Glorious grasslands
A summer meadow is a beautiful sight, but there’s so much more to it than gently waving grass heads and fabulous flowers.
A summer meadow is a beautiful sight, but there’s so much more to it than gently waving grass heads and fabulous flowers.
The emperor dragonfly is an impressively large and colourful dragonfly of ponds, lakes, canals and flooded gravel pits. It flies between June and August and even eats its prey on the wing.
Despite appearances, the slow worm is actually a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake! Look out for it basking in the sun on heathlands and grasslands, or even in the garden, where it favours…
The common cockle is a traditional seaside favourite, both for its white shells often found in the sand and for the yummy snack of cockles doused in malt vinegar.
These wild, open landscapes stretch over large areas and are most often found in uplands. Although slow to awaken in spring, by late summer heathland can be an eye-catching purple haze of heather…
The moth-like dingy skipper is a small, grey-brown butterfly of open, sunny habitats like chalk grassland, sand dunes, heathland and waste ground.
This is a predominantly subtidal species but can be found on the lowest parts of a sheltered rocky shore in summer.
This metallic green beetle can be seen visiting flowers on sunny days in spring and summer.
This streaky brown bird is a summer visitor to Britain, favouring open woodlands in the north and west.
Richard could stick to the road on his commute, but taking a shortcut through the woods is far more relaxing, even if he does get muddy trousers.
Plaice is a common sight all around our coasts - if you can spot it! They are extremely well camouflaged against the seabed and can even change colour to better match their surroundings.