Slow worm
Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…
Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…
We have been trying to get out to Skomer for nearly six weeks, to follow up the Biosecurity incursion work we carried out in December. Finally the wild and windy Atlantic weather pattern we’ve…
The common red soldier beetle is also known as the 'bloodsucker' for its striking red appearance, but it is harmless. It is a beneficial garden insect as the adults eat aphids, and the…
The stinkhorn has an unmistakeable and intense stench that has been likened to rotting meat. Its appearance is also very distinctive: a phallic, white, stem-like structure, with a brown, bell-…
The aromatic fragrance of Large thyme can punctuate a summer walk over a chalk grassland. It is an evergreen that grows low to the ground, with erect spikes of tiny, lilac flowers appearing over…
Saw-wort gets its common name from the serrated, saw-like edges to its leaves. It is a plant of unimproved hay meadows and woodland edges, its purple, thistle-like flowers appearing over summer.…
Have you ever seen those dark red jelly blobs whilst rockpooling? These incredible creatures are beadlet anemones! They live attached to rocks all around the coast of the UK, the base of their…
Ffrwd farm mire is a wetland reserve in south Carmarthenshire. It is a lovely mix of fen, wet ditches, reed bed, and alder/ willow carr woodland. It is home to an abundance of wetland species…
Living in the rocky uplands of mid Wales, Emma regularly walks her farm checking not only on the livestock but seeing the seasonal changes in the wildlife and landscape too. The upland habitats of…
The bill-shaped seed pods of Common Stork's-bill explode when ripe, sending the seeds flying! This low-growing plant has pretty pink flowers and can be seen on grasslands and coastal sands.…
A pale member of the violet family sometimes known as ‘milk violet’, the fen violet has a delicate and unassuming appearance. A real specialist of the wetland habitat, this species has seen a…