My wild job
Hi! I’m Gemma and I am the Campaigns Assistant for Essex Wildlife Trust. In my job, I try to share my passion for nature with others, while encouraging people to love, care and take action for…
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Chwilio
My joy ride
After working hard all week, for Cally, there’s nothing better than a gallop along the River Trent at Lady Bay in Nottingham. She shares this wild space with dog walkers, cyclists and other horse…
Great grey shrike
This large shrike visits the UK in small numbers each year, passing through on migration or spending the winter here.
Variable damselfly
The variable damselfly looks a lot like the azure damselfly, but is much less common throughout most of the UK.
Honey buzzard
Rare summer visitors, honey buzzards breed in open woodland where they feed on the nests and larvae of bees and wasps.
Red squirrel
Red squirrels are native to the UK but are a lot rarer than their grey cousins. They live in a few special places across the UK thanks to reintroduction projects.
Common cow-wheat
Common cow-wheat is a delicate annual that brightens up the edges of acid woodland and heaths with deep golden flowers in the summer.
Coniferous plantation
Dark and brooding from a distance, the strong geometric lines and monotonous rows of uniformly sized trees can jar the eye and seem devoid of wildlife. But venture within and open ride edges,…
Common restharrow
Look for the small, pink, pea-shaped flowers of Common restharrow on chalk and limestone grasslands, and in coastal areas, during summer.
Enchanter's nightshade
Enchanter's nightshade is a hairy plant, with rounded leaves that taper to a fine tip, and clusters of small, pinky-white flowers in summer.
Sunfish
The ocean sunfish is the second largest bony fish on the planet and visits UK seas during the summer months to feast on jellyfish.
My experiment
Simon has been restoring Wild Meadows for three years. By planting trees, digging a lake and sowing meadows, he is showing how quickly wildlife like otters, badgers and tawny owls can return, and…