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Bex Cartwright

@bexcartwright.bsky.social

380 followers 400 following 32 posts

Conservation Projects Manager 🌍 🌱 Wild Pollinators 🐝 🐞🐛 Food and Farming 🌾🚜Gardening/GYO 🍓🌽 🌻Views my own 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Feb 12

Curating a Starter Pack that will hopefully be useful to folk coming over to BlueSky and looking for all of the UK conservation orgs and recording societies go.bsky.app/Nget1LP Will keep adding to this. DM or reply to be added and please share.

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 30

Blueberries 😀 Good harvest this year.

Reposted by Bex Cartwright

Wales Environment Link @waleslink.bsky.social · Jul 16

The Sustainable Farming Scheme design is finally done; check out our full reaction here. We’ll continue to work with Welsh Gov and all others to make it as good as it needs to be for nature and climate: waleslink.org/response-to-...

An image of half text and half photo. The photo is of a beautiful flowery hay meadow, with ox eye daisies, thistles, dandelions and tall grasses reaching up to the sky, against a backdrop of a yellow sunset. The text says: “WEL reaction to final Sustainable Farming Scheme design: Whilst this is an improvement from the previous Common Agricultural Policy and a step forward towards sustainable agriculture, it will need continuous further improvements to meet the challenge of the nature and climate emergency. We welcome that BPS payments will be tapered, and the indication that the funds will be channelled into the upper layers; the universal layer should be seen as a first step, and we hope to help farmers in their journey to the truly regenerative approach that our land needs.”

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 7

Some stunning wildflower areas today. With many thanks to local EA @lincswildlife.bsky.social @naturalengland.bsky.social staff for coming along to a workshop today on Rare Bees of the Lincs Coast. @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social

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Reposted by Bex Cartwright

Big Meadow Search @bigmeadowsearch.bsky.social · Jun 1

Big Meadow Search 2025 starts today until 31st August. Everyone welcome, you dont need to be an expert, just record species you know. Please help us add more sites to the map.
There will be daily plant ID or plant association posts to look out for.
bigmeadowsearch.co.uk

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 6

I’m always finding dead shrews. Pygmy, Common & occasionally Water Shrews. It’s like they’ve suddenly run out of steam and keeled over. I wonder what is going on? Is it that I just happen to find them where they die naturally or do they have such high energy needs that they run out of fuel?

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 6

Even today in these grazed systems, the ridges and furrows are still providing drainage, especially on these heavy soils and a varied topography and sward that can benefit grazing livestock.

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 6

Cattle grazing ‘ridge & furrow’ grassland in Rutland. The characteristic corrugated pattern we see now is a ghost of Medieval agricultural practices where the land was ploughed to pile topsoil into raised strips and forming sunken ditches, providing drainage and good growing conditions for crops.

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 5

Ah awesome. Love Wilco!

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jul 5

Beech trees. Love this bit of woodland. It’s like a natural cathedral.

Reposted by Bex Cartwright

walesnatureweek.bsky.social @walesnatureweek.bsky.social · Jul 1

Find out about Wales Nature Week events on the WBP website and follow @WalesNatureWeek on social media.
bit.ly/44zVzDx

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Reposted by Bex Cartwright

Wales Environment Link @waleslink.bsky.social · Jul 1

Narrated by Iolo Williams, the Red List documentary, directed by Ross Pierson, follows botanist Dr Kevin McGinn racing to save 25 of Wales' most endangered plants.

The film is being crowdfunded and you can find out more - and donate - here:

greenlit.com/project/red-...

The Red List

Narrated by Iolo Williams, The Red List follows botanist Dr. Kevin McGinn on a year-long race to save 25 of Wales’ most endangered plants. Amid climate extremes and mounting pressures, this urgent doc...

greenlit.com

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Jun 10

Hi BlueSky folk. There's no search available at the moment for Starter Packs. Are there any UK agriculture, nature-friendly farming, regen farming Starter Packs that folk can share a link to please? @nffn.bsky.social @socialfarmsgardens.bsky.social

If not, I will curate one!

🐄🚜🌱🌾🐝🐞

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · May 1

Visiting the Cairngorms this year? Go Bumblebee-bagging! Read more here! @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social www.bumblebeeconservation.org/bumblebee-ba... #Bumblebees

Bumblebee-bagging in the Cairngorms - Bumblebee Conservation Trust

www.bumblebeeconservation.org

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 19

Came across this giant beast when I was gardening today. Maybe cockchafer grub? #Beetle

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 19

CUCKOO!!! 🐦

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Reposted by Bex Cartwright

Bumblebee Conservation Trust @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social · Feb 25

Did you know there is no dedicated team or person in Defra for grasslands, despite them covering 40% of England? 🤯

We're joining @plantlifeuk.bsky.social & partners in calling for the Gov to establish a Grassland Taskforce to unlock their value 🌱

Learn more: www.plantlife.org.uk/our-work/the...

An image of a grassland with the text: "Grasslands store carbon, produce food and support our wildlife. But the UK Government has no strategic plan for them."

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Reposted by Bex Cartwright

Prof Duncan Westbury @duncanwestbury.bsky.social · Apr 13

I’ve just coined a new term #BeeWashing. It’s when UK organisations state they are acting on the #BiodiversityEmergency by putting in honeybee hives. Please share far & wide!

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 13

An important and insightful article that explains the difference between managed honeybees and our 270+ species of wild bees.

Prof Duncan Westbury @duncanwestbury.bsky.social · Apr 13

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

The best way to help bees? Don’t become a beekeeper like I did | Alison Benjamin

When I set up my honeybee hive, I had no idea I might be harming wild bee species. Now I’ve found better ways to encourage biodiversity, says journalist and author Alison Benjamin

www.theguardian.com

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 13

And more oil beetles! They seem to be having a good year.

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 13

Did my @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social #Beewalk today. Felt like I saw more bumblebees today than the whole of last year. Eight species on my walk today! Flower of the walk was Bilberry, in full flower now #wildflowerhour

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 12

Sounds amazing Charlotte. Enjoy!

Charlotte Rankin @bumble-being.bsky.social · Apr 8

I'm bumbling along the Northumberland Coast Path for @bumblebeetrust.bsky.social! 🐝👣

& along the way, I’ll be sharing my bumblebee sightings with @nenature.bsky.social’s North East Bee Hunt 📝🔎

Please share, or donate if you can, to support my ‘North-bumble-land’ Walk this June! ⤵️

Charlotte's North-bumble-land Walk 🐝

Help Charlotte Rankin raise money to support Bumblebee Conservation Trust

www.justgiving.com

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 6

Spotted an oil beetle excavating a tunnel in a molehill this week to lay her eggs. @mole-hills.bsky.social

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 6

Saw my first adder of the year this week. Tiny youngster, barely bigger than a pencil. A few common lizards about but no grass snakes yet or slow worms, we get all four of these reptiles in the garden here! #ukreptiles

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Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 5

Lovely to see fresh red-tail queens on our bee ID day today too. (She was released from the pot and went back to foraging).

Bex Cartwright @bexcartwright.bsky.social · Apr 5

Seeing lots of oil beetles at the moment. These are all different individuals seen on different days in the last week. @liamolds.bsky.social #oilbeetles

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