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johnfen1.bsky.social
@johnfen1.bsky.social
200 followers 150 following 220 posts
Countryside Ranger in Rural Access and Urban Green Space. Gardening for Wildlife. Botany, Trees and Hedge Laying
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johnfen1.bsky.social
A nippy start to the fingers this cold misty morning finishing off the last swirling of a living willow screen on The Nettles. A shared effort between a local monthly volunteer group and myself, fortunate enough to be able to pick up this enjoyable work as and when I can in between other jobs.
A small ladder leaning against a willow screen (mainly Salix viminalis) with last years growth emerging from the top. A boardwalk and trees in the background. A view from the top of the ladder whilst looking down the previously completed length of the screen. A sturdy twenty years old pair of Bahco loppers used for pruning hooked in the willow. Bowsaw and pruning saw on the ground. The completed final section with some of the larger diameter whips stacked against the ladder, loppers hooked on the ladder and orange secateurs hooked on the willow. A panoramic view of the screen. It will not be long before leaf buds are bursting again restarting the cycle of swirling and pruning this years upward growth next autumn. In the meantime providing nesting cover for birds that have in the past included Collared Dove, Wren, Blackbird and Long-tailed tit
February 4, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Reposted
bsbibotany.bsky.social
Can you find, identify & record 100 wild plants in 2026?
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Beginner botanists, will you accept the challenge?
Sign up today for #100Plants2026 challenge:
bsbi.org/take-part/ac...
Check out the webinars & #WildFlowerID help we've prep'd for you!
Young man sitting in field with plant ID books, recording wild flowers in the sunshine
February 3, 2026 at 2:03 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
A rare patch of sunshine from the past in week in Lincolnshire with some naturalised Double Snowdrops in it #WildflowerHour
February 1, 2026 at 8:48 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Truck stopping Sowbread. Luckily this eye catching patch of magenta was on a quiet rural hamlet road junction enabling me to pull up and check it out. #WildflowerHour
February 1, 2026 at 8:35 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Part of the afternoon spent cleaning the garden bird nest boxes out. Having last Spring, watched the parent Blue and Great Tits build their nests, frantically flying back and forth feeding their young, there is always hope that all survived. For any number of reasons two of the Blues did not fledge.
Wooden nest box with the roof off. At the bottom a nest of dried grasses, moss and dog hair. Spiders webs attached to the sides. A dark patch in the corner. The Blue Tit nest removed from the box. The dark patch concealing the remains of two chicks that did not fledge. They are well advanced, the closed yellow gape visible on one of them. A wooden bird nest box with its side panel removed. Inside the profile of a nest constructed with dried grasses, moss dog hair and occasional feather can be seen. The Great Tit nest removed. The hair lined nest cup takes up most of the nest structure. There is a dark red insect pupae in it. All the chicks may have fledged successfully. Dog hair is an undesirable nesting material. It can potentially harbour residual chemicals from flea treatments that can be harmful to young chicks. In a Suburban setting where these boxes are, with high dog ownership nesting birds will find it in abundance. There are no dogs in my own garden.
January 31, 2026 at 6:14 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Oyster mushroom nestled in the wet creviced bark of a Horse Chestnut tree trunk #FungiFriday #FungiFriends
A cluster of Oyster mushrooms emerging from a wet Horse Chestnut tree trunk
January 30, 2026 at 6:55 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Probably for today only and for the rest of the week but it has been good while it lasted
Hues of blue across a water filled former sand and gravel pit now urban green space lake. A late afternoon sunlit tree lined horizon in the distance
January 28, 2026 at 3:46 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Some stakes are straighter than others.
A pile of stakes of varied straightness and thickness ready to be pointed. Coppiced and thinned in woodland on an urban green space for hedge laying on the same site on Sunday. A mixture of Hazel, Aspen and Field Maple.
January 28, 2026 at 1:51 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Sycamore silhouette, Culverthorpe Estate, Lincolnshire #ThickTrunkTuesday
The bare branched winter silhouette of a tall Sycamore tree surrounded by fenced off parkland and open farmland in the distance.
January 27, 2026 at 7:01 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
A clump of Common Snowdrops looking away in utter dismay from the badly littered roadside layby woodland that they have found themselves in. #WildflowerHour
A clump of Common Snowdrops emerging in the foreground of planted lay-by woodland surrounded by leaf litter, moss and Ground Ivy leaves, possibly Campion levels to the left. In the far background the blurred litter debris left by a succession of uncaring vehicle drivers and passengers.
