Vanessa Burton

Net-leaved Willow (Salix reticulata) patch, growing out of a Sphagnum carpet. The leaves are orbicular (rounded) and reticulated (net-veined), a dark green and shining with water on a very wet day. Female catkins rise to around 10cm, poking through the leaves - these are red, with hairy fruits stacked in a long narrow spike, and the remains of female flowers at the tip of each fruit. The catkin stalks are also red, with short hairs visible on close up. The Sphagnum below has green centres to the capitulum with brownish-red branches around - S. subnitens?

A drenched Jim McIntosh, wearing a blue waterproof jacket, black waterproof trousers and a black peaked hat, stands below the Net-leaved Willow patch on a vegetated crag above him, one arm raised to point to it. Behind the ground drops away steeply, rising towards a ridge emerging from the murk of the rain.

Montane willow scrub is 1 of our most threatened habitats, with only a few 100 ha remaining throughout Scotland

Finding this nationally rare Net-leaved Willow in Perthshire was a fine reward for one of the wettest day's botanising I've ever endured! Botanical #adventcalendar Day 17
#wildflowerhour

A lone birch tree getting the backlight treatment on an atmospheric morning in the Caledonian forest.

#scotland #birchtree #betula

An illustrated circle showing a layered woodland with diverse tree shapes and sizes sites below text reading 'State of the UK's Woods & Trees Report 2025'

📉 Today we published The State of the UK's Woods and Trees Report 2025, bringing together the latest evidence needed to protect and restore our #woodlands 🩺🌳

👉 Read the key findings here: bit.ly/4dNkiYd

👂 Or tune in for our summary on BBC Radio Scotland (starts at 2.54) buff.ly/DwLp7cP

Gazan children in hospital ‘like a conveyor belt’, says surgeon We spoke to Dr Victoria Rose who's just returned from three and a half weeks working in Gaza.

“I was running an operating list with 10 people on it and every day at least half were under the age of 11 - it's barbaric.”

Dr Victoria Rose, who has just returned from working in Gaza, tells @cathynewman.bsky.social what it was like.

Read and watch:

www.channel4.com/news/gazan-c...

From 2–8 June, the University of Oxford will be hosting local activities themed around climate justice. Look out for talks, exhibitions, concerts & more.
Join our
Right Here,
Right Now.
www.ox.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

Life at the (h)edge—Multidiversity in shrub ecotones is driven by habitat quality & shrub foliage cover 🌱🌏

To maximise biodiversity benefits across taxa, recommends managing shrub ecotones at the landscape scale, maintaining a mosaic of open & half-open shrub ecotones 📈🧪

🔗 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

TRYGG - Oslo Pride 2025 YouTube video by Oslo Pride

This is such a beautiful video from Oslo Pride on how important it is to visibly be an LGBT+ ally. 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVep...

*PLEASE HELP*
Despite it being the most objected to planning application in Scottish history, the #FlamingoLand/Lomond Banks planning proposal won't go away.
Experts say it would be bad for ancient woodland, bad for flooding & bad for many other reasons. But the developer is persistent. 1/3

The Greens now have nearly 200 more councillors than Reform.

This is not something you'd be likely to guess from all the copiously salivating media coverage of Farage & his crew of billionaire-backed far-right chancers.

We've explored this in the TreE PlaNat research project www.wren-project.com/tree-planat.... - look out for upcoming resources out in May:

❔ FAQs on natural processes and hybrid approaches
🌱 Simple guidance on monitoring natural processes
📢 A research policy briefing summarising key messages

Cover of a handbook title 'A guide to collecting seed from native trees and shrubs in the UK' with image of a woman stretching up to the canopy of a holly tree to collect seed.

A screenshot of a double page spread from the handbook called 'Acorns - tips for assessing viability'. The pages have images of acorns with varying degrees of damage and two acorns with galls.

A screenshot of a double page spread from the handbook called Wych Elm. The pages have images of wych elm leaves and seeds in various states of maturity and tips for how to id, when to collect and more.

