Dahlia anemone
With their beautiful striped tentacles, it's easy to see where dahlia anemones got their floral name from. Look out for them next time you're rockpooling!
With their beautiful striped tentacles, it's easy to see where dahlia anemones got their floral name from. Look out for them next time you're rockpooling!
Sea-buckthorn is a spiny, thicket-forming shrub of sand dunes. It's native to the east coast of England but considered an invasive species elsewhere. It is most obvious in autumn when it is…
The small, brown Dartford warbler is most easily spotted when warbling its scratchy song from the top of a gorse stem. It lives on lowland heathland in the south of England, where it nests on the…
In 2021, Emily and her partner took on an allotment. It is an amazing space that has allowed Emily to be more sustainable whilst reaping the well-being benefits of nature. Their next plan is to…
A ferocious and fast predator, the devil's coach horse beetle hunts invertebrates after dark in gardens and on grasslands. It is well-known for curling up its abdomen like the tail of a…
Red valerian was introduced in the 1600s from Europe, but is now naturalised in the UK. Its pinky-red flowers grow from old walls, roadside verges, railway cuttings and cliffs, and provide nectar…
The bill-shaped seed pods of Common Stork's-bill explode when ripe, sending the seeds flying! This low-growing plant has pretty pink flowers and can be seen on grasslands and coastal sands.…
Did you know your seaside scampi was actually a kind of lobster? Traditionally so - although the scampi that is often eaten with chips can be anything from prawns to fish.
When he’s not studying at Cumbria University, Ian enjoys volunteering at Thacka Beck. As well as being great for wildlife, this wetland nature reserve helps protects Penrith from flooding when the…
Luscious temperate rainforest once covered vast areas of the British Isles, but now only fragments remain in the west. These areas of rainforest are also known as Atlantic woodland or Celtic…
A familiar shrub of hedgerows and woodland edges, blackthorn comes alive in spring when it bursts into a froth of white blossom. It is well known for its sloes, too - the blue-black fruits used in…
When threatened, the Green tortoise beetle acts just like a tortoise, pulling its feet and antennae in and hunkering down, gripping the leaf it is on as tightly as possible. Look for it on White…