Bumper year for Gwent's dormice!
This October, we wrapped up on dormouse monitoring at a number of sites we check in Gwent. We have been heartened to find greater numbers of dormice using the nest boxes this year, which has…
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Chwilio
My basecamp
Den-building in the woods with his granddad makes Will feel like he is part of a survival game: nature is one big adventure, and he even uses a penknife to cut twigs to build with.
Woodlark
The secretive woodlark can be hard to spot. It nests on the ground on our southern heathlands and uses scattered trees and woodland edges for lookout posts.
Brownfield
The uncontainable nature of wildlife is perhaps clearest in brownfield sites – previously developed land that is not currently in use. The crumbling concrete of abandoned factories, disused power…
How to do companion planting
Grow plants that help each other! Maximise your garden for you and for wildlife using this planting technique.
Common octopus
The common octopus is a highly intelligent, active predator. It even has a secret weapon - special glands produce a venom that it uses to incapacitate its prey!
Great spotted woodpecker
The 'drumming' of a great spotted woodpecker is a familiar sound of our woodlands, parks and gardens. It is a form of communication and is mostly used to mark territories and to display…
Small-spotted catshark
Small-spotted catsharks used to be called lesser-spotted dogfish - which might be what you know them best as. It's the same shark, just a different name!
Bugle
Often found carpeting damp grassland and woodland clearings, the blue flower spikes of bugle are very recognisable. A short, creeping plant, it spreads using runners.
Red clover
A familiar 'weed' of gardens, roadsides, meadows and parks, red clover has trefoil leaves and red, rounded flower heads. It is often used as fodder for livestock.
Shoveler
Living up to its name, the shoveler has a large and distinctive shovel-like bill which it uses to feed at the surface of the water. It breeds in small numbers in the UK, but is widespread in…
Cleavers
Familiar as the bristly plant that easily hooks on to our clothing as we walk through the countryside or do the gardening, cleavers uses its hooks to help it climb and to disperse its seeds.