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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 3d

Glorious #bloomscrolling

Concrete Botany @concretebotany.bsky.social · 4d

I love a colorful camera roll. Yesterday's excursions:

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 3d

New term special offer. #ThumbnailNature journals for just the price of P&P. Offering ideas to get your #naturewriting underway and inspiring #ThumbnailNature pieces contributed by a cornucopia of talented workshop participants. Visit my shop to grab your copy. freelancenaturewriter.com/shop/

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 5d

Is attracting wild birds with sound ethical? If you're a birdwatcher of any sort, I'd love to hear your views by 10 Oct in response to this v short survey for a feature... &, as always, very grateful for reposts.
forms.gle/3jZyeJw8qngC... #birds #pishing #birdsounds #birdwatching #birding

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 5d

It was great to catch up with 10 cohorts of MA students & hear some inspiring stories of writing and other successes. 💚

Jen Ratcliffe @jenratcliffe.bsky.social · 6d

Heartwarming weekend at MA Nature & Travel Writing @bathspauni.bsky.social reunion 💚 so glad I joined this course 🌿 A main goal for was to final a community and here we are, fulfilled.

Thanks again to @stephenmossauthor.bsky.social @gailsimmons.bsky.social , @amandatuke.bsky.social & Jon Lorie

At a podium infront of a silhouetted crowd Jon Lorie, the new course director of MA Nature & Travel Writing Bath Spa, introduces speeches of success, rallies and appreciation. At Bath Royal Literary & Science Institute (written on a power point behind).

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 9d

What an exciting collaboration... & as a @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social volunteer, I can't wait to see what comes out of it 💚

Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 9d

Hurray! Hurray! I'm delighted to see that David's new BBC documentary Wild London will be celebrating #urbannature and will reinforce some of the key messages in my book 'Wild Pavements - Exploring Britain's Cities with an Urban Naturalist', (Flint Books, 5 March 2026).

London Wildlife Trust @ldnwildlifetrust.bsky.social · 10d

This morning our CEO, David Mooney, appeared live on BBC Breakfast to share exciting news. 🌿

London Wildlife Trust is co-producing Sir David Attenborough’s upcoming BBC documentary Wild London, made by Passion Planet and airing on BBC One and iPlayer later this year.

Read more
👉 ow.ly/ECOs50X5tl8

Three people sit on a red sofa in a BBC Breakfast TV studio, talking in front of a large screen showing a stag standing in a lake at sunrise.

David Attenborough in a blue shirt smiles while holding a tiny brown harvest mouse on a plant stem in a meadow filled with yellow wildflowers."David Attenborough and a harvest mouse from BBC One and iPlayer's Wild London © BBC/PassionPlanet/Joe Loncraine

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

& finally, as Sep passes, a late winner on the scene. 1 Glossy is spotted on a lake at #BeddingtonFarmlands on 23 Sep & then a 2nd joins it seen the following day. The photo above was taken there with my clunky phone camera yesterday.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

Then #BrentReservoir made a follow-up bid of an adult Glossy on 9 Sep, & it was still there the following day.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

@wwtworldwide.bsky.social #LondonWetlandCentre started well with 1 - reported as an adult - arriving 7 Sep on the grazing marsh, & further records until 11 Sep, when it was possibly replaced or re-identified as a juv a few days later, & still present yesterday.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

***It's official - Sep's London Glossy Ibis battle is well underway***. Brilliantly exotic, likely dispersing from breeding sites in W France & Spain & arriving in the Brit Isles in large nos., incl at some of my fave London sites #urbanbirds #30MinuteBirder #LondonBirds @lnhs.bsky.social

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

Inspired by @concretebotany.bsky.social's fab #bloomscrolling, here are some #pavementplant finds. Undeniably attractive but alarming to see (v invasive in wetlands) Himalayan Balsam growing here on the edge of a dryish pavement in S London. #WildPavements

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

Lovely pic, @concretebotany.bsky.social. I'll raise you a London Jersey moth and crab spider on Buddleia 😀💚

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 16d

Hi Jen. Sadly what I (currently) know about fungi could be fitted under a hand lens. Perhaps Mark @fungiflowers.bsky.social can help?

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 24d

Lovely photo 💚 #WildPavements #pavementplants #urbanbotany

Concrete Botany @concretebotany.bsky.social · 25d

#Pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) off Moyamensing in Pennsport, shot back in 2018.
#Bloomscrolling #Flowers #SidewalkFlowers

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 26d

Fab pics from an orchid aficionado. Jon's 'Orchid Summer' is one of the most compelling (relatively) recent #PlantBased #naturewriting books I've read.

