Chiltern Woods

Tweets & Photos John Morris. Views my own. Self-employed. Advice on trees & woods. Ex- Chiltern Woodlands Project. 41 years working in woods in the Chilterns.

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

I have now been helping @ChilternSociety look after Bottom Wood for 40 years. This chalk grassland glade used to be a Scots pine plantation.

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

We completed the annual cutting of the Toothill glade in the @ChilternSociety Bottom Wood on Tuesday. The ant hills are doing well. @ChilternsAONB @ChilternsCCC

[Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 @Haggis_UK]

Turns out Suella Braverman(Reform MP) was Home Secretary & Robert Jenrick(Reform MP) was an immigration minister when the North Belfast attacker was granted a 5-year visa.

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Note to America: The World is a necessary component of a World Cup

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Nice to find this large skipper #butterfly feeding on the first flower of this pyramidal #orchid #wildflowerhour

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Very sad!

[🌻 Go Wild With Annette @writethewrongs2]

Another raptor disappears! More has to be done about this! 👇

The sudden disappearance of a juvenile white-tailed eagle is being investigated by police.

The male chick was born in August 2025 as a result of a reintroduction and conservation project led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.

The rare bird became the first white-tailed eagle to fledge in Dorset for more than 240 years and was satellite-tagged so the team could track its progress.

Police said the eagle arrived on the western side of the North York Moors on 30 April, but its tag stopped communicating overnight. Following analysis by the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the eagle's disappearance is being treated as suspicious.

North Yorkshire Police has regularly investigated instances of birds of prey, including satellite-tagged individuals, going missing in areas associated with game shooting.

The force said the bird - with the tag G834 - travelled widely across the north of England this spring. Juveniles often roam extensively before settling down to breed.

However, contact was lost a month ago and there have been no further transmissions since.

White-tailed eagles are the UK's largest bird of prey, with a wingspan of up to 2.5m (8.2ft).
This chick was born to parents who were also part of the breeding programme.

They were released in 2020 in the Isle of Wight area and paired up in Dorset in 2023.

Forestry England said they were first-time parents and the male adult bird had lost a leg four years earlier.
Forestry England said the birds - also known as sea eagles - were once widespread across England, until persecution by humans wiped out the entire population by 1918. In the 1970s birds from Norway were reintroduced to Scotland.

More here: https://t.co/gFsQ0vF5s5

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Greater butterfly #orchid in a favourite small @BBOWT chalkpit reserve. #wildflowerhour #orchidchallenge

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

A white heleborine seen on Tuesday in @ChilternSociety Bottom Wood, it has a visiting insect on the top flower. #orchidchallege #wildflowerhour

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

A colourful bee #orchid @BBOWT Yoesden yesterday, #orchidchallege #wildflowerhour

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

A couple of chalk fragrant #orchids starting to flower the week on 2 sites in @ChilternsNL at opposite ends of the scale of pink! #wildflowerhour #orchidchallenge

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

Laura Tobin: ".. the thing at play here is obviously climate change.. its still spring.. a reminder of where we should be for the time of year & where we actually are. At least 16 degrees warmer than where we should be for the time of year"

Don't look up.

[Prof. Katharine Hayhoe @KHayhoe]

This article says climate change is “believed to have played a role” in the UK's extreme heat this week.

As a climate scientist, let me fact-check that.

First, climate change is not a religion. No belief is required. It is about evidence.

And the evidence has been crystal clear for more than two decades: climate change is making heat waves hotter, longer, more frequent and more dangerous.

In fact, science has advanced far beyond saying climate change merely “played a role.” Today, we can quantify how much more likely and how much hotter climate change made a specific event.

Here's the bottom line:

Climate is changing. Humans are responsible. And we are experiencing the impacts now. That’s the bad news.

The good news is that solutions already exist, and the majority of people care - 89%, around the world!

But meaningful action depends on helping people understand not just what is happening: we need to know how it affects our lives (this heat wave being example A today) and what we can do about it.

That’s the opportunity this reporting missed.

https://t.co/vYfPDKcWWf

[Dave Throup @DaveThroup]

A new UK May record temperature, exceeding yesterday’s value by 0.3°C.

Today’s temperature is 2.3°C higher than anything previously recorded in May before this week.

Before today the earliest date 35°C has been recorded was 26 June.

Wales also set new May record.

[Andrew Levi @AndrewPRLevi]

Nigel Farage says of the NHS, “I do not want it funded through general taxation. It doesn’t work”.

It does work.

And it’s cheap.

The “funding model” isn’t the problem.

Using the NHS as a political football, and stripping it for parts to enrich cronies, is.

[Met Office @metoffice]

Unusually hot weather for the time of year is affecting much of Western Europe, with parts of France 10 °C above average for May

Coastal areas will be a little cooler but inland areas will remain exceptionally hot

Some areas of the UK will be hotter than Majorca 🌡️

[tern @1goodtern]

There are still accounts saying 'this is just summer'.

Actually, this is warmer than summers used to be.

*And it's still only Spring*.

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Perhaps @DefraGovUK @NaturalEngland and all pet owners should read this blog & take action to protect wildlife.

[Wildlife and Countryside Link @WCL_News]

Flea treatments are polluting rivers and harming wildlife in the process.

When products designed to help our pets are damaging the natural world, something needs to change.

Matt Shardlow, ecological expert and environmental consultant, explores these themes in an independent review.

Read the blog here: https://t.co/MzpBJstlXm

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Pignut, a hard to photograph member of the carrot family and an ancient woodland plant found in a Dorset ash/hazel wood #tinyplants #wildflowerhour

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

Colour variations in chalk milkwort on a down in Dorset last week for #wildflowerhour #tinyplants

[Colin the Dachshund @DachshundColin]

"I once received £5m, a further £1m, an £800k house, helicopter trips and a trip to the Maldives, and wasn't expected to do anything in return for it."

[Ed Davey @EdwardJDavey]

Farage says his £5 million gift was a “reward” for Brexit.

The rest of us were rewarded with higher bills and years of chaos.

This grifter must not become prime minister.

[Chiltern Woods @ChilternWoods]

@dunnjons @Mariposa_Nature @BSBIbotany @thenewgalaxy @EuropeanOrchids That is a beauty!