductions can bring.
www.bbc.co.uk
February 15, 2026 at 12:17 PM
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.