My wellbeing
My wild life started before I was old enough to walk, being regularly taken by my mother across the Epsom Downs to enjoy fresh air. Moving to rural Staffordshire aged 3, I was incredibly lucky to…
My wild life started before I was old enough to walk, being regularly taken by my mother across the Epsom Downs to enjoy fresh air. Moving to rural Staffordshire aged 3, I was incredibly lucky to…
Common mallow is a handsome 'weed' of waste ground, roadside verges and gardens. Its deep pink, stripey flowers provide nectar for insects throughout the summer.
As its name suggests, creeping bent runs along the ground before it bends and grows upright. It is a common grass of arable land, waste ground and grasslands.
The moth-like dingy skipper is a small, grey-brown butterfly of open, sunny habitats like chalk grassland, sand dunes, heathland and waste ground.
The Foxglove is a familiar, tall plant, with pink flower spikes and a deadly nature. In summer, it can be spotted in woodlands and gardens, and on moorlands, roadside verges and waste grounds.
Greater celandine is a very common plant that spreads easily in the garden, on waste ground and in hedgerows. It is considered a weed, but the small, yellow flowers provide nectar for insects.
Hedge mustard is a tall plant with small, yellow flowers atop tough stems. It likes disturbed ground and grows in hedgerows and roadside verges, and on waste ground.
A notoriously poisonous plant, hemlock produces umbrella-like clusters of white flowers in summer. It can be found in damp places, such as ditches, riverbanks and waste ground.
Living up to its name, the cherry gall wasp produces growths, or 'galls', on oak leaves that look like red cherries. Inside the gall the larvae of the wasp feed on the host tissues but…
Buddleia is a familiar shrub, well-known for its attractiveness to butterflies. It is actually an introduced species, however, that has become naturalised on waste ground, railway cuttings and in…
A scrambling 'weed' of waste ground, fields and gardens, Common fumitory can be found on dry and disturbed soils. Its pink flowers appear over spring and summer.
With its familiar features, the Field pansy is a delicate version of a garden favourite. Usually creamy-yellow in colour, it can be seen in fields and on roadside verges and waste ground.