Black darter
The Black darter is a black, narrow-bodied dragonfly that can be seen throughout summer and autumn. It is hovers around damp moors, heaths and bogs, darting out to surprise its prey.
The Black darter is a black, narrow-bodied dragonfly that can be seen throughout summer and autumn. It is hovers around damp moors, heaths and bogs, darting out to surprise its prey.
Mainly found in Southern and Eastern England, the Common hornbeam is a tall tree of ancient woodlands. Its large catkins appear in spring, and its winged seeds are dispersed by the wind in autumn…
The pretty-in-purple amethyst deceiver can be seen growing in the leaf litter of our woodlands during late summer and autumn. Although edible, it looks similar to the poisonous Lilac fibrecap.
A large hawker, the Common Hawker can be seen throughout the summer and into autumn. A fast-flying insect, it catches its prey mid-air. Look for it around ponds in the uplands of the north and…
The guelder-rose is a small tree of hedgerows, woods, scrub and wetlands. It displays large, white flowers in summer and red berries in autumn, which feed all kinds of birds, including Bullfinches…
A tall, broad tree of woodlands, roadsides and parks, the introduced horse chestnut is familiar to many of us the 'conker' producing tree - its shiny, brown seeds appearing in their…
Ben keeps a diary of all the wildlife that he spots. He challenges himself to see new species: if he finds something that he doesn’t recognise, he takes a photograph so that he can look it up.
The green sandpiper is a very rare breeding bird in the UK, and is mainly seen on migration in autumn. Look out for it feeding around marshes, flooded gravel pits and rivers. It even likes sewage…
An inconspicuous tree for much of the year, the Wild service tree comes to life in spring, when it displays pretty, white blossom, and autumn, when its Maple-like leaves turn bright crimson.
As its name suggests, giant hogweed it a large umbellifer with distinctively ridged, hollow stems. An introduced species, it is an invasive weed of riverbanks, where it prevents native species…
So-named for its three bull-like horns, the Minotaur beetle is a large dung beetle found on grassland and heathland from the autumn. Adults drag dung back to their nests for their larvae to feed…
A visit to a traditional orchard reveals gnarled old trunks of fruit and nut trees bursting with blossoms and young leaves in springtime, with wildflowers and insects populating summer’s long…