Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

Naturalist, conservationist, Yorkshireman, and lots more besides. Spelling mistakes will be mine, or autocorrect, or a combination of the two. Joined November 2019

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Don Gorge Community Group @GorgeGroup

12 months ago

Well what a beautiful day for the Don Gorge volunteers. Working with Yorkshire Wildlife Trust cutting back self seeded saplings and grass on the meadow. Also trimmed back growth on the access track up from the gate on Nursery Lane.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

I'm thinking about trying a different social media platform, there seem fewer and fewer people (that I want to hear) on Twitter. But the key thing is a critical mass of ecologists/naturalists/land managers, I'd like to hear from a range of views on the topic Any recommendations?

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Want to make a difference to wildlife in Yorkshire? Why not become a trustee of @YorksWildlife As a naturalist I'd love it if you were one too 😜 but people with all kinds of organisational experience are also needed. ywt.org.uk/blog/yorkshire… @WildlifeTrusts

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Life finds near endless ways to be weird! I collected this Fox Moth caterpillar from @WildKingsdale the other week as it had larvae emerging from it (whilst still alive!), they pupated and just emerged as adult parasitic wasps! I'll send them to the county recorder for ID

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Parsley Water-dropwort is a rare plant near us (and nationally). But Common Reed needs controlling here, and I think there has been a little collateral damage, nibbled by cattle, or trampled. But it's still flowering and seeding, will graze later on rotation to allow more seed.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

I've just set up monthly @BIOSCAN_UK trap at @YWTPottericCarr If the biting flies that were getting me whilst setting up, and the numbering the trap after only a few minutes, is anything to go by then I'll have hundreds or thousands of things to sift through tomorrow!

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

A few arable weeds on the margin between a fen I manage at Denaby Ings and the neighbours field of potatoes. Marsh Cudweed, Common Fumitory, Fat Hen and Marsh Yellow-cress escaping from the fen into open ground. Not my usual habitats to search.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Spotted a few things around @YWTPottericCarr today. Comma caterpillar on Wych Elm, Trifid Bur-marigold, a mite gall on Yellow Loosestrife, and Knotgrass Leaf Beetle. Finding things you aren't looking for is a nice bonus for the day.

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Don Gorge Community Group @GorgeGroup

a year ago

A good days work for our volunteers today. Working with YWT. Cutting hay, up on the Sprotbrough Flash Nature Reserve meadow. Then transporting it to another YWT field in Wadworth, spreading it around so hopefully some of the seeds collected will germinate. Interesting work.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

I can thoroughly recommend this path along the side of Lagi Di Poschiavo, so many interesting plants, easy going, and great scenery. And a good local beer at the end in Miralago. And if you are into those kind of things there is a famous railway line on the other side of the lake

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Lots of interesting woods near where I'm staying in Italian Alps. But also interesting niches like this slab of sloping stone, full of interesting plants, some that are rare in the UK, but loads that aren't found in the UK. Little hotspots like this can amuse me for ages!

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Endangered in the UK, Spreading Bellflower was in the churchyard and playground at Spriana. The attitude to wildlife and tidiness is different here, although the large tracts of mountainous land that can't be used by man does help to create a different perception.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

I went looking for Dioecious Sedge today, never seen it before, and this site hasn't been well recorded for decades, no luck with that today. Did find good mire habitat, with Marsh Hawk's-beard and Star Sedge and others. May need to go back in 2025. Marley, nr Keighley

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Yes, 0430 might be a bit antisocial, but how many people actually look up in their garden at night to see the bats that are probably there flying about? I have noticed bats much more since moth trapping. And mothing means you can see some of the beauty of wildlife up close.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

Spot the cattle in the rain! They don't mind, and are over ankle deep in water. They are targeting Common Reed just now (they've also been in the drier Yorkshire Fog and False Oat Grass), which is what we want. To reduce dominance of reed and allow other fen species space.

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Jim Horsfall @jim_horsfall

a year ago

I had a nice lunchtime walk at work. With a bit of pond netting. I found a couple of new beetles (for me), Acilius sulcatus and Dytiscus semisulcatus, but also a few newt efts (either Palmate or Smooth newts, can't tell at this stage). And spotted Common Meadow Rue with seed gall