The Elephant In The Room
Late summer is the best time to discover one of the UK’s chunkiest caterpillars, the elephant hawk-moth.
Late summer is the best time to discover one of the UK’s chunkiest caterpillars, the elephant hawk-moth.
Creeping jenny is a low-growing plant of wet grasslands, riverbanks, ponds and wet woods. It has cup-like, yellow flowers and is a popular choice for garden ponds.
With club-shaped leaflets on its fronds, wall-rue is easy to spot as it grows out of crevices in walls. Plant it in your garden rockery to provide cover for insects.
Look for the pretty, azure-blue flowers of Wood forget-me-not along woodland rides and hedgerows, and in ancient and wet woodlands. Varieties of this flower for the garden are very popular.
This bog-loving butterfly is mostly found in the north of the UK, where it takes to the wing in summer.
Help wildlife in hot weather and lend a helping hand. Keep your watering stations topped up with water, and let some of your garden grow wild to provide shade for animals.
With its familiar features, the Field pansy is a delicate version of a garden favourite. Usually creamy-yellow in colour, it can be seen in fields and on roadside verges and waste ground.
The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.
A classic fern of woodlands across the UK, the male-fern is also a great addition to any garden. It grows impressive stands from underground rhizomes, dying back in autumn.
This is a predominantly subtidal species but can be found on the lowest parts of a sheltered rocky shore in summer.
This metallic green beetle can be seen visiting flowers on sunny days in spring and summer.
This streaky brown bird is a summer visitor to Britain, favouring open woodlands in the north and west.