Helen McAra
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hedgerownibbler.bsky.social
Helen McAra
@hedgerownibbler.bsky.social
460 followers 410 following 240 posts
I run plant & fungi ident courses, helping people reconnect with nature & discover the amazing wild foods of the UK. Nature lover especially wild orchids. Often found in woods & meadows hunting for inner peace and fungi. Wild Seasons Foraging #wildfood
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Reposted by Helen McAra
s4r4h-l.bsky.social
#TuesdayBlue with fabulous Himalayan blue poppies at #BodnantGardens six months ago. Such a dreamy colour, no apologies if I've posted this one before! 🤭 #Bloomscrolling #DailyFlowers #vitaminN
Stunning Himalayan blue poppies, the colour is exquisite!
November 25, 2025 at 7:39 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
stevewg.bsky.social
My natural history book of the year is ‘Urban Plants’ by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social
Informative, entertaining and inspiring - after reading it you will never walk down a street, pass by a wall or look at a grass verge in the same way again. Highly recommended @bsbibotany.bsky.social
November 24, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
womensartbluesky.bsky.social
The work of contemporary Northjmbrian printmaker Rebecca Vincent ##ReframingWomenPrintmakers
Print featuring a sunrise or sunset with a white gold low sun creating long shadows from the tree trunks, in silhouette, in a forest, on a frosty purple and white forest floor
November 23, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
ahaberski.bsky.social
Look at those eyes! #flyday #bugskye #entomology #macro
A macro photograph of a robber fly on a blade of grass
November 21, 2025 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
christhorogood.bsky.social
Trekking by night reveals an enchanted forest: waking animals; wild music; and a special plant (Amorphophallus manta) that glows pink by torchlight. It's like walking in a dreamworld.
November 21, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
christhorogood.bsky.social
Earlier on the expedition we found the most beautiful flower, and here, my friends, is the biggest: Rafflesia arnoldi seen in full bloom today in the Sumatran jungle. This is the largest flower on earth and one of the greatest wonders of the natural world.
November 20, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
rainmaker1973-m.bsky.social
Repost by @Rainmaker1973 from @Rainmaker1973:
RT by @Rainmaker1973:
Green vine snakes don't bite.
They do better: they judge you.
November 19, 2025 at 1:02 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
spockresists.bsky.social
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we all just celebrate what we are buying local.
Post it on social media.
“I purchased this so and so from this local retailer.”
Boycotting the billionaires should be a celebration.
November 18, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
mariposanature.bsky.social
Postcard from the field from our wandering tour leader, Michele Viganò - Miki has been in the Western Sahara in the past week, and his first postcard shared with us is this gorgeous Sand Cat (Felis margarita). Stay tuned for more North Africa wildlife postcards from Miki this coming winter!
Sand Cat (Felis margarita) © Michele Viganò
November 18, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
christhorogood.bsky.social
Deep in the Sumatran jungle today we found the extraordinary flowers of Rhizanthes pushing their fangs through the forest floor. A sap-sucking, leafless parasite, this is one of the world's weirdest plants.
November 16, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Something lovely to start the week! 🐙🏺❤️

Ancient clay pots with octopus decoration, made by artisans from Bronze Age Crete some 3,500 years ago!

Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me

#Archaeology
My photo collage shows four pottery vessels, all a creamy yellow in colour, with black painted decoration depicting underwater sea-life featuring lively stylised octopuses with writhing tentacles (arms), All on display at Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete. Top L - Minoan pithoid storage jar decorated in the “Marine Style” with wide-eyes octopus, argonauts, rocks, and coral. Rounded top tapering down to a narrower base. Short cyclindrical neck flaring out at the mouth with black wavy decoration reminiscent of waves. Loop handles attached to the shoulders of the body. Height 55 cm. From Zakros. 1500-1450 BC Top R - Minoan flask with a rounded body, short cyclindrical neck which flares at the rim, and two small curved handles attached between the top of the spout and the shoulders of the body. Decorated in “Marine Style” which depicts an almost cartoon-like octopus with wide eyes and sucker-lined tentacles which writhe around the vase. Other decorative sea-motifs include sea urchins, seaweed and rocks. Height 27cm. From Palaikastro, 1500-1450 BC Bottom L - alabastron, broad at the base, swelling outwards into a fuller belly before narrowing near the top with a very short cyclindrical neck and a wider flat rimmed mouth. Decorated in “Marine Style” with a wide-eyed octopus among rocks. From Knossos Little Palace, 1450-1370 BC Bottom R - krater with rounded body narrowing at the bottom towards the foot. Wide flaring mouth and rim with black painted wavy decoration, and two sturdy handles attached on each side between the top of the mouth and shoulders of the vessel. Decorated with a central very stylised wide-eyed octopus whose tentacles loop up and down around the body of the pot, 1370-1300 BC
November 17, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
christhorogood.bsky.social
Today in Sumatra we found forest ghost flowers (Aeginetia sp.). This leafless, parasitic plant has no need for sunlight and blossoms unseen in the very depths of the forest.
November 17, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
london.gov.uk
Here’s what you won’t hear from some commentators on social media: in the year to October, London recorded 10,000 fewer violent crimes leading to injury than it did in the twelve months before I was elected.

