Marsh violet
As its name suggests, the Marsh violet likes damp spots, such as marshes, bogs and wet woods. It is a low-growing plant with kidney-shaped leaves and pale lilac flowers.
As its name suggests, the Marsh violet likes damp spots, such as marshes, bogs and wet woods. It is a low-growing plant with kidney-shaped leaves and pale lilac flowers.
With a silvery body, and purple, pink and bluish streaks down its flanks, the rainbow trout lives up to its name. Popular with anglers, it is actually an introduced species in the UK.
Swifts spend most of their lives flying – even sleeping, eating and drinking – only ever landing to nest. They like to nest in older buildings in small holes in roof spaces.
From grunts and groans, to 'purring' and 'piglet squealing', the water rail is more often heard than it is seen! This shy bird lives in reedbeds and wetlands, hiding among the…
The wigeon is a colourful duck that can often be spotted wheeling round our winter skies in large flocks. A dabbling duck, it surface-feeds on plants and seeds in shallow waters.
The Bechstein's bat is a very rare bat that lives in woodland and roosts in old woodpecker holes or tree crevices. Like other bats, the females form 'maternity colonies' to have…
The brown long-eared bat certainly lives up to its name: its ears are nearly as long as its body! Look out for it feeding along hedgerows, and in gardens and woodland.
A common dragonfly of canals, marshes, reedbeds and lakes, the Brown hawker can be seen patrolling the water or 'hawking' through woodland rides. It is easily distinguished by its…
Unsurprisingly, the chalkhill blue can be found on sunny, chalk grassland sites in southern England. Clouds of this beautiful blue butterfly may be seen fluttering around low-growing flowers.
Eyebright has small, white flowers with purple veins and yellow centres. It likes short grasslands, from clifftops to heaths, and is one of a number of species and hybrids that are hard to tell…
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.
The serotine is one of the first bats to appear at night and can be seen around lamp posts chasing moths, or at treetop height. It likes to roost and hibernate in old buildings in the south of the…