Monday, 22 March 2010

BUMBLEBEE: Bilberry bumblebee (Bombus monticola) in Bowland, Lancashire

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June 16, 2009: In bright sunshine, on short grazed upland pasture near Tower Lodge (where photographed) there were hundreds of this bumblebe...

FUNGUS: Giant Puffball (Calvatia gigantea) at Winmarleigh, Lancashire in 1996

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September, 1996: An infrequent occurrence is a major eruption of the Giant Puffball. Such an occasion was in 1996 in a farm pasture near Win...

PLANT: Aristolochia guichardii at Tlos, Turkey

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March 25, 2009: Species within the genus Aristolochia, are amongst the most striking and bizarre flowering plants in Europe due there large,...
Sunday, 21 March 2010

FUNGUS: Collared Earth-star (Geastrum triplex) at Silverdale, Lancashire

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October 8, 2008: Collared Earth-star is a locally scarce fungus of quite striking appearance with its bulbous spore sac on a raised roughly ...

PLANT: Red Hemp-nettle (Galeopsis angustifolia) on the Yorkshire Wolds

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July 23, 2009: Localities for this plant in Britain are rapidly decreasing. At one time it occurred as far north as the Moray Firth but now...

MAMMAL: Brown Hare at Brockholes Wetland, Lancashire

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June 28, 2009: On a warm summer evening there had been a violent thunderstorm with accompanying heavy rain for about an hour when, in dim li...
Saturday, 20 March 2010

BUTTERFLY: Purple Hairstreak, Haverthwaite, Cumbria

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July 25, 2009: The Purple Hairstreak (Neozephyrus quercus) which is restricted to oak trees, is mainly found in southern England and is scar...

PLANT: A hybrid horsetail: Equisetum x mildeanum in Perthshire

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July 25, 2008: This hybrid between Equisetum pratense and E. sylvaticum is a scarce plant known from only a few localities in Scotland but i...
Thursday, 18 March 2010

FUNGUS: Sarcoscypha austriaca, Scarlet Elf Cup at Silverdale, Lancashire

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April 18,2009: Scarlet Elf Cup is a rather infrequently-found British fungus. It occurs in winter to spring on damp rotting wood of broad-le...

PLANT: Saxifraga flagellaris on Svalbard; an unusual high arctic plant

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July 14/15, 2007: Saxifraga flagellaris (S. platysepala) occurs scattered throughout the high arctic region. On Spitsbergen (where it was se...

PLANT: Orobanche flava and Digitalis grandiflora on the Polish/Slovakian border

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July 10 2009: Two interesting plants were seen and photographed on the Polish/Slovakian border in summer 2009. Both were growing close to th...
Monday, 15 March 2010

PLANT: Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla vulgaris) at Bourton Down, Gloucestershire

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April 23, 2009 The Pasque Flower is a most beautiful plant with its richly-coloured flowers and silky bracts and seed heads. It was formerly...