Kat Newbert
@ghostofdatura.bsky.social
77 followers 85 following 41 posts
Botanist and Ecologist. BSBI county recorder for Wiltshire VC 7 & 8.
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ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Going to be over soon and can't wait to see this wonderful little plant.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Well, aren't we all keen! This update is very overdue. Looking forward to getting my dirty botanical mitts on it.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Already pre-ordered my copy
bsbibotany.bsky.social
Coming soon: 'Wild Roses of Great Britain and Ireland'.
This latest title, no.26 in the series of #BSBIHandbooks for tricky plant groups, has just gone to the printers!
Available for #BSBImembers to pre-order now at the discount price of £16 (vs RRP £25).
Sample pages here:
bsbi.org/bsbi-handboo...
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Asplenium trichomanes subsp. pachyrachis is the rarest subspecies of maidenhair spleenwort found growing out of damp limestone with high humidity levels. Identified by its lobed leaves from which it gets its English name, lobed maidenhair spleenwort. This one was tucked away in the Wye Valley.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Thanks Jo, leaves the same throughout the plant. Want completely without stinging hairs, stinging hairs rare though.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Surveying near the river Itchen in Hampshire today and pretty convinced this is Urtica dioica subsp. subinermis with only a few stinging hairs. @jo-the-botanist.bsky.social what do you think?
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Back from the fantastic @bsbibotany.bsky.social Mentha workshop run by @ambroisebaker.bsky.social. I learnt a lot, mints can be so variable.

On the field meeting we found a number of different species. First photo is M. x gracilis, second is M. x smithiana and third is M. x verticillata.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Up in Yorkshire at the moment for the @bsbibotany.bsky.social Mentha workshop. Quick walk before dinner and found a few interesting things including Bromus inermis ssp. inermis which is the more common of the two subspecies.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
They did say you needed to send photos to confirm ID before you get too excited. 😅
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
After several days at a music festival having my ears blasted, I thought it would be good to balance out with some botanising. A trip down to the Dorset heaths and I finally found Dorset heath Erica ciliaris and it's hybrid with Erica tetralix = Erica x watsonii in the middle of the family photo.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Having a fantastic week at the @bsbibotany.bsky.social summer meeting. Finding a fantastic range of sedges and grasses. Highlight of my week is finding Carex x boenninghausiana, the hybrid between remota and paniculata. Hierochloe odorata, Calamagrostis stricta and it's hybrid C. x gracilescens.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
On route to the @bsbibotany.bsky.social annual summer meeting in Melrose, stopping off in Yorkshire to see some hawkweeds. Here is Ribbleshead hawkweed Hieracium caesitium with its very delicately blotched leaves.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Sweet galingale, Cyperus longus found on a recent botanical survey.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
I found it in Surrey last year in Surrey quite a way from your site. Your plant matches my plants. I found it in horse grazed fields that get seasonally wet, on the acid side. If you want to look it up it's featured in BSBI news Autumn 2024 my photos are in there.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social and I found it up Ben lawers last year. It's quite different, this is a rubbish phone picture as its quite difficult to get in focus.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Found this wonderful purple form of Ononis spinosa whilst botanising near the Severn estuary. Ive never seen it in another colour form before.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
We got between 50 - 80 plants in the end. I really got my eye in for finding them. Tricky little buggers. This is a spot the orchid picture.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
So to balance out the orchid post earlier, here is a much better sedge find. Carex davalliana, one of the new sedges i saw this weekend. This sedge is sadly extinct in the UK but still found across much of Europe in calcareous flushes.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
@bramblebotanist.bsky.social and I have had a fantastic day exploring alpine flora in the French alps. We found Gymnadenia rhellicani, a black vanilla orchid just opening.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Melampyrum nemorosum, wood cow wheat is abundant on the road verges in this area of france. A favourite of the trip so far.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Never thought I'd get to see a ghost orchid 😍 #orchid #ghostorchid #Epipogiumaphyllum
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Fantastic #BSBIRubusWeekend2025 led by @bramblebotanist.bsky.social we saw lots of Norfolk specialities including a new Rubus species for the UK - Rubus paraplicatus one of the suberecti group.
Reposted by Kat Newbert
bramblebotanist.bsky.social
Set a dozen batologists free in Broadland & rightly anticipate a few interesting bramble records.. not a new-to-GB waterlily. Nymphaea candida has small flowers with erect petals, filaments wider than anthers & concave stigmatic disc. Leaves with anastomosing veins at edges. @bsbibotany.bsky.social
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
That looks a bit more like Hypericum pulchrum from your photo.
ghostofdatura.bsky.social
Those marbles rolled away down the hill along time ago 🤣