Star ascidian
One of the most eye-catching sights on the rocky shore, this mind-boggling species resembling a collection of beautiful pressed flowers is actually a colony of individual animals!
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Chwilio
Garlic mustard
Favouring shady spots in woodlands and hedgerows, Garlic mustard can grow very tall. It has small, white flowers and, as its name suggests, smells faintly of garlic.
Great fen-sedge
A tall and robust species of sedge, the Great fen-sedge has long leaves with sawtooth edges. It forms dense stands in lowland fens and around lakes.
Ecological Surveys, EIA and HRA
Surveys should be carried out by professional ecologists, registered with IEEM. When surveys involve protected species, such as bats, great crested newts or dormice, the surveyor should hold a license from Natural Resources Wales.
Deep-water corals
The skeletons of deep-water corals form mounds that can support over 1,000 species of invertebrates and fish.
Upland calcareous grassland
Limited in distribution, this sweetly-scented, short-cropped, springy grassland is famed for its abundance of rare and scarce species.
Cuckoo wrasse
One of the most colourful fish in UK seas, the cuckoo wrasse looks like it belongs in the tropics. Don't be fooled though, it's very much a native species.
My laboratory
Nora’s study of bird behaviour explores how small bird communities flock together to ward off larger predators. Nature has many things to teach us and is now widely acknowledged as a key…
Buddleia
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…
Common reed
The extensive, golden-brown reedbeds that are formed by stands of Common reed are a familiar sight in our wetlands. They provide an important home for many species, including the rare Bittern.
Sand sedge
Sand sedge is an important feature of our coastal sand dunes, helping to stabilise the dunes, which allows them to grow up and become colonised by other species.
Identify UK snakes
Grass snake or adder? The UK has three species of grass snake, adder and smooth snake. Want to know how to identify British snakes? Read our guide to work out what snake you've spotted.