Know your Patch
Lockdown has meant your local area has become your world. Here Twheatear, gives a great guide on how to really appreciate and benefit from all things wild and wonderful, in your local area. So,…
Lockdown has meant your local area has become your world. Here Twheatear, gives a great guide on how to really appreciate and benefit from all things wild and wonderful, in your local area. So,…
Despite its warts and ancient associations with witches, the common toad is a gardener's friend, sucking up slugs and snails. It is famous for migrating en masse to its breeding ponds.
There’s more going on in gardens during winter than meets the eye. Many insects and mammals are safely hiding away or hibernating, but whether they are active or not there’s lots of ways to…
The Greater butterfly-orchid is a tall orchid of hay meadows, grasslands and ancient woodlands. It has whitish-green flowers that have spreading petals and sepals - a bit like the wings of a…
Elegant, airy woodlands of silver-barked birches found across the northern uplands. Often transient in feel, with scattered trees growing over the heathy field layer of the surrounding moorland,…
Often seen carpeting the floor of ancient woodlands, Dog's mercury can quickly colonise, its fresh green leaves shading out rarer plants. It is also very poisonous.
The adder's-tongue fern is so-named because the tall stalk that bears its spores is thought to resemble a snake's tongue. An indicator of ancient meadows, it can be found mainly in…
Wood melick is a slender, drooping grass that grows in dense patches in ancient woodlands and along shady banks. It has nodding flower heads, with brown, egg-shaped spikelets that contain the…
In April and May, our ancient woodlands are awash with the much-loved, nodding heads of the bluebell. Millions of bulbs can exist in just one wood, giving rise to the 'blue carpets' that…
In April and May, our ancient woodlands are awash with the white, starry flowers and smell of wild garlic. Millions of bulbs can exist in just one wood, giving rise to dazzling 'white carpets…
Herb-Paris has four oval leaves set in a cross, with an understated crown of yellow-green flowers rising from the middle. This makes it quite a distinctive plant of ancient and damp woodlands on…
Poppy plays with molehills, watches deer and birds, and nestles in the trunks of ancient trees to get in touch with her roots. Poppy's father was an inspirational Restoration Officer at the…