Lesser water-parsnip
Look out for the white, umbrella-like flower heads of lesser water-parsnip along the shallow margins of ditches, ponds, lakes and rivers. When crushed, it does, indeed, smell like parsnip!
Look out for the white, umbrella-like flower heads of lesser water-parsnip along the shallow margins of ditches, ponds, lakes and rivers. When crushed, it does, indeed, smell like parsnip!
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…
Did you know that there are coral reefs in the UK? UK seas are home to some amazing cold-water corals that form reefs on the seabed over 400m deep.
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!
Horsehair worms are parasitic worms of the clade Nematoida alongside their sister taxa Nematoda, the roundworms. The most famous trait of certain species of horsehair worms is the ability to alter…
A very rare species, this moth is now limited to one site in the UK. Males can be a striking reddish buff in colour.
A scarce but distinctive brown seaweed with curved, funnel-shaped fronds. It is a warmer water species at the northern edge of its range on the south coast of England.
The thresher shark is a migratory species and passes through UK waters in the summer months. If you’re lucky, you might see this magnificent shark jump high out of the water in to the air.
The Migrant hawker is not a particularly aggressive species, and may be seen feeding in large groups. It flies late into autumn and can be seen in gardens, grasslands and woodlands.
Fat hen is a persistent 'weed' of fields and gardens, verges and hedgerows. But, like many of our weed species, it is a good food source for birds and insects.
This fluffy moth is one of the few species that fly in winter.