Avocet
A key species in the story of conservation, the avocet represents an amazing recovery of a bird once extinct in the UK. This pied bird, with its distinctive upturned bill, can now be seen on…
A key species in the story of conservation, the avocet represents an amazing recovery of a bird once extinct in the UK. This pied bird, with its distinctive upturned bill, can now be seen on…
The dense, spiky tufts of Marram grass are a familiar sight on our windswept coasts. In fact, its matted roots help to stabilise sand dunes, allowing them to grow up and become colonised by other…
The common banded hoverfly has a fitting name: it is not only one of our most common species, its black body is also covered in yellow bands! It can be seen in many habitats from gardens to…
There are several species of spider that live in our wetlands, but the water spider is the only one that spends its life under the water. In its pond habitats, it looks silvery because of the air…
One of our most familiar spring flowers, the cowslip brightens up ancient meadows and woodlands with its egg-yolk-yellow, nodding blooms.
Look out for the small, yellow flowers of Celery-leaved buttercup in wet meadows and at the edges of ponds and ditches. It flowers from May to September.
Growing in tufts, Crested dog's-tail is a stiff-looking grass, with a tightly packed, rectangular flower spike. Look for it in lowland meadows and grasslands.
The whinchat is a summer visitor to UK heathlands, moorlands and open meadows. It looks similar to the stonechat, but is lighter in colour and has a distinctive pale eyestripe.
This small damp meadow is known for its spectacular display of globeflowers. The reserve is all that remains of a much larger field that was originally part of Pwll y Bo farm (Hobgoblin pool in…
The flower crab spider is one of 27 species of crab spider. The flower crab spider can alter the colour of its body to match its surroundings and to hide from prey. It is not as common as other…
These grasslands, occupying much of the UK's heavily-grazed upland landscape, are of greater cultural than wildlife interest, but remain a habitat to some scarce and declining species.