January 25, 2026 at 8:34 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
The sound of the #BigGardenBirdwatch in next doors Ash tree after a mini murmuration of Starlings flew in. But it won’t be a zero count in my own garden with two Collared Doves, seven House Sparrows a Robin and Dunnock a couple of minutes in.
January 25, 2026 at 11:04 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
A hedgerow Ash, Norton Disney, Lincolnshire #ThickTrunkTuesday
A skyline silhouette of an Ash tree in a field hedgerow at the edge of the village of Norton Disney
January 20, 2026 at 8:39 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
These Guelder Rose berries really stood out amongst the gloom of a grey damp drizzly day. I planted this shrub amongst others fourteen years ago on the local nature reserve that I was working on with volunteers today. (My brilliant volunteers stood out on a grey damp drizzly day too) #WildflowerHour
Bright red and orangey red Guelder Rose berries. A Guelder Rose shrub bearing the weight of its bright red berries.
January 18, 2026 at 8:53 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
I last posted a Sweet Violet on #WildflowerHour twenty seven days ago and this go to south facing patch on an urban local nature reserve, has been flowering long before and since then through snow, frost, rain and shine.
A nodding Sweet Violet above a tangle if stems and leaves including Common Ivy
January 18, 2026 at 8:28 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Glistening wet, orangey brown. Thawed out Velvet Shank. #fungifriday #fungifriends
Velvet Shank fungi emerging from a splintered stump surrounded by leaf litter, Bramble and Common Ivy
January 9, 2026 at 10:52 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Frosted King Alfred’s Cakes #fungifriday #fungifriends
Cushion cake like fungi lumps on the deeply creviced bark of a fallen Ash tree. As the fungi ages it hardens black like coal. Frosted snow can be seen on one of the “cakes” in the background.
January 9, 2026 at 8:29 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Cold Blue Sky #ThickTrunkTuesday
The canopy boughs of an English Oak against the backdrop of a cold blue Lincolnshire sky. It will have stood in farmland, at the outer edge of a sand and gravel pit and now within the boundary of a Millennium Green urban green space.
January 6, 2026 at 11:01 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Whether it is Cup or Peel, a striking vivid Orange fungus highly visible on bare Lincolnshire farmland soil #fungifriday #fungifriends
A vivid orange plate like fungus amongst moss, and previously cut crop detritus on bare farmland soil
January 2, 2026 at 11:09 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Oysterling, Nidd Gorge, North Yorkshire #fungifriday #fungifriends
Silvery grey, deeply gilled Oysterling emerging from a moss covered tree stump
January 2, 2026 at 11:01 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Ninety five miles north of last weeks heavily burred #ThickTrunkTuesday in Lincolnshire. Oak, Nidd Gorge, Semi-Natural Ancient Woodland, Bilton, North Yorkshire.
A heavily burred, moss and lichen covered Oak trunk against a backdrop of Holly, natural woodland regeneration, Bracken, Oak and Beech leaf litter.
December 30, 2025 at 8:05 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
I was not the only person today amongst a small group of people, observing an Otter feeding in the River Nidd, near Bilton North Yorkshire that had never ever seen one in the wild before. Followed shortly afterwards with a Kingfisher flypast and another personal first sighting of bobbing Dippers!
December 29, 2025 at 1:38 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
A heavily burred #ThickTrunkTuesday Oak, Potterhanworth Wood, Lincolnshire
A gnarled heavily burred Oak trunk against the backdrop of remnant ancient woodland and a footbridge crossing the Car Dyke
December 23, 2025 at 9:57 AM
johnfen1.bsky.social
An open and shut case of Field Scabious #WildflowerHour
An open mauve Field Scabious flower head against a back drop of Bramble and Common Knapweed seedheads Tightly closed flower head of Field Scabious against a backdrop of Bramble and Common Knapweed seedheads
December 21, 2025 at 8:46 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
The on the way to work Ash tree silhouette #ThickTrunkTuesday
An Ash tree at the edge of a rural roadside verge against a dramatic orange red, early morning Lincolnshire sky. Picture taken 11 December 25
December 16, 2025 at 3:13 PM
johnfen1.bsky.social
Natures larder. Common Hawthorn and Common Ivy berries in an uncut Lincolnshire hedgerow #WildflowerHour
December 14, 2025 at 8:50 PM