Eight legged wonders!
Ask any child – and most adults, come to that – to draw a spider in its home, and you’ll get a circular or polygonal web. Those orb-web spiders may well be the most obvious kind around our houses…
Ask any child – and most adults, come to that – to draw a spider in its home, and you’ll get a circular or polygonal web. Those orb-web spiders may well be the most obvious kind around our houses…
The flower crab spider is one of 27 species of crab spider. The flower crab spider can alter the colour of its body to match its surroundings and to hide from prey. It is not as common as other…
A handsome gamebird, the pheasant is an introduced species that has settled here with little problem. It can be spotted in its farmland and woodland habitats, although you'll probably hear…
Badgers are the UK’s largest land predator and are one of the most well-known British species. They are famed for their black and white stripes and sturdy body, using their strong front paws to…
A much-loved garden bird, the blackbird is famous for its harmonious song. In winter, our resident birds are joined by migrants from Scandinavia and the Baltics.
Listen out for the 'chattering' song of the reed warbler, while wandering the UK's lowland wetlands in summer. A small, brown bird, they are quite hard to see.
Tawny owls are the familiar brown owls of Britain’s woodlands, parks and gardens. They are known for their ‘too-wit too-woo’ song that can be heard at night-time.
The melodious song of the nightingale is the most likely sign of this bird being about. Shy and secretive, it sings from dense scrub and woodland, day and night.
The bee orchid is a sneaky mimic - the flower’s velvety lip looks like a female bee. Males fly in to try to mate with it and end up pollinating the flower. Sadly, the right bee species doesn’t…
Whether found in a garden or part of an agricultural landscape, ponds are oases of wildlife worth investigating. Even small ponds can support a wealth of species and collectively, ponds play a key…
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…