My retirement
Malcolm loves volunteering every week at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve where he indulges in his passion for wildlife, keeps active and meets with friends.
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Chwilio
Edible periwinkle
Edible periwinkles are a common sight when rockpooling and can be found in huge numbers on the shore.
Stone curlew
Stone curlews are unusual waders with large yellow eyes - perfect for hunting beetles at night.
Scarlet pimpernel
Once considered a weed of cornfields, the Scarlet pimpernel is now in decline due to intensive agricultural practices. It can be found in arable fields, on roadside verges and waste ground, and on…
Wild carrot
Wild carrot does, indeed, smell of carrots, but the roots are not like our cultivated, dinnertime favourite. Look for this umbellifer on chalk grasslands and coasts.
Ring-necked parakeet
The bright green ring-necked parakeet is an escapee and our only naturalised parrot; its success is likely due to warmer winters.
Harebell
The nodding, blue bells of the harebell are a summer delight of grasslands, sand dunes, hedgerows and cliffs. They are attractive to all kinds of insects, too.
Common juniper
A sprawling, spiny evergreen, common juniper is famous for its traditional role in gin-making. Once common on downland, moorland and coastal heathland, it is now much rarer due to habitat loss.…
My show and tell
In his few years of angling and rock pooling, Archie's made good friends with fish, crabs, limpets and anemones. And he's finding new mates all the time.
Yellow-browed warbler
This charming little warbler is an increasingly common sight in autumn, when migrants pass through the UK.
Lady's bedstraw
In summer, the 'frothy' flowers of lady's bedstraw can carpet the grasses of meadows, heaths and coasts with yellow and fill the air with a sweet, honey-like scent.
Dog-rose
Look for the pinky-white flowers of the dog-rose in summer, and its bright red rosehips in autumn. It is a scrambling shrub of hedgerows, woodlands and grasslands.