Latest botany blogs
Year of Ferns: Tackling Teesdale
Entry six in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, this week featuring an early trip to Upper Teesdale.
Year of Ferns: Adder’s-tongue
Entry five in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, this week featuring Adder’s-tongue Ophioglossum vulgatum.
Year of Ferns: Tunbridge Filmy-fern
Entry four in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, this week featuring Tunbridge Filmy-fern.
Urban Flora: Launch & Reflections
After more than five years of combing the streets of Newcastle, identifying plants and trying rather hard to piece together a legible book, The Urban Flora of Newcastle and North…
Year of Ferns: A Rare Little Spleenwort
Entry three in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, this week featuring a rather rare Spleenwort.
Year of Ferns: Woodland in Winter
Entry two in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, this week featuring common woodland ferns.
Year of Ferns: Slim Pickings
Entry one in my personal challenge to see as many of Britain’s ferns as possible in a single year, featuring some our most abundant species.
Growing Ferns from Spores – Part 1
Part one of a new series on this blog documenting the process of growing Ferns from Spores – I promise, it is easier than it sounds.
Ancient Woodland Indicators in Northumberland
The current list of ancient woodland indicator species for Northumberland, which includes flowering plants, grasses, and ferns that are used locally to identify this special habitat
Botany along the Bizzle Burn
A short account of a day spent botanising along the steep-sided Bizzle Burn in the Cheviots
Fern of the Week: Beech Fern
Our next ‘Fern of the Week’ is the delicate Beech Fern Phegopteris connectilis, an uncommon species of old woodlands and mountain sides.
The Tees to High Force
A condensed account of a fantastic trip to Teesdale exploring the wildflowers and ferns to be found near High Force.
Ferns
Over the past two years, I have been undertaking a low-key challenge to find and photograph as many fern species as possible in North East England.
Here, you will find a short pictorial guide to the species I have encountered so far, which may gradually become more comprehensive over time.
Plant Identification
I’ve launched a new series of beginner-friendly crib sheets to help fledgling botanists get to grips with a host of interesting plant families and groups.
From ragworts to fleabanes and snowdrops, all cribs can be downloaded for free using the link below.
Newcastle’s Urban Flora
We all have our interests and for me, it is our urban plants that fascinate me most.
Currently, I am recording with the aim of producing an ‘Urban Flora’ of Newcastle. See below for updates.
I’m a botanist, I guess…
I’m not sure how it happened, but I certainly never planned to head down the botanical rabbit hole.
I have always loved plants, sure, though much of my wildlife recording focused on birds and insects. Fast forward a few years and I seldom look at these, forever looking down as opposed to up.
Learning as I go, much of my time is now dedicated to plants: as a BSBI Vice-County Recorder for North Northumberland and iRecord verifier for South Northumberland, and in my day job.
Okay, so perhaps I am a botanist. Albeit one with lots to learn as we continue exploring botany in the North East.
