Song thrush
The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.
The song thrush is a familiar garden visitor that has a beautiful and loud song. The broken shells of their blue, spotty eggs can often be found under a hedge in spring.
The speckled wood prefers the dappled sunlight of woodland rides and edges, hedgerows and even gardens. Despite declines, its range has spread over recent years.
Watch the deadly accurate flying of the spotted flycatcher in woodlands, gardens and parks. It sits quietly on a perch waiting for an unsuspecting insect to fly by, deftly dashing out to seize it…
Living up to its name, the white-tailed bumblebee is black-and-yellow bee with a bright white 'tail'. A social bumble bee, it can be found nesting in gardens and woods, and on farmland…
Yarrow can be found in many grasslands, from lawns to meadows, its flat-topped clusters of flower heads appearing from June. Cultivated varieties are garden favourites.
Carole has been volunteering at Idle Valley for seven years now; whilst she used to get involved with the heavy work out on the reserve, the garden is now her domain, working with the Recovery…
The notch-horned cleg-fly isa horse fly dark grey in colour, with grey-brown mottled wings and intricately striped, iridescent eyes. There are 30 species of horse-fly in the UK; this is one of the…
Bittersweet is a nightshade, so is toxic; its bright red berries may be tempting, but can cause serious illness. Found in hedgerows and gardens, it has purple flowers with yellow stamens.
The common polypody is a hardy fern of damp, shady places in woodlands. It also makes a good garden fern. It has ladder-like, leathery foliage with pimply undersides - these spots are the spores…
Common mouse-ear is a persistent 'weed' of fields and gardens, verges and hedgerows - all kinds of habitats. But, like many of our weed species, it is still a good food source for…
Despite its name, Common knotgrass is not a grass, but is actually related to the docks. It has wiry stems that grow along the ground, and is a weed of waste ground, gardens and arable fields.
Common laburnum is an introduced species, planted in parks and gardens. It is most recognisable in flower - its hanging bunches of yellow blooms giving it the name 'golden rain'. It is…