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A ladybird extravaganza – local recording in July
With visits to some of my favourite haunts and lots to see elsewhere, July has been a great month for ladybird recording.
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A guided tour of the patch
Nature is often better when shared with others and this week, it was great to welcome several local naturalists to the patch.
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Fern of the Week: Lobed Maidenhair Spleenwort
Our next ‘Plant of the Week’ is the rare Lobed Maidenhair Spleenwort, an elusive subspecies of the familiar Asplenium trichomanes.
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A festival of ferns at Hareshaw Linn
An account of a fantastic day spent exploring fern identification at the glorious Hareshaw Linn.
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Recent sightings from Silverlink
With summer in full swing, there has been lots to enjoy on the local patch including a fantastic array of plants and insects.
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Plant of the Week: Lindisfarne Helleborine
Entry numer #1 in our new Plant of the Week series It is not every day you encounter an endemic species, nevermind one found exclusively…
Current Fascinations
By my own admission, I am prone to falling down rabbit holes from time to time. Typically, this involves deep-diving into a particular subject and learning as much as possible before, inevitably, another topic comes along to take its place. Regardless, below you’ll find my current areas of interest…
Botanical Bits
Botany is my main interest, and whether it’s ferns, snowdrops, grasses, ancient woodland plants, or even humble pavement weeds, I try to spend as much time as possible seeking out our wild plants.
North East Botany
Here you’ll find musings on plant identification, trip reports, sightings from walks and courses and just about anything else relating to botany in North East England.
Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside
The Urban Flora of Newcastle and North Tyneside is the first comprehensive account of the wild plants growing across the Newcastle and North Tyneside conurbation, one of the largest in the UK.
Based on six years of fieldwork, the book documents more than 1,120 native and naturalised plants -around a third of Britain’s entire flora.
Meet James
Born and raised in North East England, James is a botanist, general naturalist and biological recorder with a passion for sharing the joys of North East nature with others.
He currently works as Senior Naturalist for the Natural History Society of Northumbria (NHSN) and volunteers as a vice-county recorder for the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI), both of which allow him to spend ample time outdoors leading trips, courses, surveys and guided walks.
