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Here's a thread for all of you who love a Christmas murder mystery... ... about the humble ivy-leaved toadflax, Cymbalaria muralis. This pretty plant has a dark side!

Morning folks! Kiera here. Check out this little gall I found today on a fresh new leaf of an Alexanders plant (Smyrnium olusatrum). I think this might be from Puccinia smyrnii, which is a fungus. The fungus hijacks the plant's cells and forces them to produce this!

Free article from the archives! In "The Crisis of Trust and Planning" (2007), Christopher Swain and Malcolm Tait present 4 reasons; the rise of: 1) the risk society 2) the pluralistic society 3) the rights-based society 4) advanced liberalism tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.10…

🧵It's excellent that biodiversity net gain will be mandatory from Monday. This positive Defra UK policy should begin to reduce environmental harm from development. But to drive *recovery*, councils will need to go beyond the 10% minimum. We asked how many would require more.

GOOD MORNING FOLKS! Kiera here! And this week I am noticing a group of spring flowers that you could easily miss if you didn't pay attention - the white-flowered brassicas! (Don't be put off by the name, I don't like cabbage either).

☘️Happy St Patrick's Day folks! People say St Patrick explained the Holy Trinity using a shamrock. (Actually, there's no evidence of this in any of his writing - and his association with the plant only started to be written about in the 16th century). But what IS a shamrock?

Are you eating baked beans today? If so there might be a connection between your meal and St Joseph's day, which is celebrated today! Legend has it that a terrible drought afflicted Sicily in the medieval era. Crops withered and animals died...

Cultural Heritage and the Just City: A Dialogue between Cape Town and Sheffield! Registration now open for seminar on Cultural Heritage and the Just City, co-organised with Urban Studies and Planning at Sheffield University + Department of Archaeology. 9th April, 1500-1700 GMT. Register: sheffield.ac.uk/urban-institut…

Red campion! Take a closer look because plants can be - male, with ten stamens (left) - female with five styles (right) Have a count and see how many of each you can find in a pink patch!

Hot, hot, hot today and I guess a fair number of people are wishing they were on the beach. And if you know the south coast beaches, you may well have come across the slipper limpet. But there's more to a slipper limpet's life than you might expect! Let's go... 🧵

New research report out with Wild Justice shows only half of the ecological features required for planning permission (like trees, bird boxes, wildflower areas) are actually in place. Housebuilders not implementing what they're required to do wildjustice.org.uk/general/lost-n…

On a day when house building is in the news, we publish a new report - LOST NATURE. In it, we asked if housing developers have been delivering their ecological commitments. Answer: NO. Read the report here: wildjustice.org.uk/general/lost-n… 1/8

Researchers at The University of Sheffield looked at nearly 6,000 houses across 42 developments. When they compared promises for wildlife-friendly features found in planning conditions with what was on the ground, they found that nearly half were missing. 2/8

Hedgehog highways involve leaving accessible holes and tunnels between properties, allowing Hedgehogs to move freely to find food, water and mates. But we found 83% of the ones developers said they'd install were missing. 4/8

Plant life didn't fare much better in our research. Nearly 60% of wildflower grasslands on housing estates were damaged or sown incorrectly. This affects wildflowers, invertebrates, and inevitably other life like birds and mammals. 5/8

Today there's much talk of the need of new housing. But, as co-author @drkierachapman says in today's Guardian article: "When it comes to priorities, this is not an either/or situation: humans need healthy green spaces to flourish." 6/8

NEW report from us Wild Justice today – #LostNature – which details how housing developers are failing wildlife across the board on every measure . 🧵

Housing developers are failing to deliver the bat boxes , bird boxes , Hedgehog highways , bug bricks , trees and wildflower meadows they promised . And cash-strapped local authorities don't have the time or resources to check up on what has happened .

Researchers from The University of Sheffield visited nearly 6,000 houses across 42 developments , and this is what they found . Read the summary and/or full version here: wildjustice.org.uk/general/lost-n…

.Wild Justice & The University of Sheffield finds housebuilders deliver only half of nature-friendly features promised👎 Local planning authorities need more resources to enforce for wildlife - ensuring swift bricks, bat boxes & more are actually built🏡 theguardian.com/environment/20…