Spring squill
Spring squill is a small, star-shaped purple-blue flower found on coastal grasslands.
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Chwilio
Heathland and moorland
These wild, open landscapes stretch over large areas and are most often found in uplands. Although slow to awaken in spring, by late summer heathland can be an eye-catching purple haze of heather…
Alder fly
The alder fly is a blackish invertebrate, with delicately veined wings that it folds over its body like a tent. It can be found near ponds and slow-flowing rivers; the larvae living in the silt at…
Woolly thistle
Look for the round, cottony, purple flower heads of the Woolly thistle on chalk and limestone grasslands in summer. It is mainly found in Southern England.
Get involved
From visiting a nature reserve to joining a guided walk, volunteering or fundraising, there are loads of ways you can get outside and help look after yourself, experience local wildlife and work to help nature.
Alder buckthorn
An uncommon tree of wet woodlands, riverbanks and heathlands, alder buckthorn displays pale green flowers in spring, and red berries that turn purple in autumn.
Variegated scallop
The shells of this small scallop are often found washed up on our shores and comes in lots of different colours, including pink, red, orange and purple.!
Coastal and floodplain grazing marsh
Enormous flocks of geese, ducks and swans swirl down from wide skies to drop onto the flat, open expanses of flooded grazing marshes in winter. In spring, lapwing tumble overhead and the soft,…
Wood sorrel
A delicate, small plant of woodlands and hedgerows, wood-sorrel has distinctive, trefoil leaves and white flowers with purple veins; both fold up at night.
Emperor dragonfly
The emperor dragonfly is an impressively large and colourful dragonfly of ponds, lakes, canals and flooded gravel pits.
Change what you eat
Eat more plant-based foods, reduce your food waste and buy local produce to shrink your environmental footprint.
Blue jellyfish
Often confused with the larger but similarly shaped lion’s mane jellyfish, the blue jellyfish can be colourless when young and develop a striking blue-purple bell as it matures.