Limestone pavement
Slabs of smooth grey rock, incised with deep fissures and patterned with swirling hollows and runnels sculpted by thousands of years of rainwater, form an unlikely wildlife habitat. Look a little…
Slabs of smooth grey rock, incised with deep fissures and patterned with swirling hollows and runnels sculpted by thousands of years of rainwater, form an unlikely wildlife habitat. Look a little…
The striking black-and-white checks of the marbled white are unmistakeable. Watch out for it alighting on purple flowers, such as field scabious, on chalk and limestone grasslands and along…
Although, commonly referred to as a ‘sea snail,’ this species in fact belongs to the fish family!
The Keeled skimmer is a dragonfly of heaths and commons with shallow pools. It has a skittish and weak flight, and is on the wing in summer and early autumn.
The six-spot burnet moth is a day-flying moth that flies with a slow, fluttering pattern. Look for it alighting on knapweeds and thistles in grassy places. It is glossy black, with six red spots…
The Downlooker snipefly gets its name from its habit of sitting on posts or sunny trees with its head facing down to the ground, waiting for passing prey. It prefers grassland, scrub and woodland…
The moth-like dingy skipper is a small, grey-brown butterfly of open, sunny habitats like chalk grassland, sand dunes, heathland and waste ground.
As its name suggests, Sea spurge is found at the coast. It is an attractive plant that displays cup-shaped, greeny-yellow flowers and fleshy, grey-green leaves.
30 years ago, if Jeremy had fallen in the river then he’d have been more worried about being poisoned than drowned! A 1980s trawl survey found just one fish in the Billingham reach of the Tees,…
A beautiful, tiny fungus, green elf cup can be commonly found on the decomposing wood of deciduous trees in woods, parks and gardens.
The chocolate-brown raft spider inhabits bogs and ponds. It can be spotted sitting near the water, its legs touching the surface. When it feels the vibrations of potential prey, it rushes out to…
Perennial rye-grass is a tufted, vigorous grass of roadside verges, rough pastures and waste ground. It is commonly used in agriculture and for reseeding grasslands.