Rebecca Cheape

Last night we were monitoring birds on a farm. The Pulsar Telos has revolutionised our work and we ringed 19 Skylarks and right at the end we ringed this stunning Golden Plover. They are just the most beautiful wader.

The Hawthorn tree grows in special places. Places where magic happens and its berries were once believed to be a cure for a broken 💔 Associated with love and marriage in Ancient Greece, this Hawthorn in County Antrim grows by a magnificent Fairy Rath stop which, hidden by a wall of Furze, sits the Holestone 🌳💮 An ancient standing stone with one large hole bored through it by the fairies that dwell beneath 🪨🧚‍♂️ Couples pledge their undying love for one another at this place and it is the woman who must reach through to grasp her partner's hand as legend has it that the stone will only accept female hands 🤝💚

AMAZING NEWS!!!! Known from less than 10 places in England and just one site left in Cheshire, this beaut saltmarsh flat-sedge (Blysmus rufus) was found for the first time today on Hoylake beach on Wirral!!! So exciting eeee 😍🌱

Completed another phase of #treeplanting at Pennyvenie Farm near Dalmellington for our Coalfields to Wildwoods project @CoalfieldCLP. This time 700 trees in a new shelterbelt and wildlife corridor. Don't recommend the experience of planting along an old dyke line though...

Did you catch us on @Channel4News last night? 🌼 After decades of work, one of Britain’s rarest wildflowers is back in the wild for the first time in nearly 100 years — thanks to @YorksWildlife! 📺 Skip to 48:48 to watch: channel4.com/programmes/cha…

Lots of Common spotted orchids popping up in my #dontmow garden ,along with Red clover, Yellow rattle & Meadow buttercup. A real feast for #pollinators

More good news! At the weekend we checked some of our Red kite nests in Worcestershire. We were pleased to find 8 chicks (3,3,2) They were all healthy and well fed. A great success story, hopefully more nests nest year!!! Ringed under Schedule 1 licence

Fair Isle saw its third PALLAS'S REED BUNTING, yesterday - a spring male, no less - following two autumn birds, the last some 43 years ago! fairislebirdobs.co.uk/latest_sightin… Please note - no sightings so far today, although the bird can be slippery, and today's weather wild! 📸A Penn

It’s that time of year when social media just seems to be full of gorgeous orchid pics! The challenge this week is to see if you can find one! Share your orchidaceous finds for #WildflowerHour this Sunday 8-9pm using the hashtag #OrchidChallenge. 📸 William Keble Martin

Some of the guests in our bee-hotel this weekend. We offer rooms 2mm to 10mm in diameter that attract mason and leafcutter bees; and other solitary bees/wasps (including parasitic/cuckoo species). Also get a range of interlopers that just need a room for the night. #Staffs

What do you think @BBCSpringwatch! An absolutely amazing Jay's nest, monitored for the BTO's #NestRecordScheme. The scheme only gets around 5 nest records per year, so this will provide well needed information.

Peatlands are wet, wild and wonderfully important 💦 These unique wetland landscapes store carbon, reduce flood risk, improve water quality, and support biodiversity. They’re not just beneficial - they’re also beautiful, wild places, rich with wildlife and plant life. 📷 Mark Hamblin / Scotland: The Big Picture #WorldPeatlandDay

This lovely male Pallas’s Reed Bunting gave the few of us lucky enough to be on Fair Isle today the runaround before it settled into the heather for a while, it had been very skittish at the bottom the cliffs for a couple hours, top find by Alex Penn @FI_Obs

Look out for the colourful Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae) this month 👀 This common and well-distributed day-flying moth is often mistaken for a butterfly because of its vibrant red and black markings. 📷: Iain H Leach, Rachel Scopes, James Peat #MothMonday #MothsMatter

There is no place for pesticides in our communities as we face the #ButterflyEmergency 🦋 On 25 April, MPs will debate phasing them out. Urge yours to back Sian Berry’s #GoPesticideFree bill and protect our precious pollinators! 👉 pan-uk.eaction.org.uk/edm-urban-pest… 📷: Ian A Kirk @PAN_UK

Our latest newsletter celebrates the new FIT Count season tomorrow (Tues 1 April), + opportunities to join the 1 km square survey, & links to some recent pollinator research (some courtesy of @JeffOllerton). Read at mailchi.mp/0195981bd75f/u… & subscribe at ukpoms.org.uk/subscribe

It's that time of year again here in the Northern Hemisphere, time when waders & other ground nesting birds are returning to their breeding grounds. Pls stick to footpaths, keep dogs on leads & avoid disturbing these birds. Artwork by Lars Jonsson #waders #shorebirds

A major influx of Hoopoe to Britain and Ireland is underway, with bumper numbers of the colourful bird recorded during recent days: bit.ly/3Y53wx9

Migration in full flow! There's a blog about the waders that migrate between Ireland and Iceland, many of which stop off in Tiree: wadertales.wordpress.com/2017/03/14/fly… #ConservationScience

We don't know the true extent of nectar bubbling among bees, flies, hawk moths, sawflies and mosquitoes. Whatever its frequency, bubbling is another clever trick that helps insects succeed out there in the wide harsh world. Athayde's latest blog @ scottishpollinators.wordpress.com