Thornback ray
The most commonly encountered ray around the British Isles, it's easy to see where the thornback ray got its name from - just check out the spines on its back!
The most commonly encountered ray around the British Isles, it's easy to see where the thornback ray got its name from - just check out the spines on its back!
Pellitory-of-the-wall is a small to medium-sized herb that frequently grows from cracks in old stone walls, pavements, cliffs and banks, and churches and ruins.
A summer visitor, the wheatear is a handsome chat, with black cheeks, white eyestripes, a blue back and a pale orange chest. Look for it on upland heaths and moors.
The Atlantic salmon spends most of its life at sea, but makes an epic journey back to the river or stream in which it hatched to spawn. Look out for it in freshwater rivers in the north and west…
The black-and-white barnacle goose flies here for the 'warmer' winter from Greenland and Svalbard. This epic journey was once a mystery to people, who thought it hatched from the goose…
Pushing its way up through the cracks in pavements, the straw-coloured flower spikes of greater plantain or 'broadleaf plantain' are a familiar sight. This 'weed' also pops up…
Did you know your seaside scampi was actually a kind of lobster? Traditionally so - although the scampi that is often eaten with chips can be anything from prawns to fish.
Water-logged and thick with reeds and robust tall-herbs or tussocky sedges, fens are evocative reminders of the extensive wet wildlands that once covered far more of the lowlands than they do…
Farmland can conjure up rural images of brown hares zig-zagging across fields, chattering flocks of finches and yellowhammers singing from thick, bushy hedges and field margins studded with…
Like many of our farmland birds, the corn bunting has declined in number in recent years. Spot this streaky brown, thick-billed bird singing from a wire or post - it sounds just like a set of…
Soaring beech trunks and a feeling of spaciousness mean that these woods have often been likened to cathedrals. Dense shade means that little grows on the thick layer of fallen leaves underfoot,…
Keeping Willow and other Plants in Check on the Reserve