Ivy-leaved toadflax
Ivy-leaved toadflax is an introduced species in the UK that has become widely naturalised. Look for creeping along old walls and pavements, and shingle beaches. Its flowers resemble those of…
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Chwilio
Kidney vetch
The small, yellow flowers and woolly appearance of kidney vetch make this plant easy to spot. Look for it growing low to the ground on sand dunes, chalk grasslands and cliffs in summer.
Lesser black-backed gull
The lesser-black backed gull can be spotted around the coast in summer, with the biggest colony on Walney Island, Cumbria. Look for it over fields, landfill sites and reservoirs during winter.
Musk beetle
The metallic-green Musk beetle lives up to its name: it releases a musky-smelling secretion when it defends itself. It is a longhorn beetle, so has lengthy antennae. Look for it near wetlands in…
Pike
Famously predatory, the long, slender pike will lurk among the vegetation of a river or lake, bursting out with ferocious speed to catch its prey. Look out for it across the UK.
Roach
The silvery roach can be seen gathering in large shoals in lowland ponds, lakes and slow-flowing rivers. It is a member of the carp family and looks very similar to the dace, chub and rudd.
Timothy
Timothy is a grass of meadows, arable land, waste ground and roadside verges. It is also cultivated as fodder for livestock. Look for slender stems and long, cylindrical flower spikes in summer.…
My happy place
When the stresses of life get too much, I take a walk through Attenborough Nature Reserve - a form of free therapy. The fresh air, the bird calls, the beauty of nature surrounding me, is calming.…
Atlantic salmon
The Atlantic salmon spends most of its life at sea, but makes an epic journey back to the river or stream in which it hatched to spawn. Look out for it in freshwater rivers in the north and west…
Common spike-rush
Forming mats of straight, bright green stems, Common spike-rush does, indeed, look like lots of tightly clustered 'spikes' near the water's edge of our wetland habitats.
Common scoter
The common scoter has suffered large declines in the UK, threatening its survival here. Look out for this duck feeding at sea in winter when its numbers are bolstered by migrating birds.
Common bistort
Look for the delicate, pink flowers of Common bistort in wet meadows, pastures and roadside verges. It is also known as 'Pudding Dock' in North England because it was used to make a…