Smooth newt
You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.
You are likely to spot the smooth newt in your garden or local pond. It breeds in water in summer and spends the rest of the year in grassland and woodland, hibernating over winter.
The speckled wood prefers the dappled sunlight of woodland rides and edges, hedgerows and even gardens. Despite declines, its range has spread over recent years.
Gnarled veteran oaks are interspersed with groves of pale, elegant birches, while swathes of bracken and soft tussocks of wavy hair-grass cover ground from which autumn fungi sprout.…
Lowland mixed oak and ash woods include the iconic bluebell woods so central to our notion of British woodland. Mostly quite small and bounded by ancient banks, they are full of history. At their…
Juliet Sargeant was first inspired by nature as a child: when she’s working, her mind often wanders back to playing in the woods with her friends.
She left a career in medicine to train as…
As the bluebells fade, yellow archangel takes its turn to impress, with golden-yellow flowers carpeting our ancient woodlands.
The pied flycatcher is a summer visitor, migrating here from West Africa to breed. Look for this small, black-and-white bird in woodland, parks and gardens, mostly in the west of the UK.
Violet ground beetles are active predators, coming out at night to hunt slugs and other invertebrates in gardens, woodlands and meadows.
The coal tit is mainly found in coniferous woodland, but can also be spotted in gardens and parks. It is smaller than the great tit, but has a similar bicycle pump-like song.
The hare's ear is a cup-like fungus that grows in clusters in broadleaved and mixed woodland, often near to the path. Its orange colour makes it quite conspicuous in the leaf litter.
This striking black-and-white moth flies during the day in open woodlands, moorlands, and bogs. It's most common on Scottish moors.
A scarce tree of central and southern England, in particular, the Small-leaved Lime can be found in ancient woodland. It is has sweet-smelling flowers in summer and nut-like fruits in autumn.