📢 Calling Community Tree Nurseries 📢
New handbook to help identify, collect and store 30+ native tree & shrub species across the UK. A superb tool for #SeedCollectors and woodland restoration enthusiasts. Created by the Woodland Trust in partnership with Fellowship of the Trees. buff.ly/sozbufZ

Yew artichoke gall caused by a fly Taxomyia taxi #WildWebsWednesday

Seeking fluffy guards in the name of science

A front cover image of a handbook for seed collection, showing a woman gathering seed from an overhead branch using a hooked pole

Seed collection is vital for ecosystem restoration.

This new guide aids ID and collection for over 30 native tree & shrub species so we can:

🧬 Capture and preserve genetic diversity
🌱 Fill gaps in tree supply
🌳 Meet vital woodland creation targets

fellowshipofthetrees.org/growing-dive...

Just a reminder to anyone reading this PR piece - true wild camping is covered under access rights in Scotland and does not require paying a membership fee or any fee to landowners. Official government advice on where/how to wild camp responsibly here:
www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/doc/camping-...

Too often woods for conservation and woods for timber are at loggerheads (sorry).

This project shows this doesn't need to be the case!

www.gov.uk/government/c...

The Millennium Seed Bank is home to 13% of the worlds plants in seed form 🌍🌿😯

‘Superlarder’ to supply wild Scottish venison to food banks IT’S a neat solution to two pressing problems: getting free, lean, healthy meat to food bank users, and at the same time cutting the vast herds of…

Supporting people and ecological restoration in a oner? Yes please... www.inkl.com/news/superla...

🏡The shortage of affordable, accessible homes across Scotland's west coast is impacting our ability to expand & protect precious temperate rainforest.
👱‍♀️ You can help influence that.
👉 https://buff.ly/4b28rnK
📆 Closing date: 26 Feb 2025 @asrainforest.bsky.social @communitylandsc.bsky.social

We have teamed up with three other landowners at #LochArkaig to reawaken the landscape across an area of Lochaber that is larger than Edinburgh. The founding members of Beò Airceig are Achnacarry Estate, Arkaig Community Forest, Forestry and Land Scotland and Woodland Trust Scotland.🧵 1/4

New report reviews management and creation of woodland for biodiversity and wider environmental benefits  - Forest Research Forest Research has published a new report which summarises the current evidence on how woodland management and creation affects biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and key environmental benefits.

🌳📢 New report out! Discover key principles & evidence on how woodland management & creation can boost biodiversity 🌿🐦 Read more! #Nature #Woodlands #Biodiversity

www.forestresearch.gov.uk/news/143260-...

Great to be a #RewildingWin! We're chuffed to bits that what was only a dream back in 2017 is now coming to life. Partnership working works!
More buff.ly/3WGFGqt

I'd quite like Rachel Reeves to experience this but with a few hundred copies of 'Prosperity without Growth'

The underlying causes of biodiversity loss are:

1) the disconnection of people from nature & domination over nature & other people
2) the inequitable concentration of power & wealth
3) the prioritization of short-term individual & material gains

#TransformationTuesday @ipbes.bsky.social

Secret seed sources sought for Scotland’s wee trees - Woodland Trusticon/search

Help us find more wee trees! www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/press-centre...

Jobs at the Woodland Trust The UK's largest woodland conservation charity. We want to see a UK rich in native woods and trees. For people. For wildlife. We can't achieve our vision without you.

There's a job up in our #Conservation #Outcomes teamlet! If you're into #woodland conservation, restoration & management, and you've got #training & #facilitation skills, this could be for you! jobs.woodlandtrust.org.uk/vacancies/va...

BES2024 Thematic Session - Biodiversity Futures: harnessing the power of scenarios and models YouTube video by British Ecological Society

Did you miss #BES2024 and are you interested in #BiodiversityFutures? check the recording of this great session led by @drnickisaac.bsky.social, featuring talks by Damaris Zurell, Anita Lazurko, Andy Purvis, James Bullock, Greta Bocedi, Jennifer Border and myself.
youtu.be/FkbS6Klzbdg?...

Come and hear all you want to know about using natural processes for woodland creation in the UK! This has been a lush project with a lovely bunch of collaborators - don't miss our final webinar 🌱

How to Repair the Planet? One Answer Might Be Hiding in Plain Sight. (Gift Article) We tend to look at environmental problems in isolation. A holistic approach would be more effective, a new report says.

Happy New Year! If you missed this IPBES report, today seems like a good day to check it out. Here’s a link to our story that won’t hit a paywall.

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/17/c...