My inspiration
Iolo Williams, BBC TV naturalist, loves visiting Parc Slip Nature Reserve near Bridgend. It’s the perfect wildlife day and the arable fields inspire him in his personal and professional life - a…
Iolo Williams, BBC TV naturalist, loves visiting Parc Slip Nature Reserve near Bridgend. It’s the perfect wildlife day and the arable fields inspire him in his personal and professional life - a…
Few of us can contemplate having a wood in our back gardens, but just a few metres is enough to establish this mini-habitat!
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…
Look for common toadflax on waste ground and grassland, and along roadside verges and hedgerows. Its yellow-and-orange flowers are tightly packed on a tall spike and have distinctive 'spurs…
Lilac is an introduced species in the UK that can sometimes be found in hedgerows and along woodland edges. Flower spikes appear in spring, beautifully scented and packed with small, lilac-pink…
Flowering in spring, the cylindrical, densely packed flower spikes of Sweet vernal-grass are easily spotted in a meadow. It also tastes of sweet vanilla and was once a favourite 'chewing…
Thank you for your interest in volunteering on Skomer. Applications for the 2025 season are now closed. Please check back on 1st September 2025 for 2026 applications.
If you are interested…
The tightly packed, thistle-like purple flower heads of common knapweed bloom on all kinds of grasslands. Also regularly called black knapweed, this plant attracts clouds of butterflies.
The Common fragrant-orchid lives up to its name: it produces a sweet, orangey smell that is very strong in the evening. Look for its densely packed, pink flower spikes on chalk grasslands in…
The pyramidal orchid lives up to its name - look for a bright pinky-purple, densely packed pyramid of flowers atop a green stem. It likes chalk grassland, sand dunes, roadside verges and quarries…
Unsurprisingly, the garden bumblebee can be found in the garden, buzzing around flowers like foxgloves, cowslips and red clover. It is quite a large, scruffy-looking bee, with a white tail. It…