Willow emerald damselfly
A recent colonist to South East England, the metallic-green Willow emerald damselfly spends much of its time in the willow and alder trees that overhang ponds, lakes and canals.
A recent colonist to South East England, the metallic-green Willow emerald damselfly spends much of its time in the willow and alder trees that overhang ponds, lakes and canals.
The eel is famous for both its slippery nature and its mammoth migration from its freshwater home to the Sargasso Sea where it breeds. It has suffered dramatic declines and is a protected species…
Siti and Amin love visiting Stocker’s Lake for a walk at the weekend. It’s just 15 minutes from where they live in Rickmansworth. The great outdoors is right on your doorstep.
Our most well-known amphibian, the common frog is a regular visitor to garden ponds across the country, where they feast on slugs and snails. In winter, they hibernate in pond mud or under log…
The small, brown Dartford warbler is most easily spotted when warbling its scratchy song from the top of a gorse stem. It lives on lowland heathland in the south of England, where it nests on the…
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…
Introduced from Japan in the 19th century, Japanese knotweed is now an invasive non-native plant of many riverbanks, waste grounds and roadside verges, where it prevents native species from…
The dense, spiky tufts of Marram grass are a familiar sight on our windswept coasts. In fact, its matted roots help to stabilise sand dunes, allowing them to grow up and become colonised by other…
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.
Like many of our birds of prey, the peregrine falcon was so persecuted, numbers fell dramatically. Thankfully, this super-speedy flyer is now making a comeback, particularly in our towns, where it…
Allotments can be great places to see wildlife!