Jon Dunn @dunnjons.bsky.social · 27d

Too late for @wildflowerhour.bsky.social's grand finale #FavouritePlant challenge last night, so a rather belated post this morning. My favourite UK orchid finds this past year - a var. bicolor Early Spider Orchid, and a strange Fly Orchid with a rose-pink speculum.

#orchids

Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) var. bicolor © Jon Dunn

Fly Orchid (Ophrys insectifera) var. © Jon Dunn

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 26d

Impressive sea-watching pics from my pal Paul Bowerman @severnsidebirds.bsky.social who I had the pleasure of meeting back in Nov 2022 for a Bird Watching Magazine feature on birding in Bristol.

Paul Bowerman @severnsidebirds.bsky.social · 27d

A few snaps of the Sabine's Gull, one of the Grey Phalaropes and a very distant Storm Petrel from the Severn Beach shore.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · 27d

Delighted to have contributed, albeit in a minor way, to inspiring my birder-acquaintance @markavery.bsky.social to rejoin @bsbibotany.bsky.social. Us urban botanists love a good S American fleabane discussion! #UrbanBotany #WildPavements #PavementPlants

Mark Avery @markavery.bsky.social · 27d

Blog: A fleabane tale markavery.info/2025/09/15/a...

@jo-the-botanist.bsky.social @trisnorton.bsky.social @ramalina.bsky.social @julied1485.bsky.social @sarahwhild.bsky.social @amandatuke.bsky.social @papianon.bsky.social @sjthomasbotany.bsky.social
@bsbibotany.bsky.social @bsbiscience.bsky.social

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Reposted by Amanda Tuke

RareBirdAlert @rarebirder.bsky.social · Sep 11

New regulations extend protections across more than 670,000 hectares of peatland, aiming to cut emissions, reduce wildfire risks and restore fragile ecosystems www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/B...

Burning Banned on England’s Deep Peat to Protect Wildlife

New regulations extend protections across more than 670,000 hectares of peatland, aiming to cut emissions, reduce wildfire risks and restore fragile ecosystems

www.rarebirdalert.co.uk

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

In all the tests, I learnt loads from the expert examiners. & the process of testing really helped me work out which plant groups I need to focus on to consolidate my plant id skills. I can't wait!

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

Then in July 2025, I retook the FISC (actually I took it twice after struggling with 30 deg temps for the field survey in the 1st one) & was utterly delighted to receive a provisional level 5 (v good ID skills), subject to moderation.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

In the 4 years since then I’ve both joined field trips & led them, led plant surveys, taught botany to beginners, taken id courses, made lots of new botany pals & had a lovely #PlantBased time.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

The level 4 - good plant ID skills - I was awarded for a BSBI FISC in July 2021 (after 9 months of intensive study) was deeply satisfying, but I had no intention of stopping there...

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

Back in 2020 I set off on a #PlantBased journey... I committed to teaching myself to ID the wild plants I found growing in S London & beyond with the help of the fab @bsbibotany.bsky.social & others. If you are interested, this is how I did it… freelancenaturewriter.com/2021/07/20/t...

Turns out you can teach yourself quite a lot of wildflower identification in a year…

I’m checking my email at half hour intervals. Last Thursday I re-took the only professional botany exam in the UK – the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland’s Field Identifica…

freelancenaturewriter.com

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

Hi Mark. I'm with my pal @sarahwhild.bsky.social on this one. Pretty sure I can see the bracts round the flowerheads are hairy in the photo, which suggests Guernsey Fb... & Canadian Fb otoh has what I think of as "pretty" flowerheads to use a tech term like tiny yellow & white daisy heads.

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Amanda Tuke @amandatuke.bsky.social · Sep 11

This is such great news - I just know I'm going to enjoy Guy's latest book, if that's right word for such a challenging topic.

Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · Sep 10

Absolutely delighted that my book THE LIE OF THE LAND has won the Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing!

This week, one of the book’s recommendations, a ban on moorland burning, became a reality. Next, we need a Nature Bill for England…

bsky.app/profile/wain...

The Wainwright Prizes @wainwrightprize.bsky.social · Sep 10

The WINNER of the 2025 Wainwright Prize for Conservation Writing...

The Lie of the Land, @guyshrubsole.bsky.social (@wmcollinsbooks.bsky.social)

#WainwrightPrize #StoriesThatConnect

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