My back-to-school
As a child growing up in Ghana, Patience never took an interest in what was going on in the garden. Now, she’s growing her own flowers and vegetables every week, both at the Centre for Wildlife…
As a child growing up in Ghana, Patience never took an interest in what was going on in the garden. Now, she’s growing her own flowers and vegetables every week, both at the Centre for Wildlife…
This wildflower meadow has always been managed traditionally with grazing by cattle or ponies from spring to autumn. This kind of rough, damp grassland is known in Wales as Rhos pasture and is…
A diminutive but aggressive predator, the three-spined stickleback hunts tadpoles and small fish. It is also known for fiercely protecting its nest of eggs until they hatch. Look for it in ponds,…
As its name suggests, Himalayan balsam is from the Himalayas and was introduced here in 1839. It now an invasive weed of riverbanks and ditches, where it prevents native species from growing.
The hustle and bustle of city life melts away when Kathryn visits Camley Street Natural Park. Without leaving central London, she can go from man-made soaring skyscrapers to an oasis-like…
The eel is famous for both its slippery nature and its mammoth migration from its freshwater home to the Sargasso Sea where it breeds. It has suffered dramatic declines and is a protected species…
With its prominent, wavy crest, the great crested newt, also known as the 'warty newt', looks like a mini dinosaur! This protected species favours clean ponds during the breeding season…
As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…
This reserve, once the site of extensive coal mining, is a great example of how nature has reclaimed the landscape. It is a rich mix of wildlflower meadow, rhos pasture and young woodland. It is…
The common name of the Bloody-nosed beetle derives from its unusual defence mechanism: when threatened, it secretes a distasteful blood-red liquid from its mouth. This flightless beetle can be…