My lifesaver
Wendy has been a regular volunteer bird ringer at Teifi Marsh ever since her son tragically took his own life. Being out in the mornings with the birds gave Wendy a sense of peace and purpose…
Wendy has been a regular volunteer bird ringer at Teifi Marsh ever since her son tragically took his own life. Being out in the mornings with the birds gave Wendy a sense of peace and purpose…
This secretive bird is a member of the rail family, related to coots and moorhens. The breeding call, a rasping rattle, is given mostly at night, sometimes for hours on end.
The melodious song of the nightingale is the most likely sign of this bird being about. Shy and secretive, it sings from dense scrub and woodland, day and night.
A delicate, small plant of woodlands and hedgerows, wood-sorrel has distinctive, trefoil leaves and white flowers with purple veins; both fold up at night.
Famed for its tapping in the middle of the night, supposedly heralding tragedy, the Deathwatch beetle is a serious wood-boring pest. In houses, their tunnelling can cause major damage.
At night, the pretty, white blooms of white campion produce a heady scent, attracting feeding moths. Look for this wildflower along hedgerows and roadside verges, and on waste ground.
This common hoverfly can be recognised by the dark markings behind its head, which often resemble the Batman logo.
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…
Famed for its Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels, Skokholm Island is a truly wild island off the coast of Pembrokeshire.
Horseradish is used as a well-loved condiment. This member of the cabbage family is actually an introduced species in the UK, but causes no harm in the wild.
The large, dark grey water shrew lives mostly in wetland habitats. It's a good swimmer that hunts for aquatic insects and burrows into the banks.
Hazel dormice are hard to spot – not only do they only come out at night, but they are also only found in very few places in the UK. Dormice spend a lot of their time hibernating – and are known…