My discovery
Look – a boatman! Keira’s delight in learning about unusual creatures is even more special when she can find them herself.
Look – a boatman! Keira’s delight in learning about unusual creatures is even more special when she can find them herself.
Our two-minute survey can score your garden and offer ideas to make it even better for wildlife, but why is this so important?
The black-headed gull is actually a chocolate-brown headed gull! And for much of the year, it's head even turns white. Look out for it in large, noisy flocks on a variety of habitats.
The emperor dragonfly is an impressively large and colourful dragonfly of ponds, lakes, canals and flooded gravel pits. It flies between June and August and even eats its prey on the wing.
Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…
Swifts spend most of their lives flying – even sleeping, eating and drinking – only ever landing to nest. They like to nest in older buildings in small holes in roof spaces.
Arrowhead is an aquatic plant of shallow water and slow-moving waterways. In bloom over summer, it displays small, white flowers, but it is the arrow-shaped leaves that are most distinctive.
Richard could stick to the road on his commute, but taking a shortcut through the woods is far more relaxing, even if he does get muddy trousers.
At Carsington Water, Jack & Charlie can do anything. Build dens, play hide and seek and search for dragons on Stones Island.
Curled dock is often considered a 'weed'. It can be found near water or on disturbed ground almost anywhere. It is similar to Broad-leaved dock, with which it can hybridise.
This brown seaweed lives high up on rocky shores, just below the high water mark. Its blades are usually twisted, giving it the name Spiral Wrack.
Plaice is a common sight all around our coasts - if you can spot it! They are extremely well camouflaged against the seabed and can even change colour to better match their surroundings.