More on the progress we’re making ⬇️ www.mirror.co.uk/news/politic...
'London is world's best city - people claiming it's lawless hate its success'
'The fact that London has again been crowned greatest city in the world disproves everything our critics claim, and they can’t stand it', the London Mayor Sadiq Khan writes
www.mirror.co.uk
November 16, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
benphillips76.bsky.social
The first rule of communications is clarity 😉
November 16, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
christhorogood.bsky.social
Today we found something magical, deep in the wild green heart of Sumatra: Rafflesia kemumu in full bloom. One of the world's largest flowers, to see this extremely rare species in full bloom is truly special.
November 16, 2025 at 9:14 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
silverpebble2.bsky.social
If you’re feeling a bit sad it might help a little to know that this painting exists. It’s called Dynamism of a dog on a leash, by Giacomo Galla, 1912:
A painting of a dachshund on a lead, it’s leggies & tail painting many times on the same animal to depict the action of it walking with its owner
November 16, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
dunnjons.bsky.social
There's something two-faced in Rhodes. I don't see it every year, but I keep my eyes open for it...

Occasionally Ophrys bee #orchids form lusus flowers, with aberrant petals and/or sepals. Here's Ophrys calypsus and O. polyxo, each with two lips fused on one flowerhead.
Ophrys calypsus © Jon Dunn Ophrys calypsus © Jon Dunn
November 15, 2025 at 9:17 AM
hedgerownibbler.bsky.social
Definitely sulphur tufts. Toxic enough to make you seriously unwell, not sure how they affect dogs but a phone call to your vet is advisable.
November 14, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
dptbirder.bsky.social
I will never get tired of trying to infinitely inch closer to hummingbirds

I have a few food spots around county where the birds simply ignore me and go about their business

I will watched this male over a period of 20 minutes as I repositioned my self closer and closer…

📷🌿🪶 Anna’s Hummingbird
Anna’s hummingbird in flight macro frontal portrait
November 14, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
peterstefanovic.bsky.social
This perfectly encapsulates why we need the BBC
November 13, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
mrjamesob.bsky.social
Oh.
jamesrball.com James Ball @jamesrball.com · 13d
Left: Donald Trump’s Jan 6th quote, as presented in the dossier that brought down two BBC bosses

Right: What Donald Trump actually said.

Full story in @thenewworldmag.bsky.social: www.thenewworld.co.uk/james-ball-e...
“Fifteen minutes into the speech, what Trump actually said: ‘We are gonna walk down to the Capitol and I’ll be with you. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.’ It was completely misleading to edit the clip in the way Panorama aired it.” “We’re gonna walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
November 12, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Reposted by Helen McAra
johnsimpsonnews.bsky.social
Nowhere in the hysterical pile-on against the BBC in the British press has anyone mentioned that BBC News now has 77 million viewers & listeners in the US and has established itself as the second most trusted news source there.
November 11, 2025 at 8:37 AM
hedgerownibbler.bsky.social
This breaks my heart! I feel so ashamed of being English right now and that breaks my heart all over again. I feel like I’m having the country I love stolen from me by people who don’t understand the damage they are doing or simply prefer hatred over anything else. I’m weeping inside.
November 11, 2025 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
mikemelton.bsky.social
A fun encounter with a Yellow-flecked Glassfrog (Sachatamia albomaculata) last night at @tapirvalley.bsky.social #CostaRica

#frogs #amphibians #nature
A small translucent green frog with speckled skin and marbled yellow eyes sits on a glossy green leaf against a black background.
November 10, 2025 at 1:05 AM
Reposted by Helen McAra
alisonfisk.bsky.social
Delightful detail from the Roman “unswept floor” mosaic by Heraclitus, showing a mouse nibbling a walnut.

Superb use of darker tiles for subtle shadow effect!

2nd century AD. Vatican Museums www.museivaticani.va/content/muse...

#MosaicMonday
#Archaeology
The image shows detail from a floor mosaic of a brown mouse on a pale background facing left with its nose close to half a walnut in its shell. The mouse has a long thin tail stretched out behind. The mosaicist has used a mix of lighter and darker brown tiles for the mouse’s body to hint at fur. The walnut is created with warmer light and dark brown tiles. Slightly darker background tiles have been used beneath the mouse and walnut to create subtle shadows
November 10, 2025 at 1:07 PM