My studio
With her sketchbook, Carol loves to get lost in the detail of the shore’s wildlife, plants, textures and fossils. And she always comes away feeling enriched.
With her sketchbook, Carol loves to get lost in the detail of the shore’s wildlife, plants, textures and fossils. And she always comes away feeling enriched.
Common cow-wheat is a delicate annual that brightens up the edges of acid woodland and heaths with deep golden flowers in the summer.
The hot weather has meant that Steph has been kept busy making sure that the mobile mowers have enough water. Bowsers are deployed at a few reserves which need regular topping up. Some sites are…
Broad-leaved dock is well-known to most of us as the remedy for Stinging nettle irritations. Often considered a 'weed', it can be found next to water or on disturbed ground almost…
Malcolm loves volunteering every week at Blashford Lakes Nature Reserve where he indulges in his passion for wildlife, keeps active and meets with friends.
A pretty and distinctive little waterbird, the mandarin duck was introduced from the Far East as its name suggests. Oddly for a duck, it nests in trees, sometimes high above the water.
Ania and Becky know that wildlife can be found in unexpected places at unusual times, and surveying bats in the centre of Taunton at night is nothing out of the ordinary for them.
A common dragonfly of canals, marshes, reedbeds and lakes, the Brown hawker can be seen patrolling the water or 'hawking' through woodland rides. It is easily distinguished by its…
The common pond skater can be seen 'skating' over the surface of ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-moving rivers. It is predatory, feeding on small insects by detecting vibrations in the…
Flowering rush is a pretty rush-like plant of shallow wetland habitats, such as ponds, canals and ditches. Its cup-shaped, pink flowers appear in summer, brightening up the water's edge.
This metallic green beetle can be seen visiting flowers on sunny days in spring and summer.
As its name suggests, the smooth stems of soft rush are thinner and more flexible than those of hard rush. It forms tufts in wetland habitats like wet woodlands, marshes, ditches and grasslands.…