These upbeat @yorkshiredales.org.uk #FIPL podcasts got a mention at last week’s @thebaytrust.bsky.social staff meeting; work on our #GenerationRestoration project (title nod to @unep.org!) was #KentDowns #FIPL aided its 1st stage & we were discussing our story; stage 2 planting happening today :-)
Close-up of Rustyback plants, their leaves alternately-arranges, dull green pinnae, amongst Ivy on a wall of red brick.
Rustyback ferns of different sizes, scattered on a red brick wall. Ivy covers the wall at the top and to the left.
Rustyback is a scarce fern in Kent, but is well established on this roadside wall in Wychling on the #KentDowns. Only when walking (as today) or cycling past do I get a chance to stop and admire it. #ferns #KentNature
🌳 Free summer fun for single parent families!
📅 15 Aug 2025
📍 Shorne Woods Country Park
🚶♀️ 3km walk + nature activities + playground
💷 Free – booking required
🎟️ Book here:kentdowns.org.uk/events/shorne-woods-coun...
#FreeEvent #FamilyFun #KentDowns
Looking to challenge yourself in 2025?
Take on the Kent Downs 50 Ultra Challenge. A 50km walk, jog or run around the beautiful Kent Downs.
Help raise funds for Heart of Kent Hospice by choosing us as your chosen charity.
More: www.hokh.org/event/kent-d...
#challenge #kent #kentdowns
A large, metallic-green beetle with a bronzy sheen to the elytra, walking on short grass and clover.
An amazing find from today - this Spanish Fly beetle (Lytta vesicatoria) was on my other-half's shoulder when it was spotted by a friend as we walked round the village. A first local record of this super-rarity! #beetle #beetles #KentNature #KentDowns
Sunday walk, all welcome join us.
www.metropolitan-walkers.org.uk
#ramblersuk #hilking #walking #solestreet #kent #darnleymausoleum #hollyhill #kentdowns #luddesdown #whitehorsewood
A woodland floor, with dead leaves as well as green floiage, including leaves of Wild Strawberry. In the centre, a slender stem bears a broad, green blade of Adder's-tongue. Where the blade joins the stem, a second, slender, spore-bearing stem arises.
A wider view of the woodland floor, where eight or more of the flat, green fronds of Adder's-tongue grow amongst other vegetation including violets and Wild Strawberry.
A nice patch of Adder's-tongue fern discovered on a local walk in Doddington this morning - I had previously found just one plant in this location previously (some 2 or 3 years ago), but now there are at least 30! Only spotted one bearing the distinctive fertile frond. #ferns #KentDowns #KentNature
A small, dark bee, standing on the end of my thumb, and seen from the side, with its head to the left. It has dark red markings on the abdomen, and its visible hind leg is carrying a mass of yellow pollen.
The other day I caught a male Red-girdled Mining Bee in the garden. Today a female, carrying a lot of pollen, so nesting nearby. Appears to be quite sparsely recorded on the #KentDowns. #KentNature #bees
Common Twayblade on a woodland floor. A pair of broad, dark green leaves, between which is a short stem bearing a mass of tight flower-buds. Moss in the foreground.
"Don't rush me - I'm thinking about it." Common Twayblade working up to flowering, in #woodland on the #KentDowns. #KentNature #orchids
An unsurfaced track passing through open woodland.
An afternoon stroll towards Torry Hill, via the byway called Coal Pit Lane. First Speckled Wood, Orange-tip & Green-veined White of the year, plus Comma, Peacock & Brimstone. And a Raven. #KentNature #KentDowns #butterflies
Wood Anemone on a roadside bank on the edge of a woodland.
Lesser Celandine on a roadside hedgebank.
A patch of Primroses in Beech woodland.
The first Wood Anemones in flower on a wooded roadside bank here on the #KentDowns. And yellow flowers of Lesser Celandine and Primrose, all taken this weekend for #Wildflowerhour. @wildflowerhour.bsky.social @bsbibotany.bsky.social #KentNature
Butcher's-broom. A stem bearing flattened, pointed, leaf-like structures. On one is a small flower with three pale yellow petals and a purple centre.
Spurge-laurel. A brown stem bears large, glossy, dark green leaves. Towards the tip is a group of yellow-green, narrowly bell-shaped flowers.
From here on the #KentDowns, Butcher's-broom and Spurge-laurel in (understated) flower this week for #Wildflowerhour. #KentNature
A dropping stem with an umbel of white flowers.
Corky-fruited Water-dropwort flowering this week on a roadside bank on the #KentDowns. A plant that has recently become more widespread in Kent. #wildflowerhour @bsbibotany.bsky.social
Raven on a phone mast, 300m from the back garden today. It was a bit shouty.
I shall not be embarking on a career as a nature photographer any time soon.
#kentbirding #kentnature #kentdowns
Through Sharsted Woods this morning. Two or three Firecrests knocking about with the Long-tailed, Blue and Coal Tits. Bullfinch calling. One or two Hornets still buzzing around. #KentBirds #KentNature #KentDowns
An excellent find of Viscid Brittlegill (Russula viscida) made during our field meeting near Stalisfield on the Kent Downs yesterday. A species with apparently few UK records. #KentNature #Fungi #Mycology #KentDowns #MushroomMonday
Out and about round Luddesdown yesterday. Impressed by the amount of Stinking Chamomile growing amongst the vines in the organic vineyard. Also found my first Vernal Shieldbug. #arableplants #wildflowers #bugs #kentwildlife #kentdowns
A carpet of bluebells in a coppice woodland.
Good 'ere, innit? #bluebells #spring #kentnature #kentdowns
Didn't manage to get a tree flower for #wildflowerhour but the Cowslips on the #KentDowns near Detling today were breathtaking!
What's not to love about the tiny woodlouse Platyarthrus hoffmannseggi, that lives in the nests of ants? One of the many species recorded on today's Field meeting at White Horse Wood Country Park. #kentdowns #fieldnaturalhistory #woodlice
A Bluebell just starting to flower. Bright blue flowers against a background of green leaves.
It's happening ...
The first Bluebell to flower near my home on the #KentDowns are always in the same spot.
#kentwildlife #wildflowerhour
