Getting Wild About Gardens
The buzz of a bee, the sweet scent of honeysuckle, these precious moments are not only a delight to experience in our gardens, they’re absolutely vital if we’re going to protect, restore and…
The buzz of a bee, the sweet scent of honeysuckle, these precious moments are not only a delight to experience in our gardens, they’re absolutely vital if we’re going to protect, restore and…
A plain-looking warbler, the garden warbler is a summer visitor to the UK. It is a shy bird and is most likely to be heard, rather than seen, in woodland and scrub habitats.
Have you ever stopped to look at the shape of a spider web? Garden spiders spin a spiral shaped web, perfect for catching lots of juicy prey!
This streaky brown bird is a winter visitor, occasionally found walking around the muddy margins of marshes.
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…
The water scorpion is not a true scorpion, but it certainly looks like one! An underwater predator, it uses its front pincer-like legs to catch its prey. Its tail actually acts as a kind of '…
Nicolas is a farmer who loves wildlife. Through his passion he has grown a successful bird seed business, and in partnership with The Wildlife Trusts has helped to raise £1 million for…
The garden tiger is an attractive, brown-and-white moth of sand dunes, woodland edges, meadows and hedgerows; it will also visit gardens. In decline, it is suffering from the 'tidying up…
The large, dark grey water shrew lives mostly in wetland habitats. It's a good swimmer that hunts for aquatic insects and burrows into the banks.
Water figwort is a tall plant of riverbanks, pond margins, damp meadows and wet woodlands. Its maroon flowers are pollinated by the Common wasp.
As its name suggests, Water dock likes damp places, such as the egdes of canals, ponds and rivers. It is a tall plant with large, greenish flower spikes.
Look for Water avens in damp habitats, such as riversides, wet woodlands and wet meadows. It has nodding, purple-and-orange flowers that hang on delicate, purple stems.