Robin
The much-loved robin is a garden favourite and one of our most familiar birds, adorning Christmas cards every year. It is very territorial, however, and will defend its post with surprising…
The much-loved robin is a garden favourite and one of our most familiar birds, adorning Christmas cards every year. It is very territorial, however, and will defend its post with surprising…
A regular in gardens, hunting around compost heaps and under stones, the brown centipede is a common minibeast. Despite its name, it has 15 pairs of legs - one on each segment of its body.
Despite its name, Spurge laurel is not a laurel - it just looks like one! It has glossy, dark green leaves and black, poisonous berries, and can be found in woodlands in southern England, in…
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…
The bar-tailed godwit winters in the UK in the thousands; look for it around estuaries like the Thames and Humber. In spring, the males display arresting breeding plumage, with brick-red heads,…
This clown-like fish is a favourite amongst divers and snorkellers. They are inquisitive little souls and will investigate divers near their hidey-hole homes.
Ivy is one of our most familiar plants, seen climbing up trees, walls, and along the ground, almost anywhere. It is a great provider of food and shelter for all kinds of animals, from butterflies…
Our largest and most common bee-fly, the dark-edged bee-fly looks just like a bumblebee, and buzzes like one too! It feeds on flowers like primroses and violets in gardens, parks and woodlands.…
In this blog I’ll talk about some exciting micro-moths discovered at Magor Marsh in recent years, and how there may be more to come…
One of our prettiest and smallest bumble bees, the early bumblebee has a bright orange tail and lemon-yellow bands on its body. It is very common and can be found in all kinds of habitats in early…
The giant house spider is one of our fastest invertebrates, running up to half a metre per second. This large, brown spider spins sheet-like cobwebs and pops up in the dark corners of houses,…
The Common banded hoverfly has a fitting name: it is not only one of our most common species, its black body is also covered in yellow bands! It can be seen in many habitats from gardens to…