Wood avens
Look for wood avens along hedgerows and in woodlands. Its yellow flowers appear in spring and provide nectar for insects; later, they turn to red, hooked seedheads that can easily stick to a…
Look for wood avens along hedgerows and in woodlands. Its yellow flowers appear in spring and provide nectar for insects; later, they turn to red, hooked seedheads that can easily stick to a…
Despite having the familiar sage-green leaves, Wood sage has very little scent, so is not a good cooking herb. It can be found on acidic soils on sand dunes, heaths and cliffs, and along woodland…
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.
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…
The most common wood ant is the southern wood Ant, or 'red wood ant', which is found in England and Wales. An aggressive predator, it plays a vital pest control role in our woodlands.…
Lowland mixed oak and ash woods include the iconic bluebell woods so central to our notion of British woodland. Mostly quite small and bounded by ancient banks, they are full of history. At their…
Beautiful displays of flowers spread under the gentle shade of unfurling ash leaves in spring, while in winter the abundant ferns and mosses mean these small, rocky woods retain a watery greenness…
It is easy to be confused by these flower-like animals with flowery names! The ‘daisy’ anemone is one of the larger UK anemone species!
This dainty white butterfly is now only found in a few parts of Britain, where it flutters slowly through woodland clearings.
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.
Look for the small, white, star-shaped flowers of Common chickweed all year-round. Sometimes considered a 'weed', it is still a valuable food source for insects.
A very rare species, this moth is now limited to one site in the UK. Males can be a striking reddish buff in colour.