The brown-lipped snail comes in many colour forms, but usually has a brown band around the opening of its shell. It prefers damp spots in wide range of habitats, from gardens to grasslands, woods…
The white-lipped snail comes in different colour forms, but always has a white band around the opening of its shell. It prefers damp spots in wide range of habitats, from gardens to grasslands,…
A familiar shrub of hedgerows and woodland edges, blackthorn comes alive in spring when it bursts into a froth of white blossom. It is well known for its sloes, too - the blue-black fruits used in…
With yellow-and-black bands, the giant horntail looks like a large wasp, but is harmless to us. The female uses her long, stinger-like ovipositor to lay eggs in pine trees, where the larvae then…
The all-black rook is a sociable bird, so can be spotted in flocks or nesting colonies, known as 'rookeries'. Unlike the similar carrion crow, it has a grey bill and 'baggy trouser…
From spring, look out for the beautiful, speckled gold-and-black breeding plumage of the golden plover. It can be found in its upland moorland breeding grounds from May to September, moving to…
One of the joys of a spring day is watching a fluttering, lemon-yellow brimstone alight on a flower - an early sign that the seasons are changing. It is commonly spotted in gardens, woodland and…
Our actions this decade will determine the extent to which we experience a collapse in global biodiversity and runaway climate change. Neither the current UK Government, nor opposing political…
The whooper swan is a very rare breeding bird in the UK, but has much larger populations that spend winter here after a long journey from Iceland. It has more yellow on its yellow-and-black